FAD DIETS

A fad diet is believed by its practitioners to improve health. It is often promoted by parties that publish books about the diet, or sell specialized ingredients or supplements that are part of the diet, despite being unconfirmed by legitimate scientific studies. A fad diet may do nothing at all, or even have an adverse result if it is nutritionally unbalanced or otherwise unhealthy. Weight loss experts such as Richard Simmons, who tried numerous diets in his youth at the cost of his health, strongly discourages them as not only unhealthy, but also counter-productive in the long term.

Belief in fad diets by adherents is often irrational. Many individuals who adhere to fad diets will not consider recommendations made by nutritionists and dieticians.
There are three categories of food fads. Some food fads incorporate a combination of categories
1.The virtue of a particular food or food group is exaggerated and purported to cure specific diseases, and is therefore incorporated as a primary constituent of an individual’s diet.
2.Foods are eliminated from an individual’s diet because they are viewed as harmful.
3An emphasis is placed on eating certain foods to express a particular lifestyle.
Zen macrobiotic diets were once considered to be the most dangerous type of food faddism.George Ohsawa, in his book Zen Macrobiotics, promoted a 10-stage diet to create a spiritual awakening or rebirth. The nutritional plan claimed to prevent and cure all diseases. The 10 stages of dietary restriction gradually eliminated certain foods such as animal products, fruits, and vegetables; emphasis was placed on whole-grain cereals. Each stage had a recommended percentage of each type of food group to include in the diet. By the tenth stage, cereals constituted 100% of the dietary intake. Nowadays, such extreme guidance is not found in macrobiotic diets, though.
Extreme faddist diets often lack the energy, suitable protein, fat-soluble vitamins, and some minerals that are essential for growing children. Parents forcing children to adhere to fad diets to the point of severe nutritional disorders is considered a form of child abuse.

CONSEQUENCES: What these diet plans don’t tell you is there can be consequences to your health as a result of only eating one type of food or taking a diet supplement. Your body could experience nutritional deficiencies, because no one type of food has all the nutrients necessary for good health.
Another reality of fad dieting is what’s called the “rebound effect.” As a result of these diets being so restrictive in what you can eat, many times it’s hard to keep them going for very long. In addition, when you start going back to your old eating habits, your weight will many times rebound right back to where you started.