Fad Diet

Suppose eating a balanced diet was as simple as eating one apple daily or just consuming soup. Or eating particular foods according to your blood type—by now, your doctor and the medical profession as a whole would have informed you of this.

In reality, nobody is keeping a secret about how to lose weight. The secret to eating healthily is the same advice you hear over and over again. Consume a range of natural, whole foods. Consume a lot of plant-based foods. Limit the amount of packaged and processed meals you consume.

A fad diet: what is it?

Fad diets are eating programs that are frequently marketed as the “fastest” or “best” way to reduce weight. They may seem like a brand-new “hack” that promises a healthier, better version of yourself.

Fad diets frequently include avoiding specific foods, completely banning entire food groupings, or exaggerating the health advantages of a single meal. Some fad diets, for example:

• Promote particular foods.
• Suggest that you go excessive with some foods, such as those containing probiotics.
• Emphasize how important it is to eat a lot of fat and very few carbs.
• Encourage a diet rich in protein.
• Remove vital sources of nourishment, such as grains.
• Prohibit specific compounds, such as lectins.
• Requires you to purchase their vitamins or foods.
• Provide a strict diet plan that restricts the consumption of specific foods to specific times of the day or specific combinations of foods.

The problem is that, when they are supported by research at all, fad diets are frequently founded on incomplete or inaccurate studies.

Fad diets frequently draw from research findings, but they often take advantage of them to the point that science does not support them.

Fruit, for example, is good for you. Nobody is going to argue that. However, does that suggest that going completely fruitarian and consuming only citrus and strawberries is healthy? No.

The side effects of fad diets

There are certain health problems that do need you to limit or avoid particular meals. That is a fairly common, scientifically supported method of treating diseases like diabetes, kidney disease, heart disease, and celiac disease. To make sure you’re getting the right nutrients and controlling your disease, those diets should be constantly monitored by a healthcare professional, such as a doctor or dietitian.

However, fad diets are rarely promoted as a healthy way of living for those with chronic diseases. They are more frequently promoted as a do-it-yourself, simple weight-loss trick. However, they fail to mention that their effects are likely to be temporary and that they may cause you to miss out on vital nutrients.

Limiting important nutrients

The complete spectrum of vitamins and minerals that your body truly needs is usually overlooked by fad diets.

Fad diets are problematic because they frequently suggest avoiding items that are essential for maintaining good health.

Major nutrients like dietary fiber or carbs, as well as certain vitamins, minerals, and beneficial phytochemicals, may be absent from fad diets. You run the danger of experiencing major health problems if you cut out on nutrients.

On the other hand, fad diets could place too much emphasis on particular foods, which can also be harmful. Fad diets frequently promote consuming items like grapefruit or acai berries in quantities far higher than those advised by respected health groups such as the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics or the American Heart Association.

Temporary benefits (if any)

One characteristic unites all fad diets: they provide a temporary solution for a problem that many people face throughout their lives. Specifically, losing weight.

Any benefits are typically gone once the diet is stopped.

Weight loss-focused fad diets could temporarily help you lose a few pounds. However, weight loss is typically rapidly restored. This is because fad diets aren’t sustainable over the long term and don’t emphasize changing one’s lifestyle, which is essential to maintaining weight loss.

Following a very limited diet is quite challenging. Eliminating all meals might cause cravings and a sense of deprivation. Furthermore, the majority of fad diets don’t offer much flexibility. You “cheat” on your diet, then. Eventually, it becomes too much to handle, so you give it up.

Furthermore, most fad diets don’t include other healthy lifestyle changes like exercise, better sleep, or stress management, so when you quit following the diet, your weight goes back to where it was.

Identifying a fad diet

However, how can you tell if the advice you’re receiving is sound counsel or just a fad diet? Watch out for these indicators that shout “fad diet”:

• Suggestions that guarantee a speedy solution.
• This includes claims that appear too wonderful to be true.
• Simple findings derived from a complicated investigation.
• Suggestions based on a single study.
• Dramatic claims that respectable scientific institutions reject.
• lists of foods classified as “good” or “bad.”
• suggestions designed to increase the sales of a book or product.
• Suggestions based on research that was not subjected to external review.
• Recommendations based on research that disregards individual or group variations.
• One or more of the five food groups—fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy products, and protein foods—are eliminated.

Considerations Before Starting a Fad Diet

Before starting a new diet, you should ask yourself these three crucial questions:

• Why am I interested in trying this diet?
• Do I need to reduce my weight?
• Would I feel my best if I continued to do this for the rest of my life?

Because our bodies are so intelligent, they have a “happy weight” that they prefer to maintain. According to the set point idea, there is a limit to how much we can do to permanently alter our physical size. Understanding your genetic blueprint is important. There is diversity throughout the body. Adopting a lifestyle that seems sustainable—not strain—will probably make you happier and healthier.

The next question is important: is this sustainable for you? We are aware of the negative health effects of yo-yo dieting, which involves repeatedly losing and gaining weight. Maintaining a constant weight over time is healthier.

The Most Common Fad Diets

These are eight of the most well-known fad diets that we have seen over the years:

The South Beach Diet

The maximum for the South Beach Diet is 28%.

The three phases of this diet are weight reduction, weight maintenance, and weight loss.

Phase 1: Consume lean protein, high-fiber veggies, low-fat dairy, and unsaturated fats during three meals and two snacks over two weeks. Avoid juice and alcohol, and limit fruit and carbohydrates.

Phase 2: This is the “long-term weight-loss phase” that participants go through until they hit their target weight. Dieters are told to stick to the same fundamental rules from the first phase during this period. Fruit, entire grains, and some forms of alcohol are now permitted in moderation.

Phase 3: After reaching their target weight, individuals move into a maintenance phase when they can eat any meal in moderation while adhering to the fundamental guidelines suggested in the previous phases.

Carbohydrates are often viewed harmfully. The body uses carbs as its primary energy source. They also strengthen our muscles, support our immune systems, enhance digestive health, and have a good impact on our mood, appetite, and sleep patterns. Because it impacts so many of our physical and emotional processes, cutting carbs to lose weight should not be done carelessly.

Atkins Diet

As the first low-carb diet, Atkins caused a sensation in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The diet was first created in the 1970s by cardiologist Robert Atkins, M.D., and it suggests how much carbohydrates to consume depending on your weight loss objectives.

Although Atkins may help in weight loss, it is difficult to maintain over time. It also excludes a lot of nutritious plant-based foods. This could result in you not getting enough fiber, vitamins, and minerals.

Many nutritious items, like fruits, vegetables, beans, lentils and grains, are extremely restricted on this diet. A half-cup of chickpeas, for example, contains 20 grams of carbohydrates, which is the most you may have in a day if you’re following the highest level of Atkins or keto diet. This means that you are not allowed to consume any other carbohydrates, such as fruits or vegetables, on that day.

As a result, vitamin and mineral shortages as well as constipation due to a lack of fiber can easily develop from either of these fad diets.

Paleo Diet

Paleo, which stands for Paleolithic, is a diet consisting of traditional hunter-gatherer foods. In addition to eggs, fruit, nonstarchy vegetables, unsaturated fats, water, and some alcohol, people on a paleo diet get half of their calories from muscular animal products. According to research, there are significant health claims linked to the paleo diet, such as that it helps treat cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.

However, the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics points out that one aspect of the paleo diet that doesn’t track is the exclusion of whole grains, a food group that has been linked to reducing the risk of certain diseases. Another significant drawback of a diet that eliminates a lot of foods is that it might lead to unhealthy continuous thinking about your eating habits.

Raw Food Diet

Even though it has survived since the 1800s, this fad diet reappears every few years. Since it is predicated on consuming meals uncooked, nothing should be cooked to a temperature higher than 118 degrees Fahrenheit.

How does it work, then? Supporters contend that heating a substance above that point destroys its natural enzymes. In addition to dehydrating, fermenting, and sprouting fruits and vegetables, raw produce can be juiced by anyone following a raw food diet. While some recipes contain dairy and raw eggs, others are entirely vegan.

This trendy diet worries me as a nutritionist because I’m concerned about food safety and whether anyone can obtain enough nutrients from it.

Disease caused by food is more likely to occur when foods are not allowed to heat through, particularly when raw, uncooked milk and eggs are included.

Consuming a lot of produce is undoubtedly a part of a balanced, healthful diet, but consuming only raw plant foods might not be the greatest option. Studies reveal that cooking releases several minerals, such as lycopene and beta-carotene.

The Macrobiotic Diet

This primarily plant-based diet, which has been popular since the 1920s, aims to bring the body’s equilibrium and tranquility back. Depending on your gender, age, geography, and current health conditions, you eat different foods.

Eat a lot of whole grains, legumes, and seasonal vegetables if you want to go macrobiotic. Red meat, poultry, dairy, eggs, and fish are acceptable, but only in certain situations. Avoid processed foods, coffee, alcohol, tropical fruits, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, and added sugars.

This diet appears to be very heart-healthy on the surface. However, in practice, this diet appears to be poor in protein and is bland.

Volumetrics Diet

Beginning in 2009, Barbara Rolls, Ph.D., pushed the word volumetrics through a series of books. The main goal of this diet plan is to consume fewer calories while yet feeling full. Mainstays include whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy products.

Many people enjoy that you can eat a lot of some meals, mostly vegetables, and soup, and still feel quite full, which is something that many Americans have grown accustomed to with enormous portions.

It divides food into four calorie-based groupings, which may interfere with a healthy relationship with eating, even if it will probably keep you satisfied. Furthermore, there are several justifications for not keeping track of calories. In addition to being a social and cultural component of our lives, food serves as fuel. How will your capacity to enjoy your trip to Italy, where there is excellent pizza and pasta, or your daily life at home, which includes going out to eat with friends, be affected if you’re constantly attempting to consume the most important foods?

Keto Diet

Carbohydrates are severely limited on the ketogenic diet to around 5% of calories, or 25 grams of carbohydrates daily. Dieters are advised to consume modest amounts of protein and bigger amounts of lipids in substitute of those skipped carbohydrates. People find it hard to stick to such a rigid diet, even if it will probably help them lose weight in the near run.

Long-term ketogenic diet use carries several very serious concerns, such as low blood pressure, kidney stones, vitamin deficiencies, and an increased possibility of heart disease.

The 5:2 Diet

The 5:2 diet, one of various forms of intermittent fasting, calls for eating normally five days a week and fasting the other two (nonconsecutive) days. Up to 600 calories may be consumed during the fasting days, which isn’t much energy for your brain.

After attempting this kind of fasting, some people report beneficial outcomes; they may experience improvements in blood glucose levels and feel more energetic.

However, this approach is stupid for people who are busy, energetic, and growing, or parents who have to keep up with their children. Additionally, because this fad diet is so severe on the days that you fast, it will be very tempting to overeat on the days when you don’t fast, which could prevent you from losing any weight at all.

You will most likely feel angry, have little energy, and begin to obsess over calories and food. Although it will aid in weight loss, this eating pattern may lead to overeating. I don’t advise it, and I don’t believe that severe calorie restriction can be maintained over time.

Tips for safely losing weight

Stick to tried-and-true (and evidence-based) weight loss and healthy living advice instead of hopping on the newest diet fad. Specifically:

• Consume a range of minimally processed or unprocessed foods.
• At every meal, roughly half of your plate should be made up of fresh fruits and vegetables.
• Don’t go excessive with portion quantities.
• Engage in regular exercise.
• Maintain a moderate amount of stress.
• Make sure you get enough sleep.
• Make sure you drink enough water.

The Mediterranean diet is often regarded by medical professionals as the best way to eat healthily. It emphasizes lean proteins, healthy fats, and entire, natural foods.

Consult with a healthcare professional, such as a registered dietitian or your primary care physician, if you have any doubts about the healthfulness of the diet and eating recommendations you’re receiving. They can assist you in sticking to a healthy eating plan that achieves your objectives.

Conclusion

The ideal diet shouldn’t feel like a “diet” at all, in contrast to fad diets that are quite restricted. It’s just a well-balanced eating pattern that allows you to stay healthy, be active, and take part in festivities.

Instead of cutting out entire food groups or hundreds of calories, try to eat a varied menu that emphasizes adding more healthy foods, color, fiber, and enjoyment to your plate. That is a happier, healthier diet.

FAQs

Reference

• Migala, J. (2025, February 4). 10 Famous fad diets: Pros and cons. EverydayHealth.com. https://www.everydayhealth.com/food/the-10-most-famous-fad-diets-of-all-time.aspx
• Clinic, C. (2024a, September 6). 11 Ways to spot a fad Diet. Cleveland Clinic. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/fad-diets
• Walsh, K. (2023, April 13). Fad diets: The most popular ones and are they healthy? EatingWell. https://www.eatingwell.com/article/8041459/fad-diets/