Fad Diets: Solutions or Scams

Fad diets are weight loss plans or aids that promise dramatic results. Can they really help you lose weight? Fad diets provide momentary weight loss. After you stop following the diet, you will gain the weight back. The weight that is typically lost is from water and lean muscle opposed to body fat and many people often gain more weight than they lose after stopping. The best solution for weight lost is always exercise and a healthy diet.

Most fad diets do not incorporate physical activity into their plans. Physical activity is a major factor in long-term weight loss. Without physical activity, you’re more likely to gain back weight that you’ve lost. Lack of physical activity also increases health problems such as heart attack and stroke. An inactive person is twice as likely to receive a heart attack than a person who is regularly active.

Fad diets also violate nutrition. According to the American Heart Association, the first rule of nutrition is to eat a balanced diet that includes a variety of foods. Most fad diets require you to eat more of certain food groups while decreasing or even eliminating others.  There are no “super foods”. A certain food will not make you lose weight. Including very few vegetables, grains, and fruits, many fad diets advise the reduction of carbohydrates. Increasing the consumption of fruits, vegetables, and grains is highly beneficial to health and can prevent diseases such as cancer. Instead of dropping a clothing size, one will more likely develop nutritional deficiencies.   

Fad diets may cause serious health problems. They can result in apathy, fatigue, dehydration, hypoglycemia, hyperurcemia, gout, calcium depletion, and diarrhea, gallstones, diabetes, and arteriosclerosis.  Knowing this you may want to know how to spot a fad diet. Here are some ways to identify fad diets:

 1.   A diet is too good to be true. If a diet is too good to be true, it probably isn’t. These companies advertise things such as “ lose all the weight you want for $39.99” and “lose 20 pounds in two weeks”. These diets also tell you that you don’t have to give up fatty foods. Eating fatty foods in moderation is okay, but eating fatty foods regularly leads to heart diseases and diabetes. Many of these diets are just lies.

2.   Promises drastic weight loss. Losing more than one or two pounds a week is unhealthy. It often puts your body through ketosis. The weight loss that is experienced through ketosis is muscle weight loss.  Which does mean you lose weight but due to the fact that it’s muscle you’ve lost your metabolism has dropped.  This means you’re going to gain the weight back more easily. It takes time to gain the weight so it takes time to lose the weight.

3.   The diet shows before and after pictures. True diets do not show before and after pictures. These pictures try to persuade people to buy the fad diet. Most of the time the before and after pictures are pictures of paid people with digital altering. Some of the people are not even the same person. Real diets do not need these pictures. They are backed by national health organizations.

 4.   Offers client testimonials. People are paid to write the testimonials. They are paid to lie about a wonderful experience they have had with the product. Nine times out of ten, they probably have never even tried the product.


5.   Draws a simple conclusion from complex medical research. The medical information is complex for a reason. Fad diet companies take medical research and twist it to benefit their product.

 

Hope this helps you avoid those costly mistakes.

All the best for your big day!


Sammy Mishriki

Health & Fitness Consultant

Fitness Evolved Boot Camps

 www.fitnessevolved.co.nz