Food plan tendencies have come and gone through the years. Some have been quirky, others had harmful restrictions.
Who hasn’t heard of a celebrity-backed liquid cleanse or the promise of speedy weight reduction after adhering to unusual meals mixtures?
However which of those fads truly labored, and which do vitamin specialists in 2025 firmly discredit?
To assist kickstart your New Yr’s well being objectives, MyFitnessPal dietitians took a deep dive into the evolving historical past of fad diets to see if any had advantage.
In addition they supplied evidence-based suggestions for constructing a sustainable, wholesome life-style, centered on vitamin for actual life.
Right here’s a decade-by-decade breakdown of probably the most iconic food plan fads over the previous 100 years and their affect on well being, in accordance with specialists.
Nineteen Twenties–Nineteen Thirties: The Grapefruit Food plan
The Development
Also referred to as the “Hollywood Food plan,” this standard method concerned consuming half a grapefruit earlier than each meal. The declare? Grapefruit contained enzymes that would “burn fats,” turning the fruit right into a shortcut for weight reduction.
Dietitian Verdict
“Including fruit to your food plan can truly be a good way to assist with weight reduction! It provides fiber that can assist you really feel full. It’s usually low in energy however excessive in quantity,” says Stephanie Nelson, MyFitnessPal’s Senior Lead Vitamin Scientist (1).
However she emphasizes that grapefruit doesn’t burn fats.
Including grapefruit to meals “with out making some other modifications to your food plan gained’t truly end in weight reduction,” says Nelson.
Melissa Jaeger, RD, LD, Head of Vitamin at MyFitnessPal, agrees. She notes that grapefruit has a wide range of nutritional vitamins and minerals, like vitamin C, which helps our immune programs (2).
“However there merely isn’t any scientific proof to help fat-burning claims about grapefruit,” she concludes.
Jaeger additionally notes that some variations of this food plan restricted every day energy to 800. That isn’t sufficient to fulfill every day power wants (3).
She additionally warned that grapefruit and its juice work together with some drugs (4). So, this food plan could also be dangerous for some individuals. All the time speak to your physician about meals it’s possible you’ll have to keep away from in case you take drugs.
Professional Takeaway
Get pleasure from grapefruit as a part of a balanced food plan, however overlook the fat-burning claims. Wholesome, sustainable weight reduction requires a cheap calorie deficit and a deal with nutrient-rich meals (5).
Forties–Nineteen Fifties: The Grasp Cleanse
The Development
Trending within the Forties and standard once more within the early 2000s, The Grasp Cleanse, also referred to as the Lemonade Food plan, concerned a largely liquid food plan routine.
Throughout the primary cleanse part, dieters drank a mixture of lemon juice, maple syrup, cayenne pepper, and water for a number of days. They aimed to “detox” and shed extra pounds.
In addition they drank a cup of laxative tea within the night to encourage bowel actions.
Dietitian Verdict
“Juice cleanses trigger weight reduction as a result of individuals who do that primarily starve themselves,” says Nelson (6).
Notably, a lot of the load misplaced throughout cleanses is probably going as a result of lack of water and muscle mass moderately than precise physique fats (7).
She provides that “individuals who do that method are likely to achieve the load again after the “cleanse” is over until they modify their food plan habits long-term (6).”
Nelson explains that individuals should change their food plan to shed extra pounds long-term, so this cleanse is ineffective.
Professional Takeaway
A liquid cleanse isn’t obligatory, and doing one could decrease your metabolism (8). Your physique already has efficient built-in detox programs—the liver and kidneys (9, 10)!
Taking laxatives once you don’t want them can even result in problems like dehydration, as you lose fluid in your stools (11).
Total, Nelson advises, “it’s greatest to skip this one!”
Nineteen Sixties: The Sleeping Magnificence Food plan
The Development
Essentially the most excessive model of this food plan suggested dieters to sedate themselves for as much as 20 hours a day. This was to keep away from consuming totally throughout these hours.
Dietitian Verdict
This can be a very harmful food plan development, cautions Emily Sullivan, RD, Meals Information curator at MyFitnessPal.
Amongst critical well being problems, she warns that this food plan might result in malnutrition from not consuming sufficient, together with threat of habit to sleeping drugs (12, 13).
As a substitute, Sullivan advises getting the correct quantity of sleep, which is essential for weight administration and general well being.
She means that 7-9 hours of sleep per day is good, and in reality, some analysis reveals that sleeping lower than 6 hours per night time can result in weight achieve (14).
Then again, she notes that oversleeping, similar to 9-10 hours nightly, has additionally been linked to weight achieve when in comparison with sleeping 7-8 hours (15).
Professional Takeaway
Prioritize high quality sleep, however keep on with the beneficial every day vary. Over-sleeping or utilizing sedatives to keep away from consuming has no place in a wholesome life-style. In case you have disordered consuming or hassle sleeping, attain out to a health care provider or psychological well being skilled for help.
Seventies: The Egg & Wine Food plan
The Development
This three-day food plan concerned consuming eggs, black espresso, and wine for breakfast and lunch. Then, steak and wine for dinner.
The thought was to scale back calorie consumption drastically however make weight-reduction plan extra “tolerable” by together with alcohol.
Dietitian Verdict
Jaeger says, “this food plan is low in nutrient-dense energy with a excessive focus of energy from alcohol — not the makings of a secure, balanced, nutrient-rich food plan.”
She notes that it lacks fruits, greens, entire grains, and wholesome fat. So following this food plan for a very long time could threat dietary deficiencies as a consequence of its excessive restrictions (16).
Additionally, the food plan’s reliance on alcohol raises well being considerations, from dehydration to impaired judgment (17, 18).
Alcohol has empty energy and promotes irritation (19, 20). This negatively impacts well being and weight objectives.
Total, Jaeger says that “fast fixes” and really restrictive diets don’t result in secure, efficient weight reduction or wholesome habits.
Professional Takeaway
This food plan displays the worst of quick-fix fads. It’s restrictive, promotes dangerous ingesting behaviors, and does nothing for long-term well being or sustainability.
Nineteen Eighties: The Cabbage Soup Food plan
The Development
This week-long food plan allowed limitless cabbage soup. It paired the soup with modest parts of particular meals, like skim milk or fruit, on sure days. Like many fad diets, it promised speedy weight reduction.
Dietitian Verdict
“Whereas recipes discovered on-line for making home made cabbage soup for this food plan comprise a wide range of greens, this singular recipe doesn’t make for a balanced food plan,” says Jaeger.
This food plan is extraordinarily low in energy and lacks protein, fats, and different important vitamins. Any speedy weight reduction is probably going largely water and lean muscle, not fats, and isn’t a long-term answer (7).
Jaeger additionally emphasizes that this food plan doesn’t have scientific proof to help its weight reduction claims or to overview its security.
She advises us to construct sustainable diets, avoiding fads that declare to assist us quickly meet our objectives.
Professional Takeaway
Intention for selection in your food plan moderately than specializing in one meals or kind of meal. Addressing whole consuming patterns makes sustainable weight reduction extra profitable.
Nineteen Nineties: The Blood Kind Food plan
The Development
This food plan claimed an individual’s blood kind (A, B, AB, or O) dictated which meals have been healthiest for them.
For instance, kind O people have been suggested to eat a high-protein, meat-heavy food plan, limiting vegetarian proteins (21). In distinction, kind A people have been inspired to keep away from meat and as a substitute select extra seafood and vegetarian protein sources (21).
Dietitian Verdict
“The idea behind these diets is that a person’s blood kind is theorized to be their ancestral blood group,” says Brookell White, MS, RD, a Meals Information Curator at MyFitnessPal.
Although the concept of this food plan appealed to many, there’s a lack of analysis to help its claims.
One examine of this consuming model discovered potential advantages for physique weight and a few well being markers, like blood strain and ldl cholesterol (22).
However White factors out that the well being advantages in followers have been possible as a consequence of higher consuming habits (extra vegetarian meals) moderately than blood kind (22).
“This appears to be the consensus for many research which were carried out,” she says (23, 22).
Professional Takeaway
There’s no want to find out your blood kind to eat healthfully. Deal with evidence-based dietary patterns with loads of selection, such because the Mediterranean food plan.
2000s: The Uncooked Meals Food plan
The Development
One of many extra lasting tendencies, the Uncooked Meals Food plan, promotes consuming raw, unprocessed meals to retain pure vitamins and enzymes. Normally, individuals following a uncooked meals food plan solely eat vegan, plant-based meals.
Dietitian Verdict
Daisy Mercer, RD, a Meals Information Curator at MyFitnessPal says consuming uncooked meals like vegatables and fruits can have advantages. These meals present vital vitamins like fiber, antioxidants, nutritional vitamins, and minerals (24).
Mercer additionally says that consuming uncooked usually means consuming much less processed meals. It should typically present us with extra fiber, and our our bodies will work tougher to digest them. That may result in higher satiety and fewer want to overeat.
Consuming a uncooked meals food plan may additionally assist scale back consumption of sodium and saturated fat, she notes.
Moreover, uncooked plant-based meals could comprise extra nutritional vitamins and minerals (25). Some vitamins could be misplaced in cooking, Mercer factors out (25).
For instance, sure cooking strategies, like boiling, can enormously scale back the water-soluble vitamin content material, like vitamin C, in vegatables and fruits (26). It could be greatest to cook dinner high-vitamin C meals extra shortly, with much less warmth and water, similar to by steaming (26).
However analysis means that a mixture of uncooked and cooked meals within the food plan could also be greatest for our well being (25).
A uncooked vegan food plan, with over 90% uncooked meals, may not be secure long-term (25). It could trigger micronutrient deficiencies and different well being points (25).
Mercer cautioned {that a} uncooked meals food plan can even develop into harmful when uncooked or undercooked meats are concerned, posing a threat of foodborne sickness (27).
Professional Takeaway
Consuming extra vegatables and fruits is a good way to help your well being. As a substitute of worrying about whether or not they’re cooked or uncooked, deal with consuming a wide range of plant-based meals as a part of a balanced food plan.
2010s: Juice Cleanses
The Development
Juice cleanses are once you devour nothing however juice from vegatables and fruits for a time period, usually from sooner or later to at least one week. It turned fashionable as a “detox” technique, with supporters claiming it “resets” the physique.
Dietitian Verdict
Like all liquid fad food plan, juice cleanses could cause speedy weight reduction (28).
“That is largely as a consequence of not consuming sufficient energy,” Mercer factors out, moderately than any particular impact of the juice cleanse on weight reduction (28).
And, as soon as once more, in case you don’t make wholesome, sustainable modifications to your food plan, you’ll possible achieve the load proper again (28).
Mercer notes that ingesting unsweetened, 100% fruit and vegetable juices carefully can enhance your vitamin and mineral consumption (29).
Simply remember that juice lacks fiber. This results in fast absorption of pure sugars, which might act like refined sugar and trigger short-term blood sugar spikes (30).
Moreover, we regularly devour extra juice than we’d entire meals, leading to further energy (31).
Juices with decrease pure sugars and energy, like celery or cucumber juice, could also be higher for managing physique weight.
Professional Takeaway
Unsweetened fruit and vegetable juices could be a part of a balanced food plan in small quantities. Simply don’t depend on them for vitamin or pointless “cleaning” of the physique. For wholesome weight reduction, select entire fruits and veggies most frequently, and use juice splashes to taste your water!
2020s: The Carnivore Food plan
The Development
This food plan promotes consuming like some early ancestors who solely consumed animal merchandise, together with meat, eggs, and a few dairy. It goals for weight reduction and claims to have anti-inflammatory results.
Dietitian Verdict
Proponents of this food plan declare it improves illnesses and aids in weight reduction, says White.
However, she provides, “there isn’t any proof that means that is true. In truth, proof appears to recommend {that a} various food plan is greatest most often (32).”
She warns that the Carnivore Food plan lacks fiber and key nutritional vitamins, particularly C and E.
These vitamins are discovered nearly solely in crops (33, 34). They’re essential for every part from intestine well being to immunity and most cancers prevention, she says (35, 36, 37).
Plus, White says that “animal merchandise are excessive in saturated fats, which can improve your threat of coronary heart illness (38).”
“Crimson and processed meats are one other concern,” she says, noting that the Worldwide Company for Analysis on Most cancers considers processed meats carcinogenic (cancer-causing) and purple meats ‘in all probability carcinogenic’ (39).”
Professional Takeaway
Whereas the carnivore food plan could result in weight reduction, it’s restrictive and lacks important vitamins and scientific help. For the most effective long-term well being and weight outcomes, stick to a balanced food plan wealthy in plant-based meals.
Learn how to Strategy “Fad Diets” of the Future (Spoiler: Don’t)
Trying again at 100 years of weight-reduction plan fads, one factor is evident—probably the most sustainable weight reduction methods don’t lower corners or depend on “miracle” options.
Quite, they promote nutrient-rich, balanced consuming mixed with train and different wholesome habits.
“We encourage striving for progress, not the idea of perfection,” says Jaeger.
So, she advises, as a substitute of attempting the newest fad or revisiting an outdated development, attempt:
- Monitoring your meals
- Constructing consciousness of your vitamin habits
- Know the place you stand along with your well being
And Jaeger concludes, “most significantly, don’t let any food plan get in the best way of actual life.”
“You’ll be able to select to get pleasure from a facet of fries when eating out with associates or have a slice of cake at a party, and skip the meals guilt,” she says.
Research present that individuals who monitor their meals usually tend to obtain their weight objectives.
MyFitnessPal empowers you with vitamin data that it’s essential succeed.
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