Brie Cadman over at Divine Caroline gives a humorous and right-on run-down of the 10 worst fad diets. Sure these diets, like Slim Fast, The Cereal Diet, The Subway Diet, and Dr. Siegal's® Cookie Diet™ might work -- try them and chances are, you will lose weight -- but if you're looking for weight loss that sticks around or if you want to just plain enjoy your food, these diets are, as Cadman calls them -- just plain ridiculous.

Cadman says of Slim Fast that yes, you will lose weight, "until you grow so bored and tired of eating the exact same thing for two meals a day you quit, and realize that -- wow -- there are a lot of other foods out there that cost a lot less. Say, fruits and vegetables."

About The Writing Diet, Cadman can't figure out why all writers are not size twos because according to Julia Cameron, author of the new book The Writing Diet: Write Yourself Right-Sized, they should be. Cameron says that people overeat not out of hunger, but because of emotion. Says Cadman: "By writing daily, we tap into our emotions, and put them on the page instead of in our mouths. While I can concede that having your hands on a keyboard will prevent them from grabbing a bag of Doritos, I can't figure out how sitting on your butt is supposed to make it smaller." One of Cadman's readers disagrees, stating that the book does a pretty good job of promoting exercise too.

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Writing is hardly a weight loss activity. Unless you plunked down a wad of cash for a Walkstation combo workstation/treadmill, you just sit on your bum clicking keys. Usually a cup of tea and a carbohydrate-laden snack perches nearby.

But writers out there have new hope in Julia Cameron's book, The Writing Diet: Write Yourself Right-Size. Between its pages, Cameron has adapted her creative writing program to target weight loss. The main premise is eating is often used to manage feelings, but writing about feelings is a healthier way to fully face life issues. You don't eat your way around them.

Cameron discovered the weight loss power of writing when she gained 40 pounds after taking mood-stabilizing medication. As a teacher she had been assigning "morning pages" to students for 25 years, and had seen students look healthier as a course progressed. But only through her own frustration with weight gain did she identify writing as an actual weight loss tool.

There are tremendous benefits to journaling feelings and recording your eating habits. I eat much healthier on the days I count calories. I joined Weight Watchers (WW) to lose the weight after each of my kids were born, and tracking food intake via their Points system was insightful. It was during that time I discovered my weight-loss-sabotage-time -- I always reach for high-glycemic carbs in the late afternoon. Although I suspect officially stepping on their scale each week and witnessing the WW staff record my number was even more motivational.

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