Fad Diets

The Atkins Diet, the Beverly Hills Diet, The 3-Day Diet, the Scarsdale Diet, the Negative Calorie Diet, The Zone Diet or the Cabbage Soup Diet and South Beach Diet.

These are just a few of the countless American- made diets available. These diets fall under the label of Fad Diets touted to help you lose weight.

So what are fad diets?

Fad diets are eating programs that are generally unbalanced, unhealthy and not nutritionally sound. The Cabbage Soup Diet,  Scarsdale Diet, Grapefruit diet, The Three Day Diet, just to name a few.

Yes, if you follow these diets religiously, you will lose weight. But the weight loss is as temporary as the diet staying in the mainstream of society, soon to be replaced by the next latest fad diet- perhaps the Hard Boiled Egg and Soda Cracker diet?

For most Americans though, they want quick fixes. A pill they can gulp with their morning coffee and Danish that will miraculously shed off ten pounds in ten days. They don’t have time to walk around the block every night, so instead they enroll in a gym and let the membership lie stagnant after a few months of honest effort and sweat. Or they buy the latest treadmill or stair-climbing machine. That too, generally sits in the corner gathering cobwebs while monthly payments are still being doled out. The latest craze is a wall of rock that you can install in your backyard or home and rock-climb without leaving your property. All for a mere $10,000!

Many of the most popular diets introduced contain so much saturated fat and cholesterol that your poor heart gets weighed down. These fad diets are the type where results are seen in fourteen days, but that is usually all the time the diet lasts before being replaced with another.

So why are we obsessed with losing weight?

Some people blame the media for portraying the skinny, almost anorexic models that grace the covers of magazines. Hollywood gets the blame as well for promoting stars with youth and a trim figure, replacing other mega stars that now show their age.

America’s Next Top Model- the Swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated- all something perhaps a young girl dreams about but can’t achieve without promoting an unhealthy attitude toward food.

Most fad diets will cause you to lose weight. The weight loss will be a temporary weight-loss. If the diet you have chosen to lose weight with only subsists of a few foods, consider what you are robbing your system of? 

Any diet containing fewer than 130 grams of carbohydrate is a danger because of ketosis. Ketosis is when the body’s metabolism goes haywire based on a diet with just a few calories. Ketosis can cause nausea, vomiting, kidney stones. To prevent ketosis you need at least 100 grams of carbohydrates a day.

The best way to drop weight is to follow the Food Pyramid chart provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. If you don’t know where this pyramid is located, pick up a box of cold cereal at your grocery store. Y ou will find it on the back of the box. On your way out of the store, grab a gallon of low-fat milk. Milk and cereal for breakfast has been proven to be a sure way to shed some pounds!