Learn Which Fad Diets Are Healthy & Which Ones Are Unhealthy
Whether it’s your New Year’s resolution or just a simple decision to start taking
care of your body, losing weight is never a poor lifestyle choice.
The issue though is that there are so many ‘fad’ diets out there that are not sustainable,
not to mention unhealthy.
Take the 13-day diet for example; this diet is also known as the Copenhagen Diet, and
according to THE SUN, this program claims that you can lose 20+ pounds in just 13 days.
But what if we told you that the 13 day diet wasn't as healthy as it seems?
What if it wasn't the best way to support your goal of weight loss?
Stay tuned to find out why.
But first, before we begin this video, don’t forget to subscribe to our channel for more
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If you are unfamiliar with this diet; the 13-day diet is an extremely short-term and
strict diet that relies on the individual consuming under 1,000 calories a day, which
is an extremely lower than the recommended calorie consumption for adult men and women.
According to the experts at the NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE, the average man requires around 2,500
calories in order to maintain his healthy weight, within a balanced healthy diet.
For women, that number is slightly less (2,000).
Granted, the number of calories you need to consume will depend on your size and age,
so experts recommend different things for different people.
Now that you have the basic background information about the 13-day diet, let’s talk about
why this diet plan is not only unhealthy but unsafe.
SARAH FLOWER, who is a renowned nutritionist and expert on the subject of weight loss,
told the Sun Online that this diet is “A far cry from healthy.”
She mentions that weight loss is more than just losing pounds; it’s about your body
being healthy.
She adds that when you do a diet like this and then go back to eating normally, the lost
weight will be regained.
Nutritionist, biochemist, and expert DR.
INGRID V. VAN HEERDEN, a contributor to the Health24 website, explains that this diet
is unsafe and unhealthy because of the low-calorie intake and because it is an unbalanced diet.
Dr. Van Heerden states that people who are drastically reducing their calorie intake
per day will feel weak, hungry, tired and can be receptive to illness.
Dr. Van Heerden adds that because this diet cuts out certain food groups, people may suffer
from vitamin and mineral deficiencies.
Not to mention that because this diet is lacking fruits, dairy, and whole grains, people may
also experience kidney problems.
According to the WEIGHT-CONTROL INFORMATION NETWORK, an information service of the National
Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, a low-calorie diet such as the 13-day
diet should only be administered by your physician.
In comparison, your physician would use commercially prepared formulas which would include the
necessary micronutrients to ensure that there is no lack of nutritional requirements.
We had the pleasure of speaking to DR.
SUSAN S. PERCIVAL, a professor at the University of Florida who specializes in Food Science
and Human Nutrition.
It's safe to say that she's an expert in both diets and weight loss.
The first thing she said when we mentioned the 13-day diet was: “That’s three pounds
a day.
I think the diet has broken the laws of physics.”
Dr. Percival is correct when she mentions the amount of weight a person has to lose
per day in order for this diet to be successful.
But rather than using the 13-day diet plan, why not choose a healthier, realistic plan?
DR.
VAN HEERDEN suggests aiming for weight loss of 1 to 2 pounds per week which will include
45 to 60 minutes of physical activity per day along with a balanced diet if fruits and
vegetables and reduced consumption of sweetened drinks.
So that's it, huh?
Fad diets never work and you should just stop trying altogether?
WRONG.
Turns out, there are actually some fad diets that work, are good for your health and result
in some decent weight loss.
Instead of focusing on unhealthy diets like the 13 day diet, now we'll look at a couple
of fad diets that actually might work for you!
DISCLAIMER: Make sure to consult your physician before starting any sort of diet, as different
diets have different effects on people.
Now that's out of the way, let's dive right into those fad diets!
1) The Atkins Diet.
You've probably heard of this one because HEALTH LINE describes it as "the most famous
low-carb weight loss diet in the world".
It was brought to a presumably much fatter public by Robert Atkins in the early 1970s,
and we are much skinner for it.
Today, we'll go over how it works and you can see if it's right for you.
There are four stages to the Atkins diet, the first of which is a two week induction
phase.
During this part, your carbs will be set at 20 grams a day, but you can have unlimited
amounts of protein and fat.
After the two weeks, you'll start to add back your carbs in at 5 grams a day.
This is so you can find what HEALTH LINE calls your "critical carbohydrate levels" for maintaining
and losing weight.
According to studies reported on PUBMED, the Atkins diet is probably one of the most effective
in the world for weight loss.
It teaches you discipline and how to eat healthily, so we're really not surprised that it works
so well!
2) South Beach Diet.
Ahh yes, Florida.
Home of alligators, pythons, retired grandparents and (shutters) the Miami Dolphins.
However, it's also home to one of the best diets for weight loss in at least the nation.
Created by a man named Dr. Arthur Agatston, it was designed to do, what else, help his
patients lose a bunch of weight.
Here's how the South Beach Diet works: it's similar to the Atkins diet, however, it puts
more emphasis on protein rather than having unrestricted fats.
So during phase one, you're eating a lot of protein but cutting back on carbs and fat.
In fact, most of this diet is very low in carbs and very low in fat, however, things
get a little less restrictive in Phases 2 and 3.
Get this– PUBMED reports that after they took a 12-week study looking at the South
Beach Diet's effects, they found that adults lost at least 11 pounds and 2 inches off their
waist.
Combined with some exercise, this diet sounds like it would be pretty effective!
3) Vegan Diets.
We hesitate to label a vegan diet as a "fad" because in recent years it's become pretty
standard.
However, HEALTH LINE definitely describes it as a fad diet, so who are we to say the
opposite?
Plus, it would be helpful to examine the vegan diet here, because it's a very viable option
when it comes to losing weight.
Sure, you can call them "unbalanced" or "extreme" or call the people who constantly bang on
about them "pretentious" or "on their high horse" but like it or not, it's a good weight
loss option.
They're also kind of right though, as a lot of vegan food is processed, which won't make
you lose weight.
If you're going to go vegan, definitely go whole foods.
If you're not sure if we mean the type of food or the store, you could probably do both,
to be honest.
Anyways, let's talk results.
Apparently, according to once again our experts and friends down at PUBMED, one six-month
controlled study of 63 overweight adults each had the subjects do different diets.
The people who did the vegan diet lost twice as much weight as the other participants.
Oddly enough, they also lost twice as many friends (we're just kidding vegans, we know
we give you a hard time but you're just so darn healthy!
Maybe it's jealousy).
4) Ketogenic Diet.
Sometimes known as the "keto" diet, this one has been whispered around the media and the
offices of nutritionists for some time now.
What it does is changes your sugar to ketones, which are compounds made of fatty acids your
brain can use to make energy.
Unlike say Atkins and the South Beach Diet, this diet instead doesn't gradually increase
your carbs and instead keeps it very low to keep its practitioners in a state of "ketosis".
Ketosis is the state in which your body burns ketones instead of carbs.
For reference, those doing the Keto Diet typically get around 50 grams of carbs a day (sometimes
even less than 30) which you'll recall is the amount you're given during the first phase
of the Atkins diet.
Here's what HEALTH LINE had to say about the results of this diet: "In a controlled two-year
study of 45 obese adults, those in the ketogenic group dropped 27.5 pounds (12.5 kg), and lost
29 inches (11.4 cm) from their waists, on average."
That's about 13 pounds and 14.5 inches off their waistline a year!
Not only that, but studies suggest that ketones apparently reduce appetite, which means you'll
even be eating less!
Neat!
And that's it for our list of fad diets!
What about you?
What diet works best for you?
Maybe you've had a bad experience with a fad diet that you want to share.
Let us know in the comments section below all about your various good or bad experiences
with fad diets.