July 3
Fad Diets: Why They Are Bad
Dieting has become a way of life for people everywhere who are on a constant search for ways to lose weight and get more fit. Every now and then you will hear about certain special kinds of diets that everybody else is doing and that you need to do too. These new dieting techniques bring hope of easy weightloss, quick fixes, and all kinds of other hype and are known as fad diets.
These fad diets are very bad for a few key reasons:
1. Unsustainable- The main reason fad diets are bad is because they are very hard to sustain. There are tons of different foods that you may like that must be excluded for all fad diets plus all kinds of foods that must be included that you may not like at all. Keeping a strict routine of only eating certain foods is hard to do and will likely eventually burn you out causing you to cheat on your diet or quit all together.
2. Lack of Nutrition- When cutting out certain foods and following a specific fad diet it usually means you are lacking nutrition in certain areas. Our bodies need all kinds of nutrients and our diet should include a proper balance of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vegetables, vitamins, water, fiber and minerals. Most fad diet are bad because they cut out necessary areas of nutrition that your body needs to function properly and be healthy.
3. Health Consequences- By cutting out certain areas of the food group for any given fad diet (the area being cut out being the reason it is posed as a great new diet plan), you throw your body out of balance and cause it to react in a very negative way that could have very servere health consequences in the long run.
Now that you understand how bad fad diets really are let me fill you in on the real secret to dieting… eating healthy. That’s all there is to it, granted it can be very hard for most people it really is that simple.
Don’t get caught up in all the hype revolving fad diets because the tried and true way to diet is simply to eat healthier. Cutting out fast food, eating more vegetables, cutting out greasy snacks, etc. If you really want to lose some weight, you need to actually put in the hard work of eating healthy. It won’t come easy but you won’t get to where you want to be in a healthy way any time soon by following the latest fad diet.
-Jason
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Living in LA I see tons of people jumping on the fad diets for a few months at a time. I definitely agree with you that there are problems related to these fad diets. Great post.
Thanks Nextiva. LA is probably fad diet central and I think there are even a few fad diets named after the city.
Fad diets are bad. So are pills and other weight loss ‘tricks’. Boca Raton is almost as bad as LA when it comes to these things. I really like the idea of eating multiple small meals a day and controlling your blood sugar level with good carbs. I find that works the best for me and is actually recommended by many health experts. Just my 2 cents.
I never wanted to think too much about what I eat, and I don’t care for exercise, but when I gained weight after child #1 and had lower energy levels, despite exclusive nursing, I bought this book for #2. Boy, am I glad I did! With easily liveable tweaks to my normal eating habits, I have been losing weight at a healthy rate of about a pound a week, and I feel better. I have two ways to know my supply isn’t compromised: my son is staying at the top of the growth charts, and my daily pumping (in preparation for returning to work) yields a lot.
First, details about the different vitamins and minerals (what they do, where to find them, how much you need) are presented. Then, foods are grouped according to similar nutritional content, and we’re told how to eat the right proportions of the groups for our body weights. I learned that just eating healthy foods isn’t enough – I have to eat the right amounts of the different foods. For example, fruit is healthy, but if I eat lots of fruits and not enough grains, my body won’t get what it needs and I’ll still feel hungry and tired. There’s a lot more great stuff, too. I only wish this book were updated to reflect current understandings of fats, and included the detail that you can shortchange your daily caloric intake by up to 500 calories/day below your current weight level without triggering your body’s hunger reflexes, so you shouldn’t try to eat too little.