Recently I listened to a hilarious and thoughtful interview with Rebecca Harrington, author of the book, “I’ll Have What She’s Having.” In the book Harrington examines and explores a bunch of celebrity diets and actually commits to all of them for period of time.

Many of the diets border on the absurd while others require a top chef to be considered palatable. For example, The Five Hands Diet championed by Victoria Beckham only allows five small handfuls of food – usually nuts or some lean protein – a day. The famous designer Karl Lagerfeld insists on only drinking Diet Coke with an odd nightcap of roasted quail.

Some of the diets actually followed thoughtful planning and execution, but were also expensive if not tedious. Gwyneth Paltrow’s diet, though effective, cost, on average, $200 a week – For many that’s an entire month’s worth of groceries for an entire family! If that wasn’t expensive enough, Jackie Kennedy’s diet consisted of caviar and baked potatoes.

The more successful diets followed by Beyoncé and Madonna were so strict that they bordered on torture. Committing to them long-term seems next to impossible. Madonna’s diet and workout program in particular seemed to be put together by the Gulag.

The huge takeaway from Harrington’s book is that extreme diets, even the ones promoted by celebrities, are simply not beneficial or effective. Sure they may slim us down for a period of time, but in terms of our overall longevity and health, they are pretty much a waste of time and money, not to mention nutrients. So many of these diets amount to just a fancy way of starving ourselves in a most unhealthy manner.

A big factor that seems to dictate a lot of these kinds of diets is an inherent lack of patience. Perhaps the constant spotlight doesn’t allow them a whole lot of time or wiggle room, especially when the media can be quite cruel. The expectations put upon their appearances by themselves and others are often next to impossible to maintain hence all the radical diets. While this may be understandable, as far as their health is concerned, it’s almost tragic. Fitness and wellbeing begin from the inside out. I can’t emphasize this enough. It’s most definitely not about being at the mercy of other’s expectations all the time. Looking good is great, but feeling good is so much better!

Have any Warriorz out there had any luck or experience with a celebrity diet? Any funny stories?