Diet "Truths" of the Past
 

In the early 90s, when I was about to graduate from college, the low fat craze began. Grocery shelves were rapidly inundated with low-fat versions of everything, especially snack foods. Low-fat Oreos! Low-fat Butterfingers! Snackwells! "FAT MAKES YOU FAT" was the catchphrase and we all felt so scientific. "Wow! It's so clear once you realize it! Why hadn't we thought of that before?" I also remember a 20/20 special on the low fat craze, where they went to a young woman's house, and all that was in her cupboards were Snackwell's and other low fat snack foods. "She won't eat anything unless it says low-fat," her roommate said.

Nowadays the low fat craze has died down from that frenzy, though there are still low-fat products out there. "Fat makes you fat," isn't the mantra anymore.

What's the mantra now? Do you think it is "correct" (will it stand the test of time)? What other mantras or diet "truths" do you remember from the past?

Oh man, I remember the low fat craze. My mom was insane over it. I think the new<er> thing is the low-carb bandwagon. Yes, it works for some, I did Atkins, faithfully, for 6 months, all I did was get sick, hormonally out of whack etc etc. I'm talking like maniacal mood swings. I seriously thought I was going crazy. Turns out, I need way more than 2 cups of veggies a day. I did everything according to the books, used forums like I was being paid to, and no matter how we tweaked it, it just didn't work for me. I know SB and Atkins works for many, just not all. I think the craze now is the "one size fits all diet". Some work for some, some work for others, not all can work for all. It's just impossible. We all have a personal dieting history as well as our own medical history which limits our ability to do the same things the same way someone else would, succesfully. Will low carb work? Yes, as long as many people realise 1 slice of white bread is still 1 slice of nutritionally defunct and lacking piece of bread. I did learn from my Atkins experience to like and want whole grains, and the use of flax and other alternative forms of grains. I like them, I live with them, but I just can't do low-carb.

I think the low carb era has passed. I think the thing now is the "no diet" diet. Diets don't work, you need to make a lifestyle change instead. And for me, I am 100% on that bandwagon!!

That's so funny you should bring up this low fat craze. I went for my very first hydrotherapy appointment (colonic) yesterday and in my consultation the lady asked me what kinds of fats I eat. I told her cold pressed olive oil, flax oil, and for cooking I use coconut oil. She clapped her hands and praised me and said if I never made another change in my life that the coconut oil alone would change my health in significant ways. It was funny to me because while *I* know that coconut oil is truly healthy, my husband (and probably many of you) continues to think I'm totally nuts for putting that much saturated fat in my body. Yet, I feel better then I have in months and I'm losing weight!

I definitely think the whole foods "diet" is becoming more popular. I think more and more people are starting to adopt a "back to the basics" closer to nature type diet and I LOVE that on so many levels. It's healthier, better for the environment, NOT good for big corporations (and I love that because I hate the dominance of large corps and big pharma and would rather pay more to buy from the "little" guy when I can), and overall closer to what our great-great grandparents may have done and they were a heck of a lot healthier then we are now...at least mine were!

The biggest thing to me to pay attention to is who is telling us that the diet is good. Is it the very corporation that makes the product or someone more independent? I tend to believe the person that learned to cure their cancer from diet or lose a bunch of weight and is now healthy as opposed to the dairy industry telling me eating more dairy will make me lose weight...you know what I mean?

I think the trend (and rightfully so in my opinion) is whole foods, anything in moderation and making it a lifestyle change. Forever and ever. I think the focus is also on that you must add exercise as well. That in order to have long term success that exercise and eating well go hand in hand.

I think "we" know that you need to add exercise, but do you really think that is the mantra now? I think everyone still wants to believe that they don't have to exercise.

Well, I WISH we didn't have to exercise! I think that's not the loudest mantra but it's definitely gaining ground, I think. I don't know of all the things that need to happen to be healthy I still think that one is the hardest for me!

Well having NEVER read a "diet" book, but listening to say a Bob Greene or a Dr. Oz, I'm pretty sure they say exercise is a must. :running: :woops: :strong:

The truth of the matter is they can say or not say whatever they want. :dunno: We've all got to figure out for ourselves what works - and doesn't. So I'm sticking with the mostly whole foods, anything in moderation, making it my lifestyle forever and ever and adding exercise combination :smug:

I remember an uncle of mine used to eat/drink raw eggs.

Cottage cheese and fruit was always the "diet plate" (and still is, in some places!).

Oat Bran was supposed to solve all our health problems in the 80s.

yes, why is a hamburger patty with cottage cheese and fruit still considered a "diet" plate. Wouldn't you think that by now they would have replaced it with a grilled chicken breast!

The big craze now does seem to be low carb, which doesnt work for me. I've tried those diets in the past and I get foggy brained and extremely lethargic. I am on Southbeach which a lot of people think is low carb. However, I've never eaten so healthy in my life. I have to have 1 cup of veggies with breakfast, 2 cups with lunch and 2 cups with dinner. Plus, I have some sort of fresh veggie for my 2 snacks each day..ie. celery with laughing cow cheese or natural peanut butter. I eat two fresh fruits a day. The allowed fats are very limited and they are only the healthy fats...ie, extra virgin olive oil. All bread, rice and pasta are whole grain only and meats are the non-fatty cuts only....ie, no ribs or dark meat! I would say that I am following a whole food diet, however, the structure of following the Southbeach plan helps me to stay on-plan. I'm sure I will be tweaking the plan to fit my lifestyle later down the road

I also think the whole foods movement and the lifestyle change movement are the "cool diets" of today.

I think the rational mantra these days comes from the Dr. Oz's and Bob Greene's with the lifestyle change, which makes so much sense to me. I don't want to be on a "diet" the rest of my life.

The scary craze, from my point of view, is that I keep seeing more and more commercials about "fat blocking" pills and the like. I just can't imagine anything like that being healthy. It's like those pills or injections or whatever so you can have less periods. How is blocking something that our bodies were designed to do possibly healthy?

I think the mantra I've heard the most lately is to do with portion sizes and exercise.
"Eat less, move more!"

I don't know if it's a trend so much... but I've noticed alot of people getting weight loss surgery, especially when they don't really need it.

An old friend of mine got weight loss surgery when she was 17, and she couldn't have been more than 200 lbs at 5'4.

Along with that, I think people are adopting the mantra, "Calories in Vs. Calories out." I know that I say it on a daily basis, lol.

I think it's becoming more like, you're all in with the healthy foods and the exercising (even if you do get surgery, there are those who know what they need to do, and they do it). Then, there are those who still do all of the fad diets, and lose and gain... but somehow they're just not determined enough to go for a lifestyle change.

I also remember looking at a few of my mom's crazy diet books when I was a kid. They had a lot of "plans" that probably seemed sane at the time but would be kicked to the curb nowadays. If eating fewer calories will help you lose weight, eating even fewer will make you lose even more. These books were full of 800-calories and less plans, single-food plans (I think one involved grapefruit) and the like.

On the positive side, I also recently ran across my grandmother's Weight Watchers materials from the late 60s/early 70s. Other than being obsessed with listing "forbidden" foods like...ketchup...they seem pretty sensible even by modern standards. Except for the rule to eat an organ meat once a week—ick!

Ketchup's very high in sugar. You'll notice it even by taste if you haven't had it in a while.

I think we're still seeing a lot of fake foods, low sugar/low fat. Check out some of the recipes on this site, even.

Seems like there's a lot of "eat often" going on now, the idea that it's better to eat every 2 or 3 hours than three times a day. Also a lot of "drink even more water." And somehow 20 minutes of exercise a few times a week from ten years ago has grown recently to an hour or two a day.

What was it called? The "Mayo Clinic Diet" although it didn't have any affilation with the mayo clinic. I actually did it and noticed some changes.

I hope you are right. We all need to adapt a healthy whole foods lifestyle if we want to live a long healthy life. I second the above.