Dubious Diet Fads: Debunked!
Let's face it – a balanced diet doesn't entail solely fruit juice, loads of red meat, or only raw food. Yet Americans fall for diet fads like these time and time again, with the hope that a new trend, if followed strictly, will translate to rapid weight loss.
Unfortunately, these fads are just that – bogus schemes that come and go as soon as they are proven medically unsound. The key to a healthy body is healthy eating, and diet fads are no way to achieve it. Below are insights into some of the most high-profile (and sometimes comical!) unsound dieting trends of our times.
Atkins Diet
Over six million copies of the book “Dr. Robert Atkins' New Diet Revolution” were sold during this diet's heyday. The idea behind the plan was that you should eat large amounts of protein and severely restrict your carbohydrate intake, leading to rapid weight loss. The idea was that a low-carb diet forces the body into ketosis, and the body turns to your stored fat as a source of energy instead of using carbohydrates.
Many people liked this diet because they did see weight loss at the beginning, and the logic seemed sound. The Atkins plan recommended that its followers eat only 20 grams per day of carbohydrates, while it is widely known that a typical American diet should include around 275 grams per day. The diet, which also lacked fruits, vegetables, fiber, and other important nutrients, was deemed unsound by the medical community because of the nutrition loss and unhealthy imbalance it caused.
Zone Diet
A book published in 1995 named “Enter the Zone”, by Dr. Barry Sears, caused a phenomenon called the zone diet. Dr. Sears claimed that dieting had less to do with calorie control than insulin control, and that maintaining a very careful level of the hormone insulin in one's body was the key to weight loss. The key to this was severely reducing your fat intake, essentially by reducing the number of calories you eat in a day and monitoring when and how much food you eat, thereby staying “in the zone.”
Critics have proved, however, that weight loss on this diet has little to do with regulating insulin levels and everything to do with the fact that it is a “semi-starvation diet,” and that you will of course lose weight if you eat very little, regardless of whether you eliminate protein, carbohydrates, or fat from your diet. What's also true is that as soon as you stop following the diet's strictures, you will probably gain the weight straight back that you had lost.
Fat Smash Diet
The fat smash diet is yet another celebrity-endorsed plan, directing people to follow its routine for 90 days. Four phases detoxify the system and rid dieters of their bad habits, and are guided by the principles of portion control, not skipping meals, eating four or five times a day, and getting regular exercise. This diet was attractive to many because it was marketed as a “lifestyle change” and not a temporary diet, which is a goal for a large number of people.
This plan is a healthy one for its guiding principles, but has been criticized for its list of forbidden foods and the discussion of detoxification – both of which are harsh ways to treat your body. The creator of the diet also suggests waiting until the last phase to incorporate specific kinds of exercise, whereas health experts recommend that a wide range of exercises are a vital part of any healthy lifestyle.
Fruit Juice Diet
The fruit juice diet is, unfortunately, just what it sounds like – a diet where only fruit juice is allowed – no food, no nothing. Its claims are appealing:
- It will slow down your metabolism.
- It will provide a full-system body cleanse.
- It will make your body function more efficiently.
- It will improve digestion.
- You can lose 30 to 40 pounds in a 30-day juice diet.
For people who are desperate to lose weight and who have tried other diets unsuccessfully, it is understandable they might turn to this extreme (and somewhat frightening) diet plan. Dieters were told to mix and blend fruit juices like watermelon, lemon, apple, orange, strawberry, and cantaloupe, but couldn't eat any solid food.
People on this diet did see signs of weight loss, but this was due solely to the fact that they had severely decreased their daily caloric intake. With this, of course, was a massive loss in health and nutrients for the body. No whole grains, protein, or vegetables were allowed, and the giant upswing in sugar intake was far from healthy. Yikes.
Blood Type Diet
The book “Eating Right for your Type” by Peter J. D'Adamo set off another craze. He claimed that people with different “original blood types” served different societal roles in ancient times, and that following these biological roles would be a healthy way to diet. For example, Type Os were meat-eating cavemen, Type As were vegetarians, and Type Bs were omnivores.
People liked this diet because they could then rationalize their over-consumption of the food assigned to their “original blood type” – a bogus concept in the first place. Doctors have shown that there is no logical rationale for the diet, and that no evidence exists that links certain blood types to exclusive diets in prehistoric times. Eating well-balanced meals is a much healthier option than eating one type of meal to excess, particularly when based on an unlikely notion of ancestral predisposition.
Hallelujah Diet
The Hallelujah diet is a Christian faith-based diet plan designed by Reverend George Malkmus. This diet encourages people to eat mostly raw, healthy foods that God put on the Earth for human consumption, as outlined in the book of Genesis in the Bible. The diet consists of 85% uncooked and unprocessed plant-based food, and 15% cooked plant-based food. Details state explicitly which foods and drinks can be consumed, at which meals, and how they should be prepared.
Many followers liked this diet because of its Christian foundation, and because of how incredibly healthy the foods sounded. Experts do agree that everyone's diet should include many fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. The issue with the Hallelujah diet, however, is that the diet plan lacks any scientific proof, and relies solely on evidence in the Bible for its justification. A raw diet lacking any animal products is not necessarily the healthiest option for humans, either. The extremely low calorie intake and inadequate levels of protein also strike alarm bells for health experts.
Cabbage Soup Diet
The cabbage soup diet has been circulating in various versions for years. Dieters follow a strict one-week routine that purportedly guarantees that they will lose 10-15 pounds. On the diet, people eat very small amounts of fruit, vegetables, grains, and meat, and can eat unlimited amounts of cabbage soup. This fad appealed to dieters because they still allegedly received the nutrients they needed (unlike in many other diets) and were able to curb their appetite by eating as much soup as they wanted.
Unfortunately, this diet is like so many others in that it is essentially an altered version of a fast. Weight loss happens rapidly because of caloric restriction and bodily loss of water, not because cabbage soup holds any magical cure. Problems with this diet are that the weight is usually gained back after going off the diet, such a low rate of calories per day is considered medically unsafe, and your food intake is seriously lacking in appropriate amounts of nutrients. Also, who wants to eat cabbage soup all day long for seven days?
South Beach Diet
The South Beach diet is quite similar to the Atkins diet in that it encourages low-carbohydrate and high-protein consumption. Created by Dr. Arthur Agatston, his book created a frenzy after the Atkins diet was debunked by scientists and the medical field in general. It was more popular because “good carbs,” those that have a low amount of sugar, were still allowed in the diet plan. It was also appealing to dieters because it had a three-phase process, the first two of which are the “lose weight fast” steps, with the third being a long-term maintenance program.
The South Beach plan is actually one of the better diet plans for your health in that it includes all major food groups. However, the “lose weight fast” steps restrict a person nutrient intake by banning certain foods, and much of the weight lost is actually water weight rather than fat. Losing so much water can throw off electrolyte balance, which is an important aspect of a healthy body. In short, even if you aim to have a svelte, bikini-wearing South Beach body, this diet isn't the safest or healthiest way to do so.
Hollywood Miracle Diet
Creators of the Hollywood diet claim that the weight-conscious can buy their “miracle diet drink” and lose up to five pounds in 24 hours, and up to 10 pounds in 48 hours. Their “delicious diet aids” are a blend of juices, botanical extracts, vitamins, minerals, and anti-oxidants. People were drawn to the campaign because of its attractive references to glitz, glamour, and Hollywood stars. Also, the prospect of losing so much weight so fast was deeply appealing to many.
An all-liquid diet, however, is always harmful to the body because it is impossible to receive all the nutrition you need without eating well-rounded meals. Weight loss may occur, but only as the result of severe calorie restriction (the drinks only provide 25% of the daily recommended number of calories), and also potentially from water weight. Starving yourself is no way to control your weight long term, and causes severe physical and mental strains which can be avoided altogether by following regimens of healthy eating and exercise, rather than fad diets based on Hollywood mania.
5 Factor Diet
The 5 factor diet is another scheme endorsed by Hollywood celebrities, and has allegedly helped Jessica Simpson, Alicia Keys, John Mayer, and Kanye West improve their bodies. This plan suggests that dieters follow a number of rules:
- Every meal should include foods from five categories – fiber, fat, fluids, protein, and complex carbohydrates.
- Meals should be eaten five times per day.
- Recipes should be cooked that take no more than five minutes to make, with five or fewer ingredients.
- A five-day exercise plan should be followed, that included five exercises completed for five minutes each.
- The plan should be followed for five weeks.
This plan attracted followers because five meals a day was an appealing concept, and there was also a “cheat day” scheduled into the regimen when you could eat whatever you wanted – rare for any diet plan. Nutrition experts agree that this diet is better than others because it incorporates all food groups in reasonable proportions. However, no scientific evidence supports the claim that the key to weight loss is eating five meals a day. The plan, if it does work, works for the same reason that anyone loses weight without compromising healthiness: by encouraging you to control your appetite, eat the recommended number of daily calories, and choose smaller portions.
Photos courtesy of UPenn Gazette, Zimbio, Wazzup-Malao, Buen Vivir, Divya-Dilse, and LivinLaVidaLoCarb
