Fad Diets & How To Spot Them

Dieting Fads

There are literally hundreds of variations on diets out there; there are books, DVDS, videos and clubs on offer. How do we know which ones to choose and do any of them work, if so which are the most successful? Some of them do have credence in helping a person lose weight others can pose a significant risk to our health and some are nothing more than scams.

Fad diets

In this group diets that leave out major food groups are included:

High protein diets - The high protein diet reduces by significant amounts the percentage of carbohydrates in the diet, these carbohydrates are an essential part of a healthy diet and can cause problems if our body lacks them

Low fat & one particular food group diets - These diets often leave out entire food groups and essential fats which our body needs; they often lack essential nutrients such as fibre and carbohydrates, as well as minerals and certain vitamins.

Antioxidants can also be left out which are found in vegetables and these are essential in helping our bodies resist diseases. Following diets such as these over any period of time can have adverse effects on your health and may lead to serious health problems developing later in life.

Weight loss programs & clubs

There are a few well known clubs that have particularly good success rates for helping dieters. These clubs are normally visited on a weekly basis and require membership; probably the reason behind the success rate is that you are not alone in your quest for losing weight.

Meetings will involve talking about your diet and discussing any achievements or failures in weight loss during the week and at most meetings your weight will be checked from week to week.

Most of the clubs offer you meal planning and some of them have there own particular brand of meal replacements with pre counted calories. Most diets that are recommended by clubs are calorie controlled diets combined with daily exercise routines.

The magic diet pills

There are an increasingly large number of magic pills on offer that promise quick and easy weight loss, in general most of these fall short of what they claim and some can even be dangerous to our health particularly those containing the drug Ephedra.

This drug increases the metabolism which in turn increases the heart rate and can lead to heart palpitations. There has been no scientific proof that any of these so called slimming pills have any affect on losing weight.

How to recognise fad diets

* Any diet or pill that claims to shed pounds instantly.

* Any that sound too good to be true probably are.

* Any diet that recommends "good" or "bad" foods.

* Recommendations that help boost the selling of a product.

* Any diet that totally eliminates one or more of the five food groups.

* Simple conclusions taken from complex studies.

* Any recommended from a single study.

* Warnings of dangers from a product or health regime.

Filed under: Diet Fads

Fad Diets & How To Spot Them

Dieting Fads

Weight Loss, Slimming & Dieting

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