# Latest diet fads



## Rainbow (Aug 30, 2010)

I've recently met someone who's on the Burger Only diet. It's when you eat only a cheeseburger & a milkshake every day for 6 weeks to lose weight. Eating small amounts of food especially when they have little nutritional value is supposed to send the body into 'fasting mode' and it starts eating all the fat right off your body, especially in the tough spots.


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## Promethea (Aug 24, 2009)




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## Vaka (Feb 26, 2010)

I haven't been able to stick to any diets I've tried, but I'm thinking of going paleo solely to see if it will help my headaches and if maybe I'll just overall feel better throughout the day. I used to overindulge in diet pepsi and when I stopped, my headaches got a lot easier to handle. But now they're getting worse again for some reason.


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## CaptSwan (Mar 31, 2013)

Rainbow said:


> I've recently met someone who's on the Burger Only diet. It's when you eat only a cheeseburger & a milkshake every day for 6 weeks to lose weight. Eating small amounts of food especially when they have little nutritional value is supposed to send the body into 'fasting mode' and it starts eating all the fat right off your body, especially in the tough spots.


I don't think that works at all. Well, if you want a massive heart attack or diabetes; then it'll work just fine.


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## Vaka (Feb 26, 2010)

lycanized said:


> I haven't been able to stick to any diets I've tried, but I'm thinking of going paleo solely to see if it will help my headaches and if maybe I'll just overall feel better throughout the day. I used to overindulge in diet pepsi and when I stopped, my headaches got a lot easier to handle. But now they're getting worse again for some reason.


Ok, I'm definitely going paleo.


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## Rainbow (Aug 30, 2010)

lycanized said:


> Ok, I'm definitely going paleo.


What's that?


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## Vaka (Feb 26, 2010)

Rainbow said:


> What's that?


The Beginner's Guide to the Paleo Diet | Nerd Fitness
"
*Okay, so if we cut out the grains, almost all processed foods, and dairy, you’re left with only things that occur naturally:*


*Meat - *GRASS-FED, not grain-fed. Grain causes the same problem in animals as they do in humans. 
*Fowl *- Chicken, duck, hen, turkey…things with wings that (try to) fly. 
*Fish* - Wild fish, as mercury and other toxins can be an issue in farmed fish 
*Eggs -* Look for Omega-3 enriched eggs. 
*Vegetables - *As long as they’re not deep-fried, eat as many as you want. 
*Oils - *Olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil – think natural. 
*Fruits - *Have natural sugar, and can be higher in calories, so limit if you’re trying to lose weight. 
*Nuts - *High in calories, so they’re good for a snack, but don’t eat bags and bags of them. 
*Tubers - *Sweet potatoes and yams. Higher in calories and carbs, so these are good for right after a workout to replenish your glycogen levels." 

Basically, as few processed foods as you can do with, more natural, as if you're an ancient human who doesn't even have access to what we have now. And that will be fucking hard, but if it helps me feel good and not have as many headaches, it seems worth it. And I know if you're trying to lose weight, it's also a wonderful thing to cut down processed foods for life


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## Rainbow (Aug 30, 2010)

lycanized said:


> The Beginner's Guide to the Paleo Diet | Nerd Fitness
> "
> *Okay, so if we cut out the grains, almost all processed foods, and dairy, you’re left with only things that occur naturally:*
> 
> ...


I'm also a fan of eating what's natural, but don't know if dairy and meat are for human consumption. All other carnivorous animals eat their meat with the blood & bones. The fact that humans have to cook it to eat it is telling. I'm on the fence about it though.

I've heard a lot of stories of people with health issues going full vegan and getting better.


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## Vaka (Feb 26, 2010)

I can give up milk, I can give up honey bunches of oats, I can give up sandwiches, but I will not give up fish unless I absolutely have to


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## Scelerat (Oct 21, 2012)

Rainbow said:


> I'm also a fan of eating what's natural, but don't know if dairy and meat are for human consumption. All other carnivorous animals eat their meat with the blood & bones. The fact that humans have to cook it to eat it is telling. I'm on the fence about it though.
> 
> I've heard a lot of stories of people with health issues going full vegan and getting better.


We can eat our meat with blood and bones as well, it's just more palatable to cook it first. All animals just eat their vegetables raw as well, but I don't see you making an argument for a raw food diet. You don't have to cook all meats, consumption of raw meat is common in quite a few cultures such as the Eskimos, Japan(raw fish), tartare/carpaccio in Italy and France etc. 

Hell, we're also the only animal that season our food, so by your logic your diet should consist of nothing but raw vegetables, that have not been grown in any sort of agricultural method, since you know other animals do not have agriculture, with no seasoning.


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## LittleFuryThings (Jan 5, 2013)

We've evolved for a long time cooking our food, that includes meat. Vitamin B12 is ONLY found in meat, dairy, and eggs and it's unlikely you'd get enough from just dairy and eggs alone. Veganism can be healthy but you need to do your research and you MUST supplement a B12 source.


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## Rainbow (Aug 30, 2010)

Scelerat said:


> We can eat our meat with blood and bones as well, it's just more palatable to cook it first. All animals just eat their vegetables raw as well, but I don't see you making an argument for a raw food diet. You don't have to cook all meats, consumption of raw meat is common in quite a few cultures such as the Eskimos, Japan(raw fish), tartare/carpaccio in Italy and France etc.
> 
> Hell, we're also the only animal that season our food, so by your logic your diet should consist of nothing but raw vegetables, that have not been grown in any sort of agricultural method, since you know other animals do not have agriculture, with no seasoning.


It's not a logic I apply to everything. It's a theory I've heard and it makes sense to people who think the more natural, the better.
From an evolutionary standpoint, can you think of a reason for why humans evolved into omnivores from apes--who are herbivores, and surviving on way less food than us?



LoveExposure said:


> We've evolved for a long time cooking our food, that includes meat. Vitamin B12 is ONLY found in meat, dairy, and eggs and it's unlikely you'd get enough from just dairy and eggs alone. Veganism can be healthy but you need to do your research and you MUST supplement a B12 source.


 Animals do not chose what to eat based on nutritional values, only we do it because we're taught to.


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## Scelerat (Oct 21, 2012)

Rainbow said:


> It's not a logic I apply to everything. It's a theory I've heard and it makes sense to people who think the more natural, the better. From an evolutionary standpoint, can you think of a reason for why humans evolved into omnivores from apes--who are herbivores, and surviving on way less food than us?


 Chimpanzees hunt for meat and so do baboons as far as I know. As far as I know, herbivores digest meat pretty well, it just doesn't work that other way around all that well. When our species diverged and our line came into existence, eating meat is what made everything we are now possible. It ensured that we lost the massive jaw muscles needed to eat plants all day which meant we had more space in our craniums to develop a larger brain. It meant we could spend less time eating (meat is generally more nutritionally dense than vegetables). Our brain is an expensive organ in terms of energy expenditure, Now, I don't understand why humans diverged and became primarily meat eaters and I doubt people who are trained in evolutionary biology would. I can think of a multitude of reasons though, such as apes sort of being like vegans in that they sneak a steak or burger when nobody's looking, or our massive jaw muscles going bye bye and thus gnawing on trees the whole day became inefficient. If you want to talk "funny things" human teeth are destroyed by carbohydrate. So, ironically, if you eat a pure carb based diet which requires chewing, you will eventually die because it will cause your teeth to rot.


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## birdsintrees (Aug 20, 2012)

In response to the OP:  I hope the person recommending this approach has some awesome insurance or a killer legal team to deal with any future problems. That just spells out death by stroke or heart attack. 

The body is more likely to go into starvation mode and actually store every shred of nutrient as fat.


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## Rainbow (Aug 30, 2010)

Zoof said:


> In response to the OP:  I hope the person recommending this approach has some awesome insurance or a killer legal team to deal with any future problems. That just spells out death by stroke or heart attack.
> 
> The body is more likely to go into starvation mode and actually store every shred of nutrient as fat.


Damn. How am I going to break this to him?


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## birdsintrees (Aug 20, 2012)

Rainbow said:


> Damn. How am I going to break this to him?


Take him on a tour of the local cardiac ICU.


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## firedell (Aug 5, 2009)

There's a fad diet going around that for 2 days (I believe) you only eat 500 calories a day. Then on the other days, you eat the required amount.


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## Galaxies (Apr 9, 2013)

Rainbow said:


> It's when you eat *only* a cheeseburger & a milkshake every day for 6 weeks to lose weight.


What about garden salads? I anticipate the need for laxatives and a hospital visit. It'll be the first of the sign of their deteriorating health. 

Somewhat related, but what about the meal-replacement programs? Every pharmacy these days seems to have its own version.


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## CaptSwan (Mar 31, 2013)

Galaxies said:


> Somewhat related, but what about the meal-replacement programs? Every pharmacy these days seems to have its own version.


What is that? Never heard of it before.


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## Galaxies (Apr 9, 2013)

CaptSwan said:


> What is that? Never heard of it before.


When patients want to lose weight they sign up to these programs. They record what they eat then they replace two of their meals with nutritious shakes, bars, soup etc. They track your progress online and become active in the online weight loss community.

You can buy the them without signing up but when you sign up to the program, you get a meal planner, a months supply and 'support' (which is $90 with membership from memory). I did externship at a pharmacy that provided this program: Kate Morgan.


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## CaptSwan (Mar 31, 2013)

Galaxies said:


> When patients want to lose weight they sign up to these programs. They record what they eat then they replace two of their meals with nutritious shakes, bars, soup etc. They track your progress online and become active in the online weight loss community.
> 
> You can buy the them without signing up but when you sign up to the program, you get a meal planner, a months supply and 'support' (which is $90 with membership from memory). I did externship at a pharmacy that provided this program: Kate Morgan.


Oh, I had no idea. Thanks.


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## Impavida (Dec 29, 2011)

Rainbow said:


> Damn. How am I going to break this to him?


I would have gone with the laugh and call him an idiot approach as soon he told me about it. But that's just me 



firedell said:


> There's a fad diet going around that for 2 days (I believe) you only eat 500 calories a day. Then on the other days, you eat the required amount.


I'm not sure I would classify Intermittent Fasting as a fad diet. It has been around for decades...



Galaxies said:


> Somewhat related, but what about the meal-replacement programs? Every pharmacy these days seems to have its own version.


If it's a store bought meal replacement, I would generally say avoid it like the plague. The store bought ones usually have a shit-ton of crap in them (chemicals, preservatives) and aren't very satisfying or filling which makes it almost impossible not to cheat on the program. 

If you're making your own smoothies or juices as meal replacements then they can definitely work well. You can ensure that you have all the necessary supplements/nutrients in it. Plus it will actually taste good and not leave you starving 5 minutes later.


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## Galaxies (Apr 9, 2013)

jayde said:


> If it's a store bought meal replacement, I would generally say avoid it like the plague. The store bought ones usually have a shit-ton of crap in them (chemicals, preservatives) and aren't very satisfying or filling which makes it almost impossible not to cheat on the program.


That's what I'm saying, the ones sold at the pharmacy seem like a fad to me, they don't sell easily and the results are poor. The lady I worked with said they did curb her appetite but I suppose it's about what she ate in the third meal.


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## Impavida (Dec 29, 2011)

Galaxies said:


> That's what I'm saying, the ones sold at the pharmacy seem like a fad to me, they don't sell easily and the results are poor. The lady I worked with said they did curb her appetite but I suppose it's about what she ate in the third meal.


Yeah, from what I've seen, people either tend to binge on that last meal or they snack too much. Either way it completely defeats the purpose of the meal replacements!


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## farfaraway (Feb 15, 2013)

I am trying a form of intermittent fasting. You eat what you want, but only within a 5 hour window. You fast 19 hours. So far it's working well. Hunger is tolerable, I don't end up binging like I feared, and I am losing weight slowly. I like eating a big meal and a snack and feeling full, instead of eating a bunch of tiny meals and always being hungry. And during the fasting part I drink lots of water and tea


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## Scelerat (Oct 21, 2012)

Zoof said:


> In response to the OP:  I hope the person recommending this approach has some awesome insurance or a killer legal team to deal with any future problems. That just spells out death by stroke or heart attack.
> 
> The body is more likely to go into starvation mode and actually store every shred of nutrient as fat.


I'm not convinced that starvation mode exists, sooner or later you will drop the weight if you are in a deficit. Sure your body may become more efficient so that you need to create a larger deficit, but overall it seems unlikely that (based on physics) that your body is exempt from thermodynamics. 

Sure with this idiotic approach to a diet, if you don't get enough protein, do not engage in resistance training and avoid carb refeeds (and refeeds in general) your body will probably burn a bunch of muscle, thus reducing your BMR and leading to "starvation mode" which is probably the result of reduced BMR due to muscle loss leading to no longer being in a deficit.


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## birdsintrees (Aug 20, 2012)

lol yes. Stop eating for long enough and you'll burn the weight for sure. Didn't mean to imply that you'll actually gain weight from eating one meal a day only but your metabolism will slow down significantly by relying on one meal a day only. From a weight loss perspective you'd be better off speeding up your metabolism by multiple small meals during the day.

But hey.. I'm no nutritionist or physician.


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## Rainbow (Aug 30, 2010)

farfaraway said:


> I am trying a form of intermittent fasting. You eat what you want, but only within a 5 hour window. You fast 19 hours. So far it's working well. Hunger is tolerable, I don't end up binging like I feared, and I am losing weight slowly. I like eating a big meal and a snack and feeling full, instead of eating a bunch of tiny meals and always being hungry. And during the fasting part I drink lots of water and tea


That definitely does work. I would only add that it's more healthy if the meal you eat is mostly veggies and fruits.


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## Bluity (Nov 12, 2012)

Rainbow said:


> I've recently met someone who's on the Burger Only diet. It's when you eat only a cheeseburger & a milkshake every day for 6 weeks to lose weight.


That's not a diet. That's a college freshman cramming for finals.


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## Scelerat (Oct 21, 2012)

Zoof said:


> lol yes. Stop eating for long enough and you'll burn the weight for sure. Didn't mean to imply that you'll actually gain weight from eating one meal a day only but your metabolism will slow down significantly by relying on one meal a day only. From a weight loss perspective you'd be better off speeding up your metabolism by multiple small meals during the day.
> 
> But hey.. I'm no nutritionist or physician.


Eating many small meals doesn't speed up your metabolism, it's a myth. The only time I'd say it's beneficial to have 5 - 6 meals a day is if you need to get in 4500+ calories per day.


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## birdsintrees (Aug 20, 2012)

Scelerat said:


> Eating many small meals doesn't speed up your metabolism, it's a myth. The only time I'd say it's beneficial to have 5 - 6 meals a day is if you need to get in 4500+ calories per day.


Interesting. Source?


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## Scelerat (Oct 21, 2012)

Zoof said:


> Interesting. Source?


Metabolism Myths: Part 3 - AskMen

Stupid Diet Myth #2: Eat 4-6 Small Meals Per Day » | ThePeoplesChemist.com

Logic Does Not Apply Part 1: Meal Frequency

The sources are for 6 small meals. The reason why I said it's beneficial to eat more frequently on a 4500+ diet is that if you've ever tried to get (in my case) 320g of protein into your body per day, doing 100g of protein per meal is fucking hard work.


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## Diogenes (Jun 30, 2011)

Scelerat said:


> if you've ever tried to get (in my case) 320g of protein into your body per day, doing 100g of protein per meal is fucking hard work.


Out of curiosity, what and how much do you eat in order to get 320g/day of protein?
That's like 1.6 kg of chicken per day.


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## Scelerat (Oct 21, 2012)

Diogenes said:


> Out of curiosity, what and how much do you eat in order to get 320g/day of protein?
> That's like 1.6 kg of chicken per day.


Basically meat, pork, chicken, beef, some vegetables, I also usually supplement with protein powder (not atm due to cutting and whey isolate having insulin spike properties) cheese, and when I'm not cutting I'll also include legumes and grains (brown rice etc). 

It usually ends up as between 1kg and 2kgs of protein foods. That's when 4 - 6 meals per day come in handy, because you can split up large amounts into smaller amounts so it becomes less of a chore to eat.


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## birdsintrees (Aug 20, 2012)

Scelerat said:


> Metabolism Myths: Part 3 - AskMen
> 
> Stupid Diet Myth #2: Eat 4-6 Small Meals Per Day » | ThePeoplesChemist.com
> 
> ...


You could compile the same list of websites that actually promote the idea of six small meals a day with another google search. Either way: I'm not a doctor so I can only go by what works for me instead of the biology and physiology behind it.

Just out of curiousity: How do your kidneys deal with that amount of protein a day?


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## Scelerat (Oct 21, 2012)

Zoof said:


> You could compile the same list of websites that actually promote the idea of six small meals a day with another google search. Either way: I'm not a doctor so I can only go by what works for me instead of the biology and physiology behind it.


They link various studies in them. Of course, you can always poke holes in studies or find studies that contradict other studies when it comes to nutrition so I tend to just stick with "how does it work for me" and "how logical is it?". 

For instance, the 5 - 6 small meals thing makes sense in some situations, such as when you need to eat a lot of food per day. Not so much in others, like when you're eating 800 calories a day. 

For instance, if fat is bad for us, why does our body store excess energy as fat on our bodies. Isn't that like storing a few jugs of diesel inside your gasoline powered car? 

The main reason I don't "buy" the 5 - 6 small meals thing is that the thermic effect of food is more or less identical regardless of meal frequency. Which means that the only thing that it could influence was to "rev up" your metabolism. However as far as I know, no studies show this. 

There are studies that show weak links between number of meals and overweight, and studies that show correlations between not eating breakfast and being overweight, however these usually contain very weak links. 

The only way to do such a study is to seclude people completely, since self-reporting cannot be trusted, and feed them on an exact schedule and control for all activity including NEET. 



> Just out of curiousity: How do your kidneys deal with that amount of protein a day?


Since I'm not 80 years old with pre-existing kidney problems, no problem. I'm a pretty pro-science person, but sometimes I wonder, how did humans survive before doctors could tell us that carbs, fat and protein are not good for us. As far as I know, as long as you are healthy, studies have shown no causal link between kidney problems and a high protein intake. Of course, if you have kidney issues, and eat a ton of protein, that's a bit like someone with liver disease having 18 whiskeys per night.


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## birdsintrees (Aug 20, 2012)

Fat is actually quite necessary in a diet ^^ Imo: it all comes down to common sense. If you want to lose weight: Don't over eat. Eat healthy. Choose natural products over processed foods. If you focus on that instead of finding the most efficient way to cut corners, you'll come a long way already.

Re: Protein. Long story I won't bore you with but I was always 'warned' against over eating protein as it is supposed to have damaging effects if you really go overboard. Again one of those things where the answer depends on which doctor you ask. I guess the difficulty comes with being unable to say with certainty that you don't have a budding kidney issue.

Human kind has survived just fine before medicine developed to where it is today.


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## Agley (Aug 20, 2013)

Diets are the perfectible source for get energy and nutrition because 
diet is play a important role to loosing weight.I like these good diets like,1 Fresh vegetable 
2 Fresh fruits
3 Dry fruits
4 Fresh juices.


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