Fad Diets are like False Prophets

Last week someone asked me if I had heard of the Dukan Diet. Her brother had lost 30lbs and he loved the program. She was considering trying the diet herself. Oh goodness! In the few moments I had with her I realized there was nothing I could say to change her mind. Sometimes you have to let people find out for themselves. 

If you haven’t heard of the Dukan Diet, it is one of the more extreme versions of the high protein, low carbohydrate diet. From a medical standpoint, it scares me. I understand the appeal of fad diets. They promise fast and “easy” weight loss that fits right into our fast and easy culture.  (I’m not sure that I would find 7 days of vegetable soup easy!) However, they also give false hope and lead us down a path far from the truth of living a healthy life.

Trying the Muffin Tops diet

Fad diets are like false prophets. “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies…Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.” (2 Pt 2:1-3) Fad diets and those who endorse them do exactly that! Then once we realize the diet is unsustainable or when the 30-day plan ends we are left to return to old behaviors. The weight comes back. We get discouraged. 

Instead of enduring the emotional roller coaster at the hand of predatory fad diets, resolve right now to travel the road less taken.  Create realistic goals for your health (see my last blog) and say “By golly, this weight loss may take me a year, but I will not participate in hip and trendy diets!” And truly, the satisfaction and reward for creating behaviors you can sustain the rest of your life are worth far more than the euphoric feeling of quick weight loss from fad diets. 

How to Spot a Fad Diet

You may be a fad diet if…

• Its recommendations promise a quick fix.
• Its critics foretell of dangers from the product or regimen.
• It has claims that sound too good to be true
• It has lists of 'good' and 'bad' foods
• It encourages eliminating 1 or more of the 5 food groups
• It encourages extreme calorie restriction
• It has simplistic conclusions drawn from a complex study
• Its website makes recommendations to help sell a product

See WebMD for the whole story. http://women.webmd.com/fad-diets

 

Today’s Verse: “Your righteousness is everlasting and your law is true.” Psalms 119:142

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