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McCoy: The reason fad diets fade

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By Emily McCoy

Friday, November 6, 2009

“Eat cookies! Lose weight!” proclaimed an advertisement in a magazine I was recently flipping through. In spite of myself, I hesitated. I didn’t care about losing weight, but the eating cookies part? That sounded pretty good…

No denying it, I have a weak spot for cookies. I sometimes wish I could eat them for every meal. So then, a diet explicitly encouraging me to do just that was quite alluring. I soon snapped out of my fantasy and reminded myself that there is a reason cookie gluttony should remain distinct from reality: the only healthy and sustainable diets are those composed of a variety of real, healthy foods.

The “Cookie Diet” is not the first of its kind. For generations diets have risen to popularity, each claiming to have a magic fix for weight-woes.

A Brief History of Modern Fad Diets

“Vinegar Diet”, circa 1820s: Popularized by British poet Lord Byron, dieters would supposedly shed pounds by drenching food in vinegar.

“The Great Masticator Diet”, circa 1903: Participants chewed food 32 times before spitting it out. John Harvey Kellogg, inventor of corn flakes, was a devoted follower.

“The Cigarette Diet”, circa 1925: Spin-off from a Lucky Strikes marketing campaign, dieters reached for a cigarette whenever they craved a sweet.

Source: American Dietetic Association.

My mom told me about her attempt at the “Scarsdale Diet” during college. The diet consisted of eating grapefruit, lean meat, vegetables and two slices of toast a day for two weeks of fast weight loss.

Because of the extreme calorie restriction, the diet seemed to work and my mom quickly shed pounds.

However, after returning to a normal, and nutritionally healthier, way of eating she soon gained back the weight. After this experience, my mom realized something many others fail to grasp: Fad diets don’t work.

Scientists have worked for decades to come up with vitamin and mineral replacements. They have isolated individual nutrients from healthy foods, believing they can replicate the natural benefits. However, there has been a baffling lack of success. Only now are many scientists admitting there are truly no substitutes for whole foods.

This revelation explains the major problem with fad diets: Dieters’ bodies crave natural nutrients. No amount of pills or vitamins will ever be able to replace the benefits of the real foods that dieters are often deprived of.

While the greatest consequence of most diets is disappointment and weight regain, some of the more extreme fad diets may actually have health risks. The only fortunate thing about fad diets is that most of the negative side effects don’t have time to set in, as dieters quit the programs before serious damage is done.

There are healthy and effective ways to approach weight-loss. Eating well is about combining a lot of common sense and a little nutritional education. This doesn’t have to be difficult. It simply comes down to energizing and rewarding the body through well-balanced meals rather than denying it essential nutrients.

Any diet that severely restricts or eliminates food groups is cause for concern. The best way to ensure long-term weight loss is to pursue a diet that fits naturally with a healthy lifestyle.

A good rule of thumb in detecting fad diets is to consider what it permits eating on special occasions. I find it hard to imagine anyone saying on Thanksgiving, “No, I’ll pass on the turkey. I’ve got a package of cookies waiting for me … ”

Comments

BobStil (anonymous) says...

Hi Emily,

I enjoyed your article and found I agreed with almost everything you said. The one item I personally find somewhat difficult to accomplish is ensuring I am getting full nutrition from the foods I eat, without the use of supplements. In order to do that, I find a must record all the food I eat and enter it in software which returns the daily required % of each of the vitamins and minerals for which the government has set a standard - about 25 or so such micronutrients.

That is a real pain, but incredibly educational. I recommend everyone try it for at least a few days.

The first time I did this about 7 years ago, I was taken aback by how deficient in nutrients my diet was. And I was eating a diet most would consider healthy. Lots of fruits, vegetables, and fish, very little soda, snacks, desserts, etc. It was a real eye opener for me.

Boy did I change my eating habits. Ever since then I have eaten far more vegetables of all types (they turn out to be the most nutrient dense of foods), whole fruits, fish, and oysters (unbelievably rich in zinc, something I suspect virtually everyone is deficient in) and clams (great for B12 and iron). When I don't eat lots of mushrooms, my diet is deficient in B5 (pantothenic acid) - lots of cereals are supplemented with B5, but in terms of real foods, mushrooms are best.

A great website to find what food is high is what nutrient is

http://www.nutritiondata.com/tools/nu...

where you enter the nutrient(s) of interest and change the last entry to "per 200 calorie" from the default of "per 100 gram".

Thanks for writing such a nice article.

Bob
http://www.nbrhd.net/CR/CR.htm

November 6, 2009 at 9:20 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

pantheon (anonymous) says...

I'm on the South Bronx Paradise diet. I can eat whatever I want, as long as I eat these special candy bars, and I still lose weight.

November 6, 2009 at 10:32 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

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