More Ways to Recognize Fad Diets
- Fad diets often stress the importance of eating certain foods together or never eating different types of foods at the same time (e.g. never eating protein the same time as carbohydrates), which is sometimes referred to as food combining. Fad diets often require you to eat a very limited meal plan that must not be deviated from at any time. The monotonous meals make the diet even more difficult to stick to.
- Some fad diets overemphasize one particular food or type of food. Diets that require this type of eating never provide a balanced, nutritional eating plan. Any balanced diet includes a variety of foods, and no one food group should be relied on entirely or completely eliminated.
- Fad diets virtually ignore the importance of exercise. Being physically active is key to maintaining weight loss. Exercise is also an important aspect of improved cardiovascular health and disease prevention; diet alone cannot provide as many weight and health benefits as both diet and exercise. Any reliable weight loss plan will encourage you to get moderate exercise several times a week.
- Lastly, if a diet warns you to stop following its recommendations after a set period of time, it should be avoided. The only reason a diet would recommend you discontinue it in a certain number of days is it could be harmful if you do. Any healthful, balanced diet should be adaptable as a part of a permanent lifestyle that leads long-term weight maintenance.
Say Farewell to Fad Diets
The only way to successfully lose weight and keep it off is to take in fewer calories than you burn. To do that, you need to watch how many calories you eat and move more. If you're ready to get started, sign up for our free e-mail course, Weight Loss 101, which covers all the basics.
Sources:
Federal Trade Commission and International Food Information Council Foundation. Weight Loss: Finding a Weight Loss Program that Works for You. 12 Feb 2008.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration and
National Association of Attorneys General. FDA/CFSAN The Facts About Weight Loss
Products and Programs 07 July 2000. 12 Feb 2008.
