It seems as though one cannot look anywhere without seeing or hearing about a new fad diet; whether it’s watching TV or flipping through a magazine, fad diets are constantly trying to convince people their diet is the most effective.  So, which diet should people eat?  This paper will explore different fad diets that are popular, today, and then conclude which diet, or diets, would be the best to consume for the general population.  Furthermore, the best diet would be a diet with the most health benefits and least amount of health risk factors, and that will benefit numerous dimensions of health, like social, physical, and mental health.  In order to assess the diets I will be looking at their benefits on a person’s health, if it caused weight-loss, how people’s emotions reacted to the diet, and other factors that influence a person’s life, both positively and negatively, like the cost of a diet.  A combination of the Paleolithic and Mediterranean diets seems to be the most beneficial and healthful diet to consume for the majority of people.

          What is a fad diet?  We hear the term “fad diet” all the time, but what characteristics make a diet a “fad”?  The one quality that all fad diets have is the promotion of weight loss; this is the one characteristic that they all have in common.  But fad diets may call their diet the “cure all” to all health problems.  Recommendations and requirements of supplements are common among fad diets, as well as specifying what should be eaten at certain times in the day, and limiting or avoiding certain foods.  All fad diets are usually short term, which entices people to engage in them, since they know it will not last long (Stein, 2000, p. 760).  However, people need to be aware of what these fad diets are actually doing to their body.

          The most common fad diet is the low-carbohydrate diet (Stein, 2000, p. 760), which includes the following: the Atkins Diet, the Zone Diet, and the South Beach Diet.  They are so common because people feel fuller and more satisfied than low-fat diets.  People feel morefull due to the food being more energy dense on a low-carbohydrate diet.  Moreover, people think they are eating better and more food because they feel full (Stein, 2000, p. 760).  Not only are people feeling satisfied, but also they’re losing weight, or so they think.  People tend to lose a lot of weight when they first go on a low-carbohydrate diet due to the depletion of glycogen storage in their body.  This causes excretion of glycogen-bound water; in other words people lose water-weight as a result of the ketogenic state that is appetite suppressing (Cullinen, 2005, p. 63-64).  So, initially people think they are trimming fat off their body when they start eating a low-carbohydrate diet, yet they are losing weight in fluids, not fat.

          The low-carbohydrate diet is good for people with diabetes because it improves glycemic control.  For example, for people with type-2 diabetes, this diet lowers the percent of carbohydrates in the body, which allows people to better regulate their blood glucose levels.  However, people with type-2 diabetes are not the only population that the low-carb diet can help; additionally, it is often used to treat pediatric epilepsy.  This diet causes ketosis, which has anticonvulsive effects and treats the seizures linked to epilepsy (Frigolet et al., 2011, p. 322).  A low-carb diet can help improve the lives of people with type-2 diabetes and those who have epilepsy.

          A low-carbohydrate diet has both positive and negative effects.  Most of the positive effects are seen when the diet is consumed in a short period of time.  The biggest effect it has on people is weight loss, along with a reduction in body mass index (BMI), blood glucose, triglycerides, and LDL cholesterol (Frigolet et al., 2011, p. 322).  This diet also protects against type-2 diabetes, obesity, colon and breast cancer because it favorably changes serum triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein (HCL), which is the good cholesterol in the body (Cullien, 2005, p. 64).  These may seem like very specific benefits, but there are some general effects of being on a low-carb diet; furthermore, it benefits the metabolism of healthy, obese, and diabetic people (Frigolet et al., 2011, p. 326).  This may seem like a beneficial diet looking at all of the positive effects from it, but there are also many negative effects that accompany this diet.

          There are many negative effects of consuming a low carb diet, specifically when the diet is consumed for a long period of time.  When people eat a very low-carb diet (VLChD), they do not consume enough calcium and fiber; consequently, they are constipated and have problems with their bones.  The VLChD can also negatively effect people’s psychological state.  A low carbohydrate diet is associated with the following: high levels of anger, anxiety, stress, fatigue, depression, less vigor and imagination, and many other mood disturbances.  Low carbohydrate diets frequently results in deficiencies in vitamin C, iron, and other micronutrients found in things such as cereal, which is restricted to a very small amount on this type of diet (Frigolet et al., 2011, p. 327).  A well-known low-carb diet called, “the Atkins diet” can show how limited people are in consuming carbohydrates; furthermore, in the first phase of the Atkins diet, a person is allowed to consume a maximum of 20 grams of net-carbohydrates[1] per day (Dolson, 2008).  This amount of carbs is measly when compared to the daily-recommended amount of carbs for the majority of people, which is between 225 and 325 grams of carbohydrates per day (Mayo clinic staff, 2001, p. 2).  Because people are so limited in their carbohydrate consumption, they are becoming deficient in micronutrients found in fortified carbohydrates, like cereal.  This is why people cannot just focus on the weight loss and specific disease related benefits of a diet because there are numerous consequences that also accompany it.

          Overall, the low-carbohydrate diets are mostly used on obese patients or patients with diabetes, and implemented for a short period of time.  Those patients on this diet should also consume multivitamins due to the low amounts of fruits they are eating, since fruits can be high in carbohydrates.  Dieticians also claim that a VLChD should never be consumed because that entails a person consuming as little as 20-50 grams of carbs per day; furthermore, referring to ancient times, our bodies were not made to consume such low amount of carbs each day.  Therefore, the Atkins diet should never be used since it is a VLChD (Frigolet et al., 2011, p. 330), which is an extremely low and detrimental amount of carbohydrates consumed during a day.

          Low-carb diets are more common than low-fat diets because people are able to consume more calories on it, and feel more satisfied after they eat.  Because people feel so dissatisfied when consuming a low-fat diet, (since they are only eating about 1,000 kcals per day (Stein, 2000, 760)), they are less likely to correctly follow through with the diet.  The Womens’ Health Initiative conducted one of the longest and largest studies on low-fat diets.  About 10,500 postmenopausal women participated in their study for about eight-and-a-half years.  Over this time period participants regularly met with a dietician and expressed their feelings that resulted from this diet.  Poor mental health was largely associated with these participants, which made them not follow procedures that the health professional recommended because they became depressed, anxious, and lost emotional and behavioral control (Tinker et al., 2002, p. 792).  In other words, a person is not likely to adhere to a program that has adverse effects on their health.  As a result, the study found that a low-fat diet is not for everyone, especially for those who are just starting out trying to lose weight if they are overweight.  Trying a low-fat diet can deter people from eating a healthier diet since they feel dissatisfied and may have negative effects in their moods.

          Despite the prior researchers’ conclusions, there are some benefits for low-fat diets.  The low-fat diet is for people who have successfully lost weight and are trying to maintain that weight loss.  Long-term weight loss is a struggle for many Americans; additionally, people usually gain about a third of the weight that they lost in the first year of coming off a diet, and people typically return to their “baseline weight” within five years (Schick et al., 1998, p. 408).  A study conducted by the American Dietetic Association concluded that participants kept the weight that they had previously lost off with a low-fat diet.  Participants consumed high amounts of nutrients like: calcium, Vitamin A/C/E because they ate a number of fruits and vegetables, (contrary to a low-carb diet), which helped keep the nutrients in their body at a healthy level (Schick et al., 1998, p. 412).  In conclusion, a low-fat diet is successful with people who are looking to maintain weight loss, but it is not preferable for people who are just trying to lose weight, since it can have negative psychological side effects on a person who is not used to consuming a low amount of fat and calories.

          People who feel restricted on a low-fat diet, should consider the grapefruit diet.  This diet has been associated with beneficial health factors without sacrificing that full feeling, which people were missing on a low-fat diet.  This was shown in a study where 85 participants “preloaded” on grapefruit, grapefruit juice and water before they ate.  Participants were split up into three different groups and all “preloaded” before a meal on 3 different things.  Group one consumed ½ a grapefruit, the second was given grapefruit juice, and the last group, which was considered the control group, was given water; furthermore, equal amounts of each substance were consumed, which was about 127 grams.  Grapefruit and grapefruit juice was thought to be effective because it has a high water content.  Researchers hypothesized that high water content in grapefruits and grapefruit products would result in weight loss because participants would feel fuller before eating a meal  (Silver et al., 2011, p. 2).  Due to the high water content of the fruit, people’s stomachs are somewhat filled before they even eat a meal, which can help cut back the amount of food they eat in one sitting.  Some may argue that any of these “preloaders” would provide a person to feel fuller before they eat a meal because they contain high amounts of water, but not all of the preloading substances have additional benefits like the grapefruit or grapefruit juice, which is explained below.

          Participants in the study showed a decrease in weight by 13.3% having consumed one of the three substances before a meal, which lowered not only their body weight, but also their BMI (Silver et al., 2011, p. 2-8).  All “preloading” items produced this change in weight, but it was more beneficial when a participant consumed half a grapefruit or grapefruit juice because they provide antioxidants from the Vitamin C and flavonoids, which increased good HDL cholesterol in people (Silver et al., 2011, p. 8).  An increase in HDL helps keep the damaging LDL cholesterol down; furthermore, the high-density lipoproteins (HDL) act as scavengers in the body, gather excess cholesterol in the blood, and transport it to the liver.  Once the extraneous cholesterol enters the liver, the liver breaks it down and eliminates the detrimental cholesterol (Mayo clinic staff, 2012, p. 1), which prevents plaque buildup within the arteries.  Plaque buildup can lead to a heart attack and heart disease (Mayo clinic staff, 2012, p. 1); therefore, reducing plaque buildup can be beneficial to all.  This is why preloading on ½ a grapefruit or grapefruit juice can provide additional benefits that water cannot because it increases the amount of HDL cholesterol in one’s body.

          Even though participants in this study were not limited in the amount of food they could eat, they automatically ate less because they felt fuller due to “preloading.”  Therefore, weight loss can be achieved when consuming low energy dense food before meals, without inducing hunger or dissatisfaction that accompany other restrictive diets, like the low-fat diet.  However, preloading with grapefruit and grapefruit juice is the best substances to eat before a meal because of the additional health benefits that accompany them, and because they are low in calories, but fill a person’s stomach (Silver et al., 2011, p. 9).  So, the grapefruit diet is good for people who want to lose weight, but do not want to feel like they are limited in what they can eat; furthermore, they may actually feel more full since they will be eating before every meal without consuming many extra calories.

          Another diet that also does not focus on counting calories is the Mediterranean diet.  This diet mirrors food patterns from the 1960’s taken from Crete, Greece and Southern Italy.  In this time period, people in these regions ate an abundance of plant food (vegetables, fruits, nuts, etc.), a small amount of seasonably fresh and locally grown foods (Willet et al., 1995), fish, low-fat dairy and mono-saturated fat, like olive oil (Piscopo, 2009, p. 1648).  In other words, it has a high fruit, vegetable, fish, and dietary fiber content (Muñoz et al., 2009, p. 182).  As one can imagine, the diet provides a person with numerous micronutrients, like vitamins and minerals, believed to promote health.  Many other health benefits come from the olive oil being the primary fat, since it is a source of Vitamin E, which increases the good HDL cholesterol, helps prevent coronary heart disease (Willett, 1995), and is antithrombotic[2] (María-Isabel Covas et al., 2006, p. S24).  Olive oil is an antioxidant for the body and helps lower blood pressure (María-Isabel Covas et al., 2006, p. S24 and S26).  Even though olive oil may be allowed on other diets, the Mediterranean diet emphasis the consumption of it, which produces many health benefits.

          However, the Mediterranean is not only beneficial for the physical health of one’s body, but also mental health; furthermore, it has been associated with “better self-perceived health, particularly mental health” (Muñoz, 2009, p. 1824).  In a study conducted to see if the Mediterranean diet was associated with a better self-perception quality of life and diet, 9,200 participants were given surveys in Spain after adhering to the diet.  The study resulted in improvements in both mental and physical health function in men who adhered to the Mediterranean diet (Muñoz, 2009, p 1826).  Even though the experimenters used perceived health data over biological measures, “self-related health status has been shown to be a powerful predictor of mortality at long term” (Muñoz, 2009, p. 1825); in other words, even though specific data was not collected, this other form of data proved very reliable results in predicting the longevity of people’s lives. 

          An additional study was conducted with various populations to see how others would respond to the Mediterranean diet.  Four different studies were examined by nutritionist Suzanne Piscopo, and each study contained a different population: one population was Canadian women, another was Dutch adults in low socioeconomic areas, the third was Scottish healthy females, and the last was postmenopausal women with type-2 diabetes (Piscopo, 2009, 1651-1653).  Each study lasted 12 weeks to one year, but all showed the same results.  The results were that both healthy and at risk populations improved their health and risk factors after being on the Mediterranean diet; moreover, this diet cures a variety of health problems in different populations (Piscopo, 2009, p. 1654).   Therefore, we can conclude that the Mediterranean diet does improve a person’s health both physically and mentally, across different populations, regardless if they are healthy or diseased.

          Another factor that plays an important role in the Mediterranean diet is the Mediterranean culture, which accompanies the diet.  The Mediterranean way of eating is very different from how most Americans eat.  American is known for its fast food, meaning people scarf down what they eat, and do not enjoy the cooking or eating process.  Many Americans often eat alone when they are running around doing errands and stop for a quick bite to eat, or eat in their office while they are preoccupied doing work.  Opposing this Westernized way of eating is the Mediterranean way.  It starts off with preparing the food carefully and not rushing through the cooking process.  This ensures that when the food is eaten it will be enjoyed since all the ingredients are known, because the cooking process was done with care and precise movements, rather than quickly throwing ingredients in a pot.  After the food is prepared, the delicious meal is then shared among family and friends (Willett, 1995).  Because one is interacting with others, this will improve their social health and help reduce stress with interpersonal relationships (Taylor, 2012, p. 181).  

          Something else that accompanies a Mediterranean diet is a siesta; it often follows a Mediterranean lunch.  Siestas help promote rest and relaxation, which benefit multiple dimensions of health.  Relaxation lowers blood pressure, releases muscle tension, enhances immune system functioning, and lowers stress (Goleman, 1986); all of these benefits affect the physical, emotional, mental and social aspects of health.  For example, interpersonal relationships can be damaged when a person is stressed; furthermore, stress is also referred to as a “relationship killer” (Nadig, 2010).  A stressed person is in a state of arousal, which can cause that person to not act like him or herself because his/her normal psychological state is disrupted (Nadig, 2010).  When people are not themselves, their family and friends are aware of this, and may distance themselves from that stressed person.  This can cause a person to damage their social health by discouraging people to want to be around them.  However, reducing stress levels can ensure a person that his/her social health will not be damaged, since that person will be at a low-stress level.  Therefore, this diet does not just benefit one’s physical health, but also improves one’s emotional, mental, and social dimensions of health.

          The Mediterranean diet may deter people to adopt it because they feel it is expensive.  Produce is the most food consumed on this diet along with fish, and both can be costly.  However, when compared to a standard diet, the Mediterranean diet cost approximately 1.63% more in a year’s time (Wood, 2013), which is a small increase over a year.  Additionally, people are now buying more locally grown produce, which saves money since processed foods are more expensive (Wood, 2013).  The Mediterranean diet is more expensive, which over time, may not be manageable for people to maintain.

          However, many people have been consuming the Mediterranean diet for a long period of time.  “The Mediterranean diet consists a centuries-old tradition contribute to excellent health, provide sense of pleasure and well-being, and form a vital part of the world’s collective culture heritage” (Willett, 1995). The Mediterranean diet was taken from our ancestors and helps bring people together across different populations while benefiting their health.

          The Paleolithic diet was also taken from our ancestors long ago.  This diet refers to a time about 2 million to 10,000 years ago when humans started to cultivate their own plants and domesticate animals.  Humans were known as “hunter-gatherers” who ate plant source foods, like fruits, non-grain vegetables, and nuts, along with animal-source foods, like lean meats, internal organs, and bone marrows, but no dairy. (Frassetto et al., 2009, p. 947).  The paleo-diet is thought of as a combo-diet: high fruit and vegetable diet, high protein diet, and a high-unsaturated fat diet (Frassetto, 2009, p. 948).

          In a small research project, nine obese men were given the Paleolithic diet to test any improvements on their health.  These men were given meals that were eaten in the lab, or packaged meals they took with them to ensure they were all adhering to the diet; on this diet participants were not allowed to eat cereal grain, dairy, or legumes on this very natural, wholesome diet.  Because so many foods are processed and refined, the diet is restricted to specific types of food.  Typical food included: for breakfast one may have orange juice, fresh pineapple, and egg whites with a morning snack of either almonds or low sodium tomato soup.  For lunch, there could be stir-fried fresh zucchini, tuna salad–consisting of tuna, radish, shallots and mayo–on lettuce, and applesauce and honey.  A snack in between lunch and dinner could be turkey and mayo in a lettuce wrap, served with carrots and tomatoes in oil and vinegar.  Lastly, dinner may be chicken breast stir-fried with fresh spinach, broccoli and garlic with mandarin oranges.  Not forgetting about desert of cantaloupe and carrot juice (Frassetto, 2009, p. 951).  This is just a sample of what one may eat on a Paleolithic diet.

          In conclusion to this short-term and small sample study, the Paleolithic diet improved the men’s blood pressure and glucose tolerance, increases insulin secretion and insulin sensitivity, improves lipid profiles, and decreased their bad cholesterol; this would provide the same benefits in healthy people without losing weight, as well.  The paleo diet greatly improved potassium excretion while reducing sodium in the body, and also significantly improved the “metabolic and physiological status with respect to circulatory, carbohydrate and lipid metabolism and physiology”  (Frasseto, 2009, p. 952). 

          Although it did improve the men’s health, it did not make them lose weight, which they could have benefitted from since they were obese.  But, one cannot forget all the benefits that accompany the Paleolithic diet in this study.  This “participants improved over a wide range of things: lipid profiles, insulin secretions, BP and vascular reactivity, all without losing weight, increasing activity levels, or taking any medication” (Frassetto, 2009, p. 953), which is a lot of improvements for just changing diet, and no other health behaviors.

There are many more benefits that accompany the Paleolithic diet.  Despite the lack of dairy consumption when eating this way, people who eat a Paleo diet tend to have more calcium than the average diet of Americans and Europeans because wild plant foods contain a vast amount of calcium.  Since protein is a big part of the food consumed on this diet, it has the potential to lower calcium levels in the body, but due to potassium intake, it produces an alkalizing effect, which opposes the protein’s detrimental effects and determines the renal acid excretion.  In other words, people still consume enough calcium without eating any dairy.  So, for people who are concerned about not receiving enough calcium on a paleo-diet, have no fear since one will be consuming plenty amounts of calcium via fruits and vegetables.

          Paleolithic diets have many benefits, but this way of eating is rarely used today.  Due to the hundreds of revolutions, like the fast-food revolution, industry revolution, etc., Americans have moved away from how our ancestors ate and have marginalized fruits and vegetables, which are the bases of Paleolithic-type diets (Frassetto, 2009, p. 948); fruits and vegetables have more cancer-preventative potential then many other foods, like cereals which have replaced these staple foods (Eaton & Eaton, 2000, 68).  There is a big difference between our diet today compared to a Paleolithic diet, and it shows in our health.  Today, there are many diseases like hypertension, metabolic syndrome, type-2 diabetes, and cancers, which did not exist when people ate simpler foods (Frassetto, 2009, p. 948); the replacement of fruits and vegetables with cereals have made us more susceptible to neoplastic diseases listed above (Eaton & Eaton, 2009, p. 68-69).  This is why more people should eat the way our ancestors did, for they did not have as many health issues as people do today. Overall, the Paleolithic diet is very beneficial for all populations, even those who do not need to lose weight. 

          Although the Paleolithic diet can benefit all people, there are some downfalls to this way of eating.  Today there are so many processed foods, that finding foods that are “paleo-friendly” may be very difficult.  Finding foods that are unprocessed may be extremely difficult to find if there are only commercial food stores[3] available to a person on this diet, and a person may become very stressed.  The stress may accompany all of the time that the person spends searching for foods that are acceptable on this diet; moreover, at commercial food stores, the only foods that are “paleo-friendly” are basically produce and meat.  The Paleolithic diet may be seen as incompatible with the current lifestyle and society people live in, and is also more expensive.  Produce and meat are the main sources of food on this diet, and those products are the priciest in grocery stores (Hiatt, 2013).  In conclusion, the Paleolithic diet has many health benefits, but can be stressful and costly.

          Reviewing all of the diets examined in this paper, the best diet to have is the Paleolithic diet mixed with aspects from the Mediterranean diet.  I say this, because if people want to improve their health, but not necessarily lose weight, they should adhere to the paleo diet.  This diet enriches one with a vast amount of vitamins and minerals, which so many of us lack today due to eating refined and processed foods.  Long ago, there were far less diseases and illnesses, which can be contributed to how our ancestors ate in this primordial period–a Paleolithic diet, since that was all the food they could get their hands on and survive off of.  Our bodies were made to eat natural, wholesome foods, not chemicals and manmade foods that fill many grocery stores and supermarkets.  Therefore, the Paleolithic diet, which eliminates processed foods, tend to have higher ratings of all aspects of health due to there not being as many chemicals and man-made products going into one’s body.

          Mixed with the Paleo-diet should be aspects of the Mediterranean diet, for this diet does not just focus on one dimension of health, but it improves many aspects of our health.  The Mediterranean diet helps relax and rejuvenate people starting with the slow cooking process, transcending into the leisurely eating process shared among family and friends.  Eating with others allows one to improve his or her social health, and reduce stress hormones from being released since they are taking time out of their day to engage in social interactions, rather than quickly eating alone, which many people are guilty of due to their hectic schedules.  The Mediterranean diets include many healthy mono-saturated fats, like avocado, nuts, olives, and olive oils, which have been shown to increase a person’s health.  In conclusion, a low saturated fat, high mono-saturated fat, low meat consumption diet–the Mediterranean diet, is associated with longevity due to an overall increase in a person’s health. 

          The combination of these diets is the most healthful, but the cost of them can be pricey.  However, if people buy produce from local venders, they can save a vast amount of money rather than buying the food processed from grocery stores (Wood, 2013), like previously discussed.  Coupons can also help save money.  Moreover, people can save up to 50-60% a week on their groceries when using coupons (Greene, 2012).  Furthermore, the Mediterranean and Paleolithic diets have the ability to be expensive, but it is possible to be on these diets without spending an exorbitant amount of money on food.

          Finally, the combination of the Paleolithic and Mediterranean diets are the least restrictive diets, yet have so many benefits that accompany them.  These diets are not targeted for a specific population, like the low-fat or low-carbohydrate diets, which is why I recommend everybody to eat this way.

[1] Net carbohydrates are the amount of carbohydrates in food that the body is able to use for energy.

[2] The definition of antithrombotic is preventing thrombi–blood clots (Saunders, 2003).

[3] Some examples of commercial food stores being: ShopRite, Acme, Super Fresh, and Stop and Shop, which have very few Paleolithic diet products.