A Dietitian's Advice on Popular Fad Diets & Wellness Trends

I enjoy the freedom that blogging gives me to share my own opinions on health and wellness with others. But one thing that I never want to do is disguise my own opinions as proven facts and logic. 

I believe that today, influencers and brands often tend to give their following a false education by sharing claims or facts that someone else has given them. And that someone else might have heard it from another someone else, and so on.

While the trending market for health and wellness creates great opportunities to make the world healthier, these trends also create equally as big of opportunities for brands to take advantage of consumers. Many consumers today will believe everything they read on the internet, or trust the opinion of their favorite influencer over that of their own doctor. I, myself have made this mistake before!

Anyways, one of my most requested blog posts was to talk about which fad diets and cleanses work and which don't. Instead of writing a post discussing why I think the best diet of all is to stop dieting all together, I thought it would be more beneficial to interview a medical professional and get their opinion of current fad diets and wellness trends.

Meet Kristen Adams, MS, RD, LD

and a total babe. Her insta is @kris.lee.adams, go creep.

Kristen is a professional on all of these topics and we should absolutely trust her advice over the advice from someone on social media.

Let's get to it!

THE KETO DIET (+ low-carb diets)

The first topic I wanted to discuss with Kristen was the Keto Diet. This seems to be the fad diet trending the most in Gen Pop right now. The thought of shocking your body into anything sounded like a bad idea to me, but I wanted to hear it from a medical professional before sharing my personal opinion on it.

My Question:

 "Is the Keto Diet good or bad for you? Are there right and wrong ways to do it? What is your overall opinion?"

Kristen's Answer:

“The Keto Diet enforces an extreme amount of fat intake (including bad fats) and carbohydrate restriction. Generally, a healthy individual would require 45-65% of their calories to come from carbs (yes, even those with diabetes), while the Keto Diet requires 5% of calories from carbs. This severe restriction of carbs reduces and virtually eliminates the amount of viable energy you’re feeding your body, especially your brain (glucose is the only source of energy for the brain!). Unless you have epilepsy or seizures, you do not need to severely restrict your carbohydrate intake. If you do have epilepsy or seizures, you should talk with your MD and RD for a specific plan for you.

"Furthermore, a generally healthy individual would require 20-30% calories from fat, while Keto recommends 75%. Consuming this much fat, especially while highlighting bad fats, is a heart attack waiting to happen."

"Needless to say, any extreme variance from a generally healthful diet is not recommended as it is not your body’s preferred choice of fuel."

"The Keto Diet also endorses the “keto flu” that your body goes through when you begin this plan. This is the biggest red flag of them all! As a clinical dietitian, I see patients every day who were admitted due to diabetic KETOacidosis. They are sick and miserable. This is obviously not healthy to voluntarily put your body through this."

            "Simply put, eat natural carbs (whole grains, fruit, dairy, beans), and put down the sugar and the bacon.”

My Comments:

First off, her explanation on the KETO diet showed me that the majority of my friends that have done this diet, did not do it correctly. 

Secondly, I had no idea that glucose was the only source of energy for our brain! This explains so much. I used to do the Atkins diet back in college and had to stop because I kept passing out. I suppose that could be why! 

Alright everyone, my goal is not to piss off everyone that swears by the KETO or another low-carb diet. If you did it and lost lots of weight and have kept it off, I am truly happy for you! But with that being said, just because "something" makes you lose weight, does not mean that "something" is healthy for you. 


On to the next topic!

CLEANSES

There are so many different kinds and brands out there now. I couldn't figure out a way to talk about them all without this post being 20 pages long, so I just kept it simple.

My Question: 

"Let’s talk about cleanses in general. What is good and bad about them? Are there any particular types/brands that you specifically recommend, or strongly do not recommend?"

           

Kristen's Answer:

“Do you have a liver? What about kidneys? Then don’t waste your money, time, or livelihood on a cleanse. If you eat a well-balanced diet with plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein, you shouldn’t have to “cleanse” your body anyways. Skip the junk food, and you’re good to go.”

My 2nd Question:

“When you say, “do you have a liver or kidneys? Then don’t waste your money,” are you saying to not waste your money because cleanses hurt your liver and kidneys? Or are you saying not to waste your money because your liver and kidneys already naturally cleanse toxins on their own?"

Kristen's Answer:

“Your kidneys and liver already cleanse your body. There is no reason to deprive yourself for something your body is already doing for you.”

My Comments:

This is a hard pill to swallow for me too guys. I have personally fallen into the cleanse obsession before. I have even done detoxes and cleanses that were advertised to cleanse/detox my liver, which I feel extra silly about after hearing Kristen's very simple explanation. This is another great example of how Gen-Pop likes to making losing weight so much more complex than it actually is.

I know when you do a cleanse and lose 5 pounds in one week, you really want to say “how can you say that this doesn’t work better than what my body does naturally?” Here is my answer, and this is my opinion/my personal observation from years of doing all sorts of cleanses. 

I think that cleanses help people lose a quick 5 pounds because most cleanses contain fiber supplements and probiotics- both of which help stimulate bowel movements and alleviate bloating. Many cleanse programs also stress the importance of drinking lots of water during it to "help the supplements move through your body to do their job." Drinking more water helps alleviate extra water weight (fact) and helps stimulate a bowel movement. I would guess that most people don’t take a daily probiotic or fiber supplement. So when you do these cleanses and increase your fiber intake and good flora in your gut, it is very likely that you might poop out 5 pounds of bloat that you have been holding on to! But bloat is not fat people. The results are not permanent. 

So instead of cleansing, stay hydrated, eat more fiber rich foods, and take a good probiotic/eat some yogurt!

INTERMEDIATE FASTING

My Question:

"What is your opinion on fasting? Specifically, intermediate fasting?"

Kristen's Answer:

"Research shows for a general healthful lifestyle you should consume 4-6 small meals/large snacks per day. I personally try to consume 3 smaller meals, with a nutritious snack in between. This helps increase satiety, fight the munchies, and improve blood sugar levels. " 

In regards to the benefits or risks of intermediate fasting (fasting for 16 hours and eating your full days worth of calories within the remaining 8 hour period) Kristen said, "That's not bad! If it works for [you]! Of course everyone is different."

My Comments:

"Satiety" means to be satisfied or feel full. Did you guys have to google it? Clearly I did. HA!

I am relieved to hear that there is nothing bad about intermediate fasting, since I have done it before myself. It is not for me though! I am hungry ALL THE TIME. So intermediate fasting was just too much of a challenge for me. 

One thing I do want to make sure everyone understands about intermediate fasting is that it is not a magic trick. It has nothing to do with weight-loss except for the fact that it can help some people eat less by restricting the time they are allowed to eat (helping to reach a caloric deficit.) But Kristen also pointed out that she knew some people that do this and eat literally anything they want (including unhealthy foods) during that 8 hour period, which makes that fast kind of useless. 

There has been some research done to show a correlation between fasting and better digestion, but that is more-so for fasting that is for over a 24 hour period, which I absolutely don't have any interest in trying.

DAIRY    

                

My Question:

“How do you feel about dairy? Dairy seems to be either loved or hated in the wellness world right now. Is it good or bad, what are your thoughts?”

           

Kristen's Answer:

“Unless you have an intolerance to dairy, there is no need to eliminate it from your diet. Low fat or fat free milk or cheese provides good calcium, vitamin D, and carbs. Yogurt is also a great source of probiotics. Skip the ice cream if you’re trying to limit saturated fat and calories.”

My Comments:

Dairy does cause me some discomfort since I was born lactose intolerant. I grew out of it, but still have random digestive issues when I eat dairy sometimes. But I don’t stay away from it. 

Queso is delicious and I would sooner cut off my right toe than give up queso. The cramps are worth it. This paragraph has nothing important to add to this discussion, but I felt passionate enough to share.

GOING VEGAN

My Question:

“How do you feel about people going vegan just because they think it will make them lose weight? Many people are giving up meat just because they think it will cause weight loss.”

Kristen's Answer:

“New research is showing that vegetarians and vegans are at an increased risk for protein deficiency. If a vegan lifestyle is your personal preference, I am all for it and respect that! But, if your goal is to lose weight, adopting a vegan lifestyle is not necessarily the answer. If you do choose a vegan/vegetarian lifestyle, make sure you’re getting enough protein. Otherwise, choose lean protein options to help with weight loss.”

MY LAST QUESTION

My Question:

"That was mostly everything I wanted to ask about! Is there anything else on the topic of diets and health trends that you think is important to share with the world?"

Kristen's Answer:

“Don’t believe everything you read on the internet. And just because there was a “study” done on a topic does not mean it’s legit. Professionals are able to identify bogus studies. There is no quick fix or magic pill. Just eat a well-balanced diet (check out MyPlate) with controlled portions. Eliminate junk. Moderation is key.”

My Closing Comments:

I love her last statement so much. If there was a fad diet or a supplement program that truly worked for everyone, the world would be skinny. In her statement about professionals being able to identify bogus studies... guys, this is so important. 

Just because a brand says that their product had success in clinical trials, does not mean that those trials were conducted with standard medical regulations and legitimacy. Think of how easily you might be able to manipulate an experiment to have the outcome you want it to have. OR how you could word the concluding results of the study to sound like it was successful, when it really wasn’t. 

Brands do this all the time, guys! And hearing that come from Kristen's mouth should be all the proof you need to help you think twice before spending money on some bullshit skinny tea or hundreds of dollars worth of supplements.

Thank you Kristen, for sharing your advice for free with all of us. I certainly learned a lot myself! I hope that we all are able to take what you have taught us and use it to be our most healthy versions of ourselves!

XOXO Karrah