Health or Hype: What diet fads actually work?

Why can’t we keep our promise? Why can’t we make a simple diet and exercise program part of our lifestyle?

2016 was a year for diet fads. Some folks tried eliminating gluten from their diet while others decided dairy wasn’t too healthy.
 
Some of the common diet fads this year were low-fat, dairy-free and gluten-free, but a big fad this year has been the paleo diet.
 
“The idea behind it was eating tons of fresh things like meat, eggs, protein and eliminating two food groups,” said Courtney Kremer, Registered Dietitian at Hy-Vee in Austin.
 
The Paleo diet cuts out dairy and grain and by cutting out those two major food groups…
 
“You’ll lose nutritional deficiencies like Calcium and Vitamin D that you find in milk or Vitamin B that is in grains,” said Kremer.
 
Kremer says most diet fads guarantee you’ll lose a lot of weight quickly.
 
“If it sounds too good to be true it probably is and anything that promises quick weight loss is too good to be true,” said Kremer.
 
Not everyone believes diet fads are the way to go.
 
“After researching those types of diets it’s obvious that sort of thing works for some people, but it’s not really my thing,” said Hannah Blumenshein of Austin. “I lose interest after a while”
 
Instead Hannah has found other ways to lose weight that work for her.
 
“I’ve lost 15 pounds so far this year,” said Blumenshein. “I started bringing my lunch to school every day which really helped me with portion control.”