While browsing for content I stumbled across an interesting list of fad diets at Answerfitness.com. They listed 10 silly fad diets that have made it big. My 3 favorites are:
- Kimkins Diet – An ultra low fat, low carb diet regimen coupled with chemical laxatives that deliver “better results than gastric bypass”. The architect of this diet has been sued many times.
- Lemonade Diet (”Master Cleanse”) – Eat no solid food for the entire time of the diet. Drink a “lemonade” made from water, lemon or lime juice, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper. You must also take “natural laxatives”.
- Banana Diet – Eat as many bananas as you want for breakfast with warm water, eat whatever you want for lunch and dinner, and have a 3 pm snack. BY THE WAY: no desserts are allowed after any meal.
It goes with out saying that fad diets don’t work. If they did, we wouldn’t have so many of them. With that said today’s survey isn’t about their volume or even their validity.
The question today is simple…In a world with so much valid information on losing weight why are fad diets so popular?
Come down to the comments section and add your $.02.
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I’ll take the easy way out for 2000 Alex…
People are lazy and weak minded. So anything that seems easy to do for quick results, they will attempt.
I’m going to have to disagree with you both. People are woefully uninformed on matters of health, clean eating, and staying fit. For the most part we are conditioned to live unhealthy sedentary lives.
It is extremely unnatural for someone to quickly switch from a non healthy to a healthy lifestyle.
Fad diets “work” (aka make tons of money) because people are uninformed and programmed to be unhealthy.
Our society has developed into the “quick fix” society. Having a hard time and feeling a little down? Theres a pill for that. Kid can’t sit still in class? Of course it’s not because he is 8 and is being forced to sit inside on a nice day; it’s because he has ADD. theres a pill for that. Get nervous in a social setting? There is a pill for that (a side affect of which, ironically, is anal leakage. Taking a pill for social anxiety that causes anal leakage may result in you being depressed. There is also a pill for that.) Can’t sleep? Take this pill…just be sure to not mix it with any of the other pills listed above or you might be sleeping for longer, much longer, than anticipated.
Fad diets still exist and continue to draw people in because people want the quick and easy way out regardless if the results have been proven. Throw a pretty face up on an advertisement for the latest fad diet and watch the fat sheep line up.
Actually, that gives me an idea. I am going to start my own fad diet. It will be called, “Hey, fatty…we are eating only vegetables for the next 4 months and running at least 2 miles a day.” My spokesman will be Lance Armstrong, to pull in both the cancer survivors and health nuts, Oprah, since she is basically a social King Midas, and Mandy Moore, because…well…she is hot. Oprah will have to lose some what first though. I think there is a pill for that.
so you’re saying they’re too lazy to become informed and take action…
Well put Burmonster, but I think I will have to slightly disagree with Marcus.
I believe people are knowledgeable about foods that are unhealthy to them. Maybe more so in this day and age than any other. No one cooks with bacon grease anymore and if they do well we know what happens to these people (or maybe they do and that’s why they are so fat).
And it’s not unhealthy to start eating good at any point, some how I fail to believe that if your are eating shit one day and then have a nice salad for the next year with some grilled chicken your body will shut down. You might be a mental wreck but that’s because you’re weak mentally. You could also walk/jog/run, of course not go out and attempt a marathon.
People are programmed to eat unhealthy cause all the bad stuff tastes good and they don’t care about their health enough.
Fad diets = lazy people wanting to lose weight without the work.
I’m saying they don’t know. You’re saying they are too lazy.
So you’re saying people can just switch up life long habits at the drop of a dime?
If thats the case why don’t people just put down the
Alcohol
Drugs
Gambling
Video Games
Internet
Shopping
and on and on and on
?????
It isn’t like they lack they tools needed to learn, they lack the motivation to learn. They’re too lazy to do it themselves.
Alcohol – feels good man
Drugs – drugs are bad mmmk
Gambling – wont start b/c I know I won’t be able to stop
Video Games – I stopped
Internet – Do you want us to keep coming to this site?
Shopping – debt is the American way. Are you a communist?
You cut me deep Shrek
But would you not say that the “quick fix” that society falls for is in large part due to laziness. People too lazy to teach their kids to sit down. People too lazy to work on public speaking. People too lazy to work out get the body on a sleep schedule.
Nicely put.
Yes, I know nicotine is an addictive drug but if you really want to do something you just do it. You don’t need 12 Steps. I had an aunt who used to smoke, she quit in one day and seriously never smoked again. ONE DAY. Some are weak, some are strong, if you want to quit you can do it otherwise you probably didn’t seriously want to quit in the first place.
To reiterate, people don’t stop because they don’t want to stop.
Smokers are always the easy target and best example. If they wanted to stop, would they buy more cigarettes so they could just have one? Would they hang around other smokers? Like I said, probably did not want to quit in the first place.
Do you know how many times she attempted to quit before that?
So you’re saying you can up and change your lifestyle habits in ONE day with no prior thinking. If so, why don’t you go out and run a 100 mile mega marathon tomorrow.
Its just ONE day.
Because people believe in quick fixes. But they fail to realize that they didn’t gain the weight in a month, so they definitely aren’t going to lose it in a month. The marketing executives make the ads look damn good. They aren’t concerned with people educating themselves about what is healthy…they just want that money.