Society nowadays has set its standards when it comes to judging one’s physical attributes. Having the perfect body is one good example of what is being inclined onto “looking good”. In todays millennial community, we cannot detract everyone’s rising attachment to what the social media sites, writings from popular magazines and product advertisements brought by the television can affect one’s judgments on proper health and nutrition. Due to these social outlets, Fad Diets came to fame to the curious public.

Fad diets as defined by most academical studies are any type of eating practices that promise quick results especially in achieving weight loss. Another definition according to the American Heart Association states that fad dieting takes many forms through the promotion of the consumption of specific foods termed as “miracle” and “super foods”, or rather elimination of certain foods.

The truth is, there is no such thing as a “super food”. Meanwhile, these diets only go for short term application due to some observations that people who followed such a diet would not want to live on eating the same food forever leading them to a huge drawback of gaining back the weight they have unhealthily lost in such a short period of time.

People who practice fad dieting are not aware about the fact that our body system can be funny and selfish, once a person deprives itself through the course of fad dieting by eliminating less of any of the primary nutrients: carbohydrates, proteins and fats, affects its ability to function to its best state.

Losing those extra weight doesn’t mean you have to eat less carbs than the other nutrients. Analyzing one’s regular diet should be done. The reason of gaining excess weight is that one may eat more food than they should and still have a sedentary physical activity. Losing weight, the healthy way requires one to decrease their caloric intake in totality and not just to a specific nutrient, of course, balanced with moderate exercise.

Now speaking of exercise, another sign of a fad diet is losing weight without any attempt of a physical activity, how shady right? Like the famous quote say: “No pain, No Gain”; one cannot skip the process of losing weight without bearing a sweat despite the popularity of fad dieting.

For instances of people with some medical conditions on the other hand, requiring a special diet plan which is different from fad dieting may be recommended, of course only by the prescribing doctor or by a Registered Nutritionist-Dietitian (RND).

Some “fitness guru” claim that fad diets provide a “quick fix” of what a person sees on the moving scales inside of a beam balance, they may promise these fast results in such a short span of trials but little did they know that these fad diets can be the cause of health problems such as dehydration, frequent weakness, headaches and nausea, diarrhea and constipation, inadequate vitamin and mineral intake that can lead to specific deficiencies, heart problems and even an irreversible damage of the kidneys and other organs.

Now that you are oriented, might as well share you a little secret. Take it as a prize for reading this far. Anyway, there is an actual eating plan that gets results where one can achieve and maintain that healthy body weight every single person had always been dreaming of— balanced diet.

In line with this, maintaining a balanced diet like healthy eating practices is a good way to achieve a healthy lifestyle. It provides just enough amounts of energy needed for one’s daily activities without going beyond one’s caloric needs to maintain a healthy body weight. A healthy diet follows the three principles in nutrition: Balance, Variety and Moderation. Thus, fad diet practices are beyond healthy as it defies the three principles in nutrition.

Due to several studies proving that fad diets are medically unsuitable and unsustainable with many dieters, the National Nutrition Council – being the country’s highest policy-making body on nutrition, developed Resolution No. 4, Series of 2018: “Adopting the NNC Policy Statement on Fad Diets”, and continuously seeks for the aid of all nutrition practitioners, health and nutrition workers and medical allied professionals to educate the general public on the false beliefs against fad dieting.

Wanting that “perfect body” without cutting almost every portion of that all-time favorite leche flan? With a balanced diet, eating healthily combined with moderate physical activity of atleast thirty (30) minutes or more daily – you won’t have to worry!

People are so used to achieving their goals the instant way which is why engaging to such claims flashing around the media seems like a huge steal to practice, little did they know that their health and nutrition is at stake. A healthy lifestyle is easier than anyone thinks, they say, “There is no such thing as a success shortcut, be willing to take the long road or be ready to hit a dead end.”

Still want to achieve the perfect body you’ve always imagined? Follow the secret! WNL