How to spot a fad diet a mile away
January 11, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
The thing with fad diets is that you tend to pick back up all the lost weight because you convert back to your old eating habits. The weight loss is thus quick but usually also short lived. The only time when fad diets are useful is when we have to lose weight pronto. The other times they are just bad for us. The problem is to identify a fad diet. I will show you in this article 5 ways to do so
1. Promises of quick fix
Almost all fad diets hold true to this point namely a quick fix. The quick fix comes in two forms – the period of weight loss are short, ranging from 7 days to a few weeks and the weight loss is usually a big amount, ranging from 10 to 20 pounds a week.
2. Severe calorie restriction
The other thing that fad diets have in common is a restriction on the amount of calories. It can be anything from 1200 calories downwards. Such severe calorie restriction is very unhealthy and can have adverse side effects.
3. Focus on one or two food groups only
There are usually some food groups that are excluded from a fad diet -for example carbs. Or the fad diet only concentrates on one or two food groups like vegetables for instance.
4. Have a weird fad diet name
With fad diets you can expect weird and funny names like the cookie diet, the cheaters diet and the every other day diet.
5. Are very unhealthy
Because of the lack of nutrients and vitamins from the food group exclusion and the low calories content, fad diets are very unhealthy and should only be used for a short period of time.
Hopefully you have all the ammunition now to not go on a fad diet and to rather choice a healthy diet that teaches long term healthy eating patters. If you do so you are almost guaranteed to keep your weight off while doing it the healthy and sensible way.
And remember if you want to speed up your weight loss, try to exercise between 3-4 times a week. For cardio, eliptical trainers are some of the best cardio machines and to tone and tighten your rear view, have a look at the Denise Austin mini stepper.