Diet Details: A few bad diets in the media?

There are hundreds of diets out there and many more to come in the future. In this post I pulled a few diets from various popular magazines and websites for highlighting. There are some great diets out there but there are lots of bad ones, below are a few bad ones:

Intermediate Fasting 16:8 Diet: This is an article on the Today Show's website titled: Intermediate fasting made easy: What to know about the 16:8 diet

>This article discusses therapeutic fasting but in a way that is not particularly helpful. The diet is described as 16 hours of fasting followed by 8 hours of eating whatever you want to eat. Participants saw modest weight loss over a 12 week cycle in addition to lower blood pressures.

This is not a diet or component of a diet I would suggest following below are a few reasons why:

+no real change in the foods you are eating

+no increase in vegetables or fruits or legumes

+reinforces poor eating habits of eating lost of food in a short window of time

+non-effective fasting protocol that does not help to address hormone regulation

Smoothie/Detox diet: This is an article in Woman's World: Lose Up to 12 Pounds in 72 Hours on the Smoothie Detox Diet

>The diet calls for a specific vegetable and fruit smoothie regimen to be used for a 72 hour window of time. The recipes are included which is helpful. The shakes aren't terrible in fact they are good options for a lower carb diet. The diet "promises" a 12 pound weight loss.

This is not a diet I would suggest using for weight loss but this might be an option for trying a few different shake ideas. Here are few reasons why:

+no long-term goals

+no long-term changes in eating habits or food behaviors

+not a sustainable diet

7-Day 1,200 Calorie Diet: This is an article from Good House Keeping: A 7-Day , 1,200-Calorie Meal Plan

>There are no real diet tips other than the 7 day menu that you are supposed to follow. This is a 1,200 calorie diet based on calories in vs calories out

This is not a diet I would suggest and here are a few reasons why:

+3 meals/day that are low in fat will lead to access hunger

+low calorie diets are hard to follow for long periods of time due to hunger

+does not take hormones regulation into account

Big take away points:

+there are lots of diets out there and no one diet for everyone

+diet does need to be focused on quality foods not the quantity of foods

+calories in vs calories out is not the full picture

+work with a diet that works for your body not because you read it in a magazine and think its what you need to do now

+diet needs to be a lifestyle change not a short term approach

+the heart of diet should be vegetables, a variety of vegetables