Fad Diets: The American Way

by: Josh Hodnik

When a search is done at Amazon for “diet books” over 71,000 results pop up, and over half of what I scanned through were fad diets such as “The 17 Day Diet,” “1-Day Diet,” and the ever popular “South Beach Diet.” These fad diet plans range from eliminating carbohydrates completely, to cutting calories down to 500 per day while taking HCG homeopathic drops.

Fad diets are nothing new. In fact, it is rumored that William the Conqueror devised an alcohol-only diet in 1087 after being too fat to ride his horse. William did not grow any thinner but died later that year after falling from his horse, leaving his servants struggling to find a coffin large enough to fit the overweight king (after he was dead, however, he lost most of his weight).

Fad dieting gained mass appeal in the 19th century through Sylvester Graham who was the genius behind the Graham Cracker. This Presbyterian minister promoted a diet that mirrored the puritanical beliefs of his time: The Graham Diet, developed in 1829, sought to temper feelings of lust and desire while maintaining a strong sense of health. Sylvester Graham recommended a complete regimen of hard mattresses, cold showers, and a diet consisting of homemade bread, rough cereals, fruits, and vegetables, while avoiding meat, caffeine, alcohol, and breads that were not homemade. Graham was once attacked by a mob of bakers and butchers for his role in promoting the avoidance of meat and store bought bread.

Fad diets have changed dramatically since William the Conqueror ignorantly devised the alcohol-only diet, but some of the thinking behind them hasn’t changed much at all. Fad diets are generally designed to help a dieter lose a large amount of weight in a short period time, and these diets usually consist of extremely restricting a person of calories by cutting out certain food groups, or relying on pure liquids as a source of nutrition.

While poor nutrition among the American population has risen, so has fad dieting. People often try to look for a quick fix for a weight problem with a gimmick diet that promises to change a person’s appearance in a short period of time, and the regimen behind these diets are often unhealthy and quite dangerous.

I teach my clients that there are no quick fixes, and that fad diets will often leave you more frustrated and in worse shape than when you started. I feel like banging my head against the wall when I am asked what I think about the HCG Diet, Grapefruit Diet, or the Atkins Diet. Have we become so naïve as to believe that taking some homeopathic HCG drops will fix 20 years of poor eating? The sales say we have.

I am going to cover just a few of the fad diets that have gained popularity over the past few years. There are too many to cover all of them, but you will get an idea on how most work with the few that I describe below.

HCG Diet

The HCG Diet craze began in 2009, and this diet promises to promote extreme weight loss with the combination of HCG homeopathic drops, a 500 calorie a day diet, while recommending the person not exercise at all. People will see weight reduction with this plan if they can stick with the super low calories, but this has nothing to do with the HCG drops at all, and has everything to do with the extreme reduction in calories. Much of the weight loss will occur due to muscle wasting, and this will slow the metabolism resulting with the person looking like a smaller version of what they were before. Many people cannot maintain the strict calorie drop and after a few weeks they will end up giving up, binge eating, and end up weighing more than what they did when they originally started this diet.

The Ketogenic Diet

Dr. Atkins’ “Diet Revolution” was published in 1972 and was revised several times over the next few decades. This diet consists of cutting out carbs and eating large amounts of protein and saturated fats. Unlike other short term fad diets, this diet was designed so that the dieter would continue the low carb diet for the rest of their life. This diet works well in short term. Many people on this diet will boast about large amounts of weight being lost within the first few weeks of cutting out carbohydrates. Although there are many forms of the Ketogenic Diet, the Atkins version by far the most popular with the masses.

Quick results are very encouraging to a person starting any diet. But what most people do not realize is that for every 1 gram of carbohydrate store that is depleted from the body, 3 grams of water will be lost, resulting in most of the initial weight loss being water. I have seen a lot of people lose body fat from this diet, but over the long term the body does adapt, and muscle loss will occur.

Rarely have I seen anyone get truly lean while holding onto muscle over the long term while following this diet. Remember, even contest prep gurus who prescribe this diet will only use it for the weeks leading up to a contest, and not year round - therefore adding fuel to the fire contending that this diet is not a long term solution or lifestyle. (Even if TGI Fridays carries an Atkins Friendly section on their menu)

Conclusion

I only covered a few of the fad diets that have become popular today. There are hundreds more out there, and I am sure another one is just around the corner that will be marketed to intrigue most of the overweight Americans wanting an easy way out. Most of the short term diets out there are similar in the fact that they are short term solutions, and they are not designed for the dieter to succeed. Sure, the person dieting will probably lose a few pounds, but at what cost? These extreme diets can lead to muscle loss, nutrient deprivation, and even the possibility of health problems. A person can be much more successful in losing body fat, increasing their metabolism, and gaining lean muscle by incorporating exercise into their lifestyle, eating healthier year round, and supplementing with nutrients that support a healthy metabolism and weight loss.





CATEGORY: Diet