FAQs About Fad Diets

Fad diets promise to help people lose weight and look incredible. There are many different fad diets, some stranger than others. The grapefruit diet, the cabbage soup diet, the hCG diet and various low-carb diets all claim to promote weight loss, and while they may result in short-term weight loss, they are ultimately unhealthy and unsuccessful. No one can eat only cabbage soup forever, and once people return to their normal eating routines, the weight comes right back.

Q: What are fad diets?

A: Fad diets are diets that make extreme claims about weight loss while restricting or dictating what dieters can consume. Many fad diets entirely eliminate one of the five food groups or drastically increase a dieter's intake of one or kinds of food; others involve a drastic reduction in overall food and liquid intake. These diets often categorize particular foods as good or bad, and they make unrealistic claims about how fast an individual can lose weight by following restricted eating plans. Additionally, many fad diets promise weight loss without exercise, using expressions like “fat burner” or “metabolism booster” and making unsubstantiated claims about the weight loss properties of certain food combinations.

Q: Why do fad diets fail?

A: Many fad diets fail because of the foods that allowed or forbidden. These diets deprive the body of necessary nutrients, from energy-boosting carbohydrates to the multitude of vitamins and minerals bodies need. Any weight shed by followers of these diets is primarily water weight and muscle loss, especially when weight loss occurs rapidly. When the individual resumes a normal diet, the weight comes back, and it tends to come back as fat.

Q: Are fad diets dangerous?

A: Some fad diets are dangerous because of the severe restrictions placed on the dieter. Consuming too few calories and essential nutrients causes weakness, vitamin deficiencies and other complications. Dizziness and lightheadedness may also occur. Low carbohydrate diets sometimes result in nausea, fatigue and loss of fluid.