When you’re looking to lose weight fast, the term “sustainable lifestyle” doesn’t sound like the solution to your problem. Your best friend did a keto diet for two months recently and she looks great. Your social media has become flooded with people posting their “fad diet” results, and they also look great. Your mother-in-law has been into detox juices lately. Meanwhile you’re staring at your pantry wondering where to begin. Maybe the people online are right: fad diets are the way to go.
Wrong. While the results may seem promising, a fad diet doesn’t offer a long-term solution. Let’s start at the beginning. What is a fad diet, really?
Fad Diets Explained
You may have heard this term thrown around at dinner conversations in the weeks leading up to New Years Day. Everyone wants to start the year off strong and lose all the weight gained during the holiday months. A fad diet sounds like the knight in shining armor that sweeps the princess off her feet and saves the day. In this case, saving the day entails losing 35 pounds in a month or two.
Fad diets often call for low calories, food group restrictions, and “miracle liquids.” These temporary diets promote losing weight in a short amount of time. However, fad diets can be harmful in the long run because of the unhealthy habits developed over time.
Some fad diets include Keto and Carnivore. A keto diet calls for the reduction of carbs and restricts many food groups such as fruits and grains. The purpose of a keto diet is to ensure quick weight loss by putting the body in ketosis, the burning of body fat instead of glucose. A carnivore diet strictly allows for animal products. These diets, however, have one thing in common: they are not sustainable.
What is a sustainable diet?
A sustainable diet offers a healthy lifestyle that emphasizes plant-based nutrition. A person who uses a sustainable diet makes healthy eating a lifestyle, not just a three-month trend. Sustainable diets come in many forms and practices, including lowering your sugar intake. You don’t need to make a drastic change in your life for a few months only to later go back to your “normal.” Instead, you can choose a healthy alternative and make a “new normal.”
Three Reasons Why You Should Choose a Sustainable Diet Over a Fad Diet
1. No rebound weight
Rebound weight is a huge factor in fad diets. Since most of these diets completely restrict certain food groups for a period of time, the body becomes accustomed to these terms. For example, keto diets greatly reduce water weight and carb intake, forcing the body to burn fat. However, when a person who has been on a keto diet returns to a normal diet, his body begins storing water once more. Drastic diet changes cause the body to be thrown off balance and store fat more rapidly.
With a sustainable diet, you don’t have to worry about regaining the weight you just lost. Instead, your body slowly loses weight until it transitions into the new lifestyle you are beginning.
2. No categorizing foods into “good” or “bad”
After spending months watching what you eat—and how much you eat—you form habits that stick with you. These habits develop into a lifestyle that fosters a fear of eating the “wrong thing” or the “wrong amount.” Some fad diets ban certain food groups altogether, giving them a negative undertone. If you are on a diet that completely restricts your carb intake, you may begin to think that all carbs are bad. But good carbs do exist. In fact, some carbs provide necessary energy and nutrients for your body.
When you choose a sustainable diet, you learn to monitor what you eat without developing a fear of food that stays with you for much of your life. No more cringing when someone offers you fruits or veggies!
3. No blindly following a strict system
Most people don’t take the time to truly understand a fad diet before jumping right in. They just hear someone lost weight fast and they want in! Fad diets are trendy because they allow for visible results quickly. Social media promotes these diets, and people follow them because they want to join this “raging reform.”
Instead of blindly following the rules of a fad diet, a sustainable diet forces a person to take matters into his own hands. When you truly want to change your lifestyle, you will do research and learn for yourself the harms and benefits of certain foods. You won’t allow yourself to be misguided by what you hear or see on the internet.
Ultimately, the choice is yours. Following a fad diet comes with a price. Yes, you may look like a new person in a few months, but will you feel like a new person? How long will your “new body” last? Changing your lifestyle to follow a sustainable diet will keep your body healthy and create long-term effects.
About the Author
Esther Barragan is studying professional writing. Her love for reading during her childhood years expanded into a love for writing. When she’s not busy with classes and work, Esther enjoys crocheting and sewing. She hopes to someday publish her own novel.