4 Celebrity Diets to Avoid in the New Year

Celebrities are known for being thin — sometimes too thin. Many notoriously skinny A-listers praise certain trendy and “healthy” diets that help them keep their weight down.

With the New Year right around the corner, it might be tempting to try one of these celeb-endorsed diets, but you may want to think again — many of these fad diets are actually quite unhealthy.

The British Dietetic Association (BDA) recently released their much anticipated annual list of celebrity diets to avoid in the New Year.

Here are the worst diet culprits, according to the BDA.

1. Clean Eating

Miranda Kerr and Jessica Alba swear by the clean eating diet, which consists of avoiding all processed food and eating only ‘clean’ foods. Dieters are encouraged to eliminate refined sugar and choose food in its “natural” state. On the surface, this may seem great and totally logical, but the extreme version of this diet cuts out gluten, dairy and even sometimes encourages a raw-food diet.

“Leave the cleaning for your kitchen work surface, not your food!…the idea of foods being ‘clean’ and ‘dirty’ is concerning,” says the BDA press release.

While cutting out refined sugar is a good idea, the diet could encourage Orthorexia Nervosa, which is an obsession with foods that a person considers to be healthy and cutting out any food that they believe may be unhealthy. In many cases, nutritionally beneficial foods such as ones containing whole grains, fruits and dairy are deemed unhealthy.

2. Diet Pills

Kim Kardashian reportedly used diet pills to help her get back into post-baby shape. Many of these popular diet pills claim to to “melt” fat, while others claims to suppress appetite or boost metabolism.

“Warning: danger! Diet pills should never be taken without first consulting your GP [General Practitioner],” the BDA warned.

Many of these diet pills can have nasty side effects like diarrhea. These products, which have been on the rise recently, are often not regulated and sometimes have substances that are harmful to humans such as pesticides, according to the BDA.

3. 6:1 Diet

Coldplay singer Chris Martin has said he has followed the 6:1 diet and claims that it improved his voice and creativity.

People on the 6:1 diet will eat normally for six days out of the week and then for one day a week they will fast. This diet is a bad idea, says the BDA.

“Completely fasting unless properly managed is likely to lead to a lack of concentration, tiredness and low mood, which isn’t going to make you more productive,” the BDA said in a statement. “There is no evidence that a diet like this would make you more creative either, and depending on your age, health and lifestyle, fasting could be dangerous.”

If, however, you were going to try to fast, consult a medical professional and choose an evidence-based fasting plan.

4. Green Juices

Consuming green juices is one of the more popular diet plans. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Blake Lively and Gwyneth Paltrow all reportedly drink them.

Celebs drink green juice as a way of “detoxing” and for weight management. The drinks are usually made up of fruits, vegetables, powder supplements, etc.  

“Juice-less! The body is perfectly capable of detoxing itself without the aid of these green liquid concoctions. Adding a green juice to an unhealthy diet is never going to make up for poor choices when it comes to food,” the BDA said.

A glass of one of these juices can be as much as 400 calories, so if you’re already eating a normal breakfast, you’re actually just adding more unnecessary calories to your diet and will probably gain weight.

Danielle Tarasiuk

Danielle Tarasiuk is a multimedia journalist based in Los Angeles. Her work has been published on AllDay.com, Yahoo! Sports, KCET, and NPR-affiliate stations KPCC and KCRW. She’s a proud Sarah Lawrence College and USC Annenberg alumn.

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