Written by Are You Concerned About Losing Weight
Fad diets are diets designed to be followed for only a short period of time. Another popular culture meaning for the term is a diet that becomes wildly popular for a period of a few months to a few years, and then fades into obscurity. Examples include the grapefruit diet, the South Beach diet, and Jenny Craig.
Fad diets are a subcategory of food fads. A food fad is a phenomenon in which some food or category of food suddenly becomes very popular. Common aspects of these fads include:
- The food, or some ingredient within it, is thought to have amazing powers.
- Some foods must be avoided because they have equally amazing powers, but that do bad things.
One of these fad diets that has these elements is the Atkins diet. Carbohydrates are avoided like the plague, because a carbohydrate low diet can do amazing things for your body. At the same time, carbohydrates are the miraculous element — actually the lack of carbohydrates because it creates a metabolic state in which the body burns fat at an amazing pace. This diet even included short phases, followed by sustained phases. But Dr. Atkins did intend that people could eat this way for the rest of their lives.
The Atkins diet was also one of these fad diets in that huge popularity was fairly short-lived. It lasted a few years during which it seemed everyone you talked to was on the diet . Entertainment magazines were full of movie stars and music stars and sports stars who claimed amazing weight loss and fitness all due to the Atkins diet. When Dr. Atkins died to superstardom of his diet died with him.
Many fad diets can be quite dangerous. The Subway diet made popular in television commercials wasn’t exempt. It revolves around the extreme weight loss case of Jared who ate Subway sandwiches and baked chips to lose over 250 pounds in the span of a single year. In reality Jared cut his caloric intake from over 10,000 calories a day to only 900. Such an extreme level of caloric intake cuts and rapid weight loss is unhealthy. Even so, the Subway diet when followed in moderation can work. Particularly because the diet included exercise — Jared walked 6 miles a day while losing the weight.
Be careful when taking on some of these fad diets. A long-term eating strategy combined with moderate exercise is usually the better bet. Visit wellness for living for more articles about dieting smart.
