The fad diet I chose to investigate was the restricted carbohydrate diet called Healthy for Life. This diet is centered basically around the idea that calories don’t count. Now, the outcome of this fad diet can be “Ketosis; reduced exercise capacity due to poor glycogen stores in the muscles; excessive animal fat and cholesterol intake; constipation, headaches, halitosis (bad breath), and muscle cramps” (McGraw Hill Education).
The reason I mainly chose this diet is that I am certainly on the Keto Diet and it’s working miracles for me. The way the keto diet works is that it puts and keeps one’s body in a metabolic state called ketosis. Now, normally we as humans burn carbohydrates for energy. But when one’s on the keto diet they simply restrict the number of carbs they consume and cut out all sugars completely. This then leads to your body changing routes and beginning to break down stored fat, creating molecules called ketones. These ketones are then used as fuel for one’s body.
This fad diet I investigated called Healthy for Life is basically the same. The only real difference that I’ve seen while doing my investigation was that you get to eat more carbs than when on the Keto diet and you get to eat beans and fruits. But other than that, you get to eat what you want but with simply replacing certain things within each meal with healthy replacements. For example, eat what you need only but eat well with making sure of course that what you eat is as healthy as possible (Greens, whole wheat, etc.).
127 our experts are availableright now
If one is going to have fried rice, make cauliflower fried rice which is extremely delicious and it’s only substituting the rice for cauliflower that’s all. Even if one is going to eat something sweet, you can replace say the milk chocolate in chocolate chip cookies with dark chocolate and sugar replacement. Now, after one follows this and changes their way of eating, one then just simply uses food supplements to replace what doesn’t get into your body or is missing from this diet.
I have been struggling with my weight for about 10 years now. Ever since I was in middle school and throughout high school I have always been bullied about my weight. For 10 years I have felt helpless and super insecure about my body and myself as a person. I have to be honest, I’ve never shared this story of mine or how I felt about this personal topic with anyone before so bear with me. I came to a point where I honestly couldn’t come to look at myself in the mirror without crying out of anger over how I looked.
Now, keep in mind that I did try to lose weight. I tried so many diets and on top of that I worked out like crazy in-home and at the Idaho Athletic Club (Which is now Crunch Fitness). I did my research on diets and tried so many things like the all-juice diet, I tried fat burning pills along with cleansing supplements, I tried fasting, I tried sports, I tried everything I could. But it always seemed as if something always came up and I was never happy with how I really looked; I was truly never satisfied.
My insecurity went as far as me locking myself in my house and not going out so that people wouldn’t look at me and judge me for the way I looked. My friends would text and call me and tell me to pick them up and go to a party with them or the football games, and I would just make some lie up about why I couldn’t. Sadly, this got so bad that I fell into depression and I even had suicidal thoughts throughout high school from being bullied.
I honestly believe that no matter what diet one chooses to pursue and go with, that one needs to accept who they are on inside and out beforehand. I think that accepting yourself as a human being is the start of it all; Because it was for me. I accepted who I was and that I needed to change because of my health, obesity, high blood pressure, etc. The moment I did this and accepted myself things truly started to change and still are. I started to surround myself with family and friends that were good for me.
I ended up meeting this stunning and gorgeous woman who I’ve been married to for a year now as of today November 3, 2018. We are expecting a beautiful baby girl and life couldn’t be better. But because of our daughter, I decided to change my whole life around. I decided to do my research and I found the Keto Diet. This diet has helped me now lose 28 pounds in the time limit of almost but not quite two months.
“Healthy for Life is a family-owned company and was founded in 1998 by Brian Shattuck. He had experienced weight gain and loss of energy and became concerned about his health. He began doing some research and was troubled when he discovered that things the body needs to thrive are opposite of what was commonly being recommended in the medical community. Upon further study and verification, Brian decided to do something about it. He began Healthy for Life to spread the word about a few simple steps he discovered people can take to make a big impact on their health.
In 2005 Healthy for Life began manufacturing products to make getting key nutrients more convenient for its customers. Food supplements are an important role in getting the nutrients your body needs to thrive. There are thousands of supplements on the market, so how do you know what you need? Healthy for Life is so popular because we weeded out all the non-essential products and combined the essential ones into just a few convenient products! Most of the supplements out there are really not necessary for most people. There are only a few essential nutrients missing in foods and providing them is our specialty” (Healthy for Life, Brian Shattuck).
The Healthy for Life diet has both a lot of negatives and positives surrounding it. One claim about this diet is that despite how fantastic the company of this diet makes the company itself look, the Healthy for Life plan for weight-loss consists of nothing more than Atkins and amphetamines. The negatives basically go into how the company doesn’t really care about really losing weight. Some claim that the company offers liposuction that isn’t supported by legitimate scientific research other than that fact that it just works.
Others say that this diet and what it’s about is mostly only to maintain a steady weight, highlighting that they only care about profit in the long run. Now, according to what’s on their website they guarantee that this diet will help “maximize your immune system, help you have more energy, have less sickness, save money on health care, and replenish your nutrition so that you’ll feel better and won’t have to worry about your health” (Healthy for Life, Brian Shattuck). This diet company wants one to basically eat whole and healthy foods but with eating what you want and then supplementing what’s missing (nutrients) with the supplements they sell. To me, this diet really seems to make sense only if one is seeing it from the point of just trying to eat healthily.
This company seems to focus on eating right and getting the true stuff one needs rather than cutting things out to transition your body into dropping weight. Their meal plans have foods consisting anywhere from avocado whole wheat toast, whole wheat pizza, coconut flour breakfast biscuits, dark chocolate chip cookies, and even black bean brownies. This diet really has the whole package including great recipes to eat healthily and replace those unnecessary ingredients in foods that harm our health.
The health for life diet plan states that one must follow the three steps of first eating correctly which is (according to them), 60% protein/veggies, 25% fruit/cheese and nuts, and 15% grains/dairy. On top of this one needs to buy their products/supplements to fill the missing things that their meals and program don’t fill. It’s understandable because no diet covers all the factors and fills all the missing gaps. Even the keto diet I’m on recommends certain supplements. To me, no diet is or ever will be perfect therefor supplements aren’t a negative in my eyes at all.
So, the second step is to, therefore, buy the supplements of Omega 6 & 3, Minerals, and finally the cleansing supplement that takes out all unwanted toxicants. The third step is to simply just stay active in any way possible. Basically, doing what one needs to be doing and taking walks, hikes, jogs, lifting weights, doing yoga, etc. I sincerely believe from the information I found that this diet is focused on living healthier, rather than losing weight. If this diet is focused on losing weight, then it needs to (I believe) be cutting out more carbs and sugars if possible.
Now as good as this diet is on helping one transition into a healthier form of living, there is a big negative surrounding this fad diet that is really hard to ignore. According to the ten red flags from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, this diet has several red flags. To be exact, this diet actually has six red flags out of ten. Now, I’m not going to talk about all of them separately one by one. The reason for this is mainly because this essay would take a whole different topic all on its own talking about all the red flags. But I am going to mention most of them all in one so, let’s dive in.
The red flags that caught my attention the most are that this diet seems to be too good to be true, all the recommendations are based on studies published without peer review, and that they recommend things that promise a quick fix. Now, all the reviews and testimonials that are surrounding this diet are mostly all positive with only a very scarce amount that is negative. Also, not to mention that all the reviews are mostly on Facebook, Yelp, or they’re only on the website for the diet itself. This diet has not one single review from a major corporation or firms like the New York press or even a local press.
All the reviews sincerely to me seem like they are written to help sell the diet and its supplements. I mean, to be completely honest this diet was founded in 1998 and it hasn’t been professionally reviewed. So, what does this tell me? That something has to be off somewhere here if this diet hasn’t blown up and has become well or famously known as weight watchers which is huge today.
This brings me to my next problem which is that this fad diet has absolutely no peer-reviewed journals or magazines about it. Therefore, I had no other choice but to refer to a similar diet in order to see if this diet was even worth it in general. I had to research another diet to even be able to argue, agree, disagree, or to even compare it to a healthy lifestyle. The diet I chose to research in comparison to the healthy for life diet was The Daniel Plan diet. “The Daniel Plan is a healthy lifestyle program framed around abundance, not deprivation. You will enjoy eating delicious whole foods; food grown on a plant, not man-made products created in a plant” (Warren, R. 2013).
The Daniel Plan is absolutely on the point with what it’s about, what it offers, and the research behind it. This fad diet has some of the best doctors and contributors in the world that have helped put this diet plan together. Some of the main doctors and contributors are Dr. Mehmet Oz, Dr. Daniel Amen, and Dr. Mark Hyman. The Daniel plan is much like the Healthy for Life diet, but it ties the Christian faith and the benefit of the community to the never-ending struggle to lose weight.
The Daniel plan puts together the much important and needed information on not only diet and exercise but also brain health. The Daniel plan doesn’t do or introduce anything new to the dieting world. The creator and contributors to this diet plan use the understanding that everybody knows what it takes to lose weight. This refers to of course eating less eating better and being more active. It grabs this understanding and what’s already in excitants and makes it a proven working plan.
The Daniel plan is reviewed and rated by many high-end businesses, firms, and corporations. TIME magazine called it a “sweeping program of smart eating (and yes, lean meats are included)” (TIME Magazine, 2012), then going on to describing and talking about what it includes, “workout classes, small-group support meetings, walk and worship sessions and more, much of it made available both in person and online’ (TIME Magazine, 2012). The Christian book gave it a 4.2 out of 10 and awarding it the Christian book of the year for 2015, saying that, “The Daniel Plan teaches simple ways to incorporate healthy choices into a reader’s current lifestyle and helps them understand the kind of foods God created to keep them fit and strong” (Christian book).
Also, although blogger, author, and book reviewer Tim Challies didn’t seem so fond of this diet or its readings, he still had this to say, “Those critiques aside, The Daniel Plan has every appearance of a program that delivers what it promises, and especially so in the area of physical health. I agree completely when Warren expresses that too few people are faithfully guarding their health and shaping their bodies in order to live in a healthy way, and I appreciate that he makes this a matter of sanctification” (Tim Challies, 2013).
The Daniel plan diet (just like any real diet plan that works) is super time consuming, super difficult, and strict to follow. Yet, just like any diet that works, it pays off in losing weight. On the consumers compare website, Dr. Rachel Floyd said, “Don’t buy this book and expect an easy weight loss plan. This plan is difficult to stick to… very restricting. You have to have the mindset from the start that you are going to do this, and you are going to make the changes they say to make in your lifestyle and eating habits.
It is a serious commitment. I lost a lot of weight when following this way of eating, but I did gain it all back again because I gave up on the restrictions.’ She also went onto say, if you are serious and want to change your habits the book will give you the guidance you need for success. If you are on the fence then you will have a hard time sticking to the plan, and it will not be user-friendly for you” (consumers compare).
In conclusion, there hasn’t really been anything wrong with the Daniel Plan that would cause someone to not try it or call it a scam. In the matter of fact, a lot of people on various websites and journals have said to have loved it. Now, of course, theirs those few that have said to hate it but from reading those bad reviews they are mostly about complaining how the diet plan is super strict. Other then those few bad reviews there hasn’t been any complaints about any danger or harm that has come from this diet plan.
As far as the Healthy for life diet goes, I don’t honestly see or think much of it. It’s a simple diet that is super similar to the Daniel Plan diet but that lacks a lot of research. The truth is that both have real potential to be bigger than they are already. I believe that the only reason that the Daniel Plan blew up so fast and got that much more attention than the Healthy for Life diet is because of the well-known people that contributed to this plan. I mean come on, the Daniel Plan is founded by an already successful and known author Rick Warren and pastor.
On top of it all, it has people like Dr. Oz who can basically popularize any company just by saying its name. The healthy for life plan really has nothing compared to the Daniel plan in the long run. Both diets are obviously going to have both good and bad reviews. But both do align with Healthy People 2020 goals, MyPyramid goals, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and recommendations from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Now, one must keep in mind that no diet is going to be right on, but these two are as close as they can get.
What the diet plans themselves don’t provide, they recommend supplements to help. The only real negative to both is that the recipes are a little on the expensive side of things, which of course can be a straight shutoff for the people that are on a budget. Overall though, one needs to keep in that everybody’s body is shaped differently and works at different speeds. These two diets may not work for you, but maybe another that has super bad views will. As long as it benefits you in a healthy and safe way, then go for it and do you.
References
- McGraw-Hill Education, 2 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121. Copyright 2019 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Previous editions 2016, 2013, and 2009. https://player.mheducation.com/#/epub/sn_23d5#epubcfi(%2F6%2F6%5Bdata-uuid-014bb7eba043209e95976a6b8679a2ff%5D!%2F4%2F1:0)
- Healthy for Life. Brian Shattuck. 1998-2018. 3350 100th St. Urbandale, IA 50322. https://healthyforlifeusa.com/pages/about
- Warren, R. (2013). The Daniel plan: 40 days to a healthier life. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. http://www.danielplan.com/
- Christian Books. Christian Books Bibles Gifts Movies Music and More. November 05, 2018. https://www.christianbook.com/?kw=47259373575&mt=b&dv=c&event=PPCSRC&p=1186432&gclid=Cj0KCQiA8f_eBRDcARIsAEKwRGdTbtxqBlX3eVvzPhTqBUYWXnIz_D3dcR286CrTR_kpuWIhRRudgK4aAvtaEALw_wcB
- TIME: Does God Want You To Be Thin? Jeffrey Kluger. Lake Forest. Elizabeth Dias. Lake Forest June 11, 2012. http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2116130,00.html
- Tim Challies. The Daniel Plan. December 03, 2013
- ConsumersCompare.org. The Daniel Diet Review. November 06, 2018. https://consumerscompare.org/the-daniel-diet-review/
