Diets have come and gone, it even goes as far back to the Greeks and Roman times. Today, the Paleo diet, intermittent fasting, juice diets, “If It Fits Your Macros” (IIFYM), and so on are discussed (more like argued) which is the most effective diet. As I did my research, it was interesting to see how some of our current diets and thoughts have been shaped from the past and to see how some things just don’t change.
The Evolution of Diets
20’s Lucky Strike Cigarettes campaigned for “Reach for a lucky instead of a sweet” trying to capitalize on nicotine’s appetite suppressant
30’s (80)’s the grape fruit diet – was known as the “Hollwood Diet”. Focused on a low calorie diet (1200 or less) and eating a half a grapefruit with each meal.
50’s Cabbage soup diet promised you can lose 10-15lbs a week by heating a heavy consumption of a low calorie cabbage soup. I believe this diet would only be used for 7 days.
50’s “Tapeworm Diet- I believe was used in the 1900s but seemingly was brough by to popularity by a Hollywood actress who allegedly dropped 65lbs from a “Tapeworm Pill”. From my understanding the person would take a pill and once they lose their desired weight they’d go on anti-parasitic pills.
60’s Weight-Watchers was founded.
70’s “Sleeping Beauty Diet”- Apparently made popular by Elvis Presley. This diet placed the person under sedation for several days to burn up your stored calroies.
75 Cookie diet- The “Hollywood Cookie Diet” is focused on eating four cookies a day replacing your regular meals. This diet is based on calorie restrictions and I believe was also filled with amino acids too.
80’s slim fast diet- drink this for breaks, lunch, and then eat a sensible dinner.
80’s Dexatrim – It seems like this may have been one of the kick start of “fat burning” supplements.
80’s Harvey and Marilyn Diamond publish “Fit for Life” diet- focused on food timing and eating whole food diets.
80’s Elizabeth Taylor says to eat veggies and dip each day at 3pm
88 Oprah loses 67lbs pushing the “liquid diet”
90’s Americans go low fat- even Mcdonalds pushed this with the “McLean Deluxe” burger. Anyone remember that???
90’s Dr. Atikin comes out with his high protein, low carb plan
95 Zone Diet- calls for specific ratio of carbs, fat, and protein at each meal.
2000 South Beach Diet, Arthur Agatston adds fuel to the low carb craze. The zone diet is seen as a “moderate approach to the Atkins diet”.
Late 2000 Paleo diet- modern nutritional diet designed to “emulate” a diet from the Paleolithic area.
Thoughts on the Evolution of Fad Diets
To me the most interesting aspect of this is that no matter the era, marketing is still geared toward fast and quick results with promising incredible weight-loss results with minimal to no work. The issue with these types of diets are that the results are only short lived. Take for instance the ever popular juice diet, you lose weight but it’s only water weight and you throughout this time you’re not taught how focus your diet on eating healthy foods. The juice diet only fixes the issue on a short term basis, hence Oprah was not able to sustain her incredible weight loss.
In my experience as a personal trainer in New York City, it’s all about figuring out what YOU can handle and what fits with your lifestyle. Once we figure out those parameters we’ll then have to discuss building habits to sustain this type of diet. For most people working in NYC, having a “Fit For Your Life” type of diet, where you’re restricted to eating specific types of food at certain times of the day, may become an issue. Other diets that have a wider parameter like Paleo or Mediterranean diet will probably fit their lifestyle easiest. With that said, going 100% into a specific diet maybe taking on too many tasks all at once, this is why developing ONE habit at time will prove to be an easier feat to take on.
While this method MAY take a bit longer to lose weight, it’ll prove to be the most effective in the long run. For our Fusion Training clients, we like to look at the long run and NOT the short term effects. As we’ve seen in the evolution of dieting, most of the diets were focused on quick fast results but as we all know these don’t last. Instead, why look at the short term which will prove to be a waste of your time and focus on the long term which will have LASTING results.
In the end, the one thing that has never changed is choosing fruit, vegetables, lean meats, and eating fats (from a natural source) has been the most effective. How you choose your diet within those structures are solely up to you. While I don’t typically like to use people as examples, I believe Jack LaLanne is an extraordinary icon for fitness and dieting, he was BEYOND his time. Jacks diet consisted mostly of fruits, vegetables, eggs, and fatty fish, no marketing, no pills, no juicing, no sedation, etc… nothing crazy but it did the job. 🙂
Diet smart,
Team Fusion Trained
About the Author
Always good to keep in mind the “fad” aspect of fad diets– the straight truth is that proper diet and exercise is something that requires sincere dedication, and not some life hack revolving around replacing meals with weird, temporary substitutes. Thanks for sharing!