Why are fad diets appealing to a lot of people?

Answer 1

Probably the greatest appeal of some fad diets is that they tend to ignore current diet recommendations. Foods such as meats and milk products that need to be selected carefully to limit saturated fat can now be eaten with abandon. Whole grains, legumes, vegetables, and fruits that should be eaten in abundance can now be bypassed. For some people, this is a dream come true: steaks without the potatoes, ribs without the coleslaw, and meatballs without the pasta. Who can resist the promise of weight loss while eating freely from a list of favorite foods? Dieters are also lured into fad diets by sophisticated—yet often erroneous—explanations of the metabolic consequences of eating certain foods. Terms such as eicosanoids or adipokines are scattered about, often intimidating readers into believing that the authors must be right given their brilliance in understanding the body. With over half of our nation's adults overweight and many more concerned about their weight, weight-loss books and products are a $33 billion-a-year business. Even a plan that offers only minimal weight-loss success easily attracts a following.