The Rapid Weight Loss Diet Fad

The ‘Diet’ fad.

What images does the word DIET conjure up for you?  

Restriction of all the things that you love or bring you some joy?  

Starvation on very little food and always feeling like you’re ravenous?

Or perhaps you think of diet shakes, pills, potions or detoxes?

Well, according to the English Dictionary the word DIET has the following definitions:

1 The kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats.

e.g ‘a vegetarian diet’

2 A special course of food to which a person restricts themselves, either to lose weight or for medical reasons.

e.g ‘I'm going on a diet’

We like to refer to diet as the first definition, as a broad term for what we eat and drink on a daily basis.

But the word has far deeper meanings to many people and can also trigger emotional responses, especially if used in the form of the second definition. 

If you’re someone who has followed a ‘diet’ and failed to get the results you wanted then perhaps you attribute the pain of failure to that particular word and label all ‘diets’ the same.

And in the world of consumer marketing, the companies who have products for sale in the health industry and more so the ‘weight loss’ market, will use this word well to sell you that magic solution to the problem you face around weight loss.

The reason we’re going to go into depth on this today is because we always get questions on whether this product is better than that because it’s ‘diet’ or whether something can get the amazing results they claim due to the clever marketing on the packaging!

You only have to look at a health food stores shelves to see the ‘detoxes’ (LOL) and weight loss aids available; and they aint cheap.

Another niche in the market that companies have found is by jumping on the ‘high protein’ trend that is happening at the moment you’ll see higher priced DIET WHEY protein on offer.

This particular product will usually have claims to be low carb (when an average serving of whey protein isn’t really high carb anyway at a couple of grams!) and include ‘fat burning’ properties.

Extract from a leading supplement companies diet whey description: “ Diet Whey also delivers Flaxseed, CLA, L-Carnitine and Green Tea Extract which all support fat loss. “

To the uninformed those could sound like amazing additions to your diet however looking in to the research behind those supplements suggests it’s just clever marketing.

Check out these links on Examine.com for some of these supplements (scroll to the ‘Human Effects Matrix’ for each to read the studies and evidence from research.

CLA: https://examine.com/supplements/conjugated-linoleic-acid/

L-Carnitine: https://examine.com/supplements/l-carnitine/

Green Tea Extract: https://examine.com/supplements/green-tea-catechins/

There isn’t a whole load of conclusive evidence to suggest that adding any of these so called ‘fat burning’ powerhouses to a whey protein makes it more effective for your overall lean body mass.

It seems as though its a clever way to market a product to those looking for weight loss at additional cost when a basic whey protein (or a plant protein) will do just fine.

In our honest opinion supplements come way down the list of important factors to weight, body shape and health change.

In fact, we suggest CALORIES being your most important factor to get right straight off the bat, followed closely by PROTEIN (and closely followed by the other macronutrients CARBS & FATS).

To finish off the ‘nutritional pyramid’ we then go with MICRONUTRIENTS (so your vitamins and minerals), MEAL TIMINGS and finally SUPPLEMENTS last on the list, making them least important in our pyramid.

So, in that case is there any real need for supplements such as ‘diet’ whey protein, or any protein powders at all?

Well, that will be down to a number of factors and supplements are not a ‘band aid’ for a poor diet, but they can do exactly as their name suggests - ‘supplement’ a sound, healthy diet.

But in terms of the initial point of this blog, you do not need his priced, super supplements in your diet to get you the amazing results you desire.  They will likely drain your bank account quicker than stripping off body fat and you can get far more desirable results by starting at the bottom of the nutritional pyramid, getting those factors correct and in order for your goals before relying on supplements to do the work for you (they won’t by the way!)

One final note and this is more for a later date as it’s a HUGE can of worms - ‘DETOX’ products!!!

NO, just NO.

There is not an off the shelf product that you can buy to ‘detox’ yourself from a shit diet, just don’t eat a the crap you do for a while and see how much better you feel (hey, you can even introduce the junky type treats back in to make up 10% of your diet and STILL get great results)…

But, please don’t fall for the (usually multi-level marketing brands) detox products that offer ZERO nutritional value but cost you more than a pretty penny.

Skinny coffee, BooTea, BoomBod, Juice Plus, Herbalife, the list is endless and there are new products (still crap) entering the market left right and centre so you need to be informed,  educated, skeptical and vigilant to not let these drain your hard earned cash and deliver zero results.

P.S If you’re someone who HAS gotten great results from these products, guess what got you there???

Chances are as you were ‘investing’ in these costly products you likely changed a ton of other stuff to compliment this supplement, such as a) cutting crap you usually eat and drink from your diet, b) eating less and drinking more water, as well as c) moving more and actually burning more calories!

Wow, would you look at that ^^^ 3 proven things to get fantastic results NOT a piece of junk supplement.

Until next time…

Rob.

Co -Founder, The Unit Fitness

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