Why Do People Believe In Fad Diets Created By Unreliable Sources?
Posted by Zolly | Under Nutrition Sunday Nov 8, 2009There’s so many people who will come up with supplements or diet books and they aren’t even Nutritionists or Registered Dietitians. Then consumers fall for them without even researching their credibility or how reliable the information is. There’s so many unhealthy fad diets out there it’s insane. I’m a nutrition student and one of my textbooks even mentions a story about a guy who wanted to prove how easy it is for someone to get the title “dietitian” or “Dr.” without going to school. He just filled out an application for his cat (basically the cat’s name) and now his cat Charlie has “professional credentials.”
Now I’m not saying fad diets never work…i’m just saying many are unhealthy or just unncessary for weight loss. Are people ever gonna use common sense and just eat healthy without using a fad diet to lose weight?
Because they want to believe there is a miracle cure! People often start out with a poor body image, maybe a few extra pounds, and they think dieting will make them “better”. They don’t understanding that fad dieting is a vicious circle; once you start dieting unnecessarily you will only succeed in gaining weight. The answer nobody wants to hear is: Eat well with smaller portions and move more.
p.s. Scary about the cat’s “credentials”!
because people will try anything to lose that extra pound
Because people believe the written word.
I can tell somebody till I’m blue in the face and they won’t do anything until thjey read it – OR somebody on the telly tells them the same thing.
I find the celebrity fad diets funny….just how many of these size 0 stars have struggled with a real weight problem…and I’m not talking about shifting half a kilo.
Actually fad diets, if they tell you to cut out a food group, are still a bad idea, as you are probably learning in your classes. I guess these things work because they are promoted by paid models who have probably never had to diet a day in their life and their life is to stay thin and attractive. Most of us don’t fall into that category. Dieting and proper nutrition is a very hard thing to do too. These things are promoted as get thin quick items and that too is part of their appeal. Maybe your job when you finish your degree will be to sort these things out for people. Thanks for the question.