There are so many diet possibilities that it can be difficult to differentiate between fad diets and healthy eating plans. As you evaluate the options, think about whether each diet offers a variety of foods and realistic promises. If you have doubts about whether a certain diet is a fad diet or an example of healthy eating, consult your doctor for advice.
Food Choices
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a healthy diet is low in added sugars and saturated fat, and includes a variety of nutritious foods such as fruit, whole grains, beans, lentils, vegetables and low-fat dairy products. A fad diet might severely restrict entire food groups, such as carbohydrates on a low-carbohydrate diet, or it might encourage you to eat only certain types of foods, such as fat-free foods on a low-fat diet. A diet that is not balanced can increase your risk for nutrient deficiencies.
Flexibility
A fad diet might be very rigid because it requires you to use proprietary diet foods or dietary supplements, such as shakes, bars or diet pills, or it might restrict the types of foods or when you can eat them. A healthy eating pattern can be more flexible because it does not require you to purchase specific diet products. Instead, you choose the foods you will eat from a wide range of healthy options, and this freedom might be the encouragement you need to stick to a healthy eating pattern.
Safety
Some fad diets require you to take weight-loss pills with ingredients for suppressing your appetite or speeding up your metabolism, and MayoClinic.com states that some of these ingredients might be ineffective or unsafe. A healthy eating plan should not require over-the-counter diet pills. Instead, you should meet your energy needs by eating healthy foods within your caloric limits and use supplements only if your doctor recommends or prescribes them.
Weight Control
Fad diets might lead to rapid weight loss, but this could be the result of losing water weight instead of stored body fat. Healthy eating plans for weight loss help you lose weight at a more gradual and sustainable rate of 1 to 2 lbs. per week by reducing your calories by 500 to 1,000 calories per day. If you lose weight using a fad diet, you might risk regaining the weight once you go off of the diet if you have not developed new, healthy habits.
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