Just when you thought you'd heard it all … there's more fad diets on the market! What now? You ask, cringing as you remember past diets you've suffered. Well, now there's:

The Zone Diet

Barry Sears PhD has made quite an impression throughout the US with his magical 40% Carbohydrate, 30% Protein, 30% Fat ration diet…but is this the zone you really want to be in?
The benefits boasted for this one are big. Sears' claims the diet will increase mental focus, enhance physical performance, slow the aging process, decrease the likelihood of coronary heart disease and reduce excess body fat. But nutritional experts argue differently.
Most reputable health organizations show no interest, or even acknowledge the diet.
Some experts say the diet offers such a low carbohydrate content that the body is in a constant state of ketosis (acidic waste products from fat breakdown.) Nutritionists say this is dangerous, that keeping the body in a constant state of ketosis puts a large load of metabolic acid on the kidneys and liver that must be excreted over time. This causes calcium loss from the bones and could lead to kidney damage….and leaves the zone dieter in a state of semi-starvation.
Experts say the diet can be hard to follow because it requires complicated mathematics to calculate the amount of food you can eat.
They say what's also a concern is that on a typical Zone diet, the recommendation is to consume about 3500 to 3600 kilojoules (850) calories a day - making appropriate nourishment a challenge.

What you can eat?
You need to eat a complex ratio of fat, proteins and carbohydrates to keep your insulin levels "in the zone."
Basically you can eat most foods but keep pasta, breads and grains to a minimum. The diet also promotes eating more frequent meals with fewer kilojoules, rather than the classic three mains.

The Atkins Diet
It's hot, but is it healthy? The Atkins Diet is composed mostly of protein, fat and little carbo's. Experts claim the quick and easy weight loss promised on this one is dangerous. They say weight loss from this would come initially from water loss. But you would also lose protein from muscles as well as fat, having a negative effect on your metabolism.
Reducing carbohydrates also diminishes vitamin, mineral, antioxidant and fiber intake.
Nutritionists link the Atkins Diet to high cholesterol, calcium loss, nutrient deficiency, kidney stones and other kidney-related problems.

What you can eat?
You can feast on the burger patty, sauce and fillings, but not the burger bun. Salads, whipped cream and a few veggies are okay, but forget about the pasta and potatoes.
Not much fruit involved in this diet either.

The blood type diet
This one relies on the "eat right for your blood type" theory. It promises to help prevent cancer, obesity and heart disease.
It works on the medical basis that if you transfuse a person with the wrong blood type, the immune system generates antibodies that lock onto the foreign blood cells, causing them to clump together, or agglutinate…this can cause multiple organ failure and even death.
Less known is that food also contains blood-specific agglutinins known as lectins - which marks the basis for this entire diet.
Experts say all this is true, but scientific studies backing the diet were carried out in test tubes, not on human beings. They say a healthy, functioning body will destroy lectins before they affect health; and warn that a diet without nutritional balance such as this one are high risk areas for major deficiencies such as anaemia and osteoporosis in the long-term.
Ps. Weight loss on this one could be caused by the fact that the diet eliminates chips, lollies, doughnuts and junk foods made of sugar, wheat, salt and hydro-generated fats; which for many people would be a vast improvement on their daily fat intake.

What you can eat?
Type O's: can eat meat, fish, vegetables and fruit. They should avoid wheat, corn, dairy food and oranges.
Type A's: can eat vegetables, tofu, soya foods, seafood, grains, beans, legumes, fruit. A's should avoid corn, lentils, peanuts, sesame and wheat.
Type ABs: can eat meat, seafood, dairy, tofu, beans, legumes, grains, fruit and vegetables; red meat, kidney and lima beans, seeds, corn and buckwheat should be limited.

The diet's creator, Linsey McLean says the oil "helps shift the body to a different biochemical pathway," thus burning fats directly. She argues that oil helps the body either burn off or expel fat-soluble toxins.
No expert theory on this one thus far, nutritionalists seem either oblivious to the detox diet, or they just don't want to chew the fat…or should we say give the "good oil" on it. Common sense would tell you, as with the Blood Type Diet….. a healthy, functioning body relying on it's own internal system, rather than radical torture such as this to starve the body of necessary nourishment…is a preferable approach.

What you can eat?
It says you can eat "almost anything" on this diet, oh except carbohydrates, fat… but fiber and vegetables are still in.

You might lose weight quickly, but you're likely to put it on again just as soon as you return to your normal eating patterns. Sticking to any of the above diets long-term can put your body at risk. Healthy weight loss takes time - water is easy to shed, but fat takes longer. Stop looking at the scales and start looking at the way your clothes fit and the changing shape of your body. Numbers can be deceptive sometimes so don't rely on them for your overall success.