Foolish Fads and Preposterous Plans That Can Derail Your Fat Loss Goals
We've all seen and heard the outrageous claims. "Melt off pounds while you sleep!" Lose 20 pounds in 10 days!" "Get rid of all your unwanted weight without exercise or feeling hungry!" If you have struggled with fat loss like many people, these claims may sound intriguing. But most of us have come to the sad realization that things that sound too good to be true almost always are, especially in the area of weight loss. Still, the fact remains that new diet plans pop up in our culture on a regular basis. They often receive a great deal of attention and popularity for a stretch of time, and then fade from view. Some wild and wacky diets have incredible staying power, however, and seem to be touted as the ultimate solution to fat loss year after year.
What follows is a look at some of the more outlandish diet plans that have made the rounds in our society. One word of caution: none of these diets should be followed on a long-term basis because of their lack of balance in the eating plan. They are not presented here as recommendations, but as humorous examples of the extremes that some unscrupulous marketers will go to when trying to grab a share of the lucrative fat loss market.
The Cabbage Soup Diet
This plan has been around for a couple of decades, at least. Some sources of the plan claim that it was developed by a hospital in order to promote rapid weight loss for patients who needed to lose weight before they could have elective surgery. However, there are no medical centers that seem willing to take credit for the diet at this time.
The centerpiece of this diet is a soup that the user makes from several fresh vegetables including cabbage. You can find different versions of the recipe, but most have onions, tomatoes, peppers, and celery, along with foods from the cabbage family including broccoli and cauliflower. You might be asked to add mushrooms or carrots to this combination, as well as dried onion soup mix, vegetable juice, and bouillon.
When you have this ultra-tasty dish prepared, you are instructed to eat as much of it as you like for nearly every meal for seven days. The plan also specifies other foods to accompany the soup, and they vary from day to day. On day one, for example, you are told to eat only fruit and cabbage soup. You can have as much of any kind of fruit as you want except bananas. That must be to prepare you for day four when you should consume up to eight bananas as well as all the skim milk you can hold along with your soup. The other days are equally interesting; only two of them have meat included on the menu. But don't worry! On day six you can have as much beef as you want…even two or three steaks if you wish!
To their credit, most proponents of the Cabbage Soup Diet do admit that it is not a long-term eating plan. They say that you should use it in order to lose weight rapidly if you need to get ready for a vacation or other special event. In all likelihood, you will not do yourself any harm if you follow such plan for only seven days…but is it worth it? Unless you are unusually fond of cabbage and vegetable soup, the answer is probably no.
The Grapefruit Diet
This plan has also made the rounds for years. It is sometimes known as the Mayo Diet (no connection to the Mayo Clinic) or the Hollywood Diet. Users of the plan are to include 1/2 of a fresh grapefruit or 1 glass of unsweetened grapefruit juice with every carefully structured meal for twelve days. That's right, every meal, morning, noon, and night. Then, if you are not entirely bored by the plan and want to continue, you must eat normally for two days before resuming the diet.
When examining the foods allowed on the plan, you can tell that it is basically a low-carb, and low calorie diet, so you probably will lose weight if you follow it. You can have bacon and eggs for breakfast, meat and salad for lunch (without any starchy veggies), and meat and vegetables for dinner. There is no limit on the amount of these foods that you eat, and you can have as much salad dressing and butter as you want. No snacking is allowed except a glass of skim milk at bedtime if desired.
The theory seems to be that grapefruit contains some kind of magical property that works to promote fat loss when it is consumed with protein. In truth, most people who follow the plan will probably be consuming between 800 and 1000 calories a day, and that is what will cause any weight loss. It is true that grapefruit is a healthy food to eat, and it contains a number of valuable nutrients, but it is not a silver bullet.
Some dieticians theorize that grapefruit may reduce insulin levels when eaten, which in turn could cause dieters to feel full and reduce their food intake. But grapefruit most certainly does not have any mysterious qualities that will provide the answer for folks struggling with their weight. If you like grapefruit, by all means include it in your healthy diet. But don't rely on it to help you reach your long-term fat loss goals.
The Apple Cider Vinegar Diet
Vinegar, in all its forms, has been used for many different purposes for centuries. People have put it to work healing warts, killing weeds, cooling sunburns, washing windows, de-scaling dishwashers, polishing windows and making pickles. Ever since the 1950's when Dr. D.C. Jarvis published his book titled Folk Medicine, apple cider vinegar has been touted as an aid to fat loss. Dr. Jarvis maintained that consuming a small amount of this fermented apple juice each day would result in decreased appetite and the shedding of pounds.
So, just what is apple cider vinegar? Vinegar can be made from many different foods including several kinds of fruit, numerous vegetables and some grains. Adding yeast ferments the raw ingredients. The first byproduct of this process is alcohol, but if fermentation is allowed to continue, vinegar is produced. The tonic we are discussing here results from the fermentation of mashed apples.
There is no particular eating plan associated with the Apple Cider Vinegar Diet. Instead, users are instructed to take two or three teaspoons a day or swallow a vinegar pill along with their regular meals. The idea seems to be that the vinegar helps to inhibit appetite and therefore causes people to eat less and lose weight.
Interestingly, because of the rise in popularity of alternative medicine, several studies have been done in recent years on the ability of vinegar to act as a health aid for many common conditions. As a result, you can find vinegar pills and supplements available at health food and nutrition stores, as well as bottles of "organic" and "all natural" vinegar that are sold in the diet section of the supermarket rather than the grocery section.
There have been a few small scientific studies done in recent years that have shown potentially promising results for the usefulness of apple cider vinegar. For example, some diabetics have had good luck using vinegar to lower their blood glucose levels. Studies in rats also show the possibility that ACV may help to lower cholesterol and blood pressure. And yes, small numbers of people have reported a weight loss when they used apple cider vinegar on a regular basis. Much more study needs to be done, however, before any firm conclusions can be drawn.
It should be noted that since vinegar is made up mostly of acetic acid, it can be quite harsh. If you decide to try it, you need to be careful to dilute it thoroughly with juice or water or you run the risk of damaging your tooth enamel or the delicate tissues in your mouth and throat.
The Three Day Diet
This seems to be one of the more popular fad diets and it makes the grandiose claim of enabling you to lose ten pounds in three days. It is simply a very low calorie diet, and if you follow it exactly, you will lose weight. However, ten pounds is an unrealistic expectation, and whatever weight you lose will most certainly be mostly water weight, and it will come back on as soon as you resume your normal eating routine.
The meal plans for the three days are spelled out exactly on this diet, and you will be told precisely what you may have for each meal. A typical breakfast consists of one piece of fruit and one slice of toast along with an unsweetened beverage. For lunch, you may have 1/2 cup of tuna or cottage cheese with a piece of bread. Dinner consists of a 3 oz. helping of meat, some veggies and a small scoop of ice cream. There are no snacks allowed, and the only acceptable condiments are lemon, salt, and pepper.
In short, there is no magic to this diet. Your calories are severely restricted, and experiencing the inevitable hunger pangs of such a low-cal plan is likely to result in bingeing and overeating when the three days are past. Such plans often lead to the unhealthy yo-yo effect of losing a few pounds only to regain them within days.
Conclusion
While there is no shortage of foolish fads or preposterous plans that may tempt you when pursuing fat loss goals, none of them will help you in the long run. In fact, folks who rely on such gimmicks often become disillusioned by the less-than-promised results and give up dieting completely. This is unfortunate, because becoming fit and losing fat are worthy pursuits.
Instead of counting on one food, tonic, or soup to help you become lean and trim, I recommend that you try a plan that has worked well for me. Fat Loss 4 Idiots is the diet that I follow, and I am more than happy with the results that I get. It is made up of real food that is simply prepared, and eaten in carefully controlled combinations. It is an online program that lets me choose my favorite foods and have them formed into an eleven-day eating plan that is customized just for me, and includes all of the basic food groups. It's easy to follow because everything is laid out for me. I am encouraged to eat four meals each day in order to keep my metabolism working at high speed.
After eleven days on the plan, I take three days off, before revisiting the website and creating some new menus. During the three free days, I can eat anything I like. That's great, because it eliminates the monotony that is a part of so many diets. It's much easier to do without dessert today if I know that I can enjoy it at the end of the week without any guilt.
But the biggest reason I like the FL4I plan is that it works. I'm achieving the fat loss that will not only make me look better, but will improve my overall health as well. If you are like me and are a veteran of many different diet plans, and have even fallen victim to some fads, I hope you'll check out this program here. Don't let any goofy diet systems or off-the-wall programs derail your fat loss. Give Fat Loss 4 Idiots a try. It has worked for me, and I have every reason to believe it will work for you, too.
More Dieting Tips:
Just How Good is the Best Life Diet?
Atkins: The Low-Carb Diet That Started it All
Bread for Life? And It's a Diet?
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