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Millions of us around the world read them, believe them, attempt them but we always end up failing and wishing we had never spent all that time, money and effort on them. No I’m not talking about relationships; I’m talking about fad diets. So why do we keep falling for the hundreds of fad diets out there?

We all desire to shed the weight quickly especially when those important occasions are creeping up like a wedding or holiday. We look at magazines, papers and television programmes to see what the glamorous celebrities are claiming to be the miracle diets for that draw dropping weight loss. If they can do it, then surely can’t we? Billions of pounds are spent each year on the never ending list of ‘quick fix’ diets. They claim to eliminate that unwanted weight within days, however, most diets have little or no clinical support. Can we trust them?

We have the juice diet, cabbage soup diet, caveman diet, lunchbox diet, wine diet and baby food diet, just to name a few. To be honest, the majority of them baffle me. How can someone come up with an idea like the Wine diet? Really? In the mainstream, we don’t really think of the consequences a fad diet can do to our bodies as we place our main focus on the end result. What many of us fail to consider, is that these diets are only short term and although we might be introduced to new eating habits, they very rarely stick. Can you really see yourself eating cabbage soup for the rest of your life? The fact is, as soon as the diet is over and we return to our original eating patterns, the fat will pile back on, with the majority of us being heavier than what we were before the diet began.

Fad diets mainly focus on restricted food and calorie intake. For example, the Master Cleanse diet consists of drinking a specially formulated mixture of lemon juice, maple syrup, cayenne pepper and water over a 10 day period. With each drink being around 90 calories and nothing else is allowed to be consumed, dieters survive on roughly 720 calories a day. Now it is clear how all the weight is lost so quickly. Even though it feels amazing to lose a couple of pounds here and there, there are plenty of cons to these quick fix miracles. As well as being difficult to follow, you will soon become energy deprived and malnourished. Other health risks include impaired kidney function from the overload of protein and lack of carbohydrates on top of calcium levels decreasing causing the risk of bone loss. Additional symptoms you may find are a lower immune system from the restricted minerals and vitamins, stomach pains, gas, constipation and eventually emotional letdown when the weight starts to come back. Fad diets are unsafe and unsustainable with the risk of lean tissue and muscle mass deteriorating. Your body needs to find energy from somewhere and as calories are being restricted, it looks towards your lean tissue and muscle mass.

Weight loss should come from a balanced diet that includes a selection of fruit and vegetable, those all important carbohydrates, protein and even fat and plenty of water. Controlled portion sizes and exercise are the steps to creating that beautiful figure you’ve wanted. If you are serious about losing weight, aim for between 1-2lbs a week. If you have any questions about dieting always seek advice from a dietician. At the end of the day, fad diets make you starve yourself, replace actual food with powders and shakes and restrict the intake of vital nutrients your body needs.

This is a guest blog from Claire Sands, our weight loss consultant. For a one to one diet consultation contact Claire via email.    csands1@hotmail.co.uk