Fad diets to watch out for #dieting
Eating healthy is simple. According to Marion Nestle, the principle of a good diet is to eat less, move more, eat more fruits and vegetables, and go easy on the junk food. This statement holds true for the most part, but dieting, although not my favorite word, has been something that many people have used to lose tremendous amounts of weight.
Over the years, I have had people ask me about which diet plan is more effective and usually I would always discourage dieting and encourage eating a healthy and balanced diet while maintaining a good exercise routine. However, this year, one of my major goals was to learn about various diets, why, and how they work to see if my stands on dieting would change. Today, I want to share some of my findings and hopefully it would help answer some questions you may have.
Choosing a diet plan can be the most exhausting task, especially with the number of fad diets and commercials. Also considering that our bodies and lifestyles are different, what works for one person might be detrimental to another. There are many kinds of fad diets and in this article, I will evaluate some fad diets in the market and later give my resolve on them; which ones I find the most effective and safe, and which ones you should watch out for.
What is a Fad diet :
A fad diet is a diet that is popular in a specific period and time; it is similar to popular clothing in the fashion industry. Fad diets usually promise weight loss or other health benefits such as longer life, smooth skin, or hair growth, and is almost always promoted by promising little effort, no hunger and a significant amount of weight loss in little time.
Some popular Diets in the Market today
1. Atkins Diet: This is probably the most popular diet in the market today. It focuses on consuming little amounts of carbohydrates while emphasizing on proteins and fats consumption for weight loss through a process known as Ketogenesis. Click here for more information about the Atkins diet.
2. Dukan Diet: This diet provides a list of 100 foods that you can eat in order to lose weight. The foods include 72 animal products and 28 plant based products. The dieting process is classified in four phases. The attack phase, for a drastic weight loss-where you try to lose a lot of weight by eating nothing but proteins, the cruise phase, where you are allowed to add a few vegetables to your diet in order to continue loosing weight, the consolidation phase to slow down the weight loss process by eating veggies, one fruit, 2 slices of whole grain bread and 1 serving of cheese. (The consolidation phase also promises one or two cheat days.) Lastly, the stabilization phase- for maintenance where you eat whatever you like and just have one day for eating only proteins and three tablespoon of oat bran a day and 20 minutes of walking. Click here to learn more.
3. The Liquid Diet: Just like it's name, the liquid diet is about consuming mostly fluids. Some extreme liquid diets replace all meals with fruits, vegetable juices, and shakes while others replace one or two meals. One famous liquid diet in the market is the lemonade diet, also known as "The Master Cleanse"- popularized by Beyonce. So the gist behind this diet is having only a herbal laxative tea for 10 days without alcohol or solid food. After ten days, you return to eating starting with soups and smoothies and then gradually adding fruits and vegetables, and eventually meals.
4. Paleo Diet: The goal of this diet is to return to old way of eating by consuming foods from the Paleo era. The Paleo diet focuses on getting foods through hunting and gathering. Some foods include fruits, nuts, and seeds. Click here for more info.
5. The Vegan Diet: The vegan diet, as it's named, includes eating no animals or animal products. Vegans usually get that food nutrients from plant-based products. Jesica Garvin blogs about the vegan diet and provides information that can be helpful to vegans or those considering a vegan diet. Click here for more from Jessica.
Some other diets in the market are:
The Microbiotic diet
The Ketogenic diet
The Zone diet
The South Beach Diet.
I will be giving a review an extensive these diets in the near future.....
When choosing a diet, it is important to consider the following factors:
As you can see above, there are many kinds of diets to choose from and it can be easy to get lost or bored rather reading and trying to learn about what diet will work for you. Although I do not encourage dieting, I do think some of these diets can help you get rid of some weight, but my advice is to find a diet plan that would be sustainable, rather than a quick fat loss plan. You also want to be cautious, be very informed, and not just follow the trend.
After reviewing many of these diets, personally I think the Paleo, vegan, and Atkins diets can be really good options to consider if you still want to consider dieting. Last year, I coached a client through the Paleo diet for over six months and she comfortably lost over 40 pounds. Personally, I have tried the Atkins diet and I think that it worked for me due to my body type, but honestly, I was always hungry all the time. I think it is because of my heavy workout routine, so I would not advise this plan if you exercise more than three days a week. The vegan diet is also not a bad option, though limited to protein sources, there are many ways to obtain protein without consuming meats. Click here for non meat protein sources.
When I started learning about food, I used the Choose MyPlate resources as a guide to understand what I was or should be eating. I realize that learning about various diets can be complicated, but my goal is to do more vlogs and webinars that would help you identify foods that can help you reach your fitness goal. (Click here for my new video on how to choose the perfect snack.) If you still feel lost about choosing a diet plan, do not fret! I will be hosting my first live webinar sometime in February where we can chat and I can answer many of your questions. In the mean time, please feel free to reach out to me via email or through the comment section.
P.S I have relaunched my one-on-one coaching services. For those that need personal assistance, feel free to email me at fitnessandmindsconnect@gmail.com.
Let's stay connected!
Xoxo, Stefanie Choh
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