In our quest to conform to the conventional beauty standards where men should have a rugged body and women that perfect hour glass figure, most of us try to find a quick fix to lose weight instantly. Talking of instant weight loss the first thing that comes to our mind is ‘fad diet’.

Fad diets are fancy diet plans that promise instant weight loss but deprive our body of the essential nutrients it needs. If our body does not receive the right combination of the carbohydrate, vitamins, proteins and minerals, we can develop serious health problems due to nutritional deficiencies. Fad diets once stopped, the lost weight is regained and that too at a faster rate as fad diets do not alter our life style. Lifestyle modification is the key to weight loss. It is a temporary solution to weight loss but leaves a permanent health issue.

It isn’t rocket science to spot a fad diet. Diets that come with testimonials and claims that are too good to be true are fad diets. Some common fad diets are –

    • Atkins diet

    • Vegan diet

    • South beach diet

    • 5:2 diet

    • Paleo diet

    • Whole30 diet

    • Ketogenic diet

The US News and World Report have ranked high-fat, low-carb keto diet as the worst diet for healthy eating this year. Recently an actress , Mishti Mukherjee succumbed to kidney failure caused by Keto diet. Fad diets can cause weakness, fatigue and nausea due to dehydration. People on fad diet also run the risk of malnutrition, kidney and heart issues.

Fad diets are usually not sustainable and fail most of the time. Repeated diet failure leads to anxiety, depression, guilt ,irritability and disturbs mental health. So before jumping on the bandwagon we need to question ourselves if the diet is worth jeopardizing our physical and mental health. Avoiding quick fix to weight loss is important because shortcut is often the wrong cut.

We do not need to push our body beyond its capacity to burn that last bit of calorie by starving or not providing the essential nutrients it needs. Forget perfect body focus on healthy body.