Popular diet plans can seem like a tempting way to lose weight fast. From the Master Cleanse, a liquid fast made popular by popular singer/actress Beyonce and brooding actor Jared Leto, to best-selling diet books authored by those who appear to have a lot of nutrition cred, fad and crash diets exude promise to dieters that they too can whip themselves into svelte shape by drinking special shakes or focusing on a certain food group. But the American Dietetic Association warns that most popular diet plans aren't what they're cracked up to be. While they may give you short-term results, your long-term success is doubtful. When sizing up a popular diet plan, ADA member Joanne Larsen reminds dieters to ask themselves: is this a plan that you can stay on for the rest of your life?
Step 1
Confirm if the core premise of the popular diet plans you are interested in put the main focus on a "miracle food." Popular diets such as the grapefuit diet, rice diet and cabbage soup diet have something in common, states the ADA: they all claim that a certain food or food group will melt your fat away, when this could be further from the truth. The ADA warns the these diets lack variety and get dull, making them difficult to maintain. They may also be nutritionally insufficient. Dieters may also eat too much of the "miracle food," negating the purpose of the diet.
Step 2
Determine if the popular diet plan advocates realistic weight loss goals. "You didn't put on extra weight overnight, so it is equally unrealistic to take it off quickly," Larsen states. She advises finding a plan that allows you to lose between four to eight pounds monthly.
Step 3
Use your past experiences with fad diets to guide you. The ADA encourages you to think back to other popular diets that you've tried in the past and remember the way you felt when you were dieting--did you feel tired, weak, irritable, or stressed? Popular fad diets insist that you make drastic changes, whereas a healthy eating plan encourages you to change your relationship with food slowly while permitting you to eat enough to keep your energy up.
Step 4
Beware of popular diet plans that use "junk science" as a hard sell. The ADA cites some of the earmarks of these diets as those that promise you a "quick fix," those that divide foods into lists of "good" or "bad" and those that base their success stories on a single study (these plans may also be designed to sell you a certain product). Do the purported results of a popular diet plan sound too good to be true? The "research" behind it might be flawed.
Step 5
Take note if the diet plan encourages lifestyle modifications, exercise and moderation of food intake rather than elimination of entire food groups. The ADA states that your best bet is to consult a professional nutritionist who can help you craft a healthy diet plan that you can stick with for life.
Tips and Warnings
- According to the ADA, one of the oldest "fad diets" was the "vinegar and water diet" made popular by poet Lord Byron in 1820. The ADA lists the popular "Master Cleanse" (also known as the Maple Syrup Diet) as a fad diet.
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