Health & Well-Being-Fad diets: Look before you leap

Today it's grapefruit. Tomorrow . . . cabbage? Fad diets go in and out of style like a revolving door. Many of today's fad diets promise consumers a "magic bullet" for quick and effortless weight loss. But can they deliver what they promise?

According to Diane Quag-liani, RD, a spokesperson for the Chicago-based American Dietetic Association, the answer is no. "Fad diets are a short-term, quick-fix approach to weight
loss that don't work over the long haul," she says. "Food choices are often monotonous, and caloric intake may be very restricted so that once the novelty wears off, so does the motivation to continue."

The majority of today's diets are those that promote low-carbohydrate and high-protein intake. Those diets are nothing more than low-calorie diets in disguise, but with some potentially serious health consequences. According to Sachiko St. Jeor, PhD, RD, director of the Nutrition Educa-tion and Research Program at the University of Nevada School of Medicine, "Following these diets can result in dehydration, diarrhea, weakness, headaches, bad breath, and dizziness, and over the long term can also increase risk of atherosclerosis and osteoporosis."