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Karen Hazlip
21.SP.ENG.1201.1V3
Professor Dean Leonard
21 April 2021

The Effectiveness of Fad Diets and how They Affect our Mental Health
Obesity is a scary word today, but soon fad diets will be more daunting. Fad diets

control the dieter even without their own knowledge. From the fad diets pretty

advertisement and colorful and fun packaging, a dieter wouldn’t have thought to check

with their doctor or nutritionist and ask, “Is it okay to give up carbohydrates and vitamin

B12 and B6”? Government regulations with the Federal Department of Agriculture tend

to change of over time. Fad diets lead to mental health and body dysmorphia because

fad diets are ineffective, don't include exercise, and will not have a long-lasting effect

like people assume a diet would.

Fad diets claim to have the answer to a consumer’s weight loss problem. They

want a consumer to believe that they can help shed the weight fast. Sadly, that is not

the case. Get slim quick skims started its snowball effect in the1900s, with a

“overweight businessman Horace Fletcher who slimmed down and made dieting a pop

culture phenomenon with his Chewing Diet. He recommended chewing food until it

became liquid to prevent overeating” (Wdowlk). Another popular fad diet around that

same time frame is called the Tapeworm Diet. The Tapeworm Diet is when a dieter

would swallow a tapeworm and then the tapeworm would be eating the food for the

dieter, and then the dieter is left hungry and haven’t had absorbed any nutrients from

that day. The CDC does mention that when a person is trying to lose weight. The fad
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diets do lack the results of the weight staying off in the long term. The CDC also

believes that when a person limits their nutritional intake, it is very unhealthy and will not

be beneficial for the dieter. When it comes to maintaining a healthy weight, good health

with eating right matters now and as the person grows older.

Fad diets don’t work as we expect them to. They claim to have the answer, but

the answer to what? “In the US, 80% of girls have been on a diet by the time they’re 10

years old” (Aamodt). Knowing this statistic, does it feel familiar? Fad diets have led

many young girls believing that they are not skinny enough or “won’t be able to fit in a

size five by prom” to wear the dress of her dreams. The mental image of the consumers

body is tarnished once they buckle themselves up in the roller coaster called fad diets.

Fad diets are also unreliable because “five years after a diet, most people have

regained the weight. Forty percent of them gained even more. The typical outcome of

dieting is that you’re more likely to “gain weight in the long run than to lose it” (Aamodt).

With fad diets, a dieter is just dropping the pounds for a temporary time frame, which

means the results are not permanent. The only way to get permanent and long-lasting

results are the most powerful four things that can help a dieters mental and physical

health. Those four things are the key to losing weight, keeping it off, and living a

wonderful life while reducing the relative risk of death.

There are two main driving forces of the brain that will tell the dieter what it needs

and wants which are energy to go to activities and hunger, of course when a person

needs food. A person’s brain will not let them forget to eat their lunch, because the brain

needs fuel to help it have energy for the rest of the day. When a dieter doesn’t eat, it will

lead to them being hunger which will ultimately lead to having no energy. The key to
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energy is obviously eating. Fad diets don’t want the consumer to know that the key to

energy is eating though. Fad diets pray on the consumers mind with advertising, using

fun and bright colors to draw a person in, and markets a trustworthy claim to lure them

into believing that this company will help them over every other fad diets that they have

tried in the past. Nacamulli makes a statement referring to the power that marketing has

over the consumer. With these highly trained marketing teams, they can control and

take advantage of the dieter’s desire to drop to weight quickly so they can be slimmer,

stronger, and potentially have the beach body of their dreams. Nevertheless, these

marketers are laying out the trap for the consumer to fall for something that is too good

to be true.

These advertisers and marketing teams are trying to hone into the viewers

insecurities and desire to lose the weight, especially before summertime so the dieter

can be ready for the beach. Advertisers and marketing teams set the trap, but it is up to

the dieter to be able to spot out if it is a fad diet or a good diet plan.

This is a surprising fact about fad diets, and that is that they have been around

for a long time, even longer than the invention of the wheel. The Romans wouldn’t be

the first to have the generational dieting trend. Later on, in the Victorian Era, the diets

would consist of drinking vinegar before and after every meal, known as the vinegar

diet. They would also eat low-carb and high-fat diet where they wouldn’t eat any food

with sugar, grain or even vegetables. That was the notorious banting diets. Now there

are diets that insist you only eat grapefruit, eat a certain type of soup, or even

swallowing tape worms.

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Fad diets are an ever-changing staple in each generation. The fad diet can be

related to a fashion trend, which means it can change over time depending on the

desired body type. If more people were aware that these were just “fads” and “phases”

just like how low rise jeans and the teen emo phase, more people would more likely to

be inclined to not go through the struggle of losing the weight, just to gain it all back in

the end.

Cleanses and detoxes are part of the Fad Diet phenomenon. The CDC defines

cleanses and detoxes as programs that have a single process or other approaches of

dropping weight quickly. Cleanses and detoxes are when a dieter is either fasting,

eating certain foods, using dietary supplements, products as seen on television that

claim they will help them lose the weight or going on a juice cleanse. Juice cleanses are

when the dieter only consumes juices or shakes for a period of time.

Cleanses and detoxes will be advertised to health centers as part of a

naturopathic treatment. Detoxes and cleanses can be unsafe and falsely advertised.

The CDC concluded that in 2015 after their research investigation into detox diets, there

was no compelling support for these detoxes effectively working for weight management

or getting rid of toxins in the body. Then in 2017, the CDC did a review saying that these

detoxes do cause initial weight loss, and this is because the dieter has cut the number

of calories they consume. These low-calorie intakes don’t last and will lead to weight

gain when the dieter goes back to their everyday diet place. The CDC also stated that

there has not been any new or recent research studies on what the long-term effects of

these detoxification programs are.

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The consumers should worry should safety when it comes to detoxes and

cleanses. The National Center for Complementary Health stated that the United States

Food and Drug Administration will be acting against a numerous amount of companies

for selling their detoxification products which had ingredients that were potentially

harmful and had illegal ingredients. To the Food and Drug Administration, these false

claims could have led to many serious diseases. This means consumers should be

checking their products and making sure their doctors have approved or explained the

products, so there is no confusion on how to use it and make sure there are no illegal or

harmful ingredients. The NCCIH also mentioned that most of the juices are not FDA

recommended or approved. Not having to be approved by the FDA can lead to some

not so clean things into someone’s juices. Without the juice being pasteurized, it could

lead to many complications on the dieter’s end and nothing bad for the juice company

that made it. That means that there could be e. coli or other harmful bacteria hiding in

these juices, that a consumer might not even be aware of before consumption. Most

companies of detox juices are never even caught because they are independently

owned, and the FDA doesn’t have to all approve juices and detoxes. Another thing to

look out for are the illegal ingredients that can disguise itself in the cleansing juice. Just

like sugar can have many nicknames, so can other ingredients. A dieter needs to check

the ingredients inside their diet supplements because they might be hiding or even

disguising ingredients, and the dieter wouldn’t even be aware! Researching the

ingredients and getting to know the brand of the supplement before the dieter makes

the purchase can help them in the long run and save them from the pain of E. coli and

stomach issues.
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Some people may believe that when a person skips a meal, it can cause a

person to gain weight. That is where the family myth where someone’s mother might tell

you that if you miss breakfast, you will gain weight so just eat! This myth is only half

true. Some people may try to skip meals when they are dieting. That is a major thing to

avoid when dieting. Dieting isn’t about how much a person eats; it is about what the

person eats. When the dieter starts to eat less and less, they become more likely to

break the diet and end up falling for their favorite fast-food meal. Some people may also

believe that eating fatty foods will make a person obese, and this is also a myth. Eating

goods with saturated fats, like fast food french-fries and burgers are not good for a

person’s health. Rest assured that there are good fats in the world! These good fats are

called monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats and they will help maintain a healthy

body weight with accelerated calorie burn and will help maintain the proper internal

body temperature for the dieter. Some people may even see the significant amount of

weight loss as a good thing, but it is not. The American Heart Association recommends

to everyone, not just people that are going on diets, to try to maintain around 1,200

calories per day, which is the minimum number of calories a person should be eating in

a day. The number of calories a person intake can also be different from person to

person depending on the medical needs of each dieter.

An example of how risky a fad diet could be is with the Mayo Clinic fad diet. The

Mayo Clinic fad diet is where a person consumes a low-carb and high-fat food plan. The

highly fat foods contribute to the fast weight loss. It is the calorie burning magic of

grapefruit. The Mayo Clinic diet being a all grapefruit diet lead to many complications

with dieters’ medicines, and how they were reacting to it. This diet was also one of the
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most broken off diets, because the dieters were tired of eating only grapefruit and broke

their diets when they saw their favorite fast-food restaurant. When a person is

consuming a diet of high-protein and not monitoring the amount of their favorite fatty

foods from their favorite fast-food restaurant chain, they are endangering themselves for

a high risk of getting a stroke, developing heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure

and obesity. The hoax in the Mayo Clinic diet is that grapefruit doesn’t burn any

calories. Even though grapefruit is a wonderful source for a dieter’s vitamin C and fiber

intake, it will not burn calories.

Our diets play a role into our mental and physical health. Just like how carrots

can help a person see, omega-3 fatty acids can help our mental health. Fad diets try to

cut out phospholipids and cholesterol out of a consumer’s diet. They do this by

replacing them with lower calorie alternatives. Lim and his team found that when the

dieter consumes more phospholipids, it helps them maintain a better state of mental

health. The phospholipids also help with the reabsorption of nutrients within the body,

which helps the dieter stay healthy. These phospholipids are powered by fatty omega-

3’s that the dieter consumes. Fad diets can lead to stress on your body, from losing too

much weight too fast, and your brain.

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Fig. 1 is a table showing how placebo vitamins and the number of vitamins a person
should have effect with their quality of life (Lim et all).
Vitamin B plays an important role in a functioning metabolism which can help a

dieter lose their weight more steadily. Our bodies energy can come in different forms,

which is metabolism and that can also come in different forms, for instance it may come

in nicotinamide adenine (NAD) or flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) (Lim et all). Lim and

his team concluded from their study that it’s important to not skip meals, like most fad

diets try to persuade the dieter to do. Lim and his team believe that “based on current

evidence, nutritional factors are important for mental well-being. Especially eating

balanced meals on a regular basis and consuming nutrients for mental health including

omega-3, FAs, antioxidants, niacin, folate, vitamin B6, and vitamin B12 at

recommended dietary intake levels are suggested” (Lim et all).

Antioxidants play a role in how a person’s body can overcome the flight or flight

stress reaction. The stress response is a “tight balance between oxidative stress and

antioxidant system required to maintain the structural integrity and optimal functions of

brain” (Lim et all). Lim and his team have found that the vitamins A, C and E are going

to help protectant someone from “cognitive decline and mental disorders including
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anxiety disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism, bipolar disorder,

depression, schizophrenia, and substance abuse” (Lim et all). Lim and his team make it

clear in their studies that getting a well balanced meals throughout the day with the

vitamins C, E, B6, B12, and the many others will help lead anyone, even if they are not

trying to be on a diet, lead a healthy lifestyle where they can either gain healthy weight

or burn off any weight if they so choose. The listed vitamins will help lower risks for

many mental health diseases so why not take advantage of taking care of your body

and health now!

The foods and drinks we consume will affect a consumer in their daily lives even

without their own knowledge. What a person consumes is important. It can help with the

prevention of mental diseases, Alzheimer’s, and other medical issues. Eating healthy

and making it a lifestyle to exercise, not getting hooked on fad diets, reading and writing

are great ways to help prevent losing the battle and joining the fad diet team. When a

person joins the fad diet culture, it is hard to escape it. Just as Lim and his team

discussed, eating healthy can lead to a great life. Fad diets restrict the dieter from a

beautiful and enriching life and restricts them from enjoying the greatness of

carbohydrate and fatty foods. Don’t fall for fad diets and enjoy the pasta or bread,

because it is worth it in the long run.

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Resources

Aammodt, Sandra, director. Why Dieting Doesn't Usually Work. Youtube, Ted Talk, 8 Jan. 2014,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn0Ygp7pMbA. Accessed on 3 March 2021

Darby, Janine, director. Fad Diets: Fact or Fiction. Youtube, Penn State, 3 Nov. 2016,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ6fPehKI9A. Accessed on 3 March 2021

Davidson, Helen M. "British Heart Foundation diet." The Gale Encyclopedia of Diets: A Guide

to Health and Nutrition, edited by Jacqueline L. Longe, vol. 1, Gale, 2008, pp. 129-132. Gale

eBooks, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX2830000045/GVRL?

u=dayt30401&sid=GVRL&xid=3d6effbf. Accessed 5 Mar. 2021.

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Freedman, Marjorie R. "Fad Diets." The Gale Encyclopedia of Diets: A Guide to Health and

Nutrition, edited by Jacqueline L. Longe, vol. 1, Gale, 2008, pp. 359-361. Gale eBooks,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX2830000106/GVRL?u=dayt30401&sid=GVRL&xid=240a9baf.

Accessed 5 Mar. 2021.

Kim, JuYeon. WDTN.com, 15 Apr. 2020, www.wdtn.com/news/u-s-world/dietician-offers-

advice-for-those-struggling-with-eating-disorders-in-quarantine/. Accessed on 3 March

2021

Lim, So Young et all. Nutritional Factors Affecting Mental Health, 16 July 2016, pp. 143–152.,
doi:10.7762. Accessed on 17 March 2021

Nacamulli, Mia, director. How to Spot a Fad Diet. Youtube, Ted Talk, 11 Apr. 2016,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V15Z-yyiVg. Accessed on 5 March 2021

Swain, Liz. "Mayo Clinic Diet (Fad Diet)." The Gale Encyclopedia of Diets: A Guide to Health

and Nutrition, edited by Jacqueline L. Longe, vol. 2, Gale, 2008, pp. 654-658. Gale eBooks,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX2830000187/GVRL?u=dayt30401&sid=GVRL&xid=46943c20.

Accessed 5 Mar. 2021.

Villar, Maria Mercedes. “Fad Diets: Myths vs. Facts.” Temple Health, 1 June 2020,

www.templehealth.org/about/blog/fad-diets-myths-vs-facts. Accessed 3/20/21

Wdowik, Melissa. “The Long, Strange History of Dieting Fads.” SOURCE, 13 Nov. 2017,

source.colostate.edu/the-long-strange-history-of-dieting-fads/. Accessed 3/20/21

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Wolfram, Taylor. “Staying Away from Fad Diets.” Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics , 18 Mar.

2019, www.eatright.org/health/weight-loss/fad-diets/staying-away-from-fad-diets.

Accessed on 3 March 2021

“‘Detoxes’ and ‘Cleanses’: What You Need To Know.” National Center for Complementary and

Integrative Health, US Department of Health and Human Services, Sept. 2019,

www.nccih.nih.gov/health/detoxes-and-cleanses-what-you-need-to-know. Accessed on 3 March

2021

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