The Truth about Fad Diets

For months, low-carb was the hottest fad diet around for weight loss. Whether with Atkins, South Beach, the Zone, or other protein-packed eating regimens, dieters were dropping pounds while eating rich, low-carb foods such as butter, steak, and pepperoni pizza (but without the yummy crust). Now the trend has shifted, as it always does with fad diets. Tired of facing a hamburger patty and bowl of lettuce night after night, many people are rethinking this dieting extreme.

What's with all the fad diets out there? Whether low-carb, low-calorie, or low-fat, someone always has a gimmick to sell that's supposed to help you lose weight (and look as hot as the models who advertise these products).

But wait! Has anyone been able to stay on these deprivation diets for a long period of time? And if they did lose weight, did the pounds stay off once they went back to a more normal eating style?

Look at the following fad diets, and see how many you've tried:

• Low-carb diet
• Low-fat diet
• Liquid diet (using low-calorie, high-fiber shakes)
• Grapefruit diet
• Detox diet
• Cabbage Soup diet
• Macrobiotic diet
• The juice diet

If you've followed at least one of these diets, you have plenty of company. Problem is, if a diet really worked, we'd all be on it, and we'd stay on it. The reality is that fad diets don't work to help you lose weight and keep it off.

So what does work? Eating fewer calories than you burn off. That's it, plain and simple. Calories really do count -- no matter what you've read in magazine articles. If you really want to trim down, the most effective way is to eat a variety of healthful foods, exercise 60 minutes every day, and stop super-sizing your meals.

Variety Is Key for a Healthy Diet

Just as a car needs the proper gasoline to make it run, a body needs a healthy diet --  the right balance of protein, carbohydrates, and fat to develop properly, as well as a host of other nutrients.

Each vitamin or mineral regulates a bodily process. For instance, the mineral calcium keeps bones strong and helps to prevent low bone density and fractures. Vitamin A is important to keep your skin smooth and healthy. Vitamin C helps protect your body against infection. Vitamin E stimulates the function of T‑cells, which are important fighters in your immune system.

When you go on a fad diet and exclude any of the necessary nutrients, you're putting yourself at risk for illness. Getting too little of a specific nutrient may not cause a problem immediately. But if it's depleted for a long period of time, you may suffer health consequences.

Practice Portion Control

Researchers have concluded that it may not be just the type of foods we're eating causing America's obesity epidemic but also the portion sizes. Food servings have grown larger and larger over the years. And fast-food restaurants aren't the only places you'll find super-sized meals.