So in today’s post I will cover some of the facts and myths about fad diets. We will look at signs to watch out for when trying to spot fad diets. We’ll look at the dieting cycle and why we are so prone to seeing our weight yo-yo over time. I’ll also delve a little into the risks and benefits of trying different diets. And I hope to end with some of my top non-fad diet tips to help you eat a healthier diet.

So to start off, what is a fad diet? 

Well there are many variations of fad diets. But usually it is an eating plan where you eat a relatively restricted diet with only a few foods or a strange combination of foods. This diet is often followed to lose weight or achieve a certain health outcome such as reduced bloating, clearer skin and so forth. Often these plans are so restrictive that people get fed up with the restrictions. And hence they start eating more again, choosing unhealthy foods and usually gaining weight.

How is a fad diet different to general healthy eating advice?

Now, I must give it to you that the healthy eating advice that dietitians advocate for is not half as glamorous as some of the fad diets out there… A big difference is that our advice must be based on very thorough scientific research and evidence. In university, I spent 4 years studying a whole range of different aspects of science. My course included modules on chemistry, human physiology, public health and medications. This gave us plenty of practice on reading scientific journals and interpreting the information in them. We also took classes in psychology and behavioural science. Through these, we learned how to turn this rather complicated scientific information into simple and clear messages that are easy to understand for the general public.

Now when it comes to fad diets, I find that there is a disconnect between what the research is telling us and what the public is being told about the research.

For example: Imagine that a small study shows that rats lose weight when they eat cabbages for breakfast. A fad diet can easily run with this and say that cabbage breakfasts are the best way to lose weight. But by reading more deeply into the science, a more evidence-based response to this study would be a little different. For example, we might say that further human trials would be needed before we can say for sure if humans will have the same response to eating cabbage for breakfast. And so, cabbage will NOT be featuring on a dietitian’s breakfast meal plan just yet. We need to know for sure that it works, that its safe and that its something that people actually can keep up.

Why does evidence-based nutrition information struggles to gain momentum?

I do recognise that healthy eating is not very glamorous. Science will rarely be able to say that adding a single food item to your diet will 100% help you lose weight. Or that cutting out another food group will cure your acne. Magic, big promises, emotions and celebrities rarely feature in science. And so its hard for science to stand out on social media, or on supermarket shelves right? “Eat your 5 fruits and vegetables everyday, and perhaps, maybe, you will see a small reduction in your weight”. Not as exciting as telling people that “gluten is evil”, and that “fat is the reason you are (or are not) losing weight”.

So I’m here to help you spot that fad diet from a mile away. Let’s take a look at the different ingredients that go in to creating your very own fad diet!

• First of all, you will want to add a big dose of your magical solution.

Make sure the magic bullet requires minimal effort and will mean you will not have to change your lifestyle in the slightest. I get that avoiding a food group (or binging excessively on a food you do not like) may seem like a big lifestyle change. However, by taking the decision making over eating away from your customer, and telling them exactly how and when to eat, you are taking the effort out of their dieting. If your magical solution will mean people have to buy your shakes, your tablets, your bars or your books, even better! People are happy to spend money when you can promise them that that is the only bit of effort they have to put in.

• Next add a sprinkle of emotional triggers.

Make sure you really play on those heartstrings. Take a few punches at your customer’s insecurities. Body image, confidence, popularity and health – very little is out of bounds here.

• The next step in our fad diet recipe is adding a good dollop of big results.

Promise results that are just simply too good to be true. Anything more than 2 pounds of weight loss per week will hit that fad diet sweet spot. Why not show photoshopped before and after pictures. Maybe have a fitness model follow your plan for a day and let him or her tell the world that their chiselled physique was not down to their strenuous exercise plan or carefully balanced diet. Their results are solely due to your tea or shake.

• Now, before you add anything else at this stage, make sure you skim off any evidence base from your fad diet mix.

Your solid healthy eating advice, or food pyramid mentions need to be eradicated. However, you can leave in any references to small research studies, any research done on rats or mice, and any case studies such as your own personal journey.

• So, then on top of this dose of magical solution mixed with emotional triggers and promises of big results, I want you to stir in a fear of mainstream healthy eating advice or medical advice.

Create an element of doubt as to whether the trained health professionals actually know what they’re talking about. Consider sprinkling in a little conspiracy theory about the government, pharmaceutical industry and the dairy industry. Doing so will help people to stray away from evidence-based treatment and drive them towards your fad diets in no time.

• Lastly make sure that you package your product with a significant endorsement by influencers and celebrities.

They don’t even need to try your fad diet, they just need to talk about it. Why not get them to mention it on Instagram, Facebook and on TV. Of course it was not their personal trainer, their 1-to-1 sessions with a dietitian and the hard work they put into their fitness and physique that led to them achieving their weight loss goals. It was your fad diet.

Why do dietitians fear fad diets so much?

Of course, I’m exaggerating a little here guys. Not every fad diet meets each of these criteria. But I feel so passionately about this, because I’ve seen some of the consequences of fad diets from the perspective of the healthcare professional. I have met people on very restrictive carnivore or keto diets who were missing out on social activities due to low energy levels. I have treated vulnerable girls and guys moving from one restrictive diet to the next and ending up with food phobias and early signs of eating disorders. In the hospital setting, I was strongly asked by a patient’s family members to feed my patient, who was in a coma, green smoothies. They would rather that these be used to replace my prescribed medical-grade nutritional feed. Needless to say, I had to strongly decline the family’s request. Decades worth of research had highlighted that this gentleman needed a careful blend of proteins, carbs, fats and micronutrients to optimise his recovery. 

What are the possible harms of a fad-diet?

Firstly, Fad diets are a time waster.

Studies show that the majority of people who start a fad diet will have regained their weight within a year.  By spending your effort and time on a Fad diet, you are not spending that time on building sustainable healthy eating habits. When you lose those 10 pounds in a week, and regain 15 pounds over the next 9 weeks, you have missed out on the opportunity to have lost those 10 pounds at a slower but more sustainable pound-a-week rate.

Another concern is that some of these fat diets may actually be dangerous for your health.

Some fad diets may lead to lead to nutritional deficiencies, mineral bone disease or even malnutrition. And for those of us with a medical condition, a fad diet may go against some of the recommendations for our condition. Hence, they can stop us from getting the most out of our treatments or medications.

They often create an element of mistrust or fear in qualified healthcare professionals.

This mistrust or fear of the medical profession or the Dietetic profession can often lead to people firstly not following medical advice, or occasionally even completely disconnecting with evidence based medical treatment. Examples of this are regularly seen in the media. We have all read those stories where people with cancer choose to opt for non-medical treatments and dietary measures rather than for chemo or surgery.

Another risk is that people are getting caught in a fad diet cycle.

I’m sure we’ve all heard or experienced yo-yoing weight. As I mentioned already, research shows that people who start a fad diet are likely to regain their weight within a year. And often, they regain their original weight, plus more.

What is the Fad-diet cycle?

I’d like to take a closer look at that fad dieting cycle. It’s important to be aware that long term weight loss is a complex dance where you try to balance three key elements: Calories, nutrition and psychology.  And often, fad diets interrupt one of more of these three elements so severely, that the balance is not found, and the diet becomes unsustainable.

Calories

Firstly looking at calories. We eat food because it provides us with energy or calories. We need energy not just to exercise, but to keep your heart beating, our lungs breathing or brain thinking. So yes, we can cut down on calories to help us lose weight. But ultimately, we do need a certain number of calories to keep your energy levels up. Healthy weight loss is based on eating slightly less calories than our body uses up, to not feel excessively hungry. Fad diets, however, can often dip calorie intakes to below 800kcal a day. This is an unsustainable and uncomfortable calorie deficit, sure to leave you feeling drained and groggy!

Nutrition

Next, our body obviously doesn’t just live on calories. Food gives us nutrition. It gives us proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and fluid. All of these are needed to keep our bodies functioning. Again, a healthy balanced weight loss diet will usually meet all your nutrient needs. But the more restrictive a fad diet becomes, the less likely you are of meeting all of your key nutrients.

Psychology and social systems

And lastly, we cannot ignore that food plays a very important in our psychological and social systems. We eat food to celebrate, to meet with family, to mark special occasions. The plain old dietetic mantra of “everything in moderation” does allow us to recognise the role of enjoyable, celebratory foods. Chocolate, ice-cream, chips. No food is OUT on a true healthy eating plan, as long as we don’t have them every day, or in large portions. But fad diets like to skip over the special role that food plays on our psyche. They pretend that an all or nothing approach is the only way to a healthy life. Believe me, the more that a food becomes “forbidden”, the more you start to crave it!

So when you start a fad diet, and we know that our calorie, nutrient and psychological needs are not appropriately met, you risk falling into a fad dieting cycle. This dieting cycle would go somethings like this:

1. We start our green smoothie diet and sure within one or 2 days we see a little bit of weight loss and we’re delighted with the results.
2. However, soon we might go out for a meal with friends and we’re sitting there with a green smoothie and we’re starting to feel a little bit uncomfortable.
3. We see everybody eating solid food, and we’re feeling a little niggle, a little craving starting to come up.
4. You might be able to resist this time around however it’s unlikely that we will be able to continue resisting these cravings over the next few weeks when we meet with other friends for dinner.
5. When we do finally give in, which is only natural given that we are not just nutritionally but also psychologically and socially deprived, we are left feeling guilty.
6. And we then move on to feeling like a failure. “I knew I couldn’t follow this diet. I knew I was too weak to ever be able to eat healthily and lose weight”.
7. This sense of guilt and failure often leads to emotional eating, with the obvious result of gaining weight.
8. And so we’re not just back to where we started, but may be even heavier than we started, and with a lower self-esteem.

And it pains me to see people on this cycle. Weight loss isn’t easy, but its also definitely not impossible.

Fad diets make weight loss look like this mystical creature, only to be captured by the ultra priviliged few who can afford that extra expensive diet tea, and have time to cook those incredibly complicated alkaline spirulised vegan recipes.

But that person is not me. That is not most of us. And so, weight loss seems simply impossible.

And what if I told you I had the magic bullet of sustainable weight loss?

I could try to spruce it up. Call it Didi’s Diet-hacking Diet-plan. But ultimately, my code of practice as a dietitian does not allow me to promise guaranteed results and exaggerate on the evidence. But what I can say is that the next few simple, achievable, approachable and sustainable healthy eating habits are known to help people to live healthier lives and promote healthier weights. So here we go:

Tip number 1: keep a food diary.

Self-monitoring is a great habit that is known to lead to healthier diets. By keeping a food diary, you can start to monitor your habits and you will soon find aspects of your diet that could do with some improvement.

Tip number 2: Have regular and balanced meals.

Erratic eating does not do your weight any favours. Stick to three meals and two small healthy snacks a day. Make sure you include a half plate of fruits or veggies, some wholegrain carbs and some low fat protein with each meal!

Tip number 3: Balance that fat.

Fat does have over double the calories compared to protein or carbs, so choose lower fat meat and dairy options where you can.

Tip number 4: Watch your portions.

Our plates have grown exponentially in size over the past decades. Choose a smaller portion than usual, and see your weight coming down with it!

Tip number 5: Be realistic!

Sustainable weight loss is no more than 1 to 2 pounds a week. This is a mere fraction of what some of the popular fad diets promise. However, weight loss at a rate faster than this is unlikely to be just fat loss. Many people also lose muscle if they lose weight too quickly. So, don’t be disheartened when you see a pound down on the scales! Its a great achievement, and worth celebrating – with a non-food reward such as a walk in the park or a visit to the cinema of course!

There you have it, Didi’s Diet-hacking Diet plan, aka, plain old healthy eating advice.

So today, we had a look at fad diets, and the effects that they may have on our health. We looked at a recipe to help us spot a fad diet from a mile away and we reviewed some of the risks of fad diets. We reviewed the facts and myths about fad diets. We explored some of the reasons that so many of us our stuck in that fad dieting cycle, and we then looked at how small healthy eating habits can lead to larger sustainable results.

In my next two posts, I will take a closer look at some of the most popular fad diets out there, and I will review the role of dietary supplements in our diets!

Make sure that you subscribe to my Youtube channel! And  if you hit that little bell button on my channel page, you will get notified when my next video comes out. I hope to catch you on my facebook, instagram, twitter and pinterest pages, where I’ll keep the conversation going until my next post!