In the world of showbiz, body image is paramount. Celebrities live their lives in the public eye and everything about them and what they do is scrutinized. They are walking advertisements for every new quick fix diet.

      When Jennifer Aniston first announced her devotion to the Atkins Diet, suddenly everyone was on it. Likewise for the South Beach Diet, the GI Diet, and the Zone.

      People look at slim celebrities, find out what diet they're on and think if they go on it, it will give them a celebrity figure.

      The sheer volume of ¡ynew' diets on the market begs the question: if they are all supposedly successful, why do none of them stand the test of time?

      Because fad diets amount to little more than crash dieting, and for the majority of people, they simply do no work. Most of them involve excluding a group of foods from your diet.  This is not sustainable or good for your health in the long-term.

      ¡uIt is worth noting that up to 80 deaths have been attributed to these diets in the past,¡v says Irish dietitian Niamh O'Connor. ¡uA fad diet usually results in dramatic weight loss, rather than slow safe weight reduction. There is a profound difference between these two concepts.¡v

      She explains that rapid weight loss results in the loss of muscle and water and this leads to a reduced metabolic rate (the rate at which the body uses energy). So when someone returns to a regular eating pattern, they put on weight easier because their metabolic rate is lower than it was before the diet.

      ¡uFad diets do not attempt to address any aspect of your health ¡V they simply focus on weight loss, irrespective of the proportion of fat or muscle that is lost in the process,¡v she adds.

      Recently I realized I've been on some sort of a diet for the past seven years. I'm 21 and have never struggled with my weight.

      Why am I, along with so many others, obsessed with every morsel of food that touches my lips?