January has been a month of abstinence for me. Not exactly a diet, but no booze, no coffee, no cows’ milk, no crusty bread, no hard cheese and no red meat. Despite constant cravings, I’ve eaten well. I’ve learnt to love goats’ milk, become a master at steaming and poaching – particularly fish – and a whiz at making a meal of salad.

Her beauty secret is that she soaks herself with moisturizer. Rani who lost all the extra flab with "a balanced diet and junking sweets", lives on "home-cooked food - dal, roti, salad and soup." Fastfood and colas are a no-no, instead it’s "nariyal pani, nimbu pani, jal jeera and water."

Eating a low-calorie soup or salad at the start of a meal to curb hunger could be the key to dieters' success, according to a U.S. rating of eight popular diet plans.

The Israeli Army diet was a fad diet that was popular in the 1970s. It was promoted as being based on the diet used by the Israel Defence Forces for new recruits but had no connection with the Israeli Army.The diet lasted for eight days with the dieter only eating one type of food for two days each.Days One - Two: Apples (black tea/coffee allowed)Days Three - Four: Cheese (black tea/coffee allowed)Days Five - Six: Chicken (black tea/coffee allowed)Days Seven - Eight: Salad (black tea/coffee allowed)If the dieter followed the regimen for the full eight days, he or she would enjoy a short-term weight loss. However, as this regime was not sustainable over the long term, the person undertaking the diet soon regained the weight as he or she returned to their normal diet. In addition, the lack of variety in the diet meant that many people failed to complete the diet regimen. As well, the diet was not a balanced diet providing the dieter with their nutritional needs such as calories, protein and vitamins.For these reasons, nutritionists and doctors were critical of the Israeli Army diet and it declined in popularity. It is now regarded as a classic fad diet like the grapefruit diet or the cabbage soup diet.