An example of a 'fad diet' would be 'The Grapefruit Diet'. This was a diet that I heard about a while ago, that seemed ridiculous, and when I read more about it, it definitely was ridiculous. The diet is based around eating half a grapefruit with every meal (on average, 3 times per day). That seems okay doesn't it? on the face of it, yes.
What I went on to read, was that as well as eating half a grapefruit with every meal, you also had a limited amount of calories, a 'food list' to stick to and a 'food list' to avoid. They also recommended that you exercise too. Well, if you take away eating half a grapefruit with every meal, that will still be a healthy diet, but they add in the grapefruit to sell the diet as if grapefruits are magic beans.
You see, it's all marketing - a ploy to attract people by the use of an illusion of 'a magic diet' that will give you results. If grapefruits were truly fantastic foods to eat, and will give you a shredded physique, then it wouldn't matter what else you ate or drank, but as they aren't magic beans, you have to eat healthy and exercise, which then it doesn't matter if you eat the grapefruit or not to be honest.
Whenever I see a 'fad diet', I am always 100% sceptical, because of the above reasons. There are always things hidden from what you first see or read. There are other 'fad diets' such as 'the cookie diet'. This one is a complete joke, and I can't remember who created it, but that person knows absolutely nothing about nutrition and how to be healthy. This diet literally means you have to eat these small cookies about 8 times per day, with nothing else. Some people might be like "wow! that's awesome!", but you will be starving hungry - they are small cookies and won't fill you up. There is NO WAY on earth that you will get the nutrients you need from a few cookies everyday. It's a pure marketing tactic, knowing that a ton of people love cookies and will snap that up in an instant.
Now here's the kicker. What do all 'fad diets' have in common? They are all there to do one thing - TAKE YOUR MONEY!
They're not there to get results, some aren't even there to be healthy. They are there to prey on the desperate, with empty promises of achieving the physique of your life, meanwhile you pay them a fair bit of cash. Oh! and when you 'come off of them', you'll put the weight back on. Does that sound good or what!? (sarcasm).
Stay away from them.
Lee Gregory Fitness