The American Heart Association says that adopting healthy eating habits permanently,

rather than impatiently pursuing crash diets in hopes of losing unwanted pounds in a few days through fad quick weight loss plans.

Many of these fad diets, such as the notorious and outright silly Cabbage Soup Diet, will undermine your health, cause physical discomfort (abdominal pain and flatulence (gas) ) and lead to the ping-pong effect of gaining weight soon after losing it. In other words the risks aren't worth the rewards.

Quick-weight-loss diets generally put far too much emphasis on one particular food or type of food. They violate the first principle of good nutrition which is to eat a balanced diet that includes a variety of foods. Because no one food has all the nutrients needed for good health, these diets can result in a lot of health problems. One such diet is the Cabbage Soup Diet. This so-called fat-burning soup is eaten mostly with fruits and vegetables. People supposedly lost 10-17 pounds in only a week, eating mostly cabbage soup. Even if the weight loss claim were true, all the damage due to a lack of a host of important nutrients would far outweigh (pun intended) the benefits of losing the weight. Pixies, elves and fairies, or even cabbages, can't provide magical weight loss. That's why you should eat moderate amounts from all the food groups rather than cutting out everything but a cabbage and water.

These crazy diets also break a second important principle of good nutrition which is that eating should be enjoyable.. These diets are so monotonous and boring that it's almost impossible to stay on them for long periods. Consider a week on the Cabbage Soup Diet. By Wednesday you'd dread meal time, and by Friday you'd never again want to look at a cabbage much less eat the soup. They'd cart you off in a straight jacket on Sunday.

Boredom isn't the only reason fad diets aren't good ones. Many don't encourage physical activity, for example, walking 30 minutes most or all days of the week. Physical activity helps maintain weight loss, while physical inactivity is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke. When you hear a diet that mentions “no need for exercise” run for the hills, or at least run on a treadmill.

Quick weight loss is possible. But if a program sounds too good to be true, it is.