Everyone wants a quick fix, and when it’s offered in the form of weight loss solutions, it’s very tempting to say yes. Diet plans have long since taken advantage of this. Need to lose 10 pounds for the big weekend reunion? Love eating junk food, but hate exercising? Fad diets offer an answer to your problems. They entice you with what typically would be unrealistic results, glossed over by images of their clients who have achieved this.
People in this country spend one billion to two billion dollars per year on weight-loss programs, and about 45 million Americans diet each year. Most of these dieters have tried a number of weight loss plans in the hope of shifting as little as a few pounds, to as many a hundreds of pounds. Losing weight can seem a daunting process, and one that often takes its own sweet time in delivering results. It seems so much easier to hop onto the latest diet bandwagon, and keep your fingers crossed that it works for you as it has for the models on TV or in the magazines who promote it.
However, the truth is that while fad diets may help you shift pounds quickly, they will also aid you in putting them back on. The reason for this is because no one can sustain their requirements for very long. Also, the body is not built to live off ridiculous diets like the cabbage soup diet or the green tea diet.
Safe and effective weight loss can be achieved only by combining a healthy diet with plenty of exercise.
With all the diets available in the market today, how do you recognize a fad diet in order to step way from it? Most people will refer to something as a fad if they consider it to be a poor weight loss diet example. However, as it’s based on people’s opinions, it’s a subjective term. A fad diet can also be used to refer to a diet which gains immense popularity, and then just as quickly fades away.
Fad diets will typically offer unrealistic expectations (lose seven pounds each week) to its susceptible audience. A typical weight loss routine will be of up to two pounds per week depending on your body mass. Fad diets draw simplistic conclusions from complex research studies, often failing to take into consideration other variables. Fad diets also require followers to buy their products which could include diet pills, processed food, books and DVD’s, or club memberships. They will outline a strict adherence to their provided guideline, and any deviation will result in the plan failing. They do not recognize the basics of a healthy diet which include whole grains and fresh produce, but instead can ask you to completely eliminate a food group from your meal plans. Fad diets in essence, offer quick fix solutions that anyone can follow, at a price.
Some fad diets have been on the market for years now and have gain celebrity following, while others appear in a flash, and disappear as quickly. The following are a few diets which have capture North American interest:
Acai Berry Diet: Promoted by celebrities like Dr Perricone and Oprah Winfry, the acai berry diet has gained a tremendous fan base and followers insist it works. In this, dieters use acai berry in conjunction with any other weight loss plan they prefer to follow. Acai berries are said to have high antioxidant properties and are good for detoxifying the body. Care has to be taken as many websites sell inferior acai berry products and claims for weight loss are in fact unsubstantiated. It can also be an expensive diet to follow.
Atkins Diet: This is one of the longer running diets which was introduced in the seventies and continues to have a wide audience appeal. The plan relies on knowing how much carbs you consume each day. You will need to learn to count carbs and you can do this through books or website software that the plan recommends. The first phase in the diet is very restrictive, but after that, carbs are gradually reintroduce into your diet.
Cabbage Soup Diet: If you can survive on cabbage soup, then this diet is the one you’ll love. If not, then...yuck. It’s not a sustainable diet, but appears on the dieting scene every once in a while. You will lose weight with this diet, but the soup is bland and light, and you may end up feeling dizzy and nauseous. This diet has also been called the Mayo Clinic Diet, though it is unrelated to Mayo Clinic.
hCG Diet: This diet was introduced by a doctor who claims that a hormone found in pregnant women’s bodies could help overweight individuals lose weight. This diet is done in combination with daily injections of hCG and may last as long at 43 days per treatment session. hCG has been approved by the FDA as a fertility drug, but not as a diet or weight loss tool.
Zone Diet: The Zone Diet plan comprises of an accurate balanced ratio of carbodydrates (40 percent), fat (30 percent) and proteins (30 percent). You have to follow a strict regimen to balance this ratio and snacking or imbalanced meals will get you off the track. A meal not exceeding 500 calories, and a snack not exceeding 100 calories keeps you ‘in the Zone’. It’s a extremely strict diet, so be prepared to calorie watch if you get onto it.
South Beach Diet: The Diet was created by Dr. Arthur Agatston, and continues to be extremely popular. One might ask if it is in fact a fad, simply based on its devoted fan following. According to this diet, in exchange for eating right, you can enjoy weight loss between eight and thirteen pounds in just two weeks. This is a less restrictive plan and so, it’s much easier to follow.
Other fad diets include the Herbalife Diet, the Dash Diet (low sodium diet) and even the Tapeworm Diet (where tapeworms are introduced to your body).If you are going to get onto any of the above diets, bear in mind the following rules which should apply no matter the diet you select:
- Do not go onto a crash diet for more than 3 days. In fact, crash dieting for any amount of time is never a good idea. Most fad diets are also imbalanced as they seek to eliminate one or more food groups. Doing so again for an extended period of time can be more harmful than helpful.
- If you are on a diet, keep your exercise to a minimum. A healthy diet can incorporate a good amount of exercise, but a fad diet might be too stressful on your immune system. If this is the case, exercise using caution.
- Dieting will make you hungry and it’s hard to keep on track when your stomach in empty. Water will fill you up, but it’s always sensible to select a few snack options from the diet plan and keep them on hand.
- If you do complete the plan successfully, it’s not the time to go on a food binge. Instead, go back to eating a sensible, balanced diet which will help you maintain your weight loss.
