fad diet

• IPA^(key): /fæd ˈdaɪət/

fad diet (plural fad diets)

1. A restrictive diet whose main goal is short-term weight loss.
   • 1979, Nathan Pritikin, The Pritikin Program for Diet and Exercise:

     The diet revives old food friends unjustly scorned by fad diets: breads, cereals […]

   • 1981 June 3, Jane E. Brody, “Another Entry in the Annals of Fad Diets”, in New York Times‎:

     Last week, another in a seemingly endless stream of fad diets hit the best-seller list. If as many Americans as bought these miraclepromising books actually lost a significant amount of weight and kept it off, the market for future fads would soon disappear.

2. A diet that is popular only for a short time, a novelty diet; a fad in food.
   • 2009, Brandi Sentz, Kelli Glass, How to Eat Fried Chicken, and Be Thin Too, Strategic Book Publishing, →ISBN, page 33:

     Usually a fad diet will take one idea that research has shown to be somewhat beneficial and take it to the extreme. A good example of this is the statement “Eat seaweed at every meal.”