Fad Diets

Becky Picha Blog Post 1

22 September 2014

Fad Diets

“Conspicuous Consumption” from America Now: Short Readings from Recent Periodicals, is an article about spending money on luxury items and services to display wealth and status (Atwan). People, especially Americans, tend to publicly show others that they are rich so they will buy things that are expensive but not needed. Thorstein Veblen, the author of the book called The Theory of the Leisure Class, describes the modern consumer as “someone who desperately wants whatever others possess” and claims that ”emulation is probably the strongest of economic motives.” Veblen realized a lot of consumers want things that are expensive and useless, and buying those things show “wasteful expenditure.”

After reading the article “Conspicuous Consumption,” I tried to relate it to my group’s blog topic: fitness and health. I started to connect the two by asking questions such as why do so many people purchase diet pills or follow fad diets even though it’s expensive and most people know getting great results is rare. I thought that knowing the answers to questions such as this one would give me an insight into a lot of people’s health and fitness choices and why fad diets are so popular.

Before talking about why many people choose to follow fad diets, it is important to understand what a fad diet is. An article about health education describes a fad diet as “a weight loss plan or aid that promises dramatic results. These diets typically don't result in long-term weight loss and they are usually not very healthy” (Nutrition). Fad diets almost always claim that with their program, you can “shed unwanted pounds fast!” but most claims are false and even if pounds are lost, the weight is normally gained back after the diet is stopped.

Many people follow fad diets even though they know it won’t work for a variety of reasons. According to Mayo Clinic, “the reality is that there's no magic bullet for losing weight” (Weight Loss). Despite the claims by weight-loss companies that state that it’s possible to lose weight fast and to keep it off, there really is no such thing as a quick fix to shed all unwanted pounds. Although many people know this, most Americans are still willing to try anything, no matter how expensive. If one weight-loss program doesn't work, Americans are quick to jump to another, which according to CBS News is why the diet business continues to thrive, as over $35 billion is spent a year on weight loss products by Americans (Mcnamara). Fad diets are popular because many of them work for a short period of time but the weight lost is almost always gained back, states familydoctor.org (Nutrition). People want to look and feel better so they spend their money on diet programs that they know probably won’t work but still have hope that they will. Even though it seems like the weight-loss industry doesn't seem to be becoming less popular anytime soon, Businessweek states the truth, “Here’s the only way to maintain weight loss: Eat less and exercise more for the rest of your life” (Reisner).

Works Cited

Atwan, Robert, ed. "Conspicuous Consumption." (n.d.): n. pag. Rpt. in America Now: Short Readings from Recent Periodicals. 10th ed. Boston: Bedford/St Martin's, 2013. 162-65. Print.

Mcnamara, Melissa. "Diet Industry Is Big Business." CBSNews. CBS, 1 Dec. 2006. Web. 22 Sept. 2014.

"Nutrition for Weight Loss: What You Need to Know About Fad Diets." Health Education. Web. 22 Sept. 2014.

Reisner, Rebecca, and Derek Thompson. "The Diet Industry: A Big Fat Lie." Bloomberg Business Week. Bloomberg. Web. 22 Sept. 2014.

"Weight Loss." Mayo Clinic. 5 Apr. 2014. Web. 22 Sept. 2014.