Fad Diet Pros and Cons | Positive Effects and Disadvantages of Fad Diets

Before you jump on the ever-changing cultural wagon, learn more about popular fad diet pros and cons, and whether or not they are good for you.

With the start of New Year we all make a list of resolutions that are almost entirely focused on our health and wellbeing. We try to accomplish our weight loss goals and our fitness regime at all cost, sometimes relying on the next cultural hype we hear about. But, what are the fad diet pros and cons and do they work?

Fad diets are eating regimes aimed at a quick weight-loss without the need of including an exercise routine; they are usually unbalanced, because they focus on eliminating one or several group of foods altogether from your diet for a predetermined period of time.

This is probably one of the many disadvantages of fad diets; eliminating whole food groups from your system in a sudden and strict manner. For many, these type of diets become unappealing and boring because they focus on one main type of food, avoiding the rest at all costs.

With the population so incredibly desperate to get “healthy fast”, we tend to forget that sometimes doing things in a rush, does not necessarily mean that the changes will be permanent – nor that they will be the right ones.

When analyzing fad diet pros and cons, we should take a look at the most popular ones, the ones with the biggest fan-base and that make outstanding promises:

High-Protein Diet

While the name sounds pretty good and even appealing, having a diet that focuses primarily on protein and eliminates everything else, is to the least, pretty unbalanced. Moreover, this type of diet can end up being dangerous because excess of protein (meat, chicken, eggs, etc.) can lead to liver and kidney failure due to the strain that is put on these organs.

Grapefruit Diet

Disadvantages of fad diets include eliminating variety from your plate, but a diet that is based solely on one particular fruit is not only restrictive, but actually too unhealthy even if it promises dropping the pounds.

Juice or Broths Diets

Users or practitioners of these types actually proclaim that there are many positive effects of fad diets; in these particular two the goal – in addition to losing weight – is detoxifying your body. In reality, these types of diets (considered fasting) can lead to certain health conditions such as dizziness, fatigue, loss of muscle, lowering your metabolic rate, anemia, etc.

The Five Bite Diet

Believe it or not, it is a thing. These one indicates that you can pretty much eat anything you want, as long as you only take five small bites out of the meal. The catch? You are only allowed to “munch” out of your lunch and dinner meals, skipping the rest.

Positive effects of fad diets are not that many and not that lasting. Experts say that most of the weight that is shed during the course of these diets it is basically water weight, and that the actual pounds remain and some can actually be gained once you return to your normal diet.

Fad diet pros and cons are a wide topic of conversation, with many discussing how they have tried several of them to outstanding results, and others claiming how it has led to several health issues.

Truth is, anything that seems too restrictive and unbalanced will lead to unhealthy consequences. Medical research has proven once and again that a balanced diet will provide the nutrients necessary for our bodies to function properly.

Moreover, depending on your actual health state, your body may actually need some of the food groups that fad diets tend to restrict. If you are wondering about fad diet pros and cons, consult with your primary Physician before you engage in one of these practices.