I understand, I really do.  Sometimes we just want the magic bullet, the one diet that will finally save us, allowing us to effortlessly lose weight and feel great.  Especially during this time of year, when right about now, some of you are feeling like you’ve taken the holiday revelry a little too far.

Crazy diet promoters know this about you.  It’s why their unrealistic, unfound diets sell.

To some of these diets I want to scream “don’t let the door hit you on the way out!”  Others seemingly have so much potential but with little basis in science.

Here are my picks for diet trends that we can kick to the 2014 curb.

Shakeology. First, full disclosure. I advocate a whole foods diet and get my nutrients from real food rather than a protein powder/meal replacement drink that contains more than 50, yes 50, ingredients, half of which I have never even heard of.  A whole host of exotic sounding herbs, a small research study funded and conducted by the company itself and a couple of “real life” testimonials showing unbelievable “after” pictures does not make for a healthy, safe or sound way to eat and live.  Of course you will lose weight drinking two of these shakes a day.  That’s because they only contain about 130 calories per serving.  Reducing calories will do that.  Sustaining this way of life?  Not very likely.  And don’t get me started on the side effects (read it HERE).  Any food that comes with a warning is off my list.

The Bulletproof Coffee Diet.  Read my full disclosure above. This has to be one of the wackiest diets I have heard of this year. Start your day with coffee that you blend with grass fed butter and coconut oil.  Finally, permission to drink as much coffee as you want! The creator of this diet claims that this high fat, high caffeine (his brand of coffee) diet gives him all day energy and has allowed him to lose tons of weight.  His own brand of coffee also claims to reduce those food cravings you had from your regular coffee.  Really?  As far as I know coffee doesn’t cause food cravings.

While were at it, here are some other trends that you might (hopefully) see on the way out:

Gluten Free As The Cure For Everything. The bottom line: if you have Celiac’s disease you must avoid gluten.  If you feel that you are gluten “sensitive” (there is no test for this) eliminate gluten for a couple of weeks and see how you feel. But be warned, evidence is waning that gluten causes weight gain, decreased energy, poor sleep, lack of sex drive. You name it, gluten has been blamed for it.

The Acid-Alkaline Diet As A Way To Lose Weight. There is no evidence that certain foods are more acidic or alkaline than others and therefore help you lose weight. Just to note, we have a very well defined pH in our bodies, it’s what keeps us alive.  If you eat a typical American junk food laden diet this way of eating can get you eating better, but there is no scientific proof that this type of diet is useful.

The Paleo Diet (and all other low carb diets). Is it that people want permission to eat as much meat as they can get their hands on?  There is so much well documented evidence that a mostly vegetarian, plant based diet is the healthiest way to eat. It all doesn’t make good sense. Cavemen didn’t go to restaurants, nor did they create makeshift desserts out of ingredients that didn’t exist all those years ago.  There is a lot to be said for whole grains, fruits and beans.  This difficult to maintain diet reminds us that we need to eat from a variety of foods to stay healthy, not some unrealistic diet that we no longer eat.

It’s not all doom and gloom. Next week I will blog on the best way to eat, for you. Stay tuned and let me know what diets you embraced this past year in the comments below.