Julia Kulish

Top 5 Signs of a Fad Diet Nutrition is undoubtedly crucial when it comes to our appearance and physical shape. Those who eat whole foods and keep to a healthy, nutritious diet usually boast shiny skin, healthy nails and hair, and normal weight. But can anyone call his/her nutritional habits ideal? Hardly! Even dedicated fans of healthy eating may sometimes be seduced into cheat-meals with a pizza or sushi, and drink soda on rare occasions, let alone ordinary people with scarce knowledge about nutrition. Fast food snacks, late evening dinners, irregular eating – all that causes obesity and discontent about our physique. This is where diets step in – shiny promises of rapid and easy weight loss, windy talk about super-effects… Appealing, isn’t it? At first, everything goes as promised, and you indeed lose weight. Disappointment comes after you drop the diet – in most cases, all your painstakingly lost kilos are back! This means that you have become a victim of a fad diet. To avoid them, keep in mind five key features of fad diets – badly ineffective, ridiculously ungrounded, and not worthy a straw. Unbelievable Promises The first thing that should alert you is a promise of easy and quick weight loss. Unfortunately, no matter how tempting the idea is, science states that it is hopelessly impossible. Hence, if you see a new trendy diet with incredible results, that’s surely a fad diet. Facts are inexorable – weight loss of over 1-2 pounds per week is unhealthy and non-sustainable. Emphasis on Miraculous Fat Burning We often come across ads of new magical ‘fat-burning’ products, and the human desire to believe in such effect is understandable, but false. Science says that there are no products or drinks with such properties, and weight loss should be a result of hard work, commitment, and self-control. Need to Use a Specific Branded Product Another red flag about a fad diet is the need to buy some brand’s secret fat-burning item – be it a drink, supplement, patch, or pill. The miracle of losing weight is tightly associated with that product, which is always quite exclusive and pricey. Exclusion of Certain Product Groups No matter what your trendy diet says or promises, elimination of any nutritional component, even if its abuse causes weight problems, is unwise. Nutritionists warn people against restrictive diets, but the latter still have a huge number of new adepts. The most frequent ‘villains’ blamed for obesity are carbohydrates and fats, but their total exclusion from nutrition may do only worse! Hence, low-fat and low-carb diets have already a proven record of impressive inefficiency – think this over not to be hooked on a new trending fad. Disregard to Nutritional Science Numerous weird and even ridiculous diets become so readily accepted by people that with time, they are treated as “facts” no matter what nutritional science says about their principles. This is the most intriguing observation about diets – mostly an outcome of subjective human perception rather than sober, objective judgment. If you are among those in chase of a perfect shape, don’t give in to ridiculous promises and claims of fashionable dietary ‘experts.’ Select a healthy, balanced lifestyle instead; it will help you achieve a steady, healthy weight loss and greater physical well-being. Combine moderate eating with exercise, as best nutritionists advise, and no fad diet will ever seduce you into self-torture.