Fad Diets

Newsweek recently came out with an article outlining the most popular diets for 2009. Some say eating Twinkies for breakfast, lunch and dinner are the way to ultimate health.

The Fat-Free Diet: This diet claims that you can eat whatever you want and not gain weight as long as it has zero fat. Fat-free products are often loaded with sugar and have little nutritional content. 

The Couch-Potato Diet: This one claims that if you cut back on calories you can lose weight without working out. The truth is exercise has more benefits than just losing weight and it is important to get up and move for at least 30 minutes a day.

The Detox Plan: Many people like to do a cleanse, such as the Master Cleanse, for a few days to clean out the toxins. This detoxing works really well for some people and not for others. Sometimes all you need to do is eliminate one food, like sugar, and add more fruits and vegetables for a simple detox.

The Beef and Bacon Diet: This is based on the Atkins diet. This diet suggests that if you stick to meat and cut out the carbs, you’ll lose weight. Some people do really well on this, but consuming large amounts of red meat is not good for long-term health.

These diets do seem to have one thing in common. None of them talk about eating more fruits and vegetables, which is probably why they are so popular in America.

Good health is really quite simply. Reduce junk foods and increase whole foods, like vegetables, fruits and whole grains.

Before going on any diet, ask yourself, “Why do I want to be healthy?” Once you have your answer, whatever diet you choose will be much more successful.