Google's cunning zeitgeist tool recently published a list of the most popular search terms from the last 12 months, giving a great insight into what we're all secretly obsessing about.
Our US counterparts, HuffPost Healthy Living have reported on the most searched for diets of 2012 in America and the results are an eclectic mix of celebrity endorsed diets and extreme weight-loss techniques.
While we can't replicate the exact search for a UK based audience, HuffPost UK Lifestyle have found that the Dukan diet, Cambridge diet, and Atkins diet have been among the most popular for the past year.
Have a look to see how our diet preferences compare with a US audience. Would you try any of the diets popular in the States?
The Most Googled Diets Of 2012
10. Marissa Miller Diet(01 of09)
That Victoria Secret model Marissa Miller's habits comprised the tenth most common diet search shouldn't surprise anyone. And while her looks may have more to do with winning the genetic lottery than any particular affinity for kale juice. That said, if her interview with Women's Health is any indication, she eats a healthful diet:
"I'll cook a batch of brown rice or quinoa and keep it in the fridge, so when I get hungry, I can easily dress it up with olive oil, lemon, and salt and pepper, and then add veggies," says Marisa, who often has zucchini and spinach.But perhaps it was her admission that she eats in the buff that got all those people clicking. (credit:Alamy)
9. Juicing Diet(02 of09)
Fashionable juice fasts like Blueprint Cleanse, Organic Avenue and the Salma Hayek-backed Cooler Cleanse sound great: reset the mistakes of diets past by eschewing solid food, drinking healthful fruit and vegetable juices for three-to-14 days. But the research proves little in the way of benefit. One 2003 study of adult men who fasted for eight days found that although cholesterol, insulin and nonesterified fatty acids were lower after eight days, within a week, those levels had returned to their pre-fasting rates. In other words: there was no lasting benefit to the fast. Or, as New York Times writer and resident juicing tester Judith Newman put it: "You know what it cleans out of you best? The will to live." (credit: FLICKR: LYDIA FIZZ)
8. Feeding Tube Diet(03 of09)
Also known as the K-E Diet (short for Ketogenic Enteral Nutrition), this short-lived trend diet reached a fever pitch in the Google-sphere after the New York Times profiled several women who used a nasogastric feeding tube -- developed to feed the gravely ill or injured -- in order to lose weight. The diet, which is only available at one Florida clinic, works by slowly feeding the dieter with a fat and protein-based solution, accounting for 800-calories per day over a 24-hour period. The developer of the diet, Dr. Oliver R. Di Pietro, allows patients to eat nothing else besides water, unsweetened tea and black coffee. He claims that a person can lose 20 pounds or 10 percent of their weight. As we at Healthy Living wrote at the height of the diet's publicity:
As with any restricted calorie diet, there are risks of headaches, weakness, dehydration and fatigue.Despite this -- and the tube’s dramatic appearance -- the K-E Diet isn't the most dangerous weight loss fad on the block, according to Ren-Fielding. That doesn’t mean it’s a good solution for excess weight.Any quick weight loss scheme -- whether via tube, straw or fork -- is a short-term solution. It will result in dropped pounds, but those come from lost water and muscle mass, rather than fat. The trouble with weight loss of this type is that it returns as soon as the diet ends -- and, it is more likely to return as fat, rather than muscle.(credit:Alamy)
7. NV Diet Pill(04 of09)
The NV Diet Pill, popularized by Carmen Electra, promises to burn fat, tone the body and improve the appearance of skin, nails and hair. There are no clinical studies to back up any of those claims. (credit:Alamy)
6. Miranda Kerr Diet(05 of09)
Supermodel Miranda Kerr's diet is full of healthful, nutritious foods -- she even became a certified health coach practitioner, she told Harper's Bazaar. "Rather than diet my family instilled in me a real appreciation and passion for good health and organic living. I adopt the 80/20 rule. 80 percent good, 20 percent indulgent and that works for me and my body personally," she said, adding that she drinks warm water with lemon and alkalined water all day, as well as noni juice -- a healthful fruit juice from her native Australia. In the same interview, Kerr said that she did her best to follow Dr. Peter D'Adamo's controversial Blood Type Diet. (credit:AP)
5. Adriana Lima Diet(06 of09)
The very new mother recently walked in the Victoria Secret fashion show, prompting some curiosity about the supermodel's super weight loss abilities. According to a report in The Telegraph, she stuck to an all-liquid diet for nine days before the event:
Lima drinks a gallon of water a day. For nine days before the show, she will drink only protein shakes -- "no solids." The concoctions include powdered egg. Two days before the show, she will abstain from the daily gallon of water, and "just drink normally". Then, 12 hours before the show, she will stop drinking entirely.This isn't so much a diet for health as a crash weight loss strategy for a particular event -- one that may not work and that can cause a host of health problems, like dizziness, nausea and exhaustion. Perhaps not what Googlers had in mind. (credit:Getty Images)
4. P.I.N.K. Method Diet(07 of09)
The P.I.N.K. Method was designed specifically for women, and stands for "power, intensity, nutrition, and kardio."Heather Mangieri, MS, RD, a spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics reviewed the diet program and found that, while some of the advice was great -- such as encouraging physical activity and nutrient-rich foods -- some of the health claims made her uncomfortable. "Even in the best circumstances, many of the claims are overstated and not based on research," Mangieri told WebMD. "Foods are not fat burners and not everyone is going to rejuvenate skin, hair, and nails, and heighten their energy and libido on this plan." (credit:Amazon)
3. Raspberry Ketone Diet(08 of09)
After Dr. Mehmet Oz called raspberry ketones "the number one miracle in a bottle," interest in the supplement skyrocketed. As we wrote previously, raspberry ketones stimulate the production of adiponectin, a hormone found in fatty tissue that improves our ability to metabolize fat. Studies show that thin people have higher levels of adiponectin than overweight and obese people. But does that mean that taking the supplement will actually result in weight loss? That logical leap has yet to bear out in the research, which has only been conducted on mice and not humans. (credit:shutterstock)
1. Michael Phelps Diet(09 of09)
Record-breaking, history-making Olympic great Michael Phelps is nearly as well known for his reported 12,000 calorie a day training diet as he is for prowess in the pool.Never mind that his actual game-time calorie intake is a more modest 4,000, according to USA Today. Given the nature of his carbo-loading ways (necessary for his massively rigorous training schedule), we can only imagine that this diet search was merely a way to satisfy curiosity and not a search for meaningful health information. (credit:AP)