Macrobiotic Diet Is Based on Balancing Yin and Yang

Diet was derived from an ancient Greek word diaita, which was not originally used to focus on the healthy consumption of one food over another. Instead, the ancient Greeks used diaita to represent the healthy lifestyle that comes with the proper application of food, drink and exercise. Many Ancient Romans believed it was healthier to eat only one meal a day, typically consumed around midday. A type of wheat was mixed with ground meats, peppers, spices and fennel, then cooked in a wine reduction and served as the quintessential Roman dish.

Listed below are popular fad diets that have been tested over the ages:

• BANTING DIET - In the 1863 pamphlet, Letter on Corpulence, Addressed to the Public, a weight-conscious British undertaker outlined a low-carb diet that he had used to lose a significant amount of weight. William Banting instructed dieters to follow daily menus that avoided milk, butter, sweet foods, sugar, starch and beer.
• TAPEWORM DIET - Although medical experts strongly recommend against the practice, people have swallowed beef tapeworm cysts in a pill to allow them to grow and consume food before their body could digest it. Overweight opera singer Maria Callas was a staunch proponent of the diet.
• MACROBIOTIC DIET - The macrobiotic diet is associated with Zen Buddhism and based on the idea of balancing yin and yang. The 1930s diet emphasizes locally grown whole grains, legumes, vegetables, seaweed, fermented soy and fruits with natural seasonings and a non-stimulating drink.
• CABBAGE SOUP DIET - Popular in the 1950s, the name says it all. The cabbage soup diet promises 10-15 pounds of weight loss (but not permanent) in one week. With such a low calorie intake, it is not sustainable and most of the weight will be water weight and muscle.
• THE COOKIE DIET - Dr. Sanford Siegal's magical diet required dieters to eat nine specially formulated cookies throughout the day that contained secret amino acids to keep one's appetite at bay. The Cookie Diet is still around today.
• PALEO DIET - Paleo dieters eat as naturally as they can. Grass-fed meats, fresh fruits and vegetables, and whole foods like nuts and seeds. Sometimes called the Caveman's Diet, the menu plan focuses on foods similar to what might have been eaten 2.5 million years ago.
• THE SOUTH BEACH DIET - The diet is a low-glycemic-index carbohydrate plan packed with lean proteins and unsaturated fats. South Florida cardiologist, Dr. Arthur Agatston, says he borrowed concepts from the Atkins Diet, where followers were losing belly fat opposed to dieters on low-fat diets.

The ancient Greeks recognized that people who were very fat were more apt to die at an earlier age than those who ate a plant-based diet and were thin. Fad diets have been firmly entrenched for decades having promoted diverse ways of promising weight loss. Although some do deliver a quick fix with short-term results, none offer a long-term plan for maintaining your target weight like a personalized menu plan from Metabolic Research Center.