It could almost go without saying that fad diets are often overly restrictive, lack evidentiary support and ultimately have the potential to cause harm, but I understand that the lure of sensationalized promises can easily draw-in even the savvy consumer.
It can be difficult to sift through claims, especially when companies recruit celebrities and medical professionals to tout the benefits of their programs. These spokespersons can state, with such conviction, the "proven" results associated with a particular diet, making them difficult to refute.
One of the most well-publicized diets today is the Whole 30 diet, which is based on the idea that certain food categories, including grains, dairy products and legumes (beans and lentils) have a negative effect on your health and fitness. The program claims these foods could be the cause for your "aches and pains that can't be explained," your difficulty in losing weight and the "skin issues, digestive ailments, seasonal allergies, [and] chronic pain that medication hasn't helped". The program recommends removing these "craving-inducing, blood sugar disrupting, gut-damaging, inflammatory food groups" from your diet for 30 days to let your body "heal and recover."
Red flag #1 comes in the company's introduction to the diet when the originator gives a personal account of how the diet changed her life; no mention of any evidence to support her claims.
I've taken a closer look at the overarching rules of the Whole 30 diet to see what claims are supported by fact and what can be left by the wayside:
Rule #1: Eat real food. This rule tells participants to eat whole foods; foods that are found in nature as is, including meat, seafood, eggs, vegetables, some fruits, herbs, spices and "natural" fats. Participants are told to eat foods with few ingredients, and only pronounceable ingredients or (preferably) only unprocessed foods.
While it is important to include a variety of whole foods in your diet, processed foods are not necessarily unhealthy. Remember, a processed food is any food that has been taken from its raw form and transformed into something else. Canned beans, whole wheat bread and almond milk all count as processed foods. As well, just because you cannot pronounce an ingredient, does not mean that you need to avoid it, or that it is having a detrimental effect on your overall health.
Rule #2: Avoid the following foods for 30 days: all added sugars (including real and artificial), alcohol, grains, legumes, dairy products, carrageenan (a complex carbohydrate used as a thickening agent in foods), MSG, sulfites, baked goods, "junk foods" and treats with "approved" ingredients.
As I've mentioned, eating a variety of whole foods is important; whole foods include grains, like brown rice and quinoa, legumes, like beans and lentils and certain dairy products like milk. These foods provide valuable nutrients and by cutting them out of your diet, your risk for deficiencies would increase. Cutting out grains and legumes in particular, could substantially reduce your fibre intake, which could affect your digestion and bowel habits. This seems counterintuitive to the claim that cutting these foods out will improve your "digestive ailments."
While it is wise to have a reduced intake of added sugars, alcohol and MSG, eliminating them from your diet does not necessarily mean that all cravings will become non-existent, your psoriasis will improve and your chronic pain will disappear. There is insufficient evidence to support these claims.
Stating that all baked goods and junk foods need to be eliminated is also very vague. What types of baked goods? What ingredients in baked goods? What counts as a junk food? What is it about these foods that makes them a no-no?
Rule #3: Do not step on the scale or take body measurements for 30 days. The program encourages participants to weigh themselves before and after those 30 days "so you can see one of the more tangible results of your efforts." The first part of this rule is meant to encourage the program participant to focus on how they feel, rather than numbers on a scale or body fat percentage during that 30 day period. Weighing yourself before and after the month to see weight loss-related results seems to contradict the initial thought that weight and body measurements are not important indicators of progress.
Weight does not necessarily dictate health. An individual who is overweight or obese could be free of chronic disease, mobile and have a positive quality of life. Although the program does not make these connections or insinuate that a certain body weight or type is ideal, the instruction to weigh yourself before and after those 30 days puts the focus back on weight.
The mantra of the Whole 30 diet speaks volumes to the overall ideology of the program: when in doubt, leave it out. The diet, like most fad diets, promotes restriction and avoidance of foods, claiming that some foods are good and some are bad. Foods are not inherently good or bad. There are many ways that food can promote health and provide fuel for your body. For example, just because a food contains added sugars, does not mean that it's "bad" for you; that food could provide a valuable source of quick energy in the middle of a long run.
This diet encourages the participant to find a way to stick to the Whole 30 rules "in any setting, around every special circumstance, under any amount of stress", insinuating that a break from the rules is a sign of failure.
The program mentions "balance" as being an important factor when taking on Step #4: Life after your Whole 30. To me, balance does not equal restriction and deprivation, which I would associate with the earlier steps of the Whole 30 diet. Step #4 does promote the reintroduction of those previously restricted foods and encourages moderation in consuming what the founder considers to be unhealthy foods.
What happens if you slip up and have a whole day of "bad" eating? You've got another month of the Whole 30 restrictions. This keeps you tied to the program and, instead of encouraging increased independence and greater knowledge of the foods you're eating, promotes the labeling of "good" and "bad" foods, creating a cycle of yo-yo dieting and encouraging a reliance on the Whole 30 diet.
Kelsey Leckovic is a Registered Dietitian with Northern Health working in chronic disease management.
