The Fad Diet Backlash

If you are a. female and b. have picked up at least one magazine in the last ten years then you will be well aware of the things you are supposed to eat. Or should that be not eat? Barely a week goes by where we are not being warned of the dangers of one type of food or food group. With new studies suggesting that cutting out certain food groups is not only unnecessary but could also be doing harm; is the backlash against fad diets about to begin?

A balanced diet is a healthy diet. It’s not that crazy an idea really is it? Yet for decades women and men alike have been cutting out this or that, only eating on certain days, and juicing ourselves crazy all in pursuit of the dream diet that promises to morph us into the perfect vision of ourselves. We have all heard the success stories, often from a friend of a friend, who cut out carbs and dropped two stone. What we don’t often hear is how long it lasted? Were they able to maintain it? How did they live without bread? 

A new book by Timothy Caulfield, entertainingly titled “Is Gwyneth Paltrow Wrong About Everything?”, takes us amusingly and yet knowledgeably around the myths of fad diets and backs up the facts with real knowledge and science. And many other healthy eating experts are echoing the same advice; a truly healthy diet is a balanced one. Cutting out one food group suggests we are likely to be overdoing it on another. Of course there are certain things we can cut down on and a healthy attitude towards portion control is always advised but generally natural foods that include a mix of naturally occurring fats and sugars is going to give you a much better diet than a gluten or dairy free one.

It’s unlikely that we have really seen the end of the fad diet but in the meantime this different approach to our diet is a refreshing one that will no doubt be welcomed by foodies, who probably feel a sense of smug satisfaction that they knew this all along! But really haven’t we all known this all along? It’s not exactly rocket science that a balanced diet is a healthy diet. But perhaps it takes a health food expert to lure us away from Gwyneth’s glossy locks and know-it-all ‘healthy living’ website to make us see.