The term “fad diet” is almost synonymous with “a shortcut to weight loss”, which can sound far fetched to some people. It’s basically geared towards individuals who want to lose weight quickly through sticking to a specific food plan. Some of the fad diets that eliminate foods with essential nutrients and promise instant results without being backed by science can increase risk of nutrition deficiency. However, it doesn’t necessarily mean all fad diets are nutritionally unbalanced. We’ve rounded up the healthy and sustainable fad diets that you should try, but bear in mind that there’s no such thing as “a shortcut to weight loss”, and it’s important to consult your dietitian or doctor before you change your meal plan.

Ketogenic Diet

Keto diet, short for Ketogenic diet, has taken the world by storm and been dubbed as the most popular and celebrity-endorsed fad diet. It’s hinged on the idea of losing weight through cutting down on carbohydrates intake instead of starvation. The reasons why we can survive for days without food is because our body automatically uses ketones, the small energy molecules as primary energy source when we’re low on glucose or carbohydrates. It is a legitimate way of burning fats and shedding pounds through lowering our insulin level. The food you should add to our cart include grass-fed meat, low-carb vegetables, cheese and seafood, etc. It encourages people to take 70% fats, 25% protein and as few carbohydrates as possible on daily basis.

Paleolithic Diet

The proponents of Paleolithic diet believe that many chronic illnesses like obesity stem from our sedentary lifestyle and the processed foods we consume. This diet is hinged on the ancestral eating principle which strictly sticks to the foods that can only be hunted or gathered. That being said, this diet is all about laying off high-fat, high sugar processed foods and loading up on fruits and vegetables that contain high amount of nutrients, like vitamins, fiber and minerals. The food choices paleo diet encourages are pretty similar to keto diet.

Intermittent Fasting

Also known as 5:2 diet, intermittent fasting is more of a pattern of eating than a diet. It’s a way to restrict your calories intake which then leads to weight loss by limiting your calories to 500-600 on two non-consecutive days but eat normally on the other five days. The reasoning behind this is that your insulin levels are high when your body is digesting and absorbing foods, and since insulin can stimulate the growth of body fats by absorbing glucose and fatty acids into your bloodstream, high insulin level means more fats. Therefore, by not eating for eight to ten hours can lower your insulin level and make your body easier to burn fats. Intermittent fasting just changes the schedule of your meals but not your food choices.

Atkins Diet

Sharing the similar principle as Keto diet, Atkins diet is touted to prevent diabetes and stimulate the body’s fat-burning abilities by eliminating the consumption of carbs. The proponents believe that you can take as much fats and protein as you want as long as you cut down on sugar, grains, processed food that slow down your fat-burning processes. Once you see significant change in body weight, then you can slowly add more healthy carbs that won’t affect your weight.

Want to reap the health benefits of vegan diet but don’t want to put yourself through a strict regimen of eating kale salads everyday? Then start with something simple – add more nutrients to your diet and work towards a diverse diet. Eating kale is good for weight loss but a well-balanced intake of protein, carbohydrates and fats is essential for metabolism and prevent dietary deficiency. Inculcate the food and nutrients below into your daily diet for a healthier lifestyle.

Cold Pressed Juice

The trendy buzzword ‘juicing’ may strike a chord with those who know a thing or two about cleansing, but what exactly is it? It’s used to describe the consumption of cold pressed juice made by using hydraulic press to fully extract the freshest juice by crushing the fruits and vegetables, and because there’s no heat created by the machine, it kills off the unwanted bacteria and chemicals and keeps the nutrients intact. Vegetable is the key ingredient in cold pressed juice as it contains the most nutrients and are touted to prevent chronic illness.

Medicinal Mushrooms

Known as the most studied organism and essential ingredient in many medicines, medicinal mushrooms have been scientifically validated and used for hundreds of years to aid health and ward off chronic illnesses. Try the reishi mushroom which is acclaimed for improving sleep, calming your mind and plays a significant role in destroying cancer cells. Other mushrooms like chaga can be used to boost immune system and monitor abnormal cells.

Coconut Water

It always feels good to sip on coconut water when you’re on a tropical vacation, but did you know this tasty and trendy drink is loaded with nutrients? Coconut water can help reduce cholesterol level to prevent heart diseases and it is the best substitute for energy drinks during or after workout as it contains less carbohydrates, which is good for people who need blood sugar control and it replenishes electrolytes that help maintains the proper fluid balance.

Get More Micro-nutrients

A well-balanced intake of macro-nutrients like fat, protein and carbohydrates are instrumental in giving our body energy to function but many people are vitamin deficient, which can cause dire effects on their body. Chronic fatigueness, short attention span and poor immune system could be signs of Vitamin D deficiency. Get into habit of taking micro-nutrients if you want a boost of energy level.

Grass-fed Meat

Did you know that how a cow is fed makes a significant impact on the quality of the beef? Grass-fed meat has been proven that it contains more omega-3 fatty acids and fewer calories compared to grain-fed meat. Grain-fed meat comes from cows raised in filthy confinements and fed with antibiotics whereas grass-fed meat comes from cows raised on a pasture with more care, which explains why grass-fed meat contains more nutrients and less toxins.

The ketogenic diet is also known by many names with some of them being such as keto diet and low carbohydrates diet, among others. This is a diet that usually has very low amounts of carbohydrates which makes the liver to manufacture ketones which are used as energy by the body. What generally happens when you consume a meal that has lots of carbohydrates is that the body generates insulin which is used to process by the glucose coming from carbohydrates so as to provide the body with the energy that it requires so as to perform optimally. This is a bad thing for our well being as the production of excess glucose makes our body not to be able to utilize fats, storing them in the process since glucose is much easier to break down.

The major goal of this diet is to make our body to have no other option other than going into a metabolic state where the liver manufactures the ketones which breaks down fats. This is, therefore, a perfect diet for those looking to lose weight. Some of the foods which are safe to consume while on this kind of diet are such as;

• Low carbohydrates vegetables. These are vegetables which have high levels of nutrients such as vitamin C and very low levels of carbohydrates and calories. While on this type of diet you will have to do away with vegetables which are starchy. Perfect examples of veggies which have low carbohydrates, are high in nutrients, and are less starchy include cauliflower, zucchini, and broccoli, among many others.
• Healthy fats such as avocado, nuts, and coconut oil. This is because healthy fats are extremely nutritious and studies have even shown that fats such as avocados drastically reduce LDL cholesterol which is harmful while raising HDL cholesterol which is beneficial to the body when consumed in large amounts.
• High protein foods such as cheese and plain yogurt. Cheese and yogurt are very essential when it comes to weight loss as they have been proven to promote feelings of fullness and to reduce appetite enabling people to avoid eating unnecessarily.

The ketogenic diet has a lot of benefits and some of them include;

• It leads to weight loss. It is, in fact, one of the most effective diets for weight loss as individuals who are on this kind of diet usually shed weight faster compared to those using other diets.
• It helps us to fight and manage diseases. Ketogenic diet helps to lower both the insulin and blood sugar levels in the body which is very essential to people suffering from Type 2 diabetes and to everyone in general. Also, the diet helps to reduce blood pressure which in return helps to prevent serious disease such as kidney failure, stroke, and heart failure, among many others. This diet is also used as therapies for some brain disorders while studies have shown that the ketogenic diet is capable of curing epilepsy in babies. With such kind of benefits to our health, it is easy to see why this diet is one of the most sought-after diets for people trying to lose weight and also for those who are looking to live a healthy life.

Diet has several meanings and one of them can be described simply as the drinks and foods that an individual consumes every single day and the physical and mental circumstances that are connected to eating. Diet can also be described as the process that describes how many calories constitute the drinks and meals that are eaten by individuals on a daily basis. Diet is therefore very essential since it helps us to understand what we are consuming, enabling us to live a long and healthy life.

There are several types of diets and some of them are as follows;

• The zone diet. This is the type of diet that aims for a nutritional balance of about 30 percent protein, 30 percent fats, and 40 percent carbohydrates in each meal taken by a single individual. The primary focus for this type of diet is to control levels of insulin helping us to be able to lose weight and to be in control of our body weight. This diet helps us to achieve the above by encouraging the consumption of fats such as nuts and olive oil, unrefined carbohydrates, and high quality carbohydrates.
• Vegetarian diet. This type of diet has other types which are such as lacto-ovo vegetarian diet, pesco-vegeterian diet, fruitarian vegetarian diet, and semi-vegetarian diet, among others. The most common type of vegetarian diet is lacto-ovo which does not include any animal based foods with the only exception being for honey, eggs, and dairy. This is one most healthy diets as various studies have made it clear that individual who follows vegetarian diets generally have a longer life expectancy and also have a lower body weight compared to those who consume meat.
• Atkins diet. This type of diet uses a low-carbohydrate diet which helps the users to be able to control the levels of insulin in their bodies. This means that individual using this diet can consume as much protein as they want but they have to avoid carbohydrates since refined carbohydrates causes the insulin levels in our bodies to fall and rise rapidly.
• Ketogenic diet. This type of diet is primarily used as a treatment for epilepsy and it involves increase of healthy fats such as olive oil, nuts, coconuts, avocados, and oily fish intake and reduction of carbohydrates. Ketogenic diet basically enables the body to burn fat as a fuel instead of burning carbohydrates.
• Vegan diet. Individuals following vegan diet do not consume anything that is animal based and this includes dairy products, honey, and eggs. This therefore, is more of a philosophy and a way of life than a diet since the individual who chose this type of diet do not just chose it for health reasons but also for ethical, compassionate, and environmental reasons.
• Raw food diet. This is where individuals following this type of diet consume drinks and foods that are organic and not processed in any way. There are four types of raw foodies which are such as raw vegans, raw carnivores, raw vegetarians, and raw omnivores.

According to researchers, depending on your lifestyle choices (such as diet, exercise, stress, anxiety, or environmental toxins) somewhere between 10,000 to 100,00 free radicals attack our living cells.

Nutrient-dense superfoods are packed with valuable micronutrients, phytochemicals and antioxidants and can improve overall health and longevity. They could also significantly lower the risk of chronic diseases and reduce the damage from free radicals and toxins.

As they say “the food you eat can be either the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison”.

Food is the most powerful medicine and has the power to heal us or harm us. Keep in mind that the organic farmer is more important to your children’s health than the pediatrician.

You should add nutrient-dense superfoods to your diet on a regular basis and cut junk foods, processed foods, fried foods, sugary foods and foods that have artificial sweeteners, coloring, additives and preservatives.

Here are the top 10 superfoods that you should add to your diet on a regular basis:

1. Green leafy vegetables: such as kale, broccoli, celery and cabbage
2. Berries: Blueberries, goji berries, raspberries, and strawberries
3. Superfruits: Pineapple, mango and papaya
4. Raw organic cacao beans
5. Nuts and seeds: walnut, sesame seeds and flaxseed
6. Super-spices: Cinnamon, ginger, cayenne pepper, saffron and turmeric
7. Superherbs: Basil, mint, and parsley
8. Spirulina and chlorella
9. Seaweed
10. Avocado

Here are the 5 top foods that help to boost up your metabolism:

1. Opt out for organic foods whenever you could:

Genetically modified foods and conventional foods that are treated with chemicals such as endocrine disruptors, rBGH/rBST growth hormones, and antibiotics can screw up your metabolism and make you gain weight. Organic foods on the other hand, have much lower level of chemicals, pesticides and herbicides linked to obesity and weight gain.

2. Incorporate rich-fiber foods to your diet

Raw organic foods are high in fiber and other valuable nutrients such as micronutrients, antioxidants and phytochemicals and can help to cleanse the body from accumulation of toxins and free radicals and improve weight loss.

3. Include foods high in Omega 3 fatty acids to your diet

Food sources high in omega 3 fatty acids or DHA are essential for improving intelligence and proper brain function of babies and growing children. Foods sources high in omega 3 fatty acids can also help to get rid of bad fat or stubborn fat in the body. Wild sockeye salmon (lowest mercury fish), nuts, seeds, avocado, olive oil and avocado oil are great source of omega 3 fatty acids.

4. Include foods high in magnesium

According to researchers, more than 80% of Americans have Magnesium deficiency. Keep in mind that the ratio of magnesium to calcium happens to be a very important factor in improving health. In the Western diet, the ratio of calcium to magnesium happens to be 1 to 6, but many nutritionists suggest that the ratio should be more like 1 to 1. Organic green leafy vegetables, raw cacao beans, seeds and nuts such as sesame seeds, almonds and cashews are great source of magnesium.

5. Drink more water and skip sodas and sugary drinks

Drinking water on a regular basis throughout the day can improve weight loss and help to cleanse the body from accumulation of free radicals and toxins. You should drink at least 3 liters of filtered water throughout the day and skip drinking sodas and sugary drinks.