Fad Diets
What are they, where are they, who are they, why are they, and do they work?
By definition they are diets that are "cool," and "hip," and "in." Historically they have been diets that focus on short term weight loss without regard to long term health effects.
A good way to spot a fad diet are by using this criteria:
- You are asked to cut out a major food group (carbohydrates, fats, or proteins)
- A particular food or food group is exaggerated and/or purported to cure specific diseases.
- Foods are eliminated from an individual’s diet because they are viewed as harmful.
- An emphasis is placed on eating certain foods to express a particular lifestyle.
- The diet is based on drastically cutting back calories.
- You are using meal replacement shakes, bars, or pills.
I will let you know why these work. There is this thing called a calorie that is what is used by the body as energy. If you eat a 2000 calories and use the 2000 calories/energy you stay the same weight. If you eat more than you use you gain. If you eat less than you use you lose. This is simple and mostly common knowledge. So looking at a fad diet you are vastly restricting your calories using the same amount so you lose.
This is why fad diets work, because you lower the amount of calories you are eating AND you are limited in your food choices. If you have to eat one food all day everyday you will eventually get tired of it and not want to eat it anymore.
If you continue this pathway, where you are eating vastly below what your body needs to function, your body enters starvation mode. That means your body starts using less energy (calories). This happens because your body doesn't want to waste away so it makes some changes to help you live (nice isn't it). So when your body limits the energy it is using, because it limits the energy it is getting you don't lose weight anymore. I am sure many of us have experienced this and been frustrated because we are not eating so we can lose weight, but we are not losing weight.... So why are we not eating?!?!?!?!?! Then we get frustrated and give up until the next time we are fed up with ourselves.
So fad diets lead to "yo-yo dieting." You get one on and get off and look into new tricks and things that have never been used before. The trick to living healthy is being healthy. Take a step in the right direction and when you feel good and like the direction of that step, take another.
What good is losing 50 pounds in a month if you gain 60 back the next month? Don't look for tricks, just trying something simple. If you want to take a step to be healthier, go on a walk after dinner. Setting goals that apply to you affect you.
If you must have dessert with your dinner look up a healthier version of your favorite treat. If you love chocolate try enjoying the chocolate melting in your mouth rather than chewing it. If you must have your soda with you meals limit your liquids to water between meals.
Let me know what you think!
- Eat Wise
I think one of the worst things about fad yo-yo dieting is that once you actually start a healthy lifestyle full of exercise and healthy food, the weight loss is not as dramatic as a fad diet and people get frustrated. They run back to the newest fad diet.
ReplyDeleteThat is painfully true. In a society of now people find it difficult to stick with something that doesn't give you the instantaneous rewards. Even people who are making great strides in their health behaviors often ask me about other diets they've heard of in the media to determine if it will work faster. Diets often lead to people setting goals and once they are reached they can return to their old lifestyle. The joke is prevalent where a comedian says to a "fit" person at the gym, "what you are you doing here, you're finished!"
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