Fad Diets & Where They Fall Short

We live in a day and age of fad diets, weight loss programs, and an approach to wellness that is primarily externally focused. And in the midst of our obsession with being thin and fit we’ve lost site of what true health is.

True health is about nourishment. It’s about feeding our bodies what they crave, what they need, and what they deserve. And being joyful and at peace in our own skin. Our bodies look for nutrients, not calories. So if you aren’t providing your body with the nutrients it needs, your brain will never get the signal that you are full. And you will be stuck constantly feeling hopeless around food. Conversely, when you shift that mindset, and you begin to focus on eating for nourishment, you will discover food freedom for the first time in your life. This may at first require discipline, but as you nourish your body, you will notice that your taste preferences and your desire for certain foods change. Until eventually you no longer crave the foods that lead to weight gain and disease, and all you crave is food that nourishes, heals, and supports your body. This is my “diet” philosophy and this is why I am so outspoken against fad diets or any kind of extreme eating pattern. Nourish your body and the rest will take care of itself. So with that said, let’s take a closer look at some fad diets and why exactly they often fail…

Low Carb Diets

First off, let’s talk about low carb fad diets such as Keto.  In case you aren’t familiar with the Keto diet, it is essentially a low carb, high fat diet which aims at helping you get your body into a state of Ketosis. Ketosis is a metabolic state that occurs when your body burns fat for energy instead of glucose. First off, I do believe there is a time and place for the Keto diet – It has been found to be beneficial for those who suffer from seizures, it can be an effective jump start to weight loss, it can help with metabolic flexibility, and it does cut out many unhealthy foods like refined sugars and processed breads and includes some healthful foods such as healthy fats and even some low glycemic veggies and fruit. Those are the pros BUT the reality is that most people can’t and really shouldn’t adhere to this diet long term. Often, people are going into ketosis and losing weight, then coming out and gaining it back and falling into this yo yo pattern. These kinds of weight fluctuations aren’t good for our long term health.

The primary thing to realize here is that ketones are an alternative form of fuel. They are not your bodies preferred form of fuel. Your body prefers glycolysis which is the breakdown of glucose for energy. So because of that the keto diet does affect cortisol levels. This is because limiting your carb intake causes a starvation response in the body. In an effort to increase energy levels in the face of having less sugar, the body triggers the release of stress hormones like cortisol. When this stress response continues chronically and you are on a low carb diet for months or even years your body will start down regulating other systems in the body like the thyroid and sex hormones and can even eventually lead to issues like anxiety, insomnia, chronic stress, and HPA Axis disfunction. 

The other issue with low carb fad diets such as Keto, is that it does cut out a lot of supportive, nourishing, and nutrient dense foods. While limiting carbs to 50 grams a day or less likely means you’re cutting out unhealthy foods like white bread and refined sugar, it also means you will have to cut back on certain fruits and vegetables, which are high in antioxidants and full of vitamins and minerals that our bodies need. For this same reason, it may also be hard to get enough fiber while you’re cutting back so severely on carbohydrates. And since the keto diet is generally made up of 70-80% fat, 5-10% carbohydrate, and 10-20% protein, most on a keto diet are often not consuming enough protein. You can get away with this in the short term, but over the long term inadequate protein intake can lead to muscle loss, hormone imbalance, and a whole host of other health issues. So while I do think there is a time and a place for Keto. I don’t think it’s a great diet option for most people long term. 

Vegan Diets

Next lets look a little bit at the Vegan diet. I want to be careful here because I know plant based diets are really popular right now and I know there are a lot of people who claim they are thriving on a vegan diet. If that is you, then truly more power to you. I think it is possible for a vegan to thrive on a whole foods vegan diet that follows a comprehensive diet plan in order to avoid the lack of essential nutrients.

But that said, I think it’s important to acknowledge where the vegan diet falls short. When you cut out an entire food group, you are also cutting out a whole group of nutrients with it. Unfortunately vegan diets lack many nutrients and require a lot of supplementation to make up for what is being lost. Some of these nutrients include B vitamins, especially vitamin B12 since vitamin B12 is found naturally only in animal products. Other deficiencies include minerals such as Calcium, and Zinc. As well Protein and Heme Iron. Heme iron is interesting because it is a type of iron found only in meat. And it’s much better absorbed than non-heme iron, which is commonly found in plant foods. Heme iron also improves your absorption of non-heme iron from plant foods. So not only is the non heme iron in plant foods poorly absorbed but its absorption can be limited further by anti-nutrients. Anti-nutrients are plant compounds such as phytic acid, oxalates, and lectins, which can inhibit the absorption of certain minerals. And so a diet high in anti-nutrients can lead to issues for some people.

Let’s circle back around to the b vitamin and protein deficiencies that I mentioned. Unfortunately Vegan diets lack bioavailable complete protein sources. And so it can make it a lot harder to get all of your essential amino acids through a plant based diet. Why is this an issue? Because B vitamins and amino acids are essential for optimal mitochondrial function. Your mitochondria are the little powerhouses of your cells and so if they are not working properly you are going to have energy production issues in places like the brain, the heart, and the ovaries which can lead to disfunction. Both protein and B vitamins are also essential for liver health, hormone health, and so many other functions. And so if you are choosing to go plant based I highly recommend supplementing with a good B Complex vitamin, as well as tracking your protein intake for a while to ensure you are not deficient.

The last thing I will say is that vegan diets can often be high in inflammatory oils, such as sunflower oil, canola oil, etc, as well as other toxic ingredients. High consumption of these kinds of oils is at the root of metabolic disfunction, chronic disease, and weight gain. While it is possible to avoid these ingredients in processed vegan products, it takes a lot of intentionality. But it is something that I highly recommend if you are wanting to adopt a vegan diet.

Calories In/Calories Out

The next fad diet I would like to cover is a calories in/calories out model of dieting. In this kind of diet the idea is that you need to burn more calories than you consume so it involves calorie restriction and excessive exercise. These kinds of diets were all the rage for a while especially when I was growing up. But the science is now proving that this approach to dieting is actually counter productive and can lead to a sluggish metabolism and weight gain. This is because when you restrict calories, your body  essentially goes into alarm mode and assumes that you are in a time of famine and therefore it will slow down the metabolism to help you conserve your fat stores. This is because God designed our bodies to adapt and to learn how to survive in times of famine.

So if you live your life in restriction mode, not only does that put tons of stress on your system, and down regulate your hormones, but your body also will start storing everything you eat as fat as a protective mechanism because it doesn’t feel like you’re going to bring in enough calories. So when you restrict, your metabolism will adapt and ultimately slow down and work against you.

Whole 30

The last fad diet I want to cover is Whole 30. Now this diet can be supportive in a lot of ways. I like that it is a whole food based diet and I like that it cuts out refined sugar, processed foods, and specific food additives that can be toxic. In fact those are the primary foods that I advocate for cutting in my course The Clean Living Lab. However, my biggest beef with fad diets like this is that the entire premise behind it is it’s a 30 day “reset”. In my opinion resets just set you up for yo yo dieting and discouragement. Health should never be about constantly having to reset, it should be about consistency and sustainability.

Achieving true health in my opinion is never about fad diets, it’s about lifestyle change. And it involves completely letting go of everything you ever thought you knew about what health looks like. As I said, it’s not about restriction, it’s about nourishing every cell in your body through the food that you eat.

I actually teach about this mindset shift, as well as how to get off of the dieting roller coaster and create a lifestyle out of nourishing your body in my online course, The Clean Living Lab. To learn more and to sign up you can visit the webpage here. Or to get a snapshot of some of the lifestyle diet shifts that I teach in the course, check out my article, 3 Diet Changes You Can Make Today To Get Your Health On Track. Ultimately, it comes down to this – Nourish your body, heal your hormones, and the rest will take care of itself.