DO FAD DIETS WORK?

Doesn’t it seem like there is a new diet every day which promises quick weight loss in an easy way? Their convincing strategies are so good that most of us fall prey to it.

So what are fad diets?

Fad diets are diets that assure weight loss or health advantages like longer life or good skin without a solid science backing.They’re usually characterized by restrictive and unusual food choices like the cabbage soup diet which makes you have cabbage soup thrice a day and rest is only fruit/root vegetables or keto which is a high-fat diet.

Why it’s harmful?

  • Fad diets usually involve restricting yourself from calories which may end up making you feel tired. They restrict you from our regular foods which make you deficient in various minerals and vitamins, leading to malnourishment.
  • They can make you severely dehydrated as, in such diets, the quick weight loss is because of water loss.
  • Losing weight quickly will lead you into digestive issues like diarrhoea, constipation.

What is the usual composition?

Fad diets usually restrict one thing and promote the other, like the Whole 30 Diet puts you on No grains/legumes/dairy/soy and focuses on veggies/fruits/seafood which increases the fibre intake and less of carbs and proteins. This would obviously lead to weight loss, but is it healthy?

What are the longterm implications?

Fad diets are not something that can be followed by a longterm but its effects can be long term. Since they’re short-term and more like a quick fix, once you get back to the normal routine you may put on the kilos again and this yo-yoing weight is hazardous. One thing that we need to understand is that not all weight loss is good weight loss; you could be losing on your muscle mass or water content of the body.

You will surely keep hearing about fancier and easier diets on social media or every party, but you gotta be wise enough to pick. They can be used as a quick fix to break the weight loss plateau but in the long run, they’re harmful. Nothing beats striking the balance between nutrients on a daily basis which is 55% carbs, 25% proteins and 20% of fat. 

Lose the weight but in a healthy way!