Why Fad Diets Are Dangerous
Fad diets are just that, fads. Also known as crash diets, these are designed to facilitate quick weight loss. These diets severely restrict your food intake forcing your body to shed pounds faster. Generally, they rely on certain miracle foods or on eliminating a food group to help lose weight. These diets will also require you to drastically alter the way you eat. And they all claim immediate weight loss. Such extreme measures however dont generally work and you might end up with a higher weight or even some serious medical condition. Here in this article we will take a closer look at the various detrimental effects of such fad diets.
Fad Diets: The Dangers
Here are some of the major dangers of following fad diets:
Metabolic Problems: Fad diets tend to mess up the bodys metabolism. When you drastically restrict your food intake, your bodys metabolism slows down. As a result of this, the body holds on to the few calories you eat. When you jump off the diet, your body will not use food efficiently and you might actually gain weight. This is the major reason why people following fad diet plans end up yo-yo dieting. First they lose weight on the fad diet plan and when they drop out of the diet they almost instantly put on weight because of the slow metabolism.
Nutritional Deficiency: Crash diets mainly depend on excluding food groups entirely, which deprives your body of proper nutrition. The natural minerals, vitamins and nutrients that the body receives through a balanced diet are important for the proper functioning of the body. As the nutrient stores in your body become depleted, the body starts to suffer. You will start shedding hair frequently, your nails will become brittle and you may even get dark circles under the eyes. These effects are a direct result of your body not getting sufficient nutrients because of you being on a fad diet.
Muscle Loss: Fad diets generally claim that you can lose weight without exercising. The combined effect of nutritional deficiency and no exercising because of the fad diet may result in weight loss, but not all that weight may be fat. Muscle weighs more compared to fat, but it is lost just as easily as fat. Muscles also help to burn calories when you are resting. So losing muscle may lower your total body weight, but it may actually prove to be detrimental for your weight loss efforts in the long run.
You need to get one thing clear in your head. There is no short cut to weight loss. Following such fad diets will only put your health at risk. Healthy eating and exercising is the key to permanent and healthy weight loss.
Fad Diets: The Dangers
Here are some of the major dangers of following fad diets:
Metabolic Problems: Fad diets tend to mess up the bodys metabolism. When you drastically restrict your food intake, your bodys metabolism slows down. As a result of this, the body holds on to the few calories you eat. When you jump off the diet, your body will not use food efficiently and you might actually gain weight. This is the major reason why people following fad diet plans end up yo-yo dieting. First they lose weight on the fad diet plan and when they drop out of the diet they almost instantly put on weight because of the slow metabolism.
Nutritional Deficiency: Crash diets mainly depend on excluding food groups entirely, which deprives your body of proper nutrition. The natural minerals, vitamins and nutrients that the body receives through a balanced diet are important for the proper functioning of the body. As the nutrient stores in your body become depleted, the body starts to suffer. You will start shedding hair frequently, your nails will become brittle and you may even get dark circles under the eyes. These effects are a direct result of your body not getting sufficient nutrients because of you being on a fad diet.
Muscle Loss: Fad diets generally claim that you can lose weight without exercising. The combined effect of nutritional deficiency and no exercising because of the fad diet may result in weight loss, but not all that weight may be fat. Muscle weighs more compared to fat, but it is lost just as easily as fat. Muscles also help to burn calories when you are resting. So losing muscle may lower your total body weight, but it may actually prove to be detrimental for your weight loss efforts in the long run.
You need to get one thing clear in your head. There is no short cut to weight loss. Following such fad diets will only put your health at risk. Healthy eating and exercising is the key to permanent and healthy weight loss.