Diet Fads and Facts - Article Example

Diet Fads/Facts The diet fads is a term which is related closely with food faddism or fad diet as one might call it. This term takes its basis from the idiosyncrasies related with diets and the intake of food as well as the different and irregular eating habits/patterns. There is an air of interest as far as this topic is concerned since it is all about eating and foods and thus one would easily get attracted to the very same. Diet fads’ main role is to make sure that health is improved due to different intakes of food at different times and incorporation of these diets or otherwise might just result in the nutritional balance or imbalance of an individual. However the same notion is not yet confirmed by researchers who are doing their work in the respective field and area of study. To start with, one can categorize the diet fads or food fads into three distinct segments. The first one deals with the exaggeration of a specific kind of food to such proportions that intake of the same on the part of the individual becomes a regular routine and that there are linkages with the curing of certain diseases if this food or food group is absent at some point in time. The constituent can be a part of the diet regime of an individual as well. The second segment talks about the deletion of certain food segments from the body because they are viewed as being potentially fatal for the human body. The last category discusses the focus towards eating certain kinds of foods which are a part of the current lifestyle of the society in which the individual is a representative of. It has more to do with fashion and lifestyle than actually killing the hunger or controlling a diet altogether. There are some food fads which might make use of a combination of different categories as well. There are a few instances where food faddism has got a direct link with child abuse and its basis. This suggests the fact that food faddism could have arisen due to a number of different measures, the most significant being the lack of child care and attachment. This is a heinous act to state the least and one should condemn the very act in entirety. There was an article in the British Medical Journal which spoke of an instance where there were four different individuals, all of whom were subjected to child abuse right from the very beginning and that they suffered from nutritional disorders. The case of parental food faddism has its say in the whole related contexts of these four kids. Thus the role of parents and/or guardians is immense so to speak. Food faddism is not a confined initiative or undertaking rather it could be due to the strict regimes put in place by the parents and/or guardians. With this, we find out that the extreme faddist diets are comprised of no energy at all within the food and there are lesser levels of proteins, vitamins, carbohydrates and a number of other minerals which are indeed very significant for the growth of children at such a young age. Continuing with the food faddism theory, we discern that there are pseudo-scientific claims in the wake of this. There is the aspect of validity when we speak about the fad diets since the fad diets follow the scientific way but fall short on the count of successfully establishing the very validity basis as just mentioned. A number of people are of the view that food faddism is born due to lack of knowledge which is present in the wake of the different scientific facts related with diets. What this means is the fact that food faddism could be rampant without the person even getting to know about the very same and this comes down as a surprise to one and all when the talk goes out loud related with food faddism and diet foods. There are some diets which are commonly accused of food faddism and they are categorized as Atkins Diet, Breatharian, South Beach Diet, Nutrisystem, Weight Watchers, Grapefruit Diet and Jenny Craig to state a few of them. These are discussed briefly in the following paragraphs so as to shed light on the discussion of food faddism and the diet foods as we understand what it takes to get rid of this theory within the human body. Atkins Diet is also known as Atkins for short. It is one of the most marketed and well known of diets when it comes to low carbohydrates. Atkins Diet demonstrates some sort of difference from the theories which are in use with the nature of the diet foods. Atkins Diet suggests that there are a couple of unrecognized factors which are there in the wake of the Western eating regimes where the first one is the case of obesity while the other is the over rating of saturated fats coming under the problems related with nutrition and the like. The four phases of the Atkins Diet include the induction, on going weight loss activities, pre maintenance and life time maintenance. Breatharian is somewhat very closely linked with Inedia which is a concept that discusses the alleged capacity to live without intake of food. The people who follow this concept understand that food and water are not important for the human body and the humans can live by merely sticking to ‘prana’ which is indeed the energy presented in the form of sunlight. This in fact is a lifestyle rather than a diet regime. Breatharian is a form of fasting which is for a certain specified period of time and it basically is more of a mind game than anything else. South Beach Diet discusses the consumption of good carbohydrates and an equal number of good fats. Arthur Agatston developed this diet for the patients who had heart problems and his scientific study went in line with the research that he had conducted till the time. The theory of South Beach Diet states that bad carbohydrates if taken in an excessive capacity within the foods could create a state of insulin resistance which is a syndrome that results in the impairment of the hormone insulin’s capacity related with the adequate processing of fats as well as sugars. There are three phases related with the South Beach Diet. The first phase encompasses of beef, pork, poultry, seafood, veal, lunchmeat, cheese, nuts, eggs, tofu, vegetables, legumes, fats, spices and sweet treats all of which come under the authorized foods. The Nutrisystems Diet is related with the Glycemic Index comprised of carbohydrates. The foods having low glycemic indexes raise the blood glucose levels in a slow and steady manner as compared to the foods which have a high level of glycemic index. The Nutrisystem Nourish Diet is basically a plan which comes under the category of the diet plans. The sales of this diet plan totaled around $435 million in the year 2006 hence the same has become an important part of the home delivery diet food market in the present times. Weight Watchers was founded in principle by Donna Nidetch. This was a company which basically brought forward a number of offering for the varied dieting products and services market. This facilitated in the weight loss aspects as well as maintenance issues. Weight Watchers kicked off as a starvation diet and was used for losing weight in the best manner possible. Weight Watchers is operational in nearly 30 countries of the world currently. The Grapefruit Diet is also known by the name of Hollywood Diet and is indeed an 18 day diet. The historical basis of the Grapefruit Diet dates back to the olden 1930 Hollywood era. This is not essentially a fad diet but of late has come to be known as one. It is linked off and on with the Mayo Clinic where the relation with the Grapefruit Diet is one of a negative one since there are issues with the same being unbalanced and fatally dangerous so to speak. Jenny Craig is an American company which has been founded in essence by Jenny and Sidney Craig in the year 1985 that essentially looks after 550 weight loss centers working within the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. This is indeed one of the biggest weight management service companies around the world and it provides complete weight management programs which link up the sound nutrition and the simple activities with each other so as to assist the clients in achieving an optimum and balanced weight loss regime as well as personal self esteem issues are looked after at the same time. All said and done diet fads will continue to remain in the times to come. The need of the hour is to understand what the good points of this exercise are and what kinds of bad points must be kept away from the human bodies as much as possible. At the end, it must be stated here that food faddism is a related concept throughout the world and it will persist for as long as there is the basis of humanity. BIBLIOGRAPHY McBean, Lois D. M.S., R.D. and Elwood W. Speckmann Ph.D. Food faddism: a challenge to nutritionists and dietitians. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 27, 1071-1078, 1974 Roberts, I.F., West, R.J., Ogilvie, D, and M J Dillon. Malnutrition in infants receiving cult diets: a form of child abuse. British Medical Journal: 1(6159): 296–298, 1979 Carey, S. A beginners guide to the scientific method. Third Edition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 2004 Word Count: 1,534 Read More