Health Education Answers: Do Fad Diets Really Work?

What is a Fad Diet?

Fad diets are often promoted as a “miracle” or “latest” new diet. They often open up with claims about eating what you want, when you want, and the weight will fall off. Others claim you don’t need to work out, and you’ll suddenly have a remarkable beach body. Admittedly, some of these diets do work short term since calorie intake is so low, but the second you stop it and get back to a regular diet, the weight piles right back on. The HCG diet plan, for example, has people dropping down to 500 calories per day – which cannot be sustained long term.

Indications of a Bad Fad Diet Plan

So how do you recognize a fad diet when you see it?

A plan that only focuses on a few food groups is a start. Any type of diet that limits you from consuming foods from all the groups must be avoided (unless for medical reasons).

Any diets identified as “detoxification” diet plans. These are often extreme and require body cleanses, injections, etc. According to Pamela Peeke, MD, the primary medical contributor for Discovery Heath, cleanse diets are nonsense and there is no clinical research to support their efficiency for long term weight loss objectives.

Diets that use a wonder food– such as green tea or apple cider vinegar. Once again, no single food group can trigger long-lasting weight reduction. It is possible though, to include these things into a healthy diet with exercising to aid weight loss.

Any diet plan that sounds like it is too great to be real. Let’s face it; if a diet promises to help you shed a significant amount of weight in no time, it’s most likely not healthy.

What Does Work

Crash diets come and go due to the fact that they are simply trends. If you actually want to drop pounds, don’t buy into the diets that claim to show results in a matter of weeks. Instead, follow the fundamentals of healthy eating that consist of:

Having a variety of whole foods, grains, vegetables, dairy, and so on
Practicing portion control. Portion sizes these days are a lot larger than they used to be. By monitoring your portion sizes alone, you could drop a couple of dress sizes.
Avoid bad fats – such as fried foods and convenience food items.
Workout for a minimum of 150 minutes every week.
Get rid of temptation from your house, including high-calorie, high-fat foods.
Eat smaller dishes more often to kick-start your metabolism.
Fill up on healthy stuff, like raw veggies and fruit.

With a healthy eating plan and exercise, you can lose unwanted pounds safely. Although fad diets are not recommended, weight loss supplements or fat burners, can help you shed more pounds when you incorporate them into your new health regimen.