How to Recognize a Fad Diet

Fad Diets Typically Share the Following Characteristics They promote quick weight loss. (usually the thing lost is glycogen, sodium, and lean muscle mass depletion) They limit food selections and dictate specific rituals, such as eating only fruit for breakfast or cabbage soup everyday. They use testimonials from famous people and tie the diet to well-known cities, such as Beverly Hills and New York. ? ? ? ? ? Dr. Debetz Champagne Diet ?

Fad Diet Characteristics (cont.) They bill themselves as cure-alls. These diets claim to work for everyone, what ever the type of obesity or the persons specific strengths and weaknesses. They often recommend expensive supplements. No attempts are made to change eating habits permanently. Dieters follow the diet until the desired weight is reached and then revert to old eating habits.

Low-Fact Diet News Volume 1, Issue 1 March 2005 Fad Diet of the Month The 7-day All You Can Eat Diet MONDAY - All the fruit and tofu you want TUESDAY – Eat a ll the vegetables you want using soy sauce, and vinegar. WEDNESDAY -All the fruit & vegetables you can handle. THURSDAY - 5 bananas with 5 glasses of milk FRIDAY - 4 (3 oz pork chops) with fresh vegetables SATURDAY - 4 (3 oz. Chicken breasts) with fresh vegetables SUNDAY - 4 (3 oz. beef steaks) with fresh vegetables Fad-Diets are generally critical of and skeptical about the scientific community. They suggest that physicians and registered dietitians do not really want people to lose weight. They encourage people to look outside the medical establishment for correct advise. **Top 5 Dieter Tips** 1. If you eat something and no one sees you eat it, it has no calories. 2. If you drink a diet soda with a candy bar, the calories in the candy bar are cancelled out by the diet soda. 3. Things licked off knives and spoons have no calories if you are in the process of preparing something. 4. If you fatten up everyone else around you, then you look thinner 5. Tasting other people's food does not add to your calorie count Look Like this in 10-Days! Try 4 new body wraps guaranteed to melt the pounds away! No Need to Diet when you can….. Drain away the fat with the NEW low- odor, Herbalized Bubble Bath!

Probably the cruelest characteristic of fad diets is that they essentially guarantee failure for the dieter. These diets are not designed for permanent weight loss. Habits are not changed, and the food selection is so limited that the person cannot follow the diet in the long run. Why Diets Fail Negative feelings Out-of-Control situations Reverting to old habits No behavioral changes No Exercise

Although dieters assume they have lost fat, they have actually lost mostly muscle and other lean tissue mass. As soon as they begin eating normally again, the lost tissue is replaced. In a matter of weeks, most of the lost weight is back. The dieter appears to have failed, when actually the diet has failed. The whole scenario can add more blame and guilt, challenging self- worth of the dieter.

Sum it all up… If someone needs to loose weight, professional help is advised. It is unfortunate that current trends suggest people are spending more time and money on quick fixes rather than on such professional help. Works Cited: Wardlaw, Gordon M Phd. Contemporary Nutrition: Issues and Insights. 5 th edition, McGraw-Hill, pp Randy Glasbergen illustrations used with permission