5 Weight Loss Diet Plans You SHOULDN'T DO in 2016

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Jan 06, 2016 05:30 AM EST

New Year, new diet. Sure, people are quick to research on the newest diets (fad) diets around to get rid of the holiday weight and possibly extra pounds one has been carrying over the last few years, but health experts recommend practicing caution when it comes to pursuing certain diets.

Alexandra Caspero, a nutritionist based in Sacramento, California told Health via Huffington Post, "Most fad diets go something like this: Take a few foods, give them 'magic' power, and set a plan to convince people that eating this way and only this way will promote weight loss."

1. Lemonade Diet. Lemons are good for you because they're filled with vitamins C, A, and E, folate, calcium, magnesium, and potassium, among other vitamins and minerals. However, limiting food intake to only lemon juice splashed with maple syrup and cayenne pepper doesn't exactly constitute a healthy, well-balanced diet. Christopher N. Ochner, Ph.D., director of research development and administration at the Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center said, "You are essentially just drinking diuretics. You'll shed mostly water weight." Additionally, this diet may bring side effects like fatigue, dizziness, and dehydration.

2. Five-Bite Diet. Developed by obesity doctor Alwin Lewis, MD, the rule of this diet is to eat anything your heart desires, as long as it is limited to five bites only. Moreover, TIME reports that you're supposed to skip breakfast, which is believed to be the most important meal of the day, and consume only five bites for lunch and five or more for dinner. According to Caspero, "I’m OK with the idea of eating whatever you want in smaller portions, but you need to round out the rest of your eating with nutrient-dense foods to give your body the fuel it needs. On this diet, even if you take giant bites of heavily caloric food, you’re still barely consuming 900 to 1,000 calories a day."

3. Cotton Ball Diet. Cotton balls are in no way food, so don't even try this fad, unless you want to acquire an illness from ingesting polyester and synthetic fibers Latina reports that this fad diet became popular in 2013, when people consumed cotton balls dipped in orange juice or lemonade and believed that the cotton would help them feel full. This, of course, is false.

4. Cabbage Soup Diet. Like alkaline diets, the cabbage soup diet will require you to consume low-calorie cabbage soup for seven days, resulting in a 10-pound weight loss, supposedly. Cabbage soup will only provide too much sodium and not enough protein for energy. Likewise, alkaline diets require veering away from meat, dairy, sweets, caffeine, alcohol, artificial and processed foods, and consuming only fruits and vegetables--again, an unbalanced diet.

5. Baby Food Diet. Baby food is created for the nutritional needs of a tiny human, not a 150-pound woman or 200-pound man. This diet requires the consumption of 14 jars of baby food, and despite rumors that celebrities use this diet to lose weight, not one of them has come out to officially make a statement about it.

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