[1] People's dietary choices are often affected by a variety of factors, including ethical and religious beliefs, clinical need, or a desire to control weight.
Many diets are considered by clinicians to pose significant health risks and minimal long-term benefit.
This is particularly true of "crash" or "fad" diets – short-term, weight-loss plans that involve drastic changes to a person's normal eating habits.
[33][34][35] They describe diet plans that involve making extreme, rapid changes to food consumption, but are also used as disparaging terms for common eating habits which are considered unhealthy.
Detox diets involve either not consuming or attempting to flush out substances that are considered unhelpful or harmful.
The latter practice in particular has drawn criticism, as drinking significantly more water than recommended levels can cause hyponatremia.
[71] Some of them have therapeutic indications, such as epilepsy or obesity,[72][73] and there is no one-size-fits-all diet that would be a panacea for everyone to lose weight or look better.