Fad diet
🏷️ Tào lao
A: I have heard lots of diet fads recently. Where do these fads even come from?
B: They were created by Ancient Greeks and Romans centuries earlier, but they began in earnest in the Victorian era with crazes like the vinegar diet and the Banting diet. Since then, diets have advised us all sorts of things, to excessively chew to not chew at all, to swallow a grapefruit per meal, to non-stop cabbage soup, and even consumption of arsenic, or tapeworms
A: Did these crazes work?
B: In the short term, the answer is yes. Low carbohydrate plans, like the popular Atkins or South Beach diets, have an initial diuretic effect. Sodium is lost until the body can balance itself out, and temporary fluid weight loss may occur. With other high-protein diets, you might lose weight at first. Because you are restricting your food choices, your calorie intake also drops overall. But, your body then lowers its metabolic rate to adjust to the shift. This adjustment lessens the diet’s effect over time, and results in a quick reversal if the diet is abandoned
A: Are there any guidelines that can help me differentiate between a diet that is beneficial in maintaining long-term health and one that only offers temporary weight changes?
B: Of course. Here is the first tipoff. If a diet focuses on intensely cutting back calories or cutting out entire food groups like fat, sugar, or carbohydrates, chances are it is a fad diet
A: I heard this fad most. Anything else?
B: Another red flag is ritual. When a diet instructs you to only eat specific foods, prescribed combinations, or to opt for particular food substitutes like drinks, bars, or powders
A: Wait, this is similar to the previous fad. It is just another way of advertisement, isn’t it
B: You got it, and these fads are not quick-fix solutions for shedding pounds in the long run
A: What about supper foods, cleanses, and other body-boosting solutions? They are being advertised widely as efficient ways for weight loss
B: You may also hear marketing emphasizes the allure of products associated with ancient and remote cultures. They do that to create a sense of mysticism for consumers
A: But superfoods like blueberry add a powerful punch of functions
B: Yes, but their super transformative qualities are largely an exaggeration. They are just healthy addictions to a balanced diet and have not yet been shown to have either a long-term benefit or to detox the body. Worse, they are marketed as parts of sugary drinks or cereals, in which case the negative properties outweigh the benefits
A: If I want to what diet is good for me, what should I do?
B: You should consult the doctors and nutritionists, who are aware of your circumstance