Beyond Quick Fixes: Weight Loss Wonders Or Waistline Woes?

Obesity is a global epidemic, affecting people regardless of ethnicity, gender, or age, with rates tripling in recent years, especially childhood obesity. Contributing factors include excessive calorie intake, large portions, junk food consumption, and limited physical activity, leading to health risks like cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.
Concerns with weight and shape are common among teenagers. Besides being exposed to the health risks of obesity, they are being exposed to the unrealistically thin beauty ideals portrayed by the media, and thus many turn to fad diets, hoping for quick fixes to long-term issues.
What are Fad Diets?
A fad diet is a weight loss plan that promises rapid weight loss tempting people with the idea of a diet that can help them lose weight fast. Various fad diets like low-carb, low-fat, high-fat, high-protein, and detox diets may promise quick results, but blindly following them can harm health. They often eliminate essential food groups, lack proper nutrition, aren’t sustainable, and lack scientific support compared to a balanced diet. Common fad diets include:
Ketogenic Diet (KD)
KD is a high fat, extremely low carbohydrate diet that has gained immense popularity in recent years for its ability to induce weight loss quickly. It was originally curated for treating epilepsy.

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Sharleen Zacharia is a trained Nutritionist with a Master’s degree in Foods, Nutrition and Dietetics.