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Fad Dieting (Cause & Effect Paper)

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Fad Dieting (Cause & Effect Paper)
Often times the media portrays celebrities as attractive, skinny people that live wonderful lives of fame and fortune. It is easy to say that such popularity exists as a direct result of their physical appearance and therefore leads people to associate prosperity and happiness with looks. Sadly this media focus brings people to believe that dieting is necessary because they need to be skinny in order to feel accepted by society. One way people attempt to lose weight and change their appearance to resemble a celebrity’s is through dieting, especially fad dieting. Fad dieting is a quick, yet unhealthy, way to lose weight in a short amount of time.
There is not necessarily one fad diet that people turn to in efforts to lose weight, but a variety of them that all serve the same purposes. The primary goals of fad diets are to show quick results, easy implementation into daily routine and remarkable improvements in the overall views a person holds of themselves. They do this by specifying which individual foods or combinations of foods should be eaten, setting certain times people must eat and even completely eliminating certain types of foods from someone’s usual diet (Freedman, 2013).
Some of the most common fad diets include the Atkins Diet, the Rotation Diet and the Zone. The Atkins Diet recommends that dieters eliminate carbohydrates from their eating, the Rotation Diet suggest specific times that foods should be eaten and the Zone stresses the consumption of specific combinations of foods in an exact proportion of 40/30/30. Each diet obviously attacks weight loss from different perspectives of dieting and therefore presents more opportunities for people to find the one that fits them best. This is another reason people turn to fad dieting.
When a product promises quick results with simple steps to reach a targeted weight, it seems too good to be true. This feeling of disbelief occurs simply because a healthy diet that delivers fast, accurate results does not



References: Denke, M. A. (2001, July 1). Metabolic Effects of High-Protein, Low-Carbohydrate Diets. The American Journal of Cardioogy, Vol. 88. Retrieved March 7, 2013, from http://general.utpb.edu/fac/eldridge_j/kine6362/ancillaryfiles/High%20protein.pdf Freedman, M. R. (2013). Fad Diets. FAQs.org. Retrieved March 6, 2013, from http://www.faqs.org/nutrition/Erg-Foo/Fad-Diets.html Halton, T. L. & Hu, F. B. (2004). The Effects of High Protein Diets on Thermogenesis, Satiety and Weight Loss: A Critical Review. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, Vol. 23, No. 5, 373-385. Retrieved March 7, 2013, from http://www.jacn.org/content/23/5/373.full.pdf+html Papazian, R. (1993, September). On the Teen Scene Should You go on a Diet?. DietRiot.com. Retrieved March 6, 2013, from http://dietriot.com/fad/tennfad.htm Thiel, S. (2011, February 14). The Effects of Fad Dieting. Livestrong.com. Retrived March 9, 2013, from http://www.livestrong.com/article/381458-the-effects-of-fad-dieting/ (2011, August). Weight Loss and Fad Diets. Better Health Channel. Retrieved March 9, 2013, from http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Weight_loss_ and_fad_diets?open">Weight loss and fad diets - Better Health Channel

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