Pop Culture Diets

We all follow our favourite celebrities, Youtubers and Instagram models on social media, so we are always reading about their newest diet trend or detox ad. It is so important to remember that what we see on social media might not be real life, and celebs might not know what is best for our health.

We will explain what science has to say about some of these fads:

Juicing

One of the biggest trends of 2019 has been celery juice. From Youtubers like Trisha Paytas all the way up to celebs like Kim Kardashian, people have been posting about their green juices all over Instagram.

Let’s break down juicing or juice cleanses:

Verdict: Avoid. While increasing fruits and vegetables in the diet is important, stripping the fibre from fruits and veggies keeps you from feeling full. Also, without a healthy variety of foods by eliminating whole food groups, these juice cleanses can negatively affect our health.

Tea-toxing

Seems like a miracle in a cup, right? Unfortunately not. What Kylie won’t be telling you is these detox teas are usually loaded with laxatives and diuretics, so the results you see probably won’t stick around, plus you might not feel so good doing it. Lucky for us, our bodies are made to do the detoxing for us!

Verdict: Avoid. We can increase our whole fruit and veg intake without drinking teas that might make us feel bad! Learning to include whole foods in our everyday eating and letting our bodies do their natural detoxing will be better for us than any “detox” diet will be.

Intermittent Fasting

Oh boy. Who wants to be hungry all day? Apparently, Terry Crews, J-Lo, Beyonce, Hugh Jackman, and many more fall into this category. But why? This diet is similar to a reduced-calorie diet, except you eat significantly fewer calories every other day or for a few days per week, instead of moderating unhealthy foods and making healthier choices every day. It may seem more appealing, but learning a few healthy eating behaviours for everyday has proved to be more effective long term!

Verdict: Avoid. The key difference between making small healthy changes every day and intermittent fasting is the focus on the quality of our foods vs. the number of foods. Fasting focuses on eating less food, instead of simply eating better foods, which can lead to an unhealthy relationship, or even obsession, with food.

Keto

There are so many different versions of this diet, it’s hard to keep track. Everyone has jumped on this bandwagon from Rihanna and Halle Berry to LeBron James, the list goes on and on. The keto diet is a diet that encourages the body to go into something called “ketosis” by avoiding carbs and eating fat. Long story short: ketosis is a process in which the body breaks down fat and uses the pieces called ketone bodies as fuel, instead of sugars. Here is a quick video explanation.

We want to maintain a healthy relationship with food, not avoid it! Info about this diet can be confusing so here are some key points to know:

Verdict: Avoid. Instead of sending our body into ketosis, we can have a much easier time changing some of our eating habits, little by little, to include healthier options. Making small changes can prove to be less expensive, less restrictive, and more effective than avoiding food groups altogether. Not to mention, all that fat isn’t good for our hearts!

If you want more info on a different diet, check out our Healthy Kids page on myth-busting diets!