Day Twelve: Fad Dieting

Fad diets don't work...old saying, but yet so many of us try them anyway. I know better than anyone, I was on some version of the Atkins diet for years. It was a successful diet until the carbs found me.

Here's the thing...if it doesn't make sense, then maybe it isn't sustainable. It might work for quick weight loss, but the pounds will just come right back on again, you might even gain back more weight than what you lost. Does it make sense to do nothing but drink a water/lemon/cayenne/maple mixture as sustenance all day? No, but yet so many I know have done the "lemonade diet". They look great - until they start eating again. The same is true for Slimfast, Atkins, & a whole host of fad diets that are popular in our nation.

For Atkins, I read something that struck a nerve. Animals designed to be carnivorous have mouths full of sharp teeth (tigers, wolves, alligators). I have two sharp teeth in my mouth. The rest are flat, indicating that by design I should mostly consume plants.

The only sustainable diet is to eat nutritiously. We should be consuming mostly plants, balancing starches with proteins, fats, and vitamins.

Do: Pick up a copy of In Defense Of Food by Michael Pollan, pay close attention to fad dieting going on around you. Over a course of time, what do you see? Success or failure?

Depiction of Atkins Diet