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Fad Diets

Fad diets tend to be extremely popular due to their ability to make a person lose weight. Most of these fad diets do promise rapids weight loss as well as other major benefits, but their action potential has no scientific proof to support their mechanism in losing weight (Jáuregui-Lobera, p90). Furthermore, most of these diets are nutritionally imbalanced and thus ineffective over the long term. It should be noted that most of these fad diets tend to defy logic appetite appeals and even the basic biochemistry. They promise quick results, being easy to implement and even provide evidence to show the remarkable improvements on how their followers will look like after implementation of the fad diets.

Despite the increased popularity of the fad diets, they have one thing in common, and this is that they rarely promote sound weight loss, and they don’t work for a long-term plan. The reason backing up for the shorter working plan is that more than 95% of the people who adopt these diets end up gain the lost weight in less than five years. Due to the popularity, more of the American citizens are often left stranded when it comes to information regarding dieting as all information tend to be short-term with no guarantee for a longer plan in weight loss.

The prevalence of overweight and obesity in the United States has been increasing daily, and this happens despite the popularity of dieting since the 1970s (de Ridder et al., p907). In the 1980s, the percentage of overweight or obese individuals increased to 25%, and by the year 1991, the percentage of obese individuals had risen to 33%. A further increase was witnessed in the year 2001, where according to statistics, 66% of the adult population was categorized as obese or overweight. Americans spend more than 30 billion dollars annually in trying to fight obesity with methods that are purportedly not working. Most people prefer the fad diets, ignoring the recommended combinations of reducing caloric intake and increased physical exercise. However, it is worth noting that the fad diets tend to provide counter advice to that provided by science-based organizations such as the government and non-governmental institutions.

Just like their popularity in the United States, fad diets exist in many forms. In the past decades, fad diets have promoted the consumption of certain food types such as Cabbage Soup Diet, the Grapefruit Diet and the drinking man’s diet (Kent). Besides, specific combinations of foods often referred to as the Zones as well as the recommended time of feeding such as rotational dieting was highly recommended. Some of the popular diets such as the Atkins diet, carbohydrate and the protein power excluded certain foods, and this made it possible to make the people believe that they could have worked in reducing their weight. Other recommended fad diets include life without bread, Addict’ diet and sugar busters, which performed a similar function of reducing weight.

However, there were other fad diets which were recommended based on an individual’s blood type such as Eat Right for Your Type, or even eating like the caveman such as Neanderthin (Pitt, p35). There are various ways that are used to promote fad diets, and some of them include the use of celebrities to advertise their diets. For example, Suzanne Somers’ Get Skinny on Fabulous Food which makes a great influence on the people since celebrities are often perceived as influencers. Also, fad diets have taken the names of well-known places that are associated with fame, wealth and thinness, for example, the Beverly Hills diet and the South Beach diet are among the best examples of associated with places. Fad diets are all over the United States, and if they ever worked, the current problem of obesity could not be witnessed as it could have withered a long time ago.

There are various fad diets that have existed for decades, such as the Atkins Diet Revolution. Despite being in the market for a long time, the diet formula does not seem to work, and the promoters have continued to make revisions labeling it as “new Revised” editions and goes ahead to sell millions of copies. Even the revised books have nothing new or even something that has been revised to make the fad diet work. The primary aim of the making revisions for the existing fad diets is to continue making them relevant to the new generations of overweight and frustrated dieters.

A hopeless person can do anything to get back in shape and thus they will buy the cheap idea that the fad diets do work. Some of the fad diets are not even appealing to people, but their consumption has continued to be advocated the people for decades. For example, cabbage soup is one of the most recommended methods of weight loss. However, no one wants to live under cabbage soup all the time since it can only be effective when one is consuming it. As a result, people get back to their old ways, and this means that the cycle will never end and obesity will continue being a problem in the United States. Rather than relying on fad diets that are not effective, it is advisable that a person should maintain the scientifically recommended ways such as exercising and eating a balanced diet. All other methods have proven to be ineffective for a long time, and they are short-lived. Morning jogging, along with other routine exercises, can work a great deal in reducing weight.

Works Cited

De Ridder, Denise, et al. “Healthy diet: health impact, prevalence, correlates, and interventions.” Psychology & health 32.8 (2017): 907-941.

Jáuregui-Lobera, Ignacio. “Fad diets, miracle diets, diet cult… but no results.” JONNPR 2.3 (2017): 90-93.

Kent, Michael. Food & Fitness: A Dictionary of Diet & Exercise. Oxford University Press, 2017.

Pitt, Christopher E. “Cutting through the Paleo hype: The evidence for the Palaeolithic diet.” Australian Family Physician 45.1/2 (2016): 35.