By: Monique Cole
The weight loss industry is a billion dollar business, according to ABC, that makes its money from various fitness products, diet supplements, meal plans and anything that can have a weight loss label slapped on it. Sometimes so many options can put an individual at risk by not knowing how to lose weight correctly. Failed exercise fads or radical diets could leave some belly busters feeling disappointed, frustrated or even unhealthier due to injury or malnutrition.
What leads to fad/trends with exercise and diet?
Professor Marilyn Gordon, a licensed dietician that teaches classes dealing with nutrition at NSU, said that the internet and social media make dieting look as easy as buying a pair of sunglasses.
Gordon said, “You know it’s definitely challenging… They tend to take a very short term view of their diet, so… they will make extreme restrictions of whatever it happens to be, but they see it as very short term.”
Dangerous exercise trends/fads
Quick, cheap and easy, but efficient? While the type of exercise is up to the individual, those interested in losing weight should do some research before breaking a sweat. Gordon pointed out sweat suits and CrossFit as two examples of ineffective or dangerous exercise trends. In the case of sweat suits, Gordon said that people incorrectly link sweat and burning calories.
“All sweat does is dehydrate them,” she said. “It’s very dangerous because it heats up their core temperature and can really be life-threatening.”
One of the hottest exercise trends at the moment is CrossFit. According to CrossFit.com, CrossFit is a combination of various types of physical moment that are performed at a high intensity.
However, according to Gordon, the high intensity can take a toll for individuals who are inexperienced and uneducated on their strengths and weaknesses.
“Nothing against CrossFit, but I do find that there are a lot of people who are very deconditioned,” she said. “And they kind of get into those groups and feel a little bit of intimidation, and so they try to do things they are really not ready for and it’s a good recipe for them to get injured.”
Another failed diet
Is butter a carb? According to eatright.org, fad diets have existed before the 1800s. Some of the diets still exist but have altered names. Just like with exercise, those interested in losing weight should evaluate their own health. According to Gordon, specific diet fads that can be dangerous or ineffective are the grapefruit diet, also know as the Hollywood diet, the liquid protein diet and diet supplements/meal plans.
Many fitness and nutrition sites often list grapefruit as being a type of food that can help burn fat fast. According to Gordon, although grapefruit is good for you, it doesn’t burn fat.
A more dangerous type of diet is the liquid protein diet. According to Gordon, these diets tend to be very “low calorie and high protein.”
“It doesn’t teach the person about healthy eating, how to plan their meals… so it’s kind of a quick fix,” she said. “But could eventually hurt them permanently.”
Gordon suggested that those going on liquid diets “definitely need medical supervision,” since there have been individuals in the past that have died from liquid diets.
In regards to diet supplements and plans, Gordon said, “The public is not well-educated to understand that all these dietary supplements are not regulated by FDA. So the company can just kind of put it out there and hope nobody gets harmed… There is no science behind it. It’s like they make that up to make you think that they got it right and everyone else has it wrong.”
Changing for the better
Gordon said that changing your diet and exercise for the better isn’t easy.
Gordon said that when it comes to exercising effectively, “people need to consider that exercise is great, but you really have to start where [you] are and not where [your] friend is.”
When it comes to diet and exercise, Gordon recommended the Mediterranean diet, the DASH diet and high-intensity workouts.
At the end of the day, not everyone is on the same plan, and that’s OK.
