Fad Diets

The definition of a fad diet changes with who you talk to. Some people believe that it is a weight loss program that is designed poorly and does not deliver on its promise. Others believe that it is a very popular program that quickly falls in and out of favor. And still others define a fad diet as one that violates all the important principles of good nutrition.

There have been many \”fad\” diets which have come in and out of favor over the past several years. In fact, what is most interesting, is that many of them are on a cycle. In other words, they have been around for decades and show up every so often with a new name and a new face. Consider the high protein diet which has been publicized under several different names over the past several decades. Most recently a high protein diet is better known as the South Beach diet.

Other types of fad diets will actually place a high focus on a particular food or food group. For instance, the grapefruit diet focuses on eating many grapefruits each day. Unfortunately, these types of diets, which focus on one type of food, lack the majority of nutrients that the body requires in order to function optimally. It may lack in vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber, carbohydrates or protein, depending upon the type of food required. Over the long term individuals can develop serious health problems both immediately and later in life.

The American Heart Association, the American Dietetic Association, The Surgeon General and the US Department of Agriculture all have specific recommendations about diets and food groups that do or do not provide adequate nutrition based on the knowledge and research that we have today.

Fad diets often blame anything and everything other than the amount of calories the person ingests for the amount of weight that they have gained. For instance some diets blame particular hormones, viruses or believe that certain foods can change an entire body chemistry. These diets often offer a temporary solution to a lifelong and chronic condition. This solution often appears enticing because the advertising leads the individual to believe that weight loss is easy and simple.

Once these fad diets have been stopped the weight loss is usually quickly regained. But there are secondary negative effects to that quick weight loss and rebound. The first is that when it individual loses weight quickly and then gain it back they often gain back more weight than they lost. The second is that when weight is lost quickly it is more often water weight and muscle but when it is regained it is usually gained as fat.

You can spot a fad diet because there are usually specific conditions which they meet. For instance, they promise a quick fix with claims that often sound too good to be true. There may be studies to back up their claims but they take complex information and boil it down to simplistic conclusions that fit their claims. These fad diets often have a list of \”good\” or \”bad\” food which individuals are either made to eat all day or not allowed to eat at all. In some cases the recommendations made by the fad diet are made in order for the company to sell a product, such as a book, weight loss pills or supplemental powders. Any recommendations done from studies which supported the diet will often ignore differences among individuals or groups.

However, the two biggest warnings that you are dealing with a fad diet and not a nutritionally sound eating plan that leads to weight loss is that the recommendations promise a very quick fix and they often have warning of the dangers when you use something other than their specific product or regimen.

Weight loss may be difficult but the formula continues to be simple. Weight is lost when an individual eats less calories than they burn on a consistent basis. In order to lose weight an individual must work to burn calories during the day and eat less. This can be accomplished by getting 30 -40 minutes of cardiovascular exercise and incorporating strength training to increase the amount of lean muscle mass. Lean muscle burns more calories, both at rest and work, than does fat. By increasing the amount of calories you burn, even at rest, you increase your chances of successfully losing weight and keeping it off permanently.