Fad Diets Fail: What You Can Do
The air diet, the cotton ball diet, and the cigarette diet (yes, these apparently are real!) Over the years I have talked with people who are on whacky diets. These people were excited about how much weight they lost on their diet. Then I saw those same people gain it back again, and in some cases, gain even more than they had lost.
The problem with fad diets
The rebound weight gain is one of the main problems with fad diets. You have perhaps heard the term “yo-yo” dieting or weight cycling. This phenomenon is real. Per Web MD the more you yo-yo, the more you’re “likely to have problems like angina, heart attack, and stroke. And the bigger the swings, the bigger the risk.” Gallstones and imbalanced gut flora are also hazards of the quick weight loss approach.
Unfortunately, the faster the weight loss, the more the body compensates by lowering the amount of energy it uses. The body is very wasteful using up calories until it senses that food is scarce, as happens on a severe restriction diet, then it gets efficient and this adaptation can even last for years after the fad diet is stopped. Frontiers in Genetics (2019) used the example of participants of the TV show “The Biggest Loser” where a reduced metabolic rate led to all but 14 subjects regaining their weight.
Better than a fad
On the other hand, mice who had slow weight loss by eating at will and taking in fewer calories didn’t overeat when more food was available again and maintained their reduced body weight. The mice know best!
If you have read my book, “Wellness is More Than Weight: Easy Steps to Change your Health Habits and Your Life” you know that I am a fan of developing a mindset for PERMANENT lifestyle change, not a temporary, whacky diet. I have seen simple things like eliminating sodas or eating enough for one person instead of three people spontaneously lead to a decrease in weight. Habits matter.
Signs of a fad
How do you know it is a fad diet? Here are some clues:
Promises quick weight loss
Promotes magical or miracle foods (I think all foods in nature are a miracle)
Focuses on only one food, i.e. the cabbage diet
It says you can lose weight while eating unhealthy food and avoiding exercise
It doesn’t leave you feeling energized or healthy
It is an eating plan that is impossible to stick with for a lifetime
Eliminates one food group
I remember my mother going on different diets, one of which was the low-protein diet. After a week she was feeling so weak that she had to stop that diet. This was a bad fad.
Another fad diet that has always bothered me is the Growth Hormone diet where people eat only 700 calories a day along with taking growth hormone (GH) Sources report that “high doses of injected GH produced SLIGHT improvements in body fat, muscle mass, skin thickness, and bone density. However, these small changes were never shown to truly benefit health or lifespan. GH raises the risk of diabetes, other blood sugar problems, and cancer. Artificially manipulating hormones is unlikely to produce true anti-aging benefits…” says an article published by the National Institutes of Health.
As a nutritionist, I know that not getting a well-rounded source of foods will lead to a deficiency of many nutrients. Getting what the body needs to do it’s work is the REAL purpose of food. Speaking of anti-aging, healthy foods are the best at avoiding the main culprits of aging – inflammation, poor blood sugar control, and oxidative stress.
Some would say that rigid timing and/or making a particular component of food a villain is the sign of a fad diet. Intermittent fasting and diets that reduce carbohydrates (ketogenic, etc.) can have medical benefits if your doctor suggests that for you. Otherwise, again if you are finding that you are not feeling your energetic best and find it a difficult diet to sustain then perhaps that eating plan is not for you.
What can you do?
Fad diets are usually for those who are trying to look sexy, but the advice to healthier weight loss is not particularly sexy – just wisdom you have heard or read many times before. That advice has been around for a long time for a reason.
Get your head in the game and work on your mindset for change first. Find what is important to you, develop confidence, and increase your motivation to make new habits. If you are not sure how there is a quiz at abbykurthnutrition.coach that can help.
Skip sodas and poor-quality food
Eat more health-promoting foods
Eat only as much as you need to meet your daily energy requirements
Move more
Be patient and go slow
What you hope a diet will do is help you feel good for a long and healthy life. A quick fix is not the answer to a lifelong need.
PS. Have you wanted to know more about the new diabetes weight loss drugs? So have I so I will be researching that topic and hope to write about it soon.