Celebrity Diet Trends- The Good, the Fad and the Crazy

Written by: Pooja Thakkar

Celebrities are usually the trendsetters. Along with each season’s fashion trends, celebs seem to switch the intake of their food patterns, too. So whether they’re slimming down for a movie role, trying to shed the last few pounds of pesky baby weight, or planning to compensate after Christmas, A-listers are counting calories and managing portions trying all types of diet trends they could.

These high profile personalities tend to get inspired from everyone and everything. Sometimes their diet plans begin with a new piece of scientific research surfacing, or a celebrity guru preaching the gospel of a new tropical fruit or some other miracle weight loss diet plan.

If you want to know which stars let their blood group dictate their diet, the secret behind Kim Kardashian’s voluptuous figure, or Jennifer Aniston’s slender beach body, there are hundreds of diet trends that will show you the way.

Do these Diet trends hold any nutritional weight? 

The answer is- sometimes!  Celebrity diets come in all shapes and sizes. Some could be considered fads, others crazy, and some nutritionally sound. Several diets have been adopted by many top celebrities with great success but not all secrets to celebrity sexiness are healthy. Fad diets are notorious for providing quick results with potential backlash right after crossing the finish line.

Just because a celebrity endorses something, it doesn’t mean what they say is true. They are usually being paid to endorse.

We’re also smart enough to figure out that it is the diet and exercise on the whole that make a difference and that no one food is a magical weight loss solution.  However, at the very least, changing trends in healthy foods keep things interesting!

We scouted the latest celebrity diet food trends that you should know about

Zone diet

Created by Dr. Barry Sears, the Zone Diet has been a well-known weight-loss method used by many celebrities.

This diet centers on a 40-30-30 approach, which instructs celebrities to eat 40 percent of their daily caloric intake from carbohydrates, 30 percent from protein and 30 percent from fat. The success of this diet is attributed to the intake of essential amino acids and fatty acids that help control the appetite and burn fat more quickly.

CELEB Followers: Jennifer Anniston, Brad Pitt, Sandra Bullock, Kristen Davis, Cindy Crawford.

Five factor diet

Developed by celebrity trainer Harley Pasternak, this diet has got everything to do with the number “Five”. This five-week plan involves eating five meals daily, using five ingredients per meal (including protein, good fats, healthy carbs, fibre and a sugar-free beverage). Dieters are also supposed to complete 25-minute work-outs, five times, weekly, but are allowed one "cheat day" per week (when you can eat whatever you want).

CELEB Followers: Kate Beckinsale, Megan Fox, Jessica Simpson, Alicia Keyes, Kanye West, Katherine Heigl, Eva Mendez.

Vegan diet

Some of the high profile celebrities swear by this type of diet which is also starting to gain popularity with the general public. Basically, this diet does not include any foods that are derived from animals. Consisting of fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes, many of the dieters maintain this type of diet as their overall lifestyle and religious belief. Several studies have shown several benefits that include excess weight being shed quickly and there is no cholesterol consumption.

CELEB Followers: Bill Clinton, Pamela Anderson, Natalie Portman, Alicia Silverstone.

Dukan diet

Duchess Kate Middleton reportedly popularized this French-based Diet again for her royal wedding. Creator Dr. Pierre Dukan developed a protein-heavy four-step plan that is easy to follow, allowing the dieters to eat only select foods for certain “phases” until they meet their weight-loss goals.

This diet originated in France and delivers quick weight loss without requiring the dieter to starve through the day. At the heart of the diet really lies a French version of the Atkins diet.

CELEB Follower: Gisele Bundchen

Weight Watchers diet

This diet is easy to follow and still popular with celebrities.

In this plan all foods are assigned value based on their calorie and saturated-fat content. Even dieters are given points based on their age, weight and activity levels. They can eat any foods they like as long as they don't go over their daily points allowance. Dieters get the required support and encouragement from weekly group meetings, where members are weighed.

CELEB Followers: Catherine Zeta-Jones is a fan, as are Jennifer Hudson, Coleen Rooney, Claire Sweeney, Jenny McCarthy, former Duchess Sarah Ferguson.

Raw food diet

An ideal daily diet should be made up of two thirds raw vegetables and one third meat (not pork), fish and dairy products. The idea is that raw foods have higher nutrient values and contain live enzymes which boost energy. These enzymes are destroyed during cooking especially when cooked above 118 degree Celsius. Eating raw vegetables also burns more calories than eating cooked vegetables. The staples of the Raw Food Diet include nuts, dried fruits, beans, whole grains, sprouts, and other fruits and vegetables.

CELEB Followers: Uma Thurman, Demi Moore, Amanda Seyfried.

Blood type diet

The diet's creator Dr Peter D'Adamo suggests foods for different blood types. According to Dr D'Adamo, people with type O blood should do an awful lot of exercise and have plenty of red meat. Those with blood type A should avoid meats and tend towards a more vegetarian diet. Type Bs can apparently eat anything in moderation, while type ABs should avoid red meat but should enjoy pineapple, soy and greens.

CELEB Followers: Jennifer Lopez, Gwyneth Paltrow, Courtney Cox.

Detox diet

This one never goes out of fashion and many dieters will surely be turning to a detox plan after all that Christmas excess.

The detox plan involves avoiding refined sugary and "toxic" foods such as wheat, gluten and yeast, alcohol, nuts, potatoes, dairy produce, citrus fruits, red meat, spreads, coffee and non-herbal tea, sugar, chocolate and sweets, and artificially produced flavourings, such as ketchup.

What's left you ask? Drinking two litres of water daily, and chewing food 8 to 12 times before swallowing.

CELEB Followers: Kate Moss, Cate Blanchett, Sady Frost, Juliette Binoche, Patsy Kensit.

Atkins diet

A decade ago, the no carb/high protein diet was the most popular in Hollywood. The theory is if carbohydrates are restricted the body turns to fat to burn as its main energy source, resulting in a rapid and dramatic weight loss.

But its popularity decreased after heart disease and high-cholesterol scares. But now Atkins is back, new and improved approach and with more varied foods on the menu. Dieters can include healthy carbs such as wholegrain bread, brown rice, pasta, fruits and wise protein choices include grilled chicken, lean meats and fish.  

CELEB Followers: Jennifer Aniston, Renee Zellweger.

Baby food diet

Some Celebrities have successfully slimmed their waistlines on jars of baby food. Baby food dieters replace have a pot of pureed baby food twice a day and then fill up on one healthy adult meal. As the average baby food jar contains about 80 calories, it's a dramatic calorie cutting diet.

CELEB Followers: Reese Witherspoon, Marcia cross.

Macrobiotic diet

This diet brings you in touch with food straight from the Earth. The idea is to eat wholly natural foods. This type of diet balances the food you eat to work in tandem with your body, not against it; the idea of yin and yang.

Yin types of foods are cold, sweet and passive; yang is hot, salty and aggressive. Any food that falls on the far end of each side of this spectrum are to be strictly avoided or you risk throwing your diet into imbalance. So food like cookies, ice cream, potato chips, coffee, additives, citrus and hot sauce are out.

CELEB Follower: Madonna

Master cleanse diet

This one is essentially a 14-day diet that requires the dieter to drink combination of fresh lemon juice, maple syrup, cayenne, and water (along with a laxative in the morning and at night). The diet is flexible and is supposed to give clearer skin.

CELEB Follower: Beyonce, Denzel Washington.

The 3-hour diet

3-Hour Dieters eat every three hours (six meals daily). Their meals include a Rubik's cube-sized portion of carbs at breakfast, lunch and dinner, a deck of playing cards-sized portion of protein, a water bottle cap-sized portion of fat and a stack of three DVD's-sized portions of fruit and vegetables at each meal. Wow that says it all.

CELEB Followers: Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Biel, Eva Longoria, Lucy Liu.

Jenny Craig diet

The Jenny Craig approach is built on three elements: food, body and mind.  With a counselor to lead the way and meals delivered to their homes, the Celebrities are offered pre-packaged and portion-controlled meals.

CELEB Followers: Queen Latifah, Valerie Bertinelli, Kirstie Alley, Joy Behar.

The South Beach diet

This one is relatively easy to follow. Divided into three phases, the program is said to eliminate cravings, kick start weight loss and maintain for life. There’s no counting calories or strict portion sizes but followers must say goodbye to bread, rice, potatoes, pasta, baked goods, and fruit – at least for the first two weeks. The theory is to replace “bad carbs” and “bad fats” with “good carbs” and “good fats."

CELEB Followers: Kim Cattrall, Nicole Kidman, Oprah.

Grapefruit diet

In this diet, dieters eat half a grapefruit before every meal which lets them stick to less than 800 calories a day.

Grapefruit is believed to contain fat-burning enzymes and if the diet is followed strictly one could lose up to 12lb in a fortnight.

CELEB Followers: Brooke Shields, Kylie Minogue.

Few Tips and Advice from Health Experts           

American Dietetic Association spokeswoman Bonnie Taub-Dix, and Elisa Zied, MS, RD, author of Feed Your Family Right encourage dieters with few useful tips:

• “Don't be negative or feel guilty about your weight; Talk to yourself in a positive manner, like a psychotherapist,” advises Dix.
   
• The weight loss plan that has worked for a Celebrity, your friend or co-worker might not be the best approach for you: "It is not about the diet, but about what works best for you because there is no right or wrong way,” she adds.
   
• Zied on the other hand advises to lose weight slowly. "When you do it slowly, you can stop focusing on the numbers on the scale and work on changing your eating habits, improving your lifestyle, and [adapting] to the new way of life.”