Tidbit Tuesday – Fad Diets
Hello,
Welcome to another Tidbit Tuesday where we aim to teach you something new about health, nutrition, lifestyle, training, and so much more, every week!
Today we are talking about fad diets, where they come from and how they are affecting you.
A "fad" is something that is popular for a short time.
These, often, are not standard dietary recommendations and often promise unreasonably fast weight loss or seemingly magical results!
Some of the claims can be very enticing!
However, these are never right for EVERYONE and should be utilized for specific purposes, and often for a predetermined period of time.
A fad diet often promises short-term change with little effort on your part.
Fad diets of come with a lack of education around the diet, why it is done or how to maintain it, plus how to end the diet and return to normal dietary preferences is also crucial.
It is this lack of education that often results in the persons weight rebounding back to their original weight, or becoming even heavier.
If you are attempting to lose weight through diet only, no training. Then you will be losing weight through both fat and muscle, usually leading to a more drastic loss in overall weight.
The only concern here is when someone ends their diet and returns to their old eating habits.
Returning to your old, poor eating habits with less muscle mass means you have a much lower metabolism. Our muscle is responsible for burning much of our energy, even at rest.
This is a big reason why people end up gaining back all the weight the lost in a diet, usually within 2 years of stopping the diet.
Celebrity endorsement is frequently used to promote fad diets, which is often a big reason for their popularity.
With over 1500 books written on various fad diets EACH YEAR, making the industry worth $35 BILLION per year, in the USA alone.
Although most fad diets have little to no science based evidence, they are not all bad.
Some really do have therapeutic applications!
Such as the ketogenic diet for epilepsy.
It is unfortunate when those real, well though out and scientifically based diets get lost in the hype. And the real reason they are developed gets left behind because it helped some celebrity get jacked.
It just won't work that way for everyone!
When searching for the right diet, try and avoid these outrageous claims:
• Rapid weight loss
• Highly restrictive and forbidding entire food groups
• Specific foods reported to detox or "burn fat"
• Any "one-size-fits-all" plan
• Based only on anecdotal evidence or celebrity endorsements
• Requires you to purchase specific products, supplements or resources
• It is based on a "secret" or from a guru
Rather than just picking a fad diet to follow for a while, try implementing consistent habits to follow, daily.
Small things that you can practice, consistently, will lead to sustainable weight loss.
Sure, it may take a little longer to drop those pounds. But you are far more likely to keep them off!
Rather than picking some random diet that catches your eye. Try these simple tips:
• Focus on variety, nutrient density, as well as the quantity of food
• Eat whole, minimally processed foods
• Drink 3 to 4 litres of water per day
• Eat to only 80% full
• Eat slowly and mindfully
• Build a support system of like-minded individuals who are also striving for better health
• Aim for a better sleep routine, 7 to 9 quality hours per night
• Move more often and perform regular strength training
Once you have a solid foundation of good habits around health and nutrition, you can branch off into different specific diets and avoid rebounding back to your starting point.. or worse!
If you would like some help, reach out, we would love to help you explore which diet is right for you!
Happy eating!
Your friend in Health & Fitness,
Coach Sean
