2014 in Food: Top 10 Fad Diets We All Googled This Year

According to Google, these are the diets you thought were interesting this year. Some of them actually work!

1. Paleo Diet

For the second year in a row, the Paleo diet has been the most Googled nutrition guideline. The diet claims to benefit its followers by limiting their meals to include ingredients available during the prehistoric era. The obvious problem with this is that people are following a diet with limited historic evidence. The British Dietetic Association considers the Paleo Diet to be one of the worst fad diets, just barely better than the urine diet.

2. Atkins Diet

A laundry list of celebrities and athletes has attributed this diet to substantial weight loss. Don’t worry, the reason the co-author of Atkins Diabetes Revolution was sentenced to 41 months in jail has nothing to do with the validity of the Atkins program. In fact, it’s one of the few popular diets to yield significant weight loss results.

3. Gluten-Free Diet

Even though there hasn’t been a rise in gluten allergies or the prevalence of celiac disease, increasing numbers of people are living a gluten-free lifestyle. People have WebMD-ed themselves into believing they have a gluten sensitivity of some kind and have caused a 68 percent spike in gluten-free food sales. While this particular diet is incredibly beneficial to those with celiac disease, it can cause serious nutritional deficiencies if not supplemented appropriately.

4. Mediterranean Diet

This diet is one of the few on this list actually supported by medical professionals. The protein and olive oil-filled diet has been consistently linked to health benefits and a recent study revealed that this way of eating protects your chromosomes from deteriorating.

5. DASH Diet

Considering that 67 million Americans have hypertension (high blood pressure) and only about half have their condition under control, Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension is unsurprisingly nestled in the center of the list. This diet is rare in its universality of application from doctors and nutritionists alike. The diet functions as a way for those afflicted with hypertension to lower their sodium intake as well as their cholesterol.

6. Military Diet

This is actually a form of intermittent fasting. Participants lose weight by eating less than 1,000 calories for three days, followed by four days off (though it’s encouraged to limit calorie intake to 1,500). On this diet, you can eat a spectacular feast consisting of cheese, crackers, bananas, more crackers, tuna and even more crackers. You can only drink unsweetened tea and water, but can cheat with black coffee.

Gross.

7. HCG Diet

Easily the most dangerous diet on this list, this diet consists of taking over-the-counter HCG supplements (the fertility hormone can only be legally administered by a health professional) and taking in 500 to 800 calories a day. The HCG component is largely a gimmick and unapproved by the FDA, but eating so little will result in unhealthy, short-term weight loss.

8. South Beach Diet

This diet plan also offers a fitness regimen and three stages. Health professionals recommend skipping the first stage, which is highly restrictive and typically results in the rapid loss of 13 pounds, and following the balanced second stage to achieve weight loss goals. The third stage simply gives tips to maintain your ideal weight.

9. Super Shred Diet

This is one of those too-good-to-be-true, lose 20 pounds in four weeks diet…that apparently works. Dr. Ian Smith created the Shred program, then decided to amp it up to a month of well-timed portion control. Moderation is key and you can enjoy things like coffee and bacon without feeling guilty.

10. The Doctor’s Diet

Dr. Travis Stork is adorable. He gives out food prescriptions for another jump-start-styled diet that has three stages lasting 14 days each. The Doctors co-host’s plan has been primarily reported on from an anecdotal context due to its vague, unsubstantiated content.