Has your belt moved a notch when you weren't looking? Have all your clothes suddenly "shrunk?" Are you 10-15 pounds heavier than you'd like to be?

You're not alone if this describes you – and like many Americans anxious to look their best, you are probably desperate to try just about anything to shrink your waistline – fast.

Here is the bad news. There are a lot of fad diets in circulation that promise rapid weight loss, frequently by overemphasizing one particular food or type of food. Sometimes these unhealthy diets are even rumored to come from the American Heart Association. For example, last year a "cabbage soup" diet, which recommended a very limited menu, was erroneously promoted as being endorsed by the association.

"Many fad diets, like the cabbage soup diet, take advantage of people's desire for instant results by creating the myth that certain foods – in this case cabbage - have magical weight loss properties," says Robert H. Eckel, M.D., a member of the American Heart Association's Nutrition Committee and professor of medicine and physiology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver.

"Diets that overemphasize one particular food or food group are usually grossly unbalanced nutritionally and leave out a major component of any weight loss or maintenance plan, which is exercise." says Dr. Eckel.

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