I have been doing some research on some bizarre diets and I wanted to know what other people think of them, or if they have ever tried them before? Do FAD diets really work?

The weirdest one was the tapeworm diet. This crazy diet where people actually ingest a parasite to lose weight. Who would do that and does it even work? Surely it does more harm than good?

Another is a diet where people deliberately eat gone off food to make themselves ill. Again, this can't be good for the body at all.

Also diets like the maple syrup diet, the apple diet (just eating apples all day). They seem like quick fixes, but are these diets harming the body too?

This is just a discussion really, to see if anyone feels the same way I do about these extreme diets. But, I know that some people can criticise and say that ANY diet can become extreme.

What do you think?

I went on the grapefruit and egg diet yrs ago and ended up with strained kidneys. I know they call Atkins a fad diet I dont happen to believe that but when a person only eats a certain food or two or has a soup 2 meals or some such as that well, everyone knows it cant be carried on forever! A diet, as in eating plan, needs to be one a person can do for life. Eating apples all day for the rest of ones life is pretty undoable and Im thinking any extended time of it would make a person ill. No fats or proteins there. And even vlc diets have some carbs

I'm doing this really weird diet now. I avoid "hearthealthywholegrains"™ and fruit. I don't check my cholesterol. I eat only 2 meals a day, within 8 hours, and I don't snack. My doctors tell me to stop it. All my friends worry that my kidneys are going to explode and I'm going to get a heart attack any day.

I've lost 35 lbs and I feel great, but I'm not sure if I should continue this diet. What do you think?

aj!!! ROFLOL keep up the good work

The reason these fad diets are popular is because they worked really well for someone.

Yes bobiam I guess you are right.

So people, do you think they are for quick weight loss only, or is it something that can be kept on for a long time?

aj_cohn how long have you been on your diet for? 35lb is pretty impressive! My advice would be make sure you do have blood pressure checks/cholesterol checks etc... because you want to make sure you are healthy on the inside and the outside.

Sure they work.. But they aren't sustainable. No one can eat a 'fad diet's' diet for their whole life, which is the point of losing weight (life change). But when people are desperate to lose weight, it doesn't really matter. I've sometimes hoped to get sick eating something just so I could lose weight and somehow relate that food to a bad thing in my head so I wouldn't eat it anymore.. Kind of sick, but I guess desperation does that.
After all, how many people do we all know who get a stomach bug or just the flu and say "I lost 10 pounds while being sick!" because they just weren't eating.
I've heard of the tapeworm thing but I don't think many people do that, if ever, and thought it might be a myth and don't think it would ever be sustainable. Yucky.

Yes, almost any crazy diet will work in the short term, but as we all know they never work long term - isn't that the point? So every year we have to try a "new" one....and there is always a new one....thank goodness for Dr. Atkins. His has lasted for a long time and now Taubes, Attia, and a host of others has brought forward real science to back it up - low-carb is the way of the future for good health and healthy weight.

I was being satirical, treating low-carb as an extreme fad diet and posing the same question as the OP. My BP's fine, total cholesterol is irrelevant (and Kaiser won't pay for an NMR lipoanalysis), and I know from past experience that my trigs will be their lowest with a LC WOE. This is my 3rd time losing weight on LC (started in 9/11), for a total of 200 lbs, and it's going to be my last cycle. I don't have any more chances left.

Haha! very true... when I tell people I am on the Atkins they do think I am a bit mad because it has been classed as "FAD" before. So I wonder what this years "new" one will be! Any suggestions for fun? Last year I think the baby food diet was mentioned quite a bit...

LStump I agree with you too. The tapeworm diet does sound yucky, i wonder if it really is a myth or not. For it to be around I'm sure someone somewhere has tried it! strange...

I have done Dr Stillman's weight loss plan several times. It is sort of extreme low carb and low fat (lean meat, eggs, fish only.) I don't know if this is really a fad diet but it works a treat. I couldn't keep it up forever though.

I've seen a few people here doing the "HCG diet", which seems pretty similar to the Stillman diet (and the late "lamented" Kimkins).

Fad diets tend to work in the short term but ultimately fail because they do not address the underlying health issues that keep us over weight. Obese individuals are usually starving at the cellular level all ready and further starvation will only exacerbate the issue. They inevitably gain these pounds back and these pounds usually bring friends.

Thankfully, for the sake of decency, this one is illegal. The tale isn't a myth though. Some company in the 50s produced a "weight loss capsule" that had a tapeworm head inside of it, but everyone just thought it was some miracle drug. Pretty unethical; it's a good thing they were shut down.

As for diets that tell you eating primarily one food (like the maple syrup example you give) will make you shed pounds, they are either ineffective or completely unsustainable. No one wants to eat syrup every single day in large quantities, and the diet kind of expects that, but it's exactly why no one is going to stay on it long-term.

um, did Kim die? or did her diet die?