The top five craziest diets of 2012

January: the month of misery. Everyone's cutting out tasty foods and heading to the gym instead. That's all very well, but whatever you do, please don't attempt one of the top five craziest diets of 2012, as chosen by the British Dietetic Association (BDA).

#1: The Six Weeks to OMG Diet

Venice A Fulton, the diet’s author, says that his diet plan is followed by many an A-list celebrity. Basically, you are supposed to exercise first thing in the morning after drinking black coffee, then sit in a cold bath to encourage the body to burn stored fat as it desperately tries to keep warm. Oh, and you need to delay breakfast until 10am (which for most people would mean skipping breakfast). Fruit should be ditched, snacks are off limits and you have to pile the protein on your plate.

The BDA verdict: “OMG indeed! Six weeks of hell and isolation more like it. Seriously, who has the time, let alone the energy, to follow this diet? The ‘rules’ and competitive dieting element encourage extreme behaviour. Support from friends and family is an important part of weight loss as is taking a long term approach. And what about the other 46 weeks of the year?”

#2: Alcorexia/Drunkorexia

It’s widely thought that many top models and red carpet celebs are fans of this boozy diet. In a nutshell, it’s when you eat very few calories during the day/week and ‘save’ all the calories you don’t use for binge-drinking alcohol. If following a VLC diet (very low calorie), you’d end up with around 10,500 calories to drink during the week, which roughly equates to 45 pints of lager (90 units), or 131 glasses of red wine (131 units). Remember, the safe weekly alcohol unit intake Is 28 for men and 21 for women.

The BDA verdict: “Don’t have a few too many! Following a VLC diet alone is madness, as you will most certainly not be getting the calories, vitamins and nutrients your body needs to survive and function. To avoid food in order to ‘bank’ your calories so you can go and use them on alcohol is absolutely stupid and could easily result in alcohol poisoning and even death.” 

#3: ‘Party Girl’ IV Drop Diet

Apparently both Rihanna and Simon Cowell have given this one a go. These kinds of IV drips were originally used to treat severely malnourished and clinically ill patients. However, now people are paying hundreds of pounds to replace their food intake with a bag of solution (usually around 250ml) usually including vitamins B and C, magnesium and calcium, which is injected straight into the bloodstream. Really makes you wonder what’s wrong with the world, right?

The BDA verdict: "You must be a bit of a drip to do this. There is very little evidence that this even works in well people. It also carries possible side effects to such as dizziness, infection, inflammation of veins and, ultimately, anaphylactic shock!"  

#4 The KEN (Ketogenic Enteral Nutrition) Diet

One for top models and other celebs. Put bluntly, it involves eating absolutely nothing. Instead, for ten days per cycle a liquid formula is dripped directly into the stomach via a plastic tube that goes up the patient’s nose and is taped on to their face. At the other end of the tube is an electric pump, which works day and night to deliver two litres of the formula over 24 hours. While on the KEN, dieters can go about their lives as normal but must carry the pump and liquid in a bag or backpack and hang it by their bed at night. They are allowed to unhook themselves from the pump for one hour a day and can drink water, tea, coffee (with no milk, sugar or sweeteners) or sugar-free herb teas with the tube in. 

The BDA verdict: "You KEN not be serious!  It is shocking that dieters are electing to have naso-gastric (NG) tubes inserted in order to lose weight, when they are usually reserved for sick or chronically ill people. Not only that, but one of the side effects is having to take laxatives because this diet provides absolutely no fibre. Nice touch!"

#5: Dukan Diet

Carole Middleton, Jennifer Lopez and Gisele Bündchen have all given this a go. It’s a complicated four-phase diet that starts off with a ‘no carb/protein only’ approach to promote rapid weight loss. 

The BDA verdict: “There is little solid science behind this. The diet works on restricting foods, calories and portion control. Cutting out food groups is not advisable. This diet is so confusing, time consuming, very rigid and, in our opinion, so very hard to sustain. Even ex Dr (as of 2012) Dukan himself warns of the associated problems like lack of energy, constipation and bad breath.” 

Speaking about all five diets, consultant dietician and spokesperson for the BDA Sian Porter said: “There is no wonder diet you can follow without some associated nutritional or health risk, and most are offering a short-term fix to a long term problem. It may be obvious, but if you want to lose weight you need to make healthier choices, eat a nutritionally balanced and varied diet with appropriately sized portions, and be physically active.” 

Have you ever dared try one of the above diets, or any other fad diet for that matter? What’s your healthy eating ethos? Talk to us in the comments box below.

For more information and tips about healthy weight loss, please visit www.bdaweightwise.com

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