Buzz
Sometimes, when I need a good reason to be frustrated, I read the nonsense the internet promotes as weight loss tips. They’re all so disappointingly bad. Articles on weight loss tricks never deliver actual hacks, yet the headline always promises that they will. Take, for instance, this Telegraph piece titled, and I kid you not, 'Why drinking vinegar could be the secret to midlife weight loss.'
The article never actually explains why vinegar would be the key to weight loss in midlife, because it’s not. Instead, the writer experiments with various vinegar-based drinks and, surprise, they’re tasty. It turns out that sour flavors can make a drink more refreshing, something no one who’s had lemonade would be shocked by. But while discovering this, the writer conveniently overlooked the weight loss claim.
We’ve already discussed whether vinegar can aid in weight loss here, so I’m not going to waste time refuting the headline directly. (The bottom line: no, science has not confirmed vinegar as a weight-loss miracle. In a few studies, one of its chemical components has shown slight effects on gene expression in rats. That’s not the same thing, and anyone who suggests otherwise is misleading you and should feel ashamed.)
I have to admit, I can’t stand these articles (and TikTok videos, and Instagram posts, and all the other ways people spread bad advice) because they manage to stick in your mind just enough. You’re probably already thinking 'vinegar good,' and tucking it away in your brain next to 'dark chocolate good' and 'margarine bad,' alongside all those half-remembered things you’ve skimmed through over the years. Months from now, when you read that vinegar is terrible for weight loss, you’ll be frustrated, wondering what you should believe—'vinegar good' or 'vinegar bad,' and why can’t scientists just settle this once and for all?
Fragmented diet tips are always nonsense
The very reason clickbait diet tips are so enticing ('one weird trick!') is the exact reason they’re ineffective. Real health advice doesn’t simplify into a single strange shortcut. Ironically, those who push these tips know this all too well and exploit it: Sure, none of the 'eat this one food' strategies have worked before, but maybe this one will. Desperation fuels the clicks.
Take a frequent offender, the site Eat This Not That, which is currently promoting the following stories on their weight loss page, and unfortunately, I’m not kidding about any of these:
The best bread for losing belly fat—ranked!
The #1 best fast-food meal for belly fat loss, according to dietitians
6 top omelet combinations for quicker weight loss, according to experts
This weight-loss strategy actually works
The #1 eating habit for quick weight loss
20 food pairings that triple your weight loss
The #1 best fast-food order for weight loss [yes, it’s different from the #1 order for belly fat loss]
The #1 breakfast food to avoid for belly fat
The #1 best vegetable for weight loss
The #1 best toast combo for rapid weight loss
There’s more, but I can’t bear to scroll any further. It’s just too depressing. The top items on the list are: whole grain bread, Cobb salad, two egg whites plus one whole egg, a prescription pill designed to expand in your stomach to reduce hunger, fasting (which, by the way, is not eating), avocado + sprouted grain bread + cayenne pepper, a Subway veggie delite sandwich (which is essentially a lettuce sandwich), breakfast pastries (the “#1 breakfast food to avoid,” despite being a whole category of foods and not just one), and bell peppers. As for the optimal toast combo, it’s toast with “a spread.”
In short: food. If you bother to read their justifications for each item (or better yet, don’t, if you want to stay sane), you’ll find bits of truth. A Cobb salad contains eggs and meat, both sources of protein, and protein is important. A lettuce sandwich is low-calorie, and consuming fewer calories does help with weight loss.
However, eating the #1 foods from every article won’t necessarily make you healthier or cause more weight loss than if you ate none of them. That’s because weight loss is a big-picture process. If you consume fewer calories than you burn, you’ll lose weight. It doesn’t matter if those calories come from toast, in particular. There isn’t even a single “best” overall diet, let alone the best food.
And if there were a magical food that made dieting effortless, there wouldn’t be a need for a website (or multiple websites) publishing 10 different articles about 10 different miracle foods. You’d simply say, “Oh, cool, toast. Got it.” Then, you’d eat toast every day, the pounds would vanish, and the entire diet industry would crumble into dust.
In truth, neither healthy diets nor weight loss diets (which are different) depend on specific foods; they are the result of everything you eat and do combined. You can lose weight on a keto diet, a vegan diet, intermittent fasting, or even by eating egg-white omelets and lettuce sandwiches. Don’t listen to anyone who tells you that a particular food item will make or break your diet or health. Because it won’t.
