The Truth About Fad Diets

And the secret to how you can look and feel your best at any age!

Many of us would like to lose weight, improve our energy, sleep better, stress less and look and feel 10 years younger but how do we achieve this I hear you say…? Well quite simply trendy fad diets are not the answer for long term success.

A poll featured in the Independent showed that the average person will try 126 fad diets in their lifetime. – the Independent.

Often promoted by celebrities fad diets may provide a quick fix promising great health benefits like longer life, immune boosting effects and rapid weight loss - which let’s be honest sounds very tempting, especially after we may have over indulged in the festive season and been moving less due to the current Covid pandemic – However, there is little scientific evidence supporting their use.

What are the risks associated with Fad Diets?

The bottom line – they are unsustainable and ineffective in the long run and could provide significant nutritional imbalances, health risks, psychological effects and unhealthy eating habits. Recent studies have shown 55% of women experience weight yo-yoing as a result of fad diets ultimately resulting in long term weight gain (Field et al. 2001). Research shows weight yo-yoing can significantly increase your risk of visceral fat around the organs regardless of your weight, increasing your risk for diabetes and heart disease.

It is more important than ever to take your health seriously, reduce risk factors to prevent chronic ill health and achieve optimum wellness by harnessing the power of nutrition.

So what’s the secret to a healthier, happier you?

Rather than a generic celebrity endorsed fad diet following evidence based nutritional advice and a well balanced personalised diet are the start to your success.

Which diet is the right one for you?

Our bodies and physiological make up is individual to us which means what’s good for someone else might not be right for you. In order to achieve long term health goals your diet needs to be tailored individually to you, your needs and goals and goes much further than simply what we eat. The best advice is to work with a qualified professional like a Nutritional Therapist who will take the guess work out of dieting and help you find what works best for you.

How your genes affect your jeans…

Working with a Nutritional Therapist can help to determine your bigger health picture and what might be holding you back from achieving your health goals. Functional testing can be carried out to assess nutritional needs, potential imbalances, your gut and immune health, intolerance and allergy etc. as well as genetic testing which can identify genetic SNPS (variants on genes which can impact your overall health, ability to loose weight, track inheritance of disease genes, assess your bodies ability to detoxify and absorb key nutrients such as vitamin D).

Reference: Field AE, Wing RR, Manson JE, Spiegelman DL, Willett WC. Relationship of a large weight loss to long-term weight change among young and middle-aged US women. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2001 Aug;25(8):1113-21. doi: 10.1038/sj.ijo.0801643. PMID: 11477495.