With new technology taking over where laser treatments left off, and new and rebooted diets becoming hot Google terms overnight, these are 6 of the hottest weight loss crazes of 2013…
Primal Blueprint Diet
The Paleo Diet was the new Atkins, but the Primal Blueprint Diet is gaining ground as the latest caveman inspired weight loss trend. Wellness expert Mark Sisson designed it as a more forgiving version of Paleo. Primal allows for followers to incorporate some dairy, alcohol, and even chocolate into their diet, making it a more enticing weight loss program around the booze and dessert-filled holidays. Like with Atkins and Paleo, Primal is all about meat, fish, fowl, eggs, nuts, and vegetables in copious amounts, but no grains.
Alkaline Diet
Victoria Beckham, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Aniston and Kirsten Dunst are all apparently fans of the Alkaline Diet, which involves eating mostly alkaline foods to keep the body’s pH between 7.35 and 7.45, and avoiding acid-forming foods like pasta, dairy products, seafood, coffee, tea, sugar, soda and alcohol. It’s controversial, in part because calorie-heavy nuts and seeds are such an important part of the diet, but Victoria Beckham’s love of the Honestly Healthy recipe book by Vicki Edgson and Natasha Corrett has helped it gain popularity.
The Body Reset Diet
Harley Pasternak – celebrity trainer to stars like Megan Fox, Katy Perry and Halle Berry, and regular health and fitness contributor to People Magazine – came out with The Body Reset Diet this year, the follow-up to his famous 5 Factor Diet. The Body Reset is meant for people who either want to jumpstart their diet plans, slim down fast for a special event, or lose the stubborn last five pounds. Pasternak’s book of the same name outlines a 15-day, 3-phase diet and exercise program that really does work, in large part due to the fact that it’s easy to follow (recipes that only need five ingredients; walking 10,000 steps a day as the main form of exercise). It’s based on something we’ve always known to be true: if you burn more calories than you take in, you’ll lose weight.
Fruitarianism
This isn’t exactly a new trend, but fruitarianism had a big comeback in 2013. Fruitarianists aim to get at least 75 percent of their calories from raw fruit. The final 25 percent comes from food that would fall naturally from a plant, nuts, seeds and vegetables, as well as coconut water and oil. A lot of followers praise the diet for its short term results, but it’s controversial mainly because of its lack of protein and fatty acid and potential for Vitamin deficiencies.
Calorie Shifting/Zig-zag Diet/Calorie Confusion
From The 17 Day Diet to The 4-Hour Body, calorie shifting has been a huge topic among the weight obsessed in 2013. No matter what program devotees prescribe to, the idea is the same: confuse your metabolism while also allowing for food binges. Some followers prefer to stick to programs that consist of mainly healthy diets with once-a-week cheat days and post-workout indulgences, while other devotees of the concept are more drawn to a binge/fast regime. There isn’t a lot of science to prove that increasing and decreasing calories in extremes works, but some dieters swear by the weight loss powers of zig-zagging, in part because knowing that they can still binge occasionally keeps them from throwing in the towel.
CoolSculpting
CoolSculpting, a non-invasive procedure developed by Harvard scientists, uses cooling technology to eliminate fat from targeted areas, surgery-free and pain-free. The procedure literally freezes fat, which the body then flushes out naturally, without damaging other tissue in the process the way once-trendy laser treatments and sonic waves can. Patients start seeing results as soon as three weeks after the one-hour treatment, though results are most noticeable two months after the procedure (the body will continue to dispose of fat cells for up to six months). All the fat cells that get flushed out with each treatment are permanently eliminated too, meaning one treatment is all some patients ever need. Those wishing to remove even more fat, however, can have more treatments if interested. It’s available now in Canada, at New You Spas in Toronto.