The fad diet has all the appearances of doing what is intended; i.e. causing weight loss and it's therefore no surprise that people are confused as to why the fad diet is bad, particularly when significant weight loss occurs in a very few days. The dieter thinks "that's great, fad diets work fast so I won't have to do this for very long because I'm losing weight so quickly". However, the unfortunate truth is that the majority of what they're losing is water. Consequently, when the body rehydrates, as it will with normal fluid intake, all the weight goes back on.
So what is fad dieting? It's what's popular at the moment in the dieting world but it is also a diet that means following a strange eating pattern.
Some fad diets don't seem so strange, but the hype that surrounds them is a bit of a give-away. After all, who ever got excited about counting calories? One thing you can be sure of is that whoever invented the latest diet craze will be happily sitting back counting the piles of cash coming in. In some cases, the advice given will be genuine and useful but you could probably have got it at no cost from a healthcare professional and in other cases, the diet will be so complicated and difficult to fit with a normal lifestyle that the dieter will cave in after a very short time and return to the real world.
Why is the fad diet a bad thing?
1. Any diet which promises that weight loss will be quick and easy will almost certainly be based on eating a lot of one thing, e.g. all protein or cabbage soup. This sort of diet doesn't offer the balance you would get from a normal diet even if you take supplements to compensate for the natural vitamins and minerals that you're missing out on, which often cannot be absorbed unless used in concert with certain foodstuffs. The upshot of this will be nutritional deficiencies which could result in scurvy, rickets or other unpleasant diseases.
2. The fad diet, by its very nature, will become boring after a very short period of time. Mealtimes will not be any fun and you will constantly be thinking about the foods which you aren't allowed. You may even begin to believe that you are somehow at fault for not losing weight.
3. Very few fad diets follow the sort of regime that is needed for a healthy heart. Some consist of high amounts of protein with barely any carbohydrates. As many proteins such as red meat, bacon, sausages and cheese are high in saturated fats, large quantities are not going to be good for your cholesterol levels.
4. The fad diet probably won't encourage sufficient intake of fruit and vegetables or indeed encourage a variety in your diet.
5. Worst of all, if you do lose weight with your chosen diet, you will probably revert to your old, bad eating habits when you stop the diet because there will not have been the necessary encouragement to change your eating habits on a permanent basis.
The only safe way to lose weight and keep it off is to follow a sensible, balanced eating plan which changes your lifestyle forever. In this way, you're unlikely to put back on all the weight you've lost as you would with the fad diet.
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