Fad Diets - Then and Now

Let’s be honest, fad diets will always exist. As the summer heat shines its light or important events and milestones draw closer, there will always be people wanting to lose weight fast. As a nutritionist I have accepted that quick fixes and rapid weight loss is ubiquitous amongst our culture. Why do things slowly when it can be done quickly??

There was the grapefruit diet from the 1930’s. It promoted grapefruit’s acidity and unique enzymes for burning fat. However, the resulting heartburn from copious amounts of grapefruit shot this fad rather quickly. Not to mention the adverse health effects to individuals combining blood pressure medication with grapefruit.

Fast forward a short period till we meet The Cabbage Soup Diet. I am sure you can imagine the digestive discomfort and flatulence issues. Suddenly The Cabbage Soup is no more.

The South Beach Diet, The Skinny Bitch Diet, The Zone Diet and the ever popular Atkins Diet have all been varying guises of high protein diets. Dr Atkins himself died of a heart attack, congestive heart failure and hypertension thanks to his high protein, high fat and low carbohydrate lifestyle ¹. However his team tried to hide the medical documents and The New Atkins Revolution was launched as a modern day version. Clever marketers and an experienced sales team have produced some impressive business results; especially considering there is nothing impressive about the diet.

As time proceeds forward, like magic suddenly new fad diets appear…

The Blood Type Diet; which interestingly became a bestselling book even though our blood type has little if anything to do with our metabolism.

The French Women Don’t Get Fat Diet which actually has some merit considering the French living in Paris tend to walk everywhere and eat small portions of food. Wow, who knew that portion control could be impactful for weight management??

I’ve seen the Alkaline Diet, the Macrobiotic Diet, The Raw Food Diet, The Apple Cider Vinegar Diet, The Dukan Diet, Skinny Tea cleanses and general detox diets. Would you believe there’s even been The Baby Food Diet where participants eat mushy baby food in an attempt to reduce food cravings. It’s also very effective at providing nutritional deficiencies in adults considering baby food is manufactured with baby’s nutritional requirements in mind.

The popularity of calorie counting comes and goes. ‘Counters’ lose motivation easily due to the constant weighing of food and the restriction to actual living. 

The Lemon Detox diet appeared in a number of forms until its followers realised it’s a fasting diet. In cooking and recipes, lemons are useful; their citrus deliciousness enhances other flavours such as herbs and spices. Added to softly poached fruit, lemon produces a jam-y-ness that makes for a healthy homemade jam. Lemon squeezed into ice moulds freshens drinks and provides hydration.

However, lemon drinks as a replacement for food will never end well. Fatigue, moodiness, constipation, food cravings and headaches are just a few of the symptoms seen in starvation, I mean fasting diets.

The Modern Diet…

Today’s version of juice fasting is the Celery Juice Cleanse. I love celery. It’s low in kilojoules, is hydrating, contains fibre for digestive health, and abundant in essential minerals such as selenium which is helpful to the immune system. 

Drinking celery juice is a good way to refresh the body on a hot day.

However, beyond that it is another ridiculous trend in juice cleanses. From my experience, the reason people feel so alive on vegetable/juice cleanses is they are drinking watery substances first thing in the morning; meaning they are now hydrated.

We usually wake up dehydrated and the typical morning habit of coffee further dehydrates which causes fatigue and promotes stress. Did you know that even a 5% drop in bodily fluids can impact alertness, mood, concentration and memory?

My suggestion is to drink more water and eat the whole celery so you receive the fibre AND the hydration factor.       

Intolerances…

A popular modern diet is the self diagnosed food intolerance diet. Food intolerances have definitely increased. One of the reasons is greater detection mechanisms. There are also many individuals who may not have a detectable intolerance but whom suffer sensitivities to certain foods. However, then there are a whole other sect who believe by removing whole food groups from their lifestyle will produce weight loss and healthier outcomes.

Save yourself the trouble, usually food in its natural setting is healthier.

You could also monitor weight by eating more vegetables, drinking more water, moving more and monitoring total food intake. Yes that does undermine the complexity of weight loss issues- I know individual lifestyles, hormones, family history, sleep issues, stress and anxiety, movement habits or restrictions, muscle mass etc. etc. all play an enormous part. Which is just another reason fad diets are useless for optimising health and finally losing excess weight. What is really needed is consultation with a trained professional and not a self-diagnosed expert.

The Caveman…

Then there was the Paleo and Caveman diets which have been promoted as a lifestyle rather than a fad. For those unaware, followers claim that cavemen and paleo warriors did not suffer with Type 2 Diabetes, obesity, cancers and cardiovascular diseases; like we do today. However, perhaps no one advised the followers that life expectancy was approximately 30-35 and medical advancements were not what we have today. So honestly, even if they did suffer lifestyle diseases, no one would have known. 

One of the benefits (yes there is one) is the permission to include vegetables and fruit. However, the typical obsession with coconut oil, coconut butter and quite frankly everything coconut, as the cure all should send alarm bells; considering there is no magic bullet to health.

The newest in our searches…

The newest version of the paleo ‘lifestyle’ is called the Pegan diet. A term coined by Dr. Mark Hyman, in a blog post detailing his own diet. Dr Hyman is a controversial self-proclaimed functional doctor. Depending on what you google he is either listed as a New York Times best selling author or quackery doctor.   

For those not yet in the know, the Pegan diet is a cross between vegan and paleo. It’s essentially a vegan diet inclusive of animal foods which to my knowledge is just regular eating. However, Dr Hyman dials it up a notch by eliminating or severely restricting beans, grains, gluten and dairy and therefore aligning it with the paleo philosophy. He talks to inflammation as the main reason.

It is true that inflammation is usually a precursor to premature ageing, illness and disease. However, what he avoids to mention is that just like everything, too much of a good thing is a bad thing. The right amount of grains, beans and diary for ones lifestyle will almost always promote bone strength and muscle recovery after exercise, digestive health and greater overall wellness. The challenge for some is determining what is the appropriate amount. Gluten causes inflammation in ONLY those that are sensitive such as in coeliac disease (as mentioned in self-diagnosed intolerances).

Another way to frame this discussion is to introduce antioxidants. When eaten often in their natural form such as in fruits and vegetables they contribute to slowing down age-related  degeneration, improving inflammation and assisting in overall wellbeing by promoting better circulation and heart function.

However, when consumed in too high amounts such as in multi-vitamin pills, the antioxidant becomes a pro-oxidant. This taxes the liver and kidneys, may provide digestive discomfort, headaches, constipation and/or diarrhoea. However, importantly they actually promote inflammation and the ageing process; which is the very thing most are trying to avoid.

So you see the amount we take in is the defining factor. Of course, too much dairy and beans will be problematic. But the right amount for our lifestyle is helpful to health.      

Keto…

Yes you’ve probably been expecting the Ketogenic Diet commonly called Keto to be included.

Ketogenic diets are characterised by a very low carbohydrate intake; usually to less than 50g per day, with a relatively higher amount of fat and moderate protein. This style of diet is not new. They were pioneered in the 1920’s to ‘treat’ epilepsy and then re awakened in the 1960’s with Cahill and colleagues. However, in terms of the ‘trend’, 2018 was their awakening. 

So what is it all about and does it have any merit?

Proponents of the diet believe that the body needs to enter ketosis in order for weight loss to be achieved.

One of the reasons why a high intake of high fat foods produces weight loss in the short term is the severe restriction of carbohydrates. This depletes glycogen stores. Glycogen is the storage version of carbohydrates. So once our glycogen stores are depleted, the body begins the process of manufacturing ketones in order to provide energy to the body.

The pathway of ketone manufacture is very taxing for the body. Energetically it is inefficient due to the tiresome effort required.

A little about glycogen for the moment…for your information, there is a finite amount of glycogen the body is able to store. Unlike our fat stores which are unlimited - pending our fat intake. 

To prevent further confusion, I need to highlight the importance of this.

Our body can not continue to build bodily stores of carbohydrates, such that we cannot ‘bulk up’ with glycogen.

For the average person in the healthy weight range, there is only about 2 kilograms of glycogen (carbohydrate storage). In order for carbohydrates to be stored in the body, so in order for food carbohydrates to be stored as glycogen, water is used.

So the apparent weight loss observed at the commencement of low carbohydrate diets is actually the loss of the water bound to the glycogen and the depletion of the glycogen. It is not, I repeat for emphasis… it is NOT the body losing fat stores or becoming more efficient at weight loss. It is actually becoming less efficient as other preferred pathways are shutdown or de-prioritised.

What about the continued weight loss you ask??

The body will burn other stores such as fat, but it rarely lasts. In the ketogenic state, the body can also use up storage muscle. As a nutritionist this concerns me greatly as skeletal muscle tone is one of the promoters of an efficient metabolism. Furthermore, there is also the risk that other bodily muscles such as the heart, become compromised.

Why is this so?

The human body has a fuel preference. Glycogen is the priority. The amount of effort our bodies require to process glycogen or food carbohydrates for energy is very low. One of the reasons people put on weight constantly or find it challenging to shed weight whilst eating a lot of carbohydrates is that they are eating too many carbohydrates for THEIR lifestyle, and as a consequence, the body is constantly using the carbohydrates as energy, at the same time, the other food components get stored for later use.

What now…

Scientifically and nutritionally, ketosis is actually the body’s way of responding to a crisis. It is an automated response by the body to keep it ‘healthy’. However, once there are a large amount of ketones travelling around the body, the human body is not efficient.

In a systemic review published in The Lancet on very low carbohydrate diets, it was found that the weight loss achieved on these diets was due to the overall restriction of total energy intake (i.e. food) and not because of the restriction of carbohydrates.

Interestingly, the article also said that after 12 months there is no difference between weight loss in those that restrict carbohydrates and those that have eaten carbohydrates.

There is no quick fix to achieving health and lasting weigh loss. But here are a few suggestions:

1) Learn to respect yourself more.

2) Be critical who you seek information from.

3) Eat More vegetables like your mum probably told you as a kid. 

4) Make a commitment to yourself that you are worth far more than simply being a follower of fad diets.

5) Sort out the emotional issues that lead to weight gain - seek professional assistance if needed.

6) Move your body more often and as often as you can.

7) Seek the assistance of a trained professional to understand what food and nutritional requirements are appropriate for your lifestyle. 

Reference:

¹ Kleinfield, N.R. (2004) “Just what killed the Diet Doctor, And what keeps the issue alive?”, The New York Times, online feature.

¹ Lusher, A. (2004) “So what did kill Atkins?”, The Telegraph, online feature.

¹ Shapin, S. (2007) “Expertise, common sense, and the Atkins diet.” In Public Science in Liberal Democracy, ed. J. Porter and P.W.B Philips, 174-193, Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Cited in Harvard University Press. 2007.

About the author:

Sharon Brooks lives and breathes health and wellness. She is a Registered Nutritionist with 6 years university study dedicated to nutrition and food and 14 years industry experience. Sharon provides health and wellbeing solutions to businesses, food companies and schools; and considers herself lucky to have been consulting to Living Pure for the past 2 years. Sharon has written over 100 articles that have appeared in the Herald Sun, Body and Soul and The Age Magazine, appeared on channel 9 news, been interviewed by Gold 104.3 as the wellness expert and facilitated a number of workshops, seminars, market nutrition tours and individual consultations. She will promote healthy living anyway she can.