What are Fad Diets?
A diet that is written only to be followed for a short time is called categorized as one of the fad diets. Another popular culture meaning for the term is a diet that becomes wildly popular for a period of a few months to a few years, and then fades 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. This refers to any form of food that becomes popular for a short period of time. Common aspects of these fads include:
- Some elements of the food are said to have miraculous properties.
- Some foods must be avoided because they have equally amazing powers, but that do bad things.
The Atkins diet displays the characteristics of one of these fad diets. In Atkins carbohydrates must be avoided because of their negative characteristics. At the same time, carbohydrates are the miraculous element — actually the lack of carbohydrates because it creates a metabolic state in which the body burns fat at an amazing pace. 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. For a number of years the Atkins diet was everywhere, and everyone seemed to be following it . Every movie star, singer, and sports figure claimed to use the Atkins diet when they needed to lose weight. When Dr. Atkins died to superstardom of his diet died with him.
There are many risks associated with fad diets. 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. Jared’s diet was severe — going down to 900 calories a day from over 10,000. That could have killed him. Even so, the Subway diet when followed in moderation can work. Particularly because the diet included exercise — Jared walked 6 miles a day while losing the weight.
Be careful when taking on some of these fad diets. A healthy combination of reasonable diet and exercise in the long-term can help you lose weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle.
