This week we will be discussing FAD Diets and a few examples of them. A Fad Diet is a diet that is popular for a short period of time, yet fades in popularity due to further research on the diet. These styles of diets tend to not work for common people due to the fact that they are impractical so the people using them tend to give up on the diet and put back the weight that may have been lost by going back to their old HABITS (habit and behavior is key with dieting, will be discussed in later post).
The first example and one of the most popular fad diets is the Ketogenic Diet. This diet form practically switches the roles of carbohydrates and fats. Instead of consuming primarily carbohydrates to replenish your energy you consume primarily fats. At the beginning of this diet you will enter a phase known as ketosis where the body is not used to using fats as energy, therefore, causing you to be lethargic, and you’ll tend to drain energy a lot easier. This diet is near impossible to stick with because it is difficult to get past the ketosis phase, and there are more healthy food options containing carbohydrates versus fats.
The next example that we’ll be discussing is the Paleo Diet. This diet is based off of foods that in the olden days you could obtain by hunting and gathering. Foods of this sort include lean meats, fish, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. Foods that are limited from the diet include dairy products, legumes, and grains; which all became farming about 10,000 years ago around the time that farming emerged as well. The main goal with this is to eat similar to the way that early humans ate; reason being is the people that created the diet believe that the modern human body is not designed to eat according to the modern diet.
Lastly, we will discuss the Dukan Diet. Which limits the amount of carbohydrates and fats you intake and soars the number of protein you consume over the daily recommendations. The diet consists of four primary phases. The attack phase (1-10 days), cruise phase (can be several months), consolidation phase (5 days for every pound you’ve lost), and the stabilization phase (ongoing). Each phase has its own set of complex rules, which if you’d like to view you may in the article I’ll leave attached at the end.
All of these diets tend not to work for the same reasons. Mainly that they are impractical to follow and maintain. Why? Because they all require to restrict one nutrient of the diet for the sake of another nutrient. Strict and sometimes complex rules are put in place to follow the diet correctly. This makes it hard to follow and continue because you get bored with the diet and need more of a variety. Steady weight loss comes with behavioral and habitual changes that you make with the way you eat. Which I will be diving deeper into on my post next week!
Science of Fitness 