Fad Diets – Do They Work?

Fad diets have a negative stigma attached to them and are often ridiculed by doctors and health professionals for their promotion of short-term weight loss and lack of thought about long term weight management. So why are they so popular?

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Why Are Fad Diets Popular?

It seems that almost every week there is a new diet regime, which insists that you will shed pounds in hours! From low carb to low fat to low sugar it’s hard to keep up with what we should and shouldn’t be doing when it comes to dieting. It seems that celebrity influence is what draws us to these diets with the likes of Megan Fox, doing the caveman diet, Miley Cyrus going gluten-free and Miranda Kerr on the blood type diet.

Our Favourite Fads

The Caveman Diet: The caveman diet – also known as the paleo diet – is simple; you eat what cavemen used to eat, so meat, veg, eggs, some fruit and nuts. If it is more than 5 ingredients then is probably isn’t suitable to eat.

The Blood Type Diet: This diet claims that eating right for your blood type can help you lose weight.

Bloody Type O – high protein and low on grains and dairy

Blood Type A – Meat free diet based on fruit and vegetables

Blood Type B – Avoid gluten and eat a lot of green vegetables

Blood Type AB – Avoid caffeine and eat tofu instead of meat along with green vegetables

The Baby Food Diet: You guessed it! Replace two meals a day with baby food.

The No Sugar Diet: No sugar for 6 weeks – including fruit!

The French Woman Diet: Small portions of rich food like steak and no packaged food.

The Pil Sook Diet: The rule: “Eat breakfast like a queen, lunch like a commoner and dinner like a pauper.” The catch: no liquids after 7pm and daily 30-minute jump rope sessions.

Do They Work?

Kaisa Vainio, 22, from London, tried the no sugar diet early in 2014 and says: “it worked well at first, even though I was so hungry at the start, but then it became really difficult especially when I wanted to eat out. And I haven’t really kept the weight off.”

Since fad diets often have you deprived of something whether it is meat or sugar it’s hard to stay on them for too long. So even if you have lost weight it’s difficult to keep it off once you go back to eating regularly.

Dr C Rajeswaran from The London Obesity Clinic says that: “Diets which promote a quick-fix only look at short-term weight loss. The only way to lose weight for the long term is to alter your lifestyle. Eating healthy and doing regular exercise is the only way to achieve this.”

Rajeswaran continues: “Some extreme fad diets often leave people feeling worse because they aren’t giving their bodies what it needs to survive.”

So, that solves it. Fad diets are good for a quick fix but if you’re looking to loose weight and keep it off then it’s about a lifestyle change, doing an extra 30 minutes on the treadmill and swapping burgers for salads.

You don’t have to spend long grueling hours in the gym to lose weight. Try EMDM’s favourite workout 8 Minute Abs workout, which you can do in the morning before hopping in the shower.

Posted by edosux