Greg Gancarz
Editor
With spring break arriving next week, and summer just around the corner, many students and staff at Parkland are likely keen to shed the extra pounds accumulated from Christmas dinners and get ready for swimsuit season. One popular method is switching one’s eating habit to align with one of today’s many fad diets.
Fad diets and foods have come and gone over the years, but several stand out today as being popular. The paleo diet dictates that people maintain an intake of foods that were only available to humans during the Paleolithic or caveman era. Foods such as dairy, grains, sugar, and processed oils are typically avoided, among others.
The ketogenic diet, or keto for short, calls for high fat, normal protein, and low carbohydrates. More moderate, scientifically supported diets that have shown to be popular include those as simple as keeping carb intake low.
Regardless of the diet, student opinions on the subject are varied. For students like Alec Garcia, who have seen the effects of the low-carb diet first hand, the diet is an effective tool for weight loss.
“Our dad did a low-carb diet and ended up losing a lot of weight, but I think there is a lot more to it. I think the point of all the fad diets is just watching what you eat and being more concerned about what’s going into your body. That’s the main reason most of these work,” Garcia said. “But in terms of one versus another, I don’t think there’s a huge difference. Each one makes you think about what you’re eating.”
Tony Sanchez, who was introduced to the paleo diet after becoming involved in CrossFit, says he saw success with the diet.
“It helps you get rid of eating a lot of the processed foods and get back to the basics like meat, vegetables, fruits. I saw more in my physical activity; the ability to lift more, move faster, things like that. The energy levels definitely increased,” Sanchez said.
He says he also began to lean out after being on the diet for several months but believes the key to any diet, be it paleo or otherwise, is really more about proper portion control.
“It’s like every other diet really. You just need to see what works. It’s all dependent on the person. One person might do it, another person might find that it doesn’t work. It’s really based on what you’re looking for,” Sanchez said.
For others, the idea of fad diets brings up negative opinions.
“I think most of them are scams,” Tristen Kissack said. “I’ve taken a kinesiology class and that’s coming straight from my professor. If you want it done right, eat the right foods, get your greens, workout. You’ll lose weight and you’ll build muscle and lose fat.”
Kissack said that there certainly are ways to manipulate your body overnight to lose weight quickly, but there are no healthy quick tricks or cheats for the long term. These sentiments struck a similar chord with Heidi W.
“Diets like that seem dumb to me. I don’t think I really need to worry about those. It’s more about eating a balanced diet and portion sizes. I think they’re just fads,” she said.
For those who are just looking to lose weight extremely rapidly for the short term, like athletes before weigh-ins, or military reserve members, Israel Gomez of Student Life and a reserve member himself, says that the military diet is a viable option.
The three-day diet consists of eating extremely small meal portions in an attempt to rapidly lose weight, generally in time for physical fitness tests and weigh-ins like those required of members of the armed forces.
“It really depends what you’re looking for. I’ve used it and I know a lot of other guys who’ve used it. It’s definitely not healthy to do long term but it works if you need to lose water weight quickly,” Gomez said.
Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this article do not reflect the opinions of the Prospectus. All persons are advised to consult health professionals before drastically changing their diets.
