10 Fad Diets That We Absolutely Do Not Recommend

We keep reminding you to steer clear of fad diets in order to avoid side effects and health issues while trying to reach your goal weight (hair fall, nutritional deficiencies, hormonal changes, dehydration are some minor ones people complain about). There’s no doubt that dieting coupled with regular physical activity will melt away excess stored fat, but fad diet is something you should not even try. But what are fad diets and how can you identify a fad diet? A fad diet can be categorized as a diet that promises dramatic results without any scientific research to back the claims. These diets are not sustainable and most of them are based on food deprivation, focus only on a single ingredient, and cannot be even termed safe. They sound good options for people looking for quick fixes and such diets cash in on their desperation to get lean and slim. But the main issue with these diets is that you would most likely gain all the lost weight back within a few days after you begin to eat normally. That’s why fad diets are not the best way to lose weight and definitely not the best option to burn excess fat. And here are 10 fad diets that we absolutely do not recommend to people trying to lose weight.

How To Identify a Fad Diet?

1. Based on food deprivation, asks you to stay away from real food.
2. Promises fast results without dieting or exercise.
3. Asks you to replace normal meals with appetite suppressant powder and mixes.
4. Asks you to eliminate fruits, vegetables, grains, and whole foods.
5. Most weight lost is water weight and muscle, not stored fat.
6. Suggests sticking to particular food or food group only for the diet period.
7. Recommends laxatives, diuretics.

10 Fad Diets That We Absolutely Do Not Recommend:

1. Ice Cream Diet: This diet recommends having your favorite ice cream daily along with a calorie-restricted diet, limiting total calorie intake to 1500 calories per day. Though this may sound to good to be true, and ice cream sounds like the magical ingredient to melt away fat, do note maintaining a calorie deficit is important, whether you have the ice cream or not. In fact, you could have other nutrient-dense foods instead of the ice cream to aid the fat-burning process.

2. Cabbage Soup Diet: It recommends surviving only on cabbage soup for a week, no other solid food for these days. You are allowed to have fruits and vegetables, and milk, but not anything else. Apart from nutritional deficiencies, it may trigger health issues, and surprisingly, no real fat gets torched.

3. Master Cleanse: You are allowed only a lemonade drink for 10 days and nothing else in order to flush out toxins and detox the body. People who have tried this diet have reported feeling dizzy, queasy, and fatigued.

4. Baby Food Diet: Someone came up with this drastic and weird idea to slash calories – replace all meals of the day with 14 jars of baby food!

5. Cookie Diet: Developed by a bariatric surgeon, Dr. Sanford Siegal, it recommends having specially-formulated cookies to help people control their hunger and appetite. This diet however allows one meat/fish product and vegetables for dinner!

6. Grapefruit Diet: Grapefruit has been hailed as a magical ingredient that can target stored body fat and that’s what this diet promotes.  It recommends having grapefruit or its juice with every meal, with severe calorie restriction of only 800 calories.

7. Crash Dieting: People often think that crash dieting would fetch faster weight loss, but crash dieting is based on the concept of food deprivation which can trigger nutritional deficiencies, and push the body to go into a “famine” mode with reduced metabolism and out-of-whack hormones. Also, crash dieting can make you look malnourished. Lose weight the healthy way by following the Rati Beauty diet which places great importance on eating the right kind of food to burn excess fat. Download the Rati Beauty app for more details.

8. Ice Cube Diet: For torching away excess calories, this diet recommends having ice cubes through the day, with the logic that ice cubes would utilize extra calories and use more energy to heat the ice!

9. Cambridge Diet: Extremely restrictive, this diet is based on food deprivation and recommends eating soups, shakes, and bars.

10. Liquid Diet: It requires you to stay away from solid food and gulp down liquids such as broth, water, fruit juices, smoothies, milk, etc. with severe calorie restriction.

Side Effects of Following Fad Diets:

1. Not sustainable, only short term results.
2. All the lost weight comes back when you begin eating normally again.
3. No proper research to back such diets.
4. Causes nutritional deficiencies.
5. No real fat burning happens.

So, what is your best bet to lose weight – a diet like Rati Beauty which helps you to get into a calorie deficit by eating real and healthy food, and makes sure you are not missing out nutrients. This is also a safe and effective weight loss diet plan. Also, do remember to cut down processed food, limit intake of sugar, and be physically actively.

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