Modern society has had its fair share of fad diets, and the fact that these fad diets keep changing and evolving is perhaps proof that they are not perfect, they are not for everyone, and most importantly, they don't always work well.
Diet specialists gathered at a London conference recently to review evidence behind popular weight loss diets, and they concluded that while some fad diets can deliver, it's still hard work to stick to them. The key is to take into account how easy it is for people to understand and follow the requirements and process of the diet, and how likely they are to abide by its restrictions.
"Energy restriction is difficult to maintain over the long term and people tend to find it easier to follow a diet with intermittent energy restriction," Michelle Harvie, a research dietician from the Genesis Prevention Centre at Britain's University Hospital of South Manchester, told Reuters.
The difference between a regular weight loss plan and an intermittent diet is that a regular weight loss plan might require the dieter to reduce his calorie intake consistently and evenly across the week, while an intermittent diet requires the dieter to cut down on calories only for a certain number of days for the week, and eat normally for the rest of the days.
An example of the intermittent diet is the Fast Diet, or the 5:2 diet, in which dieters cut down calorie intake to about 400 per day for two days of the week, and eat whatever they want the other five days. Another example is the Every-Other-Day-Diet, or the 4:3 diet.
However, intermittent diets are not all that's out there. The U.S News & World Report has recently released its annual Best Diets rankings, which lists diets according to the analysis and recommendation of nutrition and health experts.
In this list, the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) is the best diet plan because it's the most nutritionally complete. The Weight Watchers diet was also included in this list because it is easy to follow and shows good results for weight loss.
This constant search for the best diet plan comes at the heels of alarming figures regarding obesity. The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that worldwide obesity has nearly doubled since 1980. In 2008 alone, 1.4 billion adults, or one in six adults, were overweight.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also reported that 36 percent of American adults are obese. In Britain, a government health study made some alarming predictions - it said 60 percent of men, 50 percent of women and 25 percent of children will be obese by 2050.
