Essay On Fad Diets

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Jason HambyMrs. HancheyPhysical Fitness26 July 2017Fad DietsThe Industrial Revolution was a period in the late 18th and early 19th century characterized by mass industrialization in Europe and widescale commodification of goods. It also led to new waves of migration and population diversification. As time continued to pass, even food becameindustrialized and commodified. This led to an erosion of adherence to ethnocultural cuisine, and transitioned standard eating habits from necessity and tradition to primarily pleasure, especially as overall quality of life grew higher and higher during and after the Industrial Revolution. As this became more and more prevalent going into the 19th century, and the health consequences of pleasure-based diets became more and more apparent, diets began to become commercialized as well. Healthy eating became a cult, with various …show more content…

From this arose “fad diets”, popular diets that often grow very popular for a short time before dying out. These diets are often restrictive, claim to be the One True Diet, and make claims of quick and easy weight loss or improved physical health. Many are not grounded in science, and some even rely on pseudoscience and vitalism. These diets also sometimes require their followers to buy products associated with the diet, and will have celebrities endorse them to increase profits from the diet’s followers. Some diets even have serious negative effects. Three prominent diets are the HCG diet, the Paleo diet, and the Macrobiotics diet.
The HCG diet is essentially a extremely calorie restrictive diet, that’s mostly protein andhas little carbs. It’s also supplemented by HCG shots, which are claimed to be appetite reducing. However, the research that led to this diet wasn’t ever replicated by other researchers. As a result, the FDA began mandating that all HCG products have the following warning: “These weight reduction treatments include the