New Fad Diet!
Posted on July 12, 2008
[Eat less, eat healthier foods, and get enough physical activity.
]
It amazes me every time I turn on the TV and see tons of commercials for products that help you get healthier/lose weight “in no time.” “Detox” products, “low carb,” “high carb,” or “fat blasting pills”, etc., etc. all promise results faster than any other product. You’ve seen them. You know what I’m talking about.
Why we expect to solve our health problems overnight by using these products is beyond me. We didn’t get fat overnight so why do we expect to get healthier overnight? According to the American College of Sports Medicine, “There is no ‘quick fix’ for weight loss. Decreasing caloric consumption and increasing caloric expenditure through exercise remains the most effective method for long-term weight loss and maintenance.”1
While some of these products and “fad diets” have been successful for some people, most have not been long-term successes. Any “diet” will lead to weight loss if there is less intake, but when people start to eat how they did previous to using the product, weight is regained, and in some cases, more is added on.
Here are some pointers to remember as you see advertisments for some of these products:
– Any diet/product promoting more weight loss than 1-2 pounds per week may be unhealthy. In most cases, if weight is dropping really fast, most of it will be water weight anyway.
– Any diet, pill, or product claiming to accelerate the body’s fat burning capability is not a good one. No food burns fat. No pill burns fat.
– You cannot “spot reduce” an area of your body. Exercising one specific body area will not eliminate fat from that area. It can make it stronger, but won’t reduce the fat in that area.
– Eating less than 1,200 calories per day is not healthy.
– Pre-packaged meals for weight loss may be useful to control intake, but when stopped, weight is usually regained.
– Commercial programs that teach healthy lifestyle habits are encouraged.
- Jeffrey L. Roitman ed., ACSM’s Certification Review, 2nd ed (Baltimore: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, 2006), 175. [↩]
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