All-the-Rage Diets of 2018

There are an enormous number of diets out there, with new ones popping up in the media all the time, promising to deliver real weight loss results. Here are the latest diets trending right now.

5:2 Diet

The 5:2 diet is founded on intermittent fasting (IF) – you eat normally for five days a week and ‘fast’ on the other two. Compared to other methods of weight loss, limited evidence exists as to the efficacy of this diet. While it might be easier to stick to a regime where you only really have to ‘be careful’ for two days a week, rather than all week long, for best results, you should still be eating mindfully and making healthy food choices on the other five days. Skipping meals can cause dizziness, headaches, irritability, poor concentration, sleepiness, dehydration and other unwanted side effects. This is definitely not one recommended for pregnant women or those who have had an eating disorder.

Alkaline Diet/Tom Brady’s Diet  

The Alkaline made headlines thanks to NFL football quarterback Tom Brady. The diet is based on the idea that diets lead our body to over produce acid, an excess of which turns into fat, actually causing us to gain weight. High levels of acid are also attributed to osteoporosis, liver and kidney disorders, arthritis and tiredness. The Alkaline diet involves reducing consumption of foods that produce acid, such as grains and wheat, meat, dairy products, alcohol, caffeine, refined sugar, and processed foods. Instead, alkaline foods that lower the body’s levels of acidity are consumed: in particular, plenty of vegies and fruits. There’s no evidence that the body’s pH level can be changed by what we eat, but this method is based on healthy eating, so you can’t really go wrong. However, if you’re cutting out dairy you must replace that calcium. Bottom line, the body controls its own pH balance regardless of what we eat.

Whole30 

The Whole30 diet, created by Melissa Hartwig, aims to reset your health by focusing on eating whole foods as opposed to processed foods, for a month (30 days – hence the 30!). It is logical and there’s no weighing, counting or calculating. We all know the damage that processed foods cause to our bodies. The diet involves no sugar at all (including raw honey and maple syrup), no unnatural ingredients (artificial sweeteners, soy products and alcohol are all out), and no legumes, dairy products, or grains. You can only consume vegetables, nuts, seeds, fruits, fish, poultry, meat, eggs, and some healthy fats and oils. In short, this is a great way to reboot and rebalance your body.

Rosemary Conley Diet

Rosemary Conley offers online diets, fitness and eating plans that merge a low-fat, low-GI diet with steady exercise. Foods with 5% fat or less are recommended, except for porridge oats, lean meat, and oily fish. Her online weight loss club offers a range of videos and tools covering everything from exercises for every level of fitness, cooking classes, and psychological, medical and nutritional advice. You learn about portion sizes and counting calories, which helps you maintain weight loss after the program. The program involves using ‘portion pots’, which makes it difficult to follow when not at home. Also, some low-fat products can be high in sugar and calories, so they aren’t necessarily healthier. But, overall, this is a balanced approach to losing weight that teaches important portion control and promotes healthy living.

Carb Cycling

This diet has nothing to do with jumping on a bicycle or spinning classes at the gym – although these are generally good things to do! It involves cycling carbs and not reducing or prohibiting them like the Paleo or Keto diets. The idea here is to eat high carbs on specific days and low carbs on others. Good news is that there is no calorie counting or food restrictions. The oscillation between high and low carb days helps followers lose weight, be more satiated, have fewer cravings, more energy and more balanced hormones. It also helps those wanting to maximize the growth of lean muscles. The overall benefit is that you don’t have to cut out entire food groups only to reintroduce them later and have the weight return.

All successful diets seem to point to eating fewer processed foods, less sugar and preservatives and more wholefoods that are dense in nutrients. At the end of the day, a diet that works is one that is healthy, that fits in with your lifestyle, and that you can follow for the long term even after you have met your initial goal.