SOME FAD DIETS ACTUALLY WORK

With over 50 diet books on my bookshelf, I know a little something about fad diets.  When a new diet hits the store shelves, I will be one of the first people to check it out. I read all the reviews, listen to interviews, and then many times purchase the book. 

The word “fat diets” can conjure up different ideas for people.  Most people may think of fad diets as extreme dietary methods that promise big weight loss results, but don’t usually work.  The second thing a fad diet can mean is simply that it is gaining popularity very quickly because people are losing weight following it.

The term ‘fad’ simply means something that is gaining popularity quickly.  Using this definition, I think we can say there are several fad diets, which are extremely popular because people really are losing weight following them. Here are a few examples:

FAD DIETS THAT WORK

• Atkins/ High Protein- Criticized for its lack of fruits and vegetables and its unlimited amount of saturated fats, Atkins followers really do lose weight.  Most Atkins followers will lose weight more quickly than other diets.  Compared to ‘traditional’ diets, Atkins followers lost 6.8% of their weight the first three months, while the others only lost 1.2%
• Paleo Diet- While this diet has been around for a long time (or millions of years if you consider its true origin), it is only recently gaining popularity because of the author Loren Cordain.  Paleo followers focus on high protein, but they include fruits and vegetables in good amounts.  They also encouraged to avoid grains and dairy.   It is not surprising this method is working for weight loss as they are eating whole foods while limiting processed, high glycemic type foods.
• HCG Diet- No question this is working for people to lose weight.  With eating only 500 calories per day, it would be impossible not to lose weight.  The safety of this diet is in absolutely in question, however for purposes of the topic, people are losing weight, and ton’s of it!
• South Beach/ Zone- These diets put a focus on balancing what each diet seems is the right combination of protein, fat and carbs.   A study of 40 people found South Beach dieters lost 13.6 lbs, compared to 7.5 lost following another plan.  Almost double!  People also find it easier to follow this type of diet for the long term, as they can eat a good variety of foods.
• Low Fat- Being a product of the 80’s, I have always leaned low fat. Speaking from personal experience, low fat helped me to lose over 20 lbs 25 years ago. Research has shown while people may not lose weight as quickly following low fat as they do with high protein, they generally are able to keep it off longer, which was true in my case.

 FAD DIETS THAT DON’T WORK

• Cabbage Soup Diet- In their own words, this diet should not be followed for more than 7 days.  For the entire 7 days you are restricted to food on an approved list, which is mostly fruits and vegetables.  While people may lose weight on the Cabbage Soup Diet, anything you follow for only 7 days is not going to result in fat loss.  Most of the weight will be water weight, which will return as quickly as it came off, if not quicker.
• The Grapefruit Diet- Born out of the idea that Grapefruit has special fat burning enzymes, the grapefruit diet became popular.  Criticism of this diet provides that all of the weight lost on the grapefruit diet is due to calorie restriction alone, and has nothing to do with the special properties of grapefruit.
• The Cookie Diet – Sounds great to cookie lovers like me.  The special “cookie” is merely a meal replacement food, much like a meal replacement bar or shake.  So, save your money and make your own shakes, and you just MIGHT get similar results.
• The 3-day diet- Following a super strict dietary plan for three days, and then 4 days of “normal eating”, this diet hasn’t produced any compelling evidence that I could find that people have followed it and kept weight off.  There were many testimonials stating that in 3 days they lost lots of weight, but it is very likely that weight returned during the “off” days.

CONCLUSION

When evaluating popular or fad diets some will work and some won’t.  Some diets will cause a quick weight loss due to water weight, while others will truly change the composition of your body and help you to lose fat.  The bottom line becomes, do what is right for you and has a history of long term results.  While I know that a high protein diet helps millions of people lose weight, I love my bread too much to make that sacrifice.  Low fat works better for me because I can incorporate more of the foods I love, and I never cared much for meat anyway.  Follow a plan that focuses on lifestyle changes, rather than temporary changes.

Tagged as: Fad diets

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