Diet & Fitness 

Advertisement

Celebrity extreme dieters

The stars are under pressure to look a certain way, but who has taken dieting a step too far?

As the new 'face' of Marc Jacobs, Victoria Beckham is determined to look seriously slinky to model his teeny tiny high fashion clothes even if that means a super-strict diet to be a size double zero.

To Victoria, being asked to wear the modish designer's threads is a dream come true and one of the reasons she moved to 'LA LA Land'. To Posh, it's a real sign that Brand Beckham has been accepted Stateside and that she is being taken seriously by the fashion world.

Victoria's favourite nibbles are rumoured to be edamame beans, strawberries and lettuce, washed down with two pints of algae and a seaweed shake.

Tesco Diets nutritionist Catherine Matthews says: 'Extreme dieting may produce short-term results but in the long-term, losing weight through healthy eating and regular exercise is much more effective.

'Our meal plans help to educate people about portion control and the importance of achieving a nutritionally balanced diet.

'Victoria Beckham may love the way she looks right now but there is little doubt that such a strict regime will take its toll on her health. In years to come she may find that she is more susceptible to bone injury, kidney problems and heart conditions.'

One celebrity who took extreme dieting to its limits is Beyonce. To look camera-ready for her role in Dreamgirls, she endured the Maple Syrup Diet, melting away 22lb in just 14 days.

'I lived on water, cayenne pepper and maple syrup,' she recalls. 'I'm not going to lie and say I found it easy, because I didn't. But the thought of my butt looking super huge in front of the camera gave me all the motivation I needed.'

The hardcore liquid diet regime is based on Madal Bala 100 per cent natural drink made from a special organic natural tree syrup, mixed with fresh lemon juice, water and cayenne pepper.

And here's the science bit: the lemon provides Vitamin C and potassiums, helping to dissolve mucus and waste. The cayenne pepper (besides adding an 'unusual' taste), acts as a kind of ignitor, firing up the metabolism and helping cleansing and elimination of toxins.

However, although Beyonce looked fabulous on screen, she admits it was impossible to keep up. 'Oh man, all I could do was think about food. Hell, I was dreaming about the stuff! The second filming stopped, I got my momma to cook me some of her southern fried chicken that I love so much. Within days, I was back up to my pre-filming weight.'

While extreme diets work short-term, in 90 per cent of cases, women put the weight right back on. That's why it's important to do it sensibly and slowly. Experts recommend trying to lose between 1-2lb a week while retraining your eating habits in the long-term.

Delicious     Digg     reddit     Facebook     StumbleUpon

  Get the latest iVillage news on your desktop    Sign up for more iVillage RSS feeds

© iVillage Limited 2000-2008. All rights reserved. | © iVillage inc. 1995-2008. All rights reserved.
iVillage Ltd is a UK company registered in England & Wales (3837269) at 80-110 New Oxford Street, London WC1 1HB