How to Spot a Fad Nutritional Program

More than half of American adults are overweight, and more than one third are obese. If you've been struggling to lose weight, you may be tempted by the latest celebrity-endorsed diet that promises to help you drop pounds overnight. The weight loss industry is big business -- a multibillion dollar machine -- that includes books, magazines, TV shows, exercise videos, medications, supplements and herbal remedies, all promising big results with little effort.

Fad diets may come and go, but healthy lifestyle changes that include a balanced diet and exercise will help you achieve your weight loss goals.

Instructions

• 1

  Avoid expensive pills or powders that promise extremely rapid weight loss. Losing one to two pounds a week is a healthy and sustainable goal. Losing weight more quickly often means you lose water weight or sacrifice lean muscle mass. According to The Mayo Clinic, weight loss pills and supplements are not subject to the same testing as prescription drugs and are only monitored by the Food and Drug Administration after the product has been on the market. Check the FDA website for alerts or recalls and talk to your doctor or pharmacist about potential drug interactions if you take any prescription medication.

• 2

  Read the diet plan to see if it includes an exercise regimen -- avoid any diet that promises weight loss without exercise. Physical activity is an essential component of a healthy lifestyle. Exercise burns calories, builds muscle, strengthens your immune system and elevates your mood. For example, the Flat Belly Diet website promises that "A flat belly is about food and attitude. Not a single crunch required."

• 3

  Never eliminate or focus on any single food or food group. Be suspicious if a diet involves not eating an entire macronutrient, such as eliminating all carbohydrates or all sources of fat. Conversely, you should also be careful of a diet that promotes eating only one type of food, such as the grapefruit diet or the cabbage soup diet.

  A healthy nutritional program will include a variety of foods to ensure you get all the vitamins and minerals your body needs to thrive.

• 4

  Examine the research that the diet is based on. Be wary if a diet draws a very simplistic conclusion from complex medical studies. Look to see who paid for the study -- it's not surprising that research sponsored by the National Dairy Council comes to the conclusion that milk does a body good. Read the studies if you can, look to see how many people were tested and how long the study lasted. An in-depth study should last longer than a week and involve more than a handful of people. Conclusions based on multiple studies may be more accurate than conclusions from a single study.