5 Fad Diets That Make You Less Healthy

You have an event coming up and you need to lose weight fast.

If you could just drop a few more pounds, you know you’ll be able to fit into that dress.

You scour the internet for solutions, and even your friends offer you some tips.

You stumble on a diet that offers maximum results for minimum effort.

It sounds too good to be true.

But it worked for Beyonce, so why can’t it work for you?

You decide to try it.

After all, what’s the worst that could happen?

The Diet That Makes You Buy Fake Food

I was speaking to a woman who tried the SlimFast Plan to lose weight. It worked, whilst she was on it.

But then when she lost the weight, she was stuck. She had no idea what to next.

The idea of the SlimFast Plan is that you replace two of your meals with shakes and then have a normal, healthy dinner. The problem with it is that it teaches you nothing about nutrition or changing your eating habits.

The other culprit in this category is the Cambridge Diet. It’s a similar premise only you get meal replacement packs sent straight to your door.

One friend who tried it said the ‘food’ was absolutely revolting.

It’s an interesting approach. Force yourself to eat really disgusting food so you lose your will to eat altogether.

I wonder how long you can last on that.

The Diet that Gives You Headaches and the Runs

It’s the new year. You’re broke, desperately hungover and carrying the extra pounds that you accumulated over the festive period.

In your already miserable state, inspiration strikes. You decide to do…..a juice cleanse!

The juice cleanse is so efficient. You put all your fruit and vegetables into a blender, so you don’t even have to chew anymore.

Unfortunately, with your food already blended and pre-digested for you, you are basically living on sugar water. You aren’t even getting the fibre that the fruit and vegetables would have provided had you just eaten them whole.

Like starvation, the juice cleanse can be very effective for weight loss in the short term, but I challenge you not to be ravenous and eat all of your cupboards bare after one month of doing this (if not less).

The Diet that Beyonce Did

She had just had her twins, and Beyonce was set to be the first black woman to headline Coachella. She had already postponed her performance once due to pregnancy.

It was a hard deadline and she needed to get back into the shape of her life, fast.

Allegedly, Beyonce lost all her baby weight by doing something called the Master Cleanse.

The Master Cleanse requires you to drink a mix of lemon juice, maple syrup, cayenne pepper, and water.

You’re supposed to do it for three to ten days, although I expect there are some extremists out there who do it for longer.

Have you noticed anything missing from the Master Cleanse? Yes, me too. The Food. Where is the food?!

I’ll make a deal with you. When you are scheduled to headline Coachella and need to get into the shape of your life, I give you permission to try the Master Cleanse. Until then, don’t do it.

Just don’t.

The Eat Whatever You Want Diet

I remember the first time I heard about the 5:2 diet. It was from a male colleague who had taken to eating lots of chocolate Mars bars in the week.

“It’s fine”, he said. “I’m on the 5:2 diet”.

The premise of the 5:2 diet is that you can eat whatever you want for five days a week, as long as you eat less than 600 calories per day for the remaining two days.

Used sensibly, you can see how this could work, but you don’t have to be a genius to figure out that if you ate deep-fried Mars bars for five days a week, ever week, this would not be good for you in the long-term.

Plus, how long could you do this for, realistically? Eventually, you will crash and burn.

The variation of the 5:2 is IIFYM, which stands for ‘If It Fits Your Macros’.

The premise of IIFYM is that as long as your food choice fits within your chosen macronutrient ratios (of carbs, fats or proteins), then you can have it.

Again, you can see how this could work well, but it poses some of the same issues as the 5:2 diet depending on how sensible you are with your food choices.

If you always elect to eat the Halloween candy instead of opting for whole foods like fruits, vegetables and starchy carbs, you might be following IIFYM to the letter, but your body will suffer in the long-term.

The ‘Never Eat Your Favourite Food’ Diet

I remember the first time I heard about the Atkins Diet.

I was told I could eat as much protein and fat as I wanted as long as I had no more than a handful of green beans, and definitely no other carbs.

I was 24 years old at the time, and had started going to the gym in a bid to get fit.

So there I was, running on the treadmill, thinking to myself, “Is this what a heart attack feels like?” I did not feel well.

Your body needs carbs to function. When your diet is balanced, the carbs you eat get packed into your muscles as glycogen, which is your body’s first source of fuel for any physical activity.

The carb elimination diets mess with your body’s natural energy balance, making it harder for you to do what you actually want to do. Get fit.

They’re not all bad, but if you are never allowed to have pizza, ice-cream or cookies, not even in moderation, then you have to ask yourself, is this diet too extreme?

BECOME A DIET SNOB

It’s tempting to try a quick fix diet when you need to lose weight fast.

But sometimes it’s a trap.

Now you know the pitfalls of these gimmick diets, you know when to steer clear and proceed with caution.

Better yet, why not plan a healthier diet and lifestyle that will get you the long-term results you are really after.