Fad Diets - Negative Facts, Positive Solutions

Fad Diets - Negative Facts, Positive Solutions

We are often bombarded by new fad diets. We all know someone who swears they have found one that really works, but do they in the long term? Although many of the fad diets sound simple and the promise of losing weight quickly is more than a little tempting, the truth is it is usually only a temporary quick fix. Rarely is the weight we lose fat, most we will find is just water. Fad diets are really not the best route to take in reducing our weight. They can in fact be quite detrimental to our health and well being and usually ineffectual.

Here are a few points to consider before embarking on a fad diet.

When we first begin our fad diet, we are full of enthusiasm. Many of these diets allow us to eat large quantities of foods we may enjoy, that formerly we had labelled fattening. We have all heard of banana diets, cabbage diets, egg diets and so on. They all sound so easy but after a few days of constant consumption, we begin to get bored and get to the stage where we feel sick at the thought of yet another day of the same routine at meal time. The next stage we progress to is craving for forbidden foods, and just dying to have a little variety. As the cravings increase so does temptation to deviate from the diet, leading ultimately to failure.

Our body needs many vital vitamins, minerals and other important ingredients within our diet to keep us functioning healthily. Many fad diets radically omit certain groups of foods, whilst encouraging more of others. By omitting foods containing vital nutrients we are compromising our health. Yes, we may lose those unwanted pounds, but at what cost?

It is vital that we include lean protein, healthy fats, fresh fruit and vegetables in our diet. Fad diets often omit many of these foods which are rich in the essential nutrients we need to give us energy and keep us fit and healthy.

Fad diets are not the way forward in our weight loss programme as they are not intended to be followed long term. Although sometimes very effective in the initial first few weeks, encouraging us to carry on, in the long term how do we know that we are not damaging our health and bodies. These diets are not intended to be followed forever, we should think twice before possibly jeopardising our health and well being later.

We really need to take a long hard look at the basic reason that we have gained our extra weight initially. Fad diets cannot resolve any problems connected to our weight gain, all they can give us is a quick fix solution to a long term problem. Our excess weight gain may be for emotional reasons or perhaps mental or physical, fad diets cannot address these issues.

Our best option in battling excess weight is to improve our lifestyle and eating habits. By dieting sensibly on a healthy nutritious low calorie plan, we are much more likely to succeed, and can carry on dieting long term without compromising our well being. Combining exercise with our diet will not only strengthen our bodies but help burn up those calories. A marriage of these two components can only help us to lose those unwanted pounds, keep us both happy and healthy and stop the weight returning.