Why are fad diet bad when they seem to get results? Finding sites claiming significant weight loss in just a few days is easy to find. The problem with this is that the weight loss is always temporary. About 90% of the weight loss is water which will be put back on as soon as you rehydrate your body.

There are other fad diets that aren’t considered crash diets with outrageous claims but are usually hyped diet plans that tend to be fashionable for a while and usually make a lot of money for whoever came up with the idea. Some of these do have good nutrition and will help you lose weight but it is costly and you could probably get something similar from your health care provider for free. Some of these fad diets also tend to be so difficult to follow that you will give up after a week or so.

What To Watch For

1. Watch for the diet that instructs you to eat more of one food type and none of another. Your body is made to process nutrients from foods from each of the food groups. If you can stick to the diet for more than a few weeks your body may begin to develop nutritional deficiencies.

2. Fad diets are often boring and over restrictive. The foods on the list are minimal, offering no variety or flavor. Soon you will find that you don’t enjoy your meals. Food will constantly be on your mind.

3. Most fad diets do not follow recommendations of the American Heart Association and similar bodies for fat levels in the diet. Often the diet will recommend high fat foods and low carbs which if taken long term, could result in heart disease. This is why it is often recommended by the promoters to only follow the diet for a short time. So, if you are obese or extremely overweight you already have a problem with the diet. You probably will not reach your goal weight in the proper time, and then what? You either continue with a plan that is not good for your health, or stop and probably gain back what you lost.

4. Fruits and vegetables are often left out of these weight loss program. Fruits and vegetables are so very important for your body. Adding them to your food plan is crucial, fad diets leave them out most of the time.

5. Quick weight loss diets are just a temporary solution and do not help you to make permanent changes to your eating habits. Permanent changes are the only way to remain at your target weight once you reach it. That should be the main focus. Gaining and losing is worse for your health and your self esteem than if you had stayed overweight all the time.

Don’t fall for the publicity materials, no matter how enticing. Find a healthy food plan that offers a range of each of the food groups. Do not overeat, exercise regularly and avoid fad diets. We have found a few sites that help to offer help with well rounded food plans. They are Truth About diets (based on The Biggest Loser), Global Health, and diet.com. Obesity is an issue that needs to be dealt with immediately.

Tags: Environment, Fad Diet, Obesity

This entry was posted by Author on Saturday, September 5th, 2009 at 11:40 am and is filed under Environment, Obesity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.