Welcome to the age of the FAD diet! Every day a new diet emerges which promises us health, happiness and most importantly slimness. However, these FADs are unrealistic, unreliable and unattainable. Not to mention they can have harmful and negative repercussion.
The Raw food diet:
There are some great benefits to ingesting more of mother nature’s raw goodness into our diets. However, choosing to follow a diet where you eat all foods uncooked is taking things a little too far. (Imagine never being able to have a warm bowl of soup on a cold, wintery day; or even worse, having to forgo your Christmas dinner!!). While many people do lose weight on a raw food diet, it is often to the detriment of their own health. Most raw food diets centre heavily on vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds. The underlying issue with a diet based solely on these foods is that most of them are seasonally grown. Without access to a variety of foods year-round that can be eaten raw, people who follow a raw diet will tend to rely on single food sources. You do not get an efficient or healthy variety of nutrients from such a limited plate. A study published in ‘The Journal of Nutrition’ in 2015 found that 38% of participants who maintained a raw food diet were deficient in vitamin B-12. Consuming only raw foods can therefore lead to malnutrition and often people are dependent on supplements to ensure they have a healthy amount of vitamin D, zinc, iron and vitamin B-12 in their body.
Secondly, health and science journalist Christopher Wanjek noted that the raw food fad was based on a misconception that cooking destroys nutrients. According to Wanjek ‘cooking actually breaks apart fibres and cellular walls to release nutrients that otherwise would be unavailable from the same foods’. Raw foods are great! But solely living off raw foods will not sustain us. Furthermore, Jenifer Nelson, the director of clinical diabetes at Mayo clinic, stated that by eating both raw and cooked foods ‘you get the best of both worlds’.
The lemonade diet:
The lemonade diet, also known as the Master cleanse, is a liquid only diet popularised by Beyoncé when she had to lose a dramatic amount of weight for her role in Dream Girls. The drink consists of Fresh Lemon Juice, Rich Maple Syrup, and Organic Cayenne Pepper topped with salt water. It’s pretty simple; drink this mixture once a day for 10 days and lose up to 10 lbs or more. It seems like the dream quick fix to losing weight fast and effectively. However, this diet is just downright dangerous, and Beyoncé will testify. You will lose a lot of weight as your body will go into starvation mode and crack down on your metabolism, but your body will be shedding lean muscle and fluid to protect itself while keeping the fat you’re trying to get rid. The real danger with diets like this is that they promote quick fixes instead of healthy lifestyles and balance. It is a short-term answer to a long-term problem and overtime it will perpetuate an unhealthy relationship with your food. It may seem like the magical potion to expelling the fat, but the long-term repercussions of this diet really aren’t worth it!
The Tape worm diet:
You do not need a doctor to tell you that this diet is completely ludicrous. However, some people clearly chose not to listen to reason. Hopefully, the majority of you will think this diet is repulsive. But for the desperate dieters out there, the concept of ingesting tapeworm eggs and letting them eat the food you consume is all too tempting. Once you have lost enough weight, you can get a doctor to prescribe an anti-worm medication to eliminate it from your system. No long hours at the gym, detox shakes or rigorous diet routines. Just one simple worm. However, this diet can have some pretty grim side effects. According to Christopher N. Ochner, Ph.D., director of research development and administration at the Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center, tapeworm eggs can migrate to various parts of your body or cause other potentially life-threatening problems. Other symptoms of the tapeworm diet include nausea, weakness, abdominal pain, diarrhoea and inadequate absorption of nutrients from food. Pretty nasty, right?
The Alkaline diet:
Like the raw food diet, the alkaline diet places great emphasis on fresh fruit and vegetables, nuts and seeds. It requires you to cut out meat, dairy, sweets, caffeine, alcohol, artificial and processed foods and start consuming more fresh foods and other healthy produce which may encourage weight loss. These healthier foods will help balance your PH levels. However, according to Ochner your ‘body is already incredibly efficient at keeping your pH levels where they need to be, so cutting out these foods really won’t affect your body’s pH’. Furthermore, there is no sound scientific research which proves that PH affects your weight. The alkaline diet certainly has some positives as it promotes fresh produce and urges us to incorporate more fruit and veg into our diet. However, it is quite strict and bans foods that can actually be good for your health.
Unfortunately, there is no quick fix to health and weight loss and FADs like these are very extreme and unattainable measures to ensure slimness. They promote unhealthy eating habits and distort your relationship with food, whilst also provoking body dysmorphic attitudes.
Eat balanced, exercise regularly and live well.
Image references:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/22/worst-fad-diets_n_5592013.html
References:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/22/worst-fad-diets_n_5592013.html
http://www.health.com/celebrities/4-things-you-should-know-about-a-high-alkaline-diet
http://www.health.com/celebrities/4-things-you-should-know-about-a-high-alkaline-diet