Fad Diets
Fad diets are diets that involve rapid weight loss, but are only to be followed for a short period of time. Fad diets are also diets that quickly become wildly popular, last for a short time, then become a footnote in popular culture. Some of these fad diets include the cabbage soup diet, the Atkins diet, and the cookie diet.
Fad diets are a subcategory of food fads. This refers to any form of food that becomes popular for a short period of time. These generally have some common elements, including:
- The food, or some ingredient within it, is thought to have amazing powers.
- Many other foods are completely eliminated from the diet, because they are thought to have negative properties.
The Atkins diet displays the characteristics of one of these fad diets. In this diet carbohydrates are the Keystone element that is negative and therefore to be avoided. Low carbohydrates are extremely desirous in Atkins, because then the body enters a super fat burning condition. This diet had a number of short periods of extreme carbohydrate avoidance, followed by long periods of sustainable low carbohydrate eating. However, many people are able to continue the Atkins diet for years.
As with many fad diets, Atkins popularity was extreme and short-lived. For a number of years anyone who thought of dieting thought about the Atkins diet . Entertainment magazines were full of movie stars and music stars and sports stars who claimed amazing weight loss and fitness all due to the Atkins diet. When Dr. Atkins died to superstardom of his diet died with him.
Fad diets can be unhealthy. Even a diet like the Subway diet, as first presented in the commercials, could have problems. 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. The diet did include many positive aspects such as exercise, like walking.
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.
