Fad Diet Rundown - Part 2

This is the second part of an article about some of the biggest diet fads of the year. These diets are successful for some people, but not for all. If you are considering using one, read on.

Before choosing – or not – to use one of these programs, remember to evaluate the pros and cons carefully. Important things to consider:

SLIM FAST

Slim fast is heavy on the slim eating – their products, natch – and not much on the exercise. In fact, they treat exercise as just a way to lose weight faster while using their products. Once again, it’s a weight loss based program rather than a fat loss program. Just buy and drink their shakes and lose! And looking at the people they show on their site, fat is in; they’re all overweight.

They do have a place to personalize your program on their web site – both diet and fitness – so that’s good. Note that they don’t bill themselves as being a one stop shop for meal replacement, but rather a supplement to a healthy diet.

Actually, these shake based programs are the only ones that are proven to keep weight off over the long term. Apparently, the dairy gives you that “full” feeling that helps you to eat less of the wrong things. However, you could just as easily make your own protein shakes with skim milk and get the same results – a lot cheaper, too.

Rating:
Hype -
Realistic -
Personalized - (each site member gets his or her own plan)
Safe - (disclaimers – many and comprehensive)
Long term fat loss - (good with exercise)
Cost - (products relatively inexpensive)
Overall Value - (not bad really, but you could do better)

ATKINS

Invented by Dr. Robert C. Atkins in 1972 – who’s now dead - this low-carb diet requires some education and the plan is more restrictive than others.

The basic premise is that it’s the processed, high GI carbs we eat that do all the damage, not so much the fats. In fact, you can eat meat – in moderation - and still stick to the diet which dispels a popular misconception.

Not surprisingly, they have a whole line of products for you to choose from – most of them making other diet foods taste like heaven in comparison, unfortunately.

Largely discredited, the parent company actually filed chapter 11 after Dr. Atkins death, but has since risen from the ashes.

Rating:
Hype -
Realistic -
Personalized - (each site member gets his or her own plan)
Safe - (very low carb diets can be hard on some people)
Long term fat loss - (good with exercise)
Cost - (products relatively expensive – especially for how horrible they taste)
Overall Value -   (why pay more to eat cardboard?)

THE ZONE

The Zone diet plan can be difficult due to its complex nature. Determining what to eat and when to eat it sounds great, but creates the potential for low success rates.

At least it’s a bit more comprehensive and talk’s about an overall healthy lifestyle – but it still gives exercise low priority and pushes a bunch of supplements for “better overall health.”

Developed by Dr. Barry Sears, this diet is one of the more popular ones due to its focus on “wellness” and not just weight loss.

It has forums, a body fat calculator and a planner on the web site to help participants.

Rating:
Hype -
Realistic -
Personalized - (each site member gets his or her own plan)
Safe - (a good, balanced diet)
Long term fat loss - (good with exercise)
Cost -   (products relatively expensive, but optional)
Overall Value - (fairly good as long as you stick to the diet and avoid buying all the products)

Conclusion

All of these diets have useful and functional plans, but they all fall short in terms of comprehensive fat burning which must include the right exercise program and a healthy lifestyle.

Each tries to “piggy back” their products on the general desires of people everywhere to look better and feel better. Unfortunately, you just end up spending more money than you really need to. Worse, since they often paint an unrealistic picture of how fast you can lose fat, folks whom use the plans often get discouraged too soon and end up looking elsewhere – hence a new “fad diet” every 3 months.

Another thing you’ll find is a lot of common ground – that in itself would make it worth the time to investigate how these diets work. Most rely on reduced caloric intake – this in itself is not too bad, but can be just about impossible to maintain over long periods.

These plans also do not take into consideration people’s different metabolisms or lifestyles – a serious short coming.

A sensible exercise and eating plan that uses some of these diets’ principals will work just fine and not cost you a cent. Don’t let the hype fool you – none of these diets is selling any miracles.  

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