Fad diets are diets that involve rapid weight loss, but are only to be followed for a short period of time. The term has also come to mean any diet that explodes into national or international fame, only to plummet into obscurity. Some of these fad diets include the cabbage soup diet, the Atkins diet, and the cookie diet.
Another name for these fad diets are food faddism. Any time one particular food suddenly becomes a superstar, that’s a food fad. These generally have some common elements, including:
- The food is attributed with miraculous powers.
- Many other foods are completely eliminated from the diet, because they are thought to have negative properties.
As an example of these elements of fad diets in the diet, take the Atkins diet. Carbohydrates are avoided like the plague, because a carbohydrate low diet can do amazing things for your body. Carbohydrates take on both of the common elements in that removing carbohydrates from the diet creates a near magical metabolic state in which fat is burned at an incredible rate. This diet had a number of short periods of extreme carbohydrate avoidance, followed by long periods of sustainable low carbohydrate eating. Unlike many fad diets the Atkins diet was designed to be something a person could stick to for a long period of time.
As with many have diets, Atkins popularity was extreme and short-lived. It lasted a few years during which it seemed everyone you talked to was on the diet . People from Hollywood actors to politicians were all on the Atkins diet. Although still around today, the diet is far from as popular as it was at its height.
Fad diets can be unhealthy. Even a seemingly healthy diet like the Subway diet could be dangerous. At its center was a young man named Jared who had lost hundreds of pounds in only a year by eating Subway sandwiches. In reality Jared cut his caloric intake from over 10,000 calories a day to only 900. Such an extreme level of caloric intake cuts and rapid weight loss is unhealthy. Even so in moderation the Subway diet can work, particularly when combined with exercise — Jared walked 6 miles a day.
Beware of fad diets. A healthy combination of reasonable diet and exercise in the long-term can help you lose weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle.
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