AmSo Fit and Healthy (Danica): The Scam That is Fad Diets

“For 5 easy payments of $54.99, you can experience the weight loss benefits of this newly discovered berry found only in the depths of the Amazonian forest!” - Danica

How many people have fallen for the infomercials or the ads online promoting outlandish claims for crazy results…? Too many people have fallen for it. In today’s society, the majority of people are looking for the quick and easy fix, getting the results they want in the shortest amount of time with as little effort as possible. The outrageous promises of quick and easy results force the popularity of celebrity endorsed diets, powders, pills, liquids and “superfoods”. This is the sad reality within the health and fitness industry.

Let’s spin William Shakespeare a little… “A fad diet by any other name would still be a fad diet”.

Look at all of the fad diets and superfoods that popped up throughout 2015, most bringing with them their fair share of controversy… Gluten free*, low carb-high fat, grain free, dairy free, coconut water, coconut oil, acai bowls, lemon water, just to name a few. The common theme shared by all of these fad diets is that there is little to no accurate scientific evidence to back their ridiculous claims.

*Coeliac disease and diagnosed non-coeliac gluten sensitivity are serious conditions and gluten must be avoided. What I elude to is the current trend of eating gluten free for no real reason other than jumping on the bandwagon, potentially causing adverse health effects by doing so.

As we pointed out in our earlier blog post “Where your nutrition information comes from is important”, anyone can publish anything. It goes the same for these fad diets. Celebrity endorsers or fad diet gurus make crazy claims and no one stands up and asks them for proof. No one says that they have to provide it. They are clever to explain the theory of the diet using scientific language so that people think that their claims must be accurate because, science. These so called “experts” more often than not have no formal nutrition or dietetic qualifications. They grab the attention of unsuspecting customers by offering quick and easy results for long term problems and issues, with “evidence” only from unreliable research, theories and testimonials from people paid enough.

Now, I’m not saying that some fad diets don’t work. Some of them do… in the short-term. They work because they are simply just low energy diets covered up by colourful gimmicks and fancy “new discoveries”. They make you lose weight by providing less energy than you require, putting you into what’s called a negative energy balance: Energy In < Energy Out. This really is the only way to lose weight. There are no bizarre food combinations, tea concoctions or “superfoods” that will change this metabolic fact. The simple notion of eating less and moving more is often lost to the general public as there is far too much conflicting information and advice from pop-up health and fitness celebrities that people can look to. Sensible eating and regular physical activity is something people forget about when they’re caught up in the whirlwind of fad diets. True, accurate and official scientific evidence indicates that persisting with dietary changes and actively participating in a physical training regimen will produce effective weight loss that can be sustained into long-term changes.

It is hard looking past the inviting promises of some of these fads and coming to understand that the vast majority of them are just too good to be true. My tips to spot a dodgy diet are:

ä  Fad diets will provide guidance that disputes widely accepted nutrition and health recommendations
A lot of time and hard work goes into reviewing a wide range of scientific evidence and putting together the Australian Dietary Guidelines. The latest guidelines, released in 2013, were a continuation and review of the previous 2003 edition. It took 10 years to make sure that the new information, used by health practitioners, organisations, nutritionists, dietitians and  more, was up to scratch with the latest research.
As a result, the 2013 Australian Dietary Guidelines are considered to be a dietitian’s ‘bible’. Any dietary advice that dramatically opposes the ‘bible’ generally has no scientific evidence to back it and should raise red flags.

ä  A diet designed to cut out or dramatically restrict one or more food groups with no medical need to do so

Each of the Five Food Groups (grains, vegetables/legumes, fruit, dairy and lean meat/alternatives) contain a variety of main distinguishing nutrients, some only found in one or two groups. Cutting out or restricting an entire food group will put you at risk of developing a nutrient deficiency, one that may have lasting health effects. Always be sceptical if asked to stop eating an entire food group. If you don’t have a medical condition that requires you stop eating something, don’t – you could end up doing more harm than good to your health.

ä  A diet that focusses on one or a few specific foods or beverages that have “super powers”
Superfoods. All foods in a healthy, well balanced diet are super. They provide your body with the energy and nutrients it needs to function, repair and let you live a great life. I could really go on and on about just this topic, but I won’t, so remember this: don’t miss out on eating a wide variety of delicious and healthy foods just to eat some weird new berry at every meal or drown everything you eat in coconut oil just because some attractive looking “nutritionist” on Instagram told you to. You’ll be missing out on a whole heap of key nutrients if you’re obsessive over a specific food.

ä  Attractive images of results are the focus of promoting the diet as opposed to facts of the product or practice
Some ridiculously attractive girl on Instagram boasts “Before I came across these berries, I was 320kg. Since following the meal plan, eating 2 berries and 3 sheets of cardboard each day, I’ve been able to get myself down to 30kg in just 2 weeks!”… That was a little exaggerated, and stupidly unsafe and unrealistic, but a lot of the testimonials for these fad diets and products aren’t much better. And that is merely all they use to promote their business, testimonials that are more often than not just well paid girls that have actually lost weight the right way, with hard work and healthy eating. Remember to look past the glamour shots, that are usually heavily photo-shopped, and “evidence” of just a cleverly written caption on an Instagram post. 

You deserve so much better. Forget the fads. Our food philosophy at AmSo Fit & Healthy is all about eating real food. If you need help achieving your goals through healthy eating and are struggling to understand where to being, send me a message. Your body, health and sanity will thank you for it.

-          Danica

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ben@amsofitandhealthy.com.au | 0405 268 619
danica@amsofitandhealthy.com.au | 0458 001 848