• Home » Hot Topics » 7 Shocking Fat Diets Killing Your Desired Outcome

Fat Diet Myths

Right after the holidays, you may consider dieting as your New Year’s resolution. There are hundreds of thousands of diets out there.  Here are some of the popular diets that may do you more harm than good.

1. The Detox Diet

The “Detox” diet is built on the belief that you can cleanse or detoxify those toxins from the environment and harmful metabolic by-products in your body by limiting certain foods and taking certain cleansing herbs. Most Detox diets are designed to be temporary, from a few days to a few weeks. Detox diets gained popularity among celebrities in the past.

Comments: Your body is a self-cleansing machine. Your skin, kidneys, liver, and gut are powerful detoxifying organs that eliminate the waste and toxins from your body through urine, feces, and sweat. It is not a good idea to starve your body even if it is temporary. Your body needs balanced nutrition to function properly and efficiently, just like an engine needs engine oil to run smoothly. Your body needs both macronutrients and micronutrients such as protein from protein-rich foods, antioxidants, and vitamins from fruits and vegetables. This diet also puts you at risk of losing your precious muscle mass, which will slow down your metabolism in the long run because the muscle is far more metabolically active than fat.

2. The Alkaline diet

The Alkaline diet is based on the theory that certain foods can affect the acidity of body fluids. Acidity is measured by the pH level of the body fluids, such as blood and urine. Traditionally, this diet advocates limiting meat, dairy products, and grains to make the urine more alkaline (higher pH), therefore, it can be used to treat or prevent diseases.

Comments: Your kidneys, lungs, and blood system work together like a buffer system to regulate your body’s pH level. Your blood pH is regulated within the narrow range of 7.35 to 7.45, making it slightly basic. Your body pH is carefully regulated by several homeostatic mechanisms such as the respiratory system and the urinary system to control the acid-base balance. Detoxifying your body is the key to reducing acidity in the body. By following a restricted alkaline diet, you may not get enough important macronutrients such as protein and complex carbohydrates, and this can affect your energy level and you could lose your lean body mass as well.

3. The HCG Diet    

The HCG Diet is named after the hormone HCG hormone (human chorionic gonadotropin hormone). It is based on the idea that the hormone produced during pregnancy works as an appetite suppressant in the non-pregnant group. These diet creators claim that because calories are delivered from mother to fetus during pregnancy, so injecting the hormone will help suppress your appetite and allow you to have only 500 calories for a day with limited foods including protein, fruits, and vegetables, and allow you to have only light exercise. They also claim that the HCG diet promotes weight loss of 1 to 2 pounds per day. This diet is very costly, the average cost is around $150 per doctor’s appointment not including the injections. HCG diet was very popular in the 1970s; since 2000, its popularity has increased because of the new HCG formula.

Comments: Most studies have found that HCG has nothing to do with weight loss and this diet is not approved by the FDA for weight loss. A 500-calorie diet per day is considered severe calorie restriction and this can be very dangerous as it can lead to the loss of vital proteins from the heart and other organs and cause lethal dysrhythmia. Plus rapid weight with severe calorie restriction cannot be fat loss, just water loss.

4. The Grapefruit Diet

The grapefruit diet is also known as the Hollywood Diet and Mayo Clinic diet even though the Mayo Clinic has no connection to the diet. This diet is based on the claim that grapefruit and grapefruit juice contain a fat-burning enzyme that helps burn body fat. This diet is also based on a low-calorie approach and combined with a lot of grapefruit and grapefruit juice. The grapefruit diet originated in the 1930s and gained popularity in the 1970s.

Comments: It is not sustainable to live on restricted foods choice and focus on a single food. Low intake of essential micronutrients such as vitamins is considered potentially dangerous, which can lead to vitamin deficiency diseases. The Cabbage Soup Diet falls into a similar category. In addition, grapefruit and grapefruit juice are harmful if the dieters are taking medications such as some of the anti-hypertensive meditations that can interact with grapefruit and grapefruit juice.

5. The Flat Belly Diet

The flat belly diet is created by Liz Vaccariello and Cynthia Sass. It is based on the idea of eating fat and losing weight.  It states that monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) can target and destroy belly fat while promoting fullness. The principle of this diet is that every meal must contain a source of MUFA.

Comments: No scientific literature supports this claim that a higher intake of monounsaturated fatty acids will result in a flat abdomen. When you lose weight, your body will determine where to start; weight loss tends to start from the abdomen and results in a flat belly, it is not a miracle from a diet. This diet emphasizes healthy fat which is part of healthy eating.

6. The Baby Food Diet
The Baby Food Diet was created by celebrity trainer Tracy Anderson. The idea of the diet plan is to replace two daily meals with jars of homemade pureed baby food with an option of a normal meal at dinner. The basic plan is called “eating 14 jars of baby food throughout the day.” The calories of each jar range from 20-100. The theory is that the jars will control the portion of the baby food to prevent overeating and smaller portions of food with fewer calories will keep you full and lose weight.

Comments: There is no evidence that this diet is healthy or works. Most people will quickly get tired of mashed baby foods. It is not sustainable for weight control and healthy eating. It is also not good for strengthening your teeth because you are not using your teeth to chew the food.

7. The Dukan Diet

The Dukan Diet, also known as the princess diet, was written by French Dr. Pierre Dukan.  It is a high protein-based diet with a list of over 100 allowed foods. It consists of a few specific phases. The attack phase: Dieters are allowed to eat as much as they want of protein-rich foods on the list. The cruise phase: Dieters are allowed to eat an addition of 28 specific vegetables but no fruit on top of protein-rich foods. The consolidation phase: bring in two slices of bread, one piece of fruit, a serving of cheese, and 1-2 servings of starches a day with two celebratory meals a week. Finally the stabilization phase: dieters can eat whatever they want with protein day once a week, eat oat bran every day, and walk 20 minutes every day. The Dukan Diet has gained popularity since 2000.

Comments: A press release in December 2010 stated that “the Dukan Diet is just another variation of the Atkins Diet, but with some nutritional recommendations that simply don’t make sense or are guaranteed to fail.” This diet sets up an unhealthy example of overeating. Plus you will easily get tired of eating mainly protein and oat bran. Vegetarians may find it more restrictive as beans, nuts, and lentils aren’t on the list of allowed foods. There is no reason to limit fruits and vegetables in any phase and the missing key for this diet is “balance”. This diet does not teach people how to follow a healthy and well-balanced diet that will keep them healthy for the rest of their life. The British Dietetic Association listed the Dukan Diet as the No. 1 diet to avoid in 2010, 2011, and 2012.

To stay healthy and achieve successful weight loss is based on a healthy lifestyle.

Quote

 One should eat to live, not live to eat” -Benjamin Franklin

Our Weekly Newsletter

  • Current fresh trends in holistic health and alternative medicine
  • Effective self-care tips from TCM and alternative medicine
  • Newly discovered healing techniques and natural remedies
  • Simple and effective Anti-aging and weight loss solutions
  • Solution tool kits for chronic disease management
  • Astrology predictions and much more...

Subscribe to our newsletter


Your information is 100% secure with us.
We will never sell, rent or share your details.
About the author: Lucy Liu
Lucy Liu

As a Holistic Health Practitioner, Registered Dietitian, TCM Practitioner, Energy Healer, Master Hypnotist, Reiki Master, Advanced Theta Healing Practitioner, Author and Speaker, Lucy Liu, the founder of optimalhealthsolutions.ca, has gained a good reputation in holistic health after many years of serving patients and clients as a holistic health practitioner. Lucy has developed a unique and comprehensive approach, which combines Western Medicine, Chinese Medicine, Energy Medicine, and Alternative Medicine together, to help others achieve optimal health by creating harmony between the body, mind, and spirit, and maintain long-term success for healthy lifestyle changes.
Read More

To connect:

Book Lucy Liu as a speaker and view the topics she offers,
please Click Here