Fad diets
With the media exposing celebrities, their diets and weight losses or gains, it is easy to assume a quick fix can help us achieve the body we desire.
People’s dietary habits have changed over the past few decades to include larger serving sizes, more processed foods; containing higher amounts of fats and sugars, increased snacking (without decreasing meal size) and less activity. Meaning there are now twice as many overweight people compared to 2 decades ago.
Aside from the issues of appearance and finding clothes to fit, being a healthy weight significantly reduces the risk of developing high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, gallstones, respiratory problems, sleep apnoea, gout, arthritis, and certain types of cancer. You will also have more energy and feel healthier and more confident!
Beware of fad diets
There is no quick fix for weight loss, despite what the latest celebrity endorsement suggests. Excess body weight doesn’t appear overnight and it won’t disappear that quickly either. Many of the diets we try are classified as ‘fad diets’ and there is a wide variety of weird and sometimes scary diet plans. Despite all their promises fad diets do not work. The initial weight loss which occurs on fad diets is mostly due to loss of glycogen (stored energy in muscle) and water, not fat. As soon as you start to eat ‘normally’ the weight comes back on again – usually with a bit extra for your effort.
To be successful with weight loss and the maintenance of a healthy weight, it helps to look at common factors among those who manage to successfully maintain a healthy weight. Usually this involves choosing a lifestyle that embraces eating nutritious food and exercising regularly, with the occasional indulgent treat thrown in to satisfy cravings.
Signs of a fad diet
- An important food group is totally removed from the diet plan – beware as this can result in nutrient deficiencies.
- Promotion of a specific food group or supplement to excess.
- Promises of huge weight loss in a short period of time. Losing more than 1kg per week is unlikely to last and often it is mainly fluids that are lost. Losing ½ to 1 kg per week is more realistic.
- Rigid menus or schedules – These can be unrealistic resulting in the inability to stick to the diet and subsequent binge eating.
- Unrealistic menu plans for the long term or average lifestyle - generally leads to yo-yo dieting, as these diets can be difficult to stick to and can lead to more weight gain than pre diet.
- The diet plans are all low calorie - Extremely low energy diets or those that reduce particular food groups can result in dehydration, muscle breakdown and deficiencies in several important nutrients.
- Claims that sound too good to be true.
- Diets where the focus is on appearance rather than overall health and wellbeing.
Some of the more extreme fad diets include:
The cabbage soup diet
Mainly comprised of eating homemade cabbage soup, as much as you want as often as you want. Aside from the taste and smell this diet will leave you deficient in many nutrients.
Detox diets
The theory behind these are that eliminating all foods except fruit, vegetables and water you can rid the body of toxins and aid weight loss. However it is the job of the liver to remove toxins, and it does its role very well. Detox diets will promote weight loss, but only because they are very low in calories and lack many essential nutrients.
The Atkins diet
This low carbohydrate diet was popular a few decades ago – until it was linked to heart disease and high cholesterol levels. It is now making a comeback, this time in a less restrictive form allowing more carbohydrates in the form of wholegrains, certain fruit and vegetables. This diet is still quite low in carbohydrates, which contrary to many beliefs, are essential to our health and are not the cause of all weight gain.