Pros and Cons of Fad Dieting....

Alta Mathes

Dr. James Nieworth

Explanatory essay

26, October 2015

“FAD DIETS… PROS AND CONS”

What is a fad diet? A fad diet is explained as a weight loss plan that is popular for only just a short amount of time. ProQuest explains fad dieting as a diet that often uses methods other than restricting calorie intake by restricting consumption of certain food groups all together. Like the Atkins diet or the South Beach diet. So with there being so many different fad diets and nutritional plans which one is the best and healthiest for our bodies? Some are saying that many of these diets can cause very unhealthy results. While others claim the diet plans have proven to be effective in losing weight. (At issue; Fad Diets, 2015) The issue at hand is are diets that restrict or eliminate certain food groups a healthy effective way of weight loss? Or are the diets that are restricting or eliminating major food groups harmful and unsafe to use for weight loss?

I am going to start by doing a series of research of the pros and cons of a few top trending diets, including the Slim-Fast Diet, The Vegetarian Diet, The Macrobiotic Diet, The Biggest Loser Diet, and The Atkins Diet.

According to Livingstrong.com the slim-fast diet is a weight loss program that helps you lose weight by restricting your calorie intake. As explained as “The basis of the program is replacing larger meals with lower calorie meal replacement products.” Slim fast explains there dietary plan as “The daily 3-2-1 meal plan.” Which consist of three 100 calorie snacks, two meal replacements that they sell in the form of meal bars, snack bars, and ready-to-drink shakes, adding up to be about 200 calories each, and one single meal of 500 calories. Adding up to be a daily total of roughly 1,400 calories. (Stein, 2015) Some pros for the slim fast diet include convenience and easy to follow; costing roughly $90 per month for replacement products and only cooking once a day. If you stick the diet plan you will...