How to Spot a Fad Diet

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Brenda Thompson, registered dietitian and owner of Life Skills Nutrition. In this segment I'm going to talk about ten steps to spotting a fad diet. The first one is, does the diet not include recommendations from a registered dietitian or even a physician? If the recommendations aren't coming from a medical expert or an expert in food and nutrition, it probably is a fad diet. Number two, are there dramatic statements like it's a miraculous diet, it's a cure, it's new, never been used technique for weight loss? If it's never been used before then it probably is definitely a fad diet. Number three is, does it guarantee quick weight loss of more than one to two pounds a week? Number four is, eliminating food types from your diet such as eliminating carbohydrates, eliminating grains? Some fad diets eliminate all fats, including the healthy fats, and sometimes they even eliminate fruits. The fifth thing is offering restrictive meal plans that do not consider your own personal food preferences or dislikes. Who wants to follow a menu plan and consume food that they don't like. If you want to lose weight, you should be able to consult with your registered dietitian so that he or she can help you find a meal plan that works best for you, so that you can make a healthy lifestyle change. Number six is, does it push supplements and/or food replacements, especially those with warnings of danger? You definitely want to stay away from those because you don't want to have lifelong complications such as kidney or liver failure. Number seven, the diets claims are too good to be true? If you can lose ten pounds in one week, that's too good to be true. We all wish that we could have that, but it's just too good to be true. If we lose that ten pounds in one week, we are probably losing water and muscle, and our goal is to lose fat. Eight, only one research study has been conducted on the claims and the research has not been reviewed. All diets that have proven to work have been researched and conducted many many times. Number nine, the company or the people selling the services are not professionally and personally invested in teaching their clients how to live a healthy lifestyle. Their major motivation is to sell a product, not to help you live a healthy lifestyle. Number ten is, put extreme limitations on daily caloric intake. Anything under 1200 calories, even 1200 calories sometimes depending on your height and weight can be very, very, very restrictive, so consult your doctor and your dietitian to see which would best fit for you. "