Diet Trends: The Year in Brief

USA Today chewed over the last year in the world of diets. Here are some highlights according to Diet-Blog:

Atkins

Atkins became phenomenally popular, but just as quickly, low-carb went out of fashion. The media (and even the diet book market) was quick to turn against all things low-carb - which was quite unnecessary. Restricting carbohydrate intake will always be a valid weight loss regime for certain people - but hopefully those who embark on a low-carb diet will be better informed next time round.

In March, Atkins Nutritionals bowed out of Britain, then in August - Atkins US filed for bankruptcy. Over-processed low-carb foods are not the way to go, and Atkins Nutritional's was taking the diet in a direction that was unnecessar. The carbohydrate debate will continue for many years yet.

USDA Food Pyramid

The USDA released its new food guidelines - MyPyramid. It took 13 years and in all honesty I wonder if it really makes any difference. The fact that the department of agriculture is coming up with food guidelines seems to be a conflict of interest to me. There are many questionable flaws in the food pyramid, and this article digs deep into what the food guidelines are really about.

Thin French Women

Mireille Guiliano's French Women Don't Get Fat was a huge success in the US - despite the fact that 10% of French women are considered obese. The book emphasized eating for pleasure rather than an obsessive nutritional regime. The book sits on the bestseller lists to this day.

The South Beach Phenomenon

Agatston's South Beach Diet was published in 2003, so what has the last year got to do with it? No one has pointed this out - but of the 25 books in Amazon's diet bestsellers, the South Beach series occupies five positions. That is truly a phenomenon and a rich gravy train for the authors and publishers.

Brazilian Diet Pills

I made a post about the dangers of Brazilian Diet Pills - and then went on holiday. Due to extensive media coverage on the pills, the humble diet-blog.com disappeared under a ton of traffic, and within 2 days there were 280 comments on the post before I could shut off the comments. It took weeks to clean up some of the comments - it seemed that everyone had come out of the woodwork - pill-pushers, desperadoes, and people whose desire for weight loss at any cost astonished me. I was so disappointed by the health risks people were willing to take, I quickly told the anecdote about chopping off a limb.

Staples in Your Ear

The most popular most on Diet-Blog in December 2005 has been Ear Stapling for Weight Loss (yes - truly). Despite the dubious merits of such a procedure it seems that many are willing to take the risk.

What's Next?

There is never a dull moment in the world of weight loss, with obesity statistics and waistlines continuing to grow, weight loss will be on the agenda in 2006. Stay tuned for another year of diet commentary - from the eccentric to the exceptional...

Eat well and exercise - and make sure you enjoy the both of them.