- Fad diets have been around for decades, from the Hollywood diet in the 1930s to the Atkins diet in the ’90s and today’s Paleo diet
- Health experts don’t recommend fad diets for long-term weight loss; exercise and sensible eating are far better for you
Ask your neighbourhood gym owner and they'll tell you: February is the month of giving up, the time when weight rooms, freshly filled in the new year, begin to empty back out. As our desire to drop those extra holiday pounds turns to desperation, we turn to anything that promises to transform our bodies with little effort, no matter how outlandish their claims. 'Tis the season of the weight loss supplement, the fad diet, and the crash diet.
Let's be clear: extreme diets simply do not work for long-term weight loss and can be hazardous to your health. As Bob Wright, a health educator at Hilton Head Health Spa and Wellness resort in the US state of South Carolina notes: "If it sounds too good to be true, it is."
The definition of a fad diet is any new diet that becomes briefly popular. They are defined by their strict rules, fervent adherents " if you meet a fad dieter you will know it, as it is all they will want to talk about " the use of supplements, and the promise of results that confound science.
Fad diets have been around since at least the 1930s, when low-calorie meal plans were all the rage among the inspirationally thin. That was the era of the "Hollywood Diet" and the "Grapefruit Diet" which encouraged its adherents to eat grapefruit with every meal " consequentially, half a grapefruit remains a signifier of healthy eating in commercials to this day.
An even earlier fad diet, the cigarette diet " pushed by cigarette companies " encouraged women to smoke cigarettes instead of eating confectionery. That gives you some idea of how much fad pushers have your health in mind.
In the '60s, there was the macrobiotic diet craze; in the '70s, the decidedly creepy "Sleeping Beauty Diet" in which women " it's almost always women " were sedated for days so they wouldn't eat. In the '90s, the Atkins diet, an early low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet reigned supreme. With the new millennium came the dawning of the wellness craze and its associated juicers and detoxicants.
"These diets can be effective in the short-term but they're almost always ineffective in the long term," says Wright. "It works until it stops working."
In 2018, a fad diet, originally printed in Vogue in 1977, went viral for its ludicrousness, encouraging women to basically live on black coffee, white wine, and a few hard-boiled eggs " with a steak thrown in for dinner.
While it's easy to laugh at the fad diets of the past, it can be hard to recognise how extreme contemporary diet crazes are.
Today, the trendy diets are the Paleo diet in which dieters eat like a cave man " whose life expectancy was likely no more than 35 years " and the ketogenic, or keto, diet, a kind of refurbished Atkins diet which seems to consist mostly of CrossFitters on Instagram boasting about how much bacon they can eat in one sitting; and intermittent fasting, the Silicon Valley-originated eating plan which encourages people to fast for periods ranging from hours a day to one day every week.
Each year US News and World Report, a newspaper based in Washington, publishes its "Best Diet Rankings", for which a panel of health experts rates the year's most popular diets based on safety and effectiveness.
This year, the most popular diet, the keto diet, was also second to last on the list. Coming in at 34th out of 35, its panel found that the keto diet was difficult to follow and profoundly unhealthy. "(Keto is) the opposite of what we want for diabetes and heart disease prevention," said one expert. "Any diet that recommends snacking on bacon can't be taken seriously as a health-promoting way to eat."
The keto diet works by depriving the body of carbohydrates to such a degree that it forces the body into ketosis, a metabolic stage in which the body begins burning fat for energy. While there is no doubt that ketosis leads to weight loss and has been shown to help patients with certain medical conditions such as seizure disorders, it can also put stress on the liver and kidneys " and the research is yet to show that it delivers long-term sustainable weight loss.
Like other diets which cause rapid weight loss early on, the keto diet can be a yo-yo diet: it's difficult to sustain, leading to cycles of weight loss and weight gain which can be miserable for anybody experiencing them.
Not surprisingly, the keto diet's cousin, the Paleo diet, did similarly dismally, coming in at number 29.
"Dieting can be a part of healthy living if it is done for a short period of time under the guidance of a professional with a clear maintenance plan," says Corey Weber Isaak, a holistic lifestyle and nutrition coach in California. "But one must be very careful before jumping on the bandwagon … Many of these diets are costly, not nutritionally sound and do not set people up for long term success."
"The problem with fad diets is that they often promise dramatic, unrealistic weight loss results, and some might be unhealthy," agrees Sagi Gal, a lifestyle and transformation coach based in Los Angeles. "If you want to discuss their health-related pros and cons we can be here for hours debating what is better for you, but when it comes to weight loss, it's all nonsense. The one and only equation to weight loss is calories in versus calories out."
If fad diets are not the answer to a healthier life and a so-called "hotter" body, then what is?
Fasting, while trendy, might not be as ineffectual as other, more prescribed diets.
Any diet that recommends snacking on bacon can't be taken seriously as a health-promoting way to eatA health expert from US News and World Report
"If someone would have asked me about intermittent fasting five or six years ago, I would have said that it sounded like quackery," admits Wright, "but I do think there's emerging evidence to suggest that it might be beneficial, more so from a health perspective than a weight-control perspective."
Whatever eating schedule you're using, getting in good shape and staying that way is hard work, and there are no real tricks or short cuts. Healthy living, though, is straightforward. Drink lots of water. Eat reasonable portions of whole fresh foods. Eat more plants than animals, and avoid processed foods, especially sugars. And alcohol.
"Consistency is key," says Gal. "Get with someone who can support you in finding out what your body needs to maintain its current state. Get clear on your goals, and optimise your diet using real foods to support that goal."
The highest-ranked diet on the US News and World Report list is the Mediterranean diet, which is more of a lifestyle " those who follow it refer to it as a way of eating, not as a diet. It consists of eating whole foods, nuts, more fruit and vegetables, favouring seafood over meat, and using healthy fats such as olive oil. It is a good example of how healthy living can be sustainable and even delicious.
"It is always my recommendation that people eat a balanced, organic, holistic diet that is sustainable, both for the planet and themselves," says Issak. "Holistic nutrition is all about eating healthy food as close to its natural state as possible … unrefined, unprocessed, organic and locally grown whole foods."
The second component of a healthy lifestyle is exercise. Even moderate exercise can make a difference to your health. So, go for a walk, or take the stairs. Weight loss really is as simple as expending more calories than you consume. So eat a bit less and move a bit more.
You'll find the more measured approach much more sustainable and pleasant than trying to live like a caveman, and you're much less likely to develop liver failure.
While keeping a healthy body is fairly straightforward, dealing with the mind can be much trickier. This is the season of giving up " and of self-loathing.
We all feel down on ourselves sometimes for snacking. Being healthy is also about compassion " for ourselves.
"Be kinder to yourself. Indulging doesn't mean you messed up. Don't dwell on what didn't work," says Gal. "Decide powerfully what you want to do next and stick with it. The point is to focus on moving forward, and … if a healthier, fitter body is truly what you want, nothing will stand in your way."
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