The History of Fad Diets

(encarta.msn.com) - The Skinny on Fat and Fad Diets

I tried a trendy diet last year, after noticing my pants weren't quite as roomy as they'd been. Or, rather, I tried to try the diet--the one that lets you eat bacon.

I must say, the bacon tasted great. The problem was, I knew it would taste even better with toast.

So I ate that, too, breaking the rules of the ballyhooed Atkins diet, which advocates eating protein and reducing carbohydrates.

Soon, my pants didn't fit at all. And I learned the lesson from what I have dubbed the Fatkins Diet: Eating lots of bacon together with toast is a great way to gain weight.

More important, I learned that I can't follow a fad diet. I am no good at excluding an entire food group that I like from my daily menu. The second I start something like this, all I can think about is food, glorious food. And, like that Oliver kid in the musical, I just want more.

I am not alone in this. Tons of us (so to speak) weigh more than we want to weigh, which is not surprising given that pork rinds alone are a half-a-billion dollar annual industry in the United States.

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