How To Diet: What Is A Fad Diet, And Are They Dangerous?

What is a fad diet anyway?

A fad diet is one that is popular for a period of time and often makes promises of extreme weight loss in a very short period of time. Often the fad diets are based on faulty nutritional principles and cannot work; other fad diets are downright dangerous. And they are surely not recognized by the FDA.

Some of the fad diets which have been "the rage" over the past few decades include:

• The 7-day Grapefruit Diet

• The Pineapple and Tuna diet

• The Maple Syrup Lemon Cleanse Diet

• The Chocolate diet

• The Tapeworm Diet (yuk!)

• The Cabbage Soup Diet

And, on and on it goes. Most fad diets come onto the radar because a Hollywood celebrity begins touting them. The star makes the talk show circuit, looking fabulous of course, and the rest of us jump onto the band wagon.

Never mind that the celebrity in question has a few advantages over us "mere mortals". They're usually paid for their endorsement, they have access to the finest makeup artists in the world, and they use personal trainers on the side. Makes a tapeworm look even less appealing, doesn't it?

So, what are the downsides of fad diets? Let's look at some examples from the past to get a flavor of what's wrong with them:

1. The Dukan is a bad diet because it relies on cutting out whole food groups and then slowly adding them back. It is never wise to cut out foods that have been established to be nutritionally necessary for health.

2. The Paleo diet: Oh good! Let's eat like a caveman... root veggies, shellfish, eggs, spices, fruits. Pass a mouse, please.

3. The HCG diet requires hormone injections along with a calorie restriction of between 500 and 700 per day. Well, of course you're going to lose weight if you eat 600 calories per day. You might just as well skip the hormones.

4. Proponents of cleansing and detox diets declare that our weight problems is because heavy and sticky fecal residue is interfering with proper digestion. (Wonder why docs who do proctoscopies for a living have never seen the evidence when they're inside your innards?).

There is an endless array of gimmicks on the market, just out there waiting to access the inside your wallet and leave with a full take-home box.

Stick to the principles of good nutrition and you will lose weight and keep it off.