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Abbey Lee Wildzunas
Mrs. Thomas
College Prep English 12
19 March 2013
The Harmful Effects of Fad Diets
People all over the world have become obsessed with finding a solution for losing weight
quickly and effectively. The dieting obsession stemmed from the creation of the Body Mass
Index, or BMI. The BMI calculator suggests that people with a BMI over thirty are overweight.
If one was overweight to the point of obesity, then they had a disorder. No overweight person
wants to have this disorder, and thus an obsession with weight loss develops (Boaz 41-45).
These diet fads that promise quick weight loss are unhealthy not only physically, but also
psychologically (Bijlefeld and Zoumbaris 156-157). These fad diets prove not only unsafe, but
ineffective in providing long-term weight loss. Fad diets in today’s society are harmful because
many are deficient in vitamins and nutrients, they negatively affect normal bodily functions, and
their popularity is built upon false pretenses.
To begin, many fad diets in today’s society are harmful because of their deficiency in
vitamins and nutrients. Fad diets range from low carbohydrate plans to supplemental plans.
These diets can come in the form of diet pills and diet drinks, such as herbal tea or lemonade,
which lack in vitamins, causing the dieter to lack essential nutrients as well. One’s body needs
different types of vitamins to maintain health. These nutrients primarily are broken down into
two broad categories: fat soluble and water soluble.
Fat soluble nutrients consist of vitamins A, D, E, and F. These vitamins are not needed
daily, but nevertheless are important for a healthy body (Olendorf, Jeryan, and Fyke 955). Some
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examples of food with fat soluble nutrients are animal products and green and yellow vegetables.
The human body does not naturally produce these vitamins, so it is important to eat foods rich in
fat soluble nutrients regularly (Bijlefeld and Zoumbaris 148-149). On the other hand, water
soluble nutrients typically have vitamins such as C and B complex. These nutrients are needed
daily and are found in fruit such as oranges and kiwis (Olendorf, Jeryan, and Fyke 955). Many
fad diets restrict both fat and water soluble nutrients; making them all the more unhealthy for the
body.
For example, the Atkins Diet is a fad diet that greatly restricts many essential vitamins
and nutrients. The diet focuses on low carbohydrate foods that possess a high fat count such as
butter and bacon. Since fruits and vegetables naturally have carbohydrates, they are cut out of
the diet almost entirely. In response, the Atkins dieter does not receive enough fat and water
soluble nutrients because they cannot eat these nutritionally filled foods (Lankford 23-24). In
addition to the Atkins Diet, there are single food diets that only allow the dieter to eat one type of
food. These are exceptionally unhealthy because no single food can provide all of the vitamins
and nutrients the human body needs. Therefore, the dieter lacks in many nutritional necessities
(Long 118). One single food diet, the Lemonade Diet, restricts all food except a lemonade drink
concoction for up to two weeks. Clearly, such a diet does not supply enough fat and water
soluble vitamins needed to maintain a healthy body. This diet relies on caloric deficiency to
force the dieter’s body to go into starvation mode (Zelman). The low carbohydrate Atkins Diet
does not provide sufficient vitamins and minerals to a dieter’s body.
In addition, another type of fad lacking in vitamins and nutrients are the supplemental
diets. These diets are maintained by constantly taking diet pills. The appetite suppressor pill
boasts that it makes dieters less hungry, so they are less likely to overeat. Unfortunately, it can
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make dieters not hungry at all, giving the body fewer opportunities to ingest vitamins from food.
Other low calorie diets starve the body by restricting eating to less than eight hundred calories
per day. With such a small amount of calories, dieters cannot obtain enough healthy nutrients
through their food (Kane 62-63). Additionally, diuretics are pills that make the body lose water
through bowel movements, which makes the dieter lose many minerals from the water lost (Long
116). “The best way to get the vitamins and minerals you need is through food, not
supplements” (Litin 21). Overall, supplements are not a nutritionally sound way to keep one’s
body healthy because supplements usually result in starvation, whether accidentally or
purposefully.
In all, vitamins and nutrients are necessary for a healthy body. Fad diets that limit or
restrict certain foods cannot give a dieter’s body these essential nutrients. The fat and water
soluble vitamins are needed often, and without certain foods, the dieter’s body is cut off from
these wonderful minerals. “… fad diets… may also cause vitamin and mineral deficiencies,
leading to long-term health problems such as weakened bones” (Lankford 9). Without a
sufficient amount of vitamins, a dieter’s body can suffer long and short-term consequences.
Secondly, fad diets in today’s society are harmful because of their negative effects on
normal bodily functions. As mentioned, the human body needs vitamins to stay healthy.
Vitamins are important because they help make cells, regulate the nervous system, and compose
genetic material (Olendorf, Jeryan, and Fyke 955). Vitamins are also an important factor in
promoting a healthy growth of bones (Bijlefeld and Zoumbaris 148-149). Inasmuch, fad diets
that take away vitamins are more harmful than helpful.
The low carbohydrate Atkins Diet is extremely harmful to a dieter’s normal bodily
functions. Its focus on decreasing insulin production, through eating fewer carbohydrates, starts
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the dieter on a path towards ketosis. Ketosis is when the body needs energy from carbohydrates,
but instead, because there is such a loss of them, the body has to turn to fat to provide this
energy. Since fat is metabolized through carbohydrates, the fat that is not metabolized forms
ketones in the blood, causing ketosis (Long 117). The side effects of ketosis can be, but are not
limited to, dehydration from the dieter’s water weight loss and kidney failure. In ketosis, the
dieter’s body is starving (Lankford 23-24 39). ‘’’Although you can lose weight on these
nutritionally unsound diets, you do so at the risk of your health and even your life’’’ (Boaz 50).
The Atkins Diet puts a dieter’s body in harm through ketosis.
Diet pills, another common fad diet, have negative effects on a dieter’s body. There are
two major types of diet pills: laxatives and appetite suppressors. Laxatives flush necessary
nutrients out of the body’s large intestine. Flushing these nutrients depletes electrolytes.
Electrolytes help the body send information to the heart, so without them a dieter can experience
heartbeat irregularity and heart failure, sometimes resulting in death (Kane 56-59). “Laxatives…
[can cause] more water to enter the bowel. This can cause dehydration, loss of normal bowel
function, and various degrees of other laxative side effects…” (Kane 58). Appetite suppressors
are another type of diet pill that also causes unhealthy bodily functions. These pills contain
amphetamines that can give the dieter long-term heart problems. Another ingredient in these diet
pills are barbiturates, making the dieter cranky from insomnia (Long 116). In all, diet pills are an
unhealthy diet fad that can have serious side effects on one’s body.
Another diet fad that can upset the dieter’s normal bodily functions is the starvation diet.
While starving on a diet, the body feels an energy loss because it does not have enough fat or
carbohydrates to burn. This results in unhealthy bones through a lack of vitamins and exercise
(Kane 62-63). Because of the quick weight loss experienced through starvation, gallstones are
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increasingly more likely to form (Lankford 23). “Diets that provide less than 800 calories per
day also could result in heart rhythm abnormalities, which can be fatal” (Lankford 23). A
starvation diet puts dieter’s into a yo-yo diet effect.
A yo-yo diet is when a dieter fluctuates in weight often using a starvation or
supplemental diet. A yo-yo dieter is not only at risk from the diet fad they are using, but also
from the consistent fluctuation of their body weight. These dieters can be at risk for heart
disease, cancer, and diabetes (Lankford 38-39). A yo-yo dieter is more apt than other fad dieters
to develop depression that results from an eating disorder (Spies 33-34). “35 percent of…
[dieters] progress to pathological dieter or full-blown eating disorders…” (Bijlefeld and
Zoumbaris viii). Bulimia is a type of eating disorder with side effects such as heart trouble,
degrading tooth enamel, and swollen lymph nodes (Lankford 38-39). Since the dieter is starving
their body, a binge eating cycle can form, resulting in the unhealthy yo-yo diet.
Finally, fad diets in today’s society are harmful because their popularity is built upon
false pretenses. Dieters often are encouraged to try a multitude of diets that boast proven quick
and easy weight loss. How scientifically proven are these advertisements? Unfortunately not as
scientific as the dieter is led to believe. The Lemonade Diet’s complete master cleanse is an
example of this misinformation. Although it tells the dieter of this complete cleanse through the
drink mix, there is no research backing this statement. Alternately, the dieter does not know that
the liver naturally cleanses and detoxifies the body (Zelman). ‘’’There is no scientific evidence
that you need anything like this [Lemonade Diet] or any other detox program to cleanse your
body or help you lose weight’’’ (Zelman). The misinformation that diet fads boast can lead a
dieter toward unhealthy choices.
Another misconception of diet fads, such as laxatives, is that they provide a flush that
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makes the dieter lose fat. Although this would be ideal if it was true, it simply is not. Laxatives
give the dieter a flush, to say the least, but through the large intestine filled with water, not the
small intestine which absorbs the calories and fat. Since the laxative flushes the large intestine,
the dieter primarily is losing water weight, not fat (Kane 58-59). “Their popularity comes from
the mistaken consumer belief that increased bowel movements would prevent absorption of
calories, stop weight gain, and even encourage weight loss” (Bijlefeld and Zoumbaris 63). In the
end, dieters have nothing to gain by painfully flushing their bodies with the help of laxatives.
Another false misconception about diet fads is that they provide a permanent weight loss.
Unfortunately, weight loss is not as simple as advertisements allow dieters to believe. The dieter
becomes reliant upon the pill or supplement they are using and do not become accustomed to
healthy eating habits (Kane 23-28). Once the diet ends, weight gain is eminent in around ninetyfive percent of fad dieters (Boaz 95). The starvation diet encourages weight gain during the diet
as well as after the diet is over. The dieter’s metabolism is lowered due to the fact that their
body is in a starvation mode and is trying to store ingested food. The lowered metabolism makes
the dieters have to continually eat less to maintain their ideal weight (Long 119- 120). After the
diet ends, the dieter’s metabolism is still low, causing eventual weight gain (Kane 5-6).
“Virtually all dieters regain their initial weight within five years” (Boaz 95). Fad diets might be
an easy way to lose water weight, but it does not provide permanent weight loss.
To conclude, many people in today’s society rely on diet fads for a quick and permanent
weight loss plan. The dieter does not realize that these fads come with hidden side effects, such
as heart problems, and false information. “There is no magic plan that will make fat disappear
quickly and permanently” (Spies 25). Diet fads are harmful because they mislead dieter to make
unhealthy choices that will affect their body. A deficiency in vitamins and nutrients can harm
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the fad dieters and provide many negative side effects to their bodies. The dieters might not even
know about these harmful effects because of the misconceptions that are so popularly wrong.
Diet fads are not worth the dangerous side effects they give to the modern day dieter.
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Works Cited
Bijlefeld, Marjolijn, and Sharon K. Zoumbaris. Encyclopedia of Diet Fads. Westport, CT:
Greenwood, 2003. Print.
Boaz, Claire Kreger. Dieting. Detroit: Thomson / Gale, 2008. Print.
Kane, June Kozak. Coping with Diet Fads. New York: Rosen Pub. Group, 1990. Print.
Lankford, Ronald D. Can Diets Be Harmful? Detroit: Greenhaven, 2007. Print.
Litin, Scott C. Mayo Clinic Family Health Book. New York: HarperResource, 2003. Print.
Long, Patricia J. The Nutritional Ages of Women: A Lifetime Guide to Eating Right for Health,
Beauty, and Well-being. New York: Macmillan, 1986. Print.
Olendorf, Donna, Christine Jeryan, and Mary K. Fyke. The Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine. Vol.
2. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Research, 1999. Print.
Spies, Karen Bornemann. Everything You Need to Know about Diet Fads. New York: Rosen
Pub. Group, 1993. Print.
Zelman, Kathleen M. "The Lemonade Diet (Master Cleanse Diet)." WebMD. WebMD, 18 July
2011. Web. 15 Mar 2013.