Dubai
Gulf News polled its online readers in April this year on whether they were happy with their current weight. Majority of the respondents, five in ten, said that they were a bit overweight, whereas two in ten respondents said they were obese. The sedentary lifestyle of the residents and the imbalance between calorie intake and physical activities have been under scrutiny for a long time. To lose weight, many switch to the most popular diet plans that are easily available online.
Though there may be many fad diets, most lack proper research or scientific basis to back them. According to a Gulf News report published in May 2014, people have devised diets around blood types and bodily chemical reactions between meals. These diets, however, require you to undergo a lifestyle change.
According to a paper published by the US-based University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, there are easy steps to decipher if a diet is healthy or just another fad diet that has temporary results, which are unhealthy in the long run.
They suggest doing research on whether the diet promises quick weight loss, make you give up entire food groups, severely restrict calories and provide a list of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ foods. If it does any of the above, it is probably a fad diet that either helps sell a company’s product or lacks valid scientific research to support its claims.
