The weight loss industry is one of the largest in the world. It caters to people, mainly in the West, who are desperate and willing to do almost anything to shed a couple of pounds. It’s the same in every language, whether the word is salud, gesundheit, or health, everyone’s after the same results: losing weight.
America leads the world in obesity rates, which has much to do with our increasingly sedentary lifestyle and propensity to drive everywhere. This has created a niche market and every few months a new fad diet pops up and promises the world. It’s usually a parrot of “total results with little or no effort”. For some reason people will believe anything and, as P.T. Barnum said, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” It’s so very important to recognize predatory diets that play to our collective ego.
Fad or craze diets can appear like a great idea and some may even deliver real results at first but it’s also important to recognize how harmful some of them are. At any given time there’s something on the market touting it’s revolutionary technique that you’d be crazy not to try. For example,
The HCG Diet: This is a hormone that your body produces when a woman is pregnant. People are taking this hormone for 26 days while eating only 500 to 700 calories a day. You’re also not allowed to exercise whatsoever. This is one of the most extreme diets out there right now and, though you will loose weight, you’re likely to do some serious damage to your body. It should be enough of a red flag when the diet tells you to take hormone injections and you’re encouraged to not exercise. The body isn’t meant to sustain that level of change without having side affects.
There are other diets out there that are just as, if not more, harmful to the body but this hasn’t slowed down their popularity.
The Cleansing Diet and the Paleo Diet are another two perfect examples of a bad idea put into action. Everyone remembers the Atkins craze that swept up the nation several years back. It was popular for a while and then people learned that it was terrible for your body.
Back in 2009 CNN reported on a history of fad diets and some of the are bizarre to say the least. Some of the examples include the parasite diet that was hugely popular in the early 20th century. The nicotine diet was another plan that was devised by cigarette companies in order to sell more product There’s no limit to what people will believe and these are just a couple examples.
The past is strewn with examples just like the ones above. People are tricked, or convince themselves, that somehow there’s a new approach to an old idea. Nothing can supplant the efficacy of good diet and exercise and there’s nothing that’s better and more natural for your body than eating healthy and partaking in physical activity.
I like the Pirate diet. You can eat whatever you want as long as you steal it from someone else.