Healthy Weight Loss Why Fad Diets Make You Fat
The secret is out-There is no secret to losing weight and keeping it off!, and there are no miracle diets that will change an overweight person into a super-model overnight. If you want to lose weight safely, you must burn more calories than you consume. If you want to lose weight and still maintain a healthy diet and proper nutrition, you need to be able to recognise and avoid a fad diet when you see one. Fad diets are neither effortless nor safe weight loss programmes.
What are Fad Diets?
Fad diets come in all shapes and sizes, but they are generally easy to spot because:
- They promise dramatic, super quick results, such as a loss of more than 2 pounds per week.
- They promise that the results will come without you needing to change your lifestyle or do any exercise.
- They drastically cut the portions of food you are allowed to eat.
- They only allow you to eat certain types of foods.
Fad diets are popular because they are well-advertised and people are led to believe that they can lose massive amounts of weight in a very short time with little or no effort. They always have testimonials from people who claim to have benefitted from the diet. Because these diets are usually based loosely on scientific theories, they often sound reasonable and they may even help you to lose weight temporarily. But please beware - the benefits are often short-lived, and the potential risks can far outweigh those benefits. Fad dieting can be dangerous.
What is Wrong with Fad Diets?
Although someone may initially lose weight by following a fad diet, there are countless stories of the weight being gained rapidly as soon as the diet has ended; in many cases, the dieter gains even more weight than they lost on the diet.
Many fad diets offer a menu that is completely unhealthy and unbalanced, which can lead to health complications. Diets that promote low or no carbs may prevent a dieter from getting enough antioxidants in their diet, exposing them to greater risk of cancer. This type of diet promotes high cholesterol which can lead to heart disease, stroke and cancer. At the same time, these high-protein diets usually can lead to a calcium deficiency, leading to osteoporosis, and a deficiency in fibre, leading to chronic constipation. I certainly wouldn’t say that is a safe way to lose weight.
The theory behind high-protein, low-fat diets is this: Your body normally burns carbohydrates for energy. When deprived of the glucose present in carbs, your body will instead burn fat to produce energy. This phenomenon is called ketosis, a very unhealthy state which could lead to health problems such as gout or kidney stones. This is extreme and, luckily, can easily be avoided with the intake of some carbohydrates each day (at least 100 grams, according to WebMD.com).
For diabetics, the risk is even greater. Increased cholesterol and blood pressure present very high risks for diabetics. In addition, the reduced calorific intake associated with many fad diets can cause a quick drop in blood sugar.
So the next time you evaluate a weight loss option, the best advice is to approach your choice from more of an overall health perspective. Don't sacrifice your long-term health and overall well-being for the short-term gratification of a few temporarily lost pounds, which you’ll probably put back on in the long run. Try to find a safer way to lose weight and keep it off.
