Why You Should Avoid Dangerous Fad Diets For Safe Weight Loss
Their claims of rapid weight loss are tempting, not only for people who need to lose weight fast, but also for people who don’t want to wait around to experience ‘typical’ weight loss results. But, the dangers of fad diets, and your desire to be healthy, should outweigh the small benefit of rapid weight loss with a fad diet. In fact, they should cause you to avoid dangerous fad diets at all costs.
Don’t Care About The Health Risks? How About This Fact?
First, it is important to note that if you want to lose weight fast, then weight is probably your biggest concern, and the health risks may take a back seat. In fact, many people try out a fad diet regardless of what they hear about health risks.
If that sounds like you, then you need to know that besides the health risks that are associated with fad diets, the chance of gaining all of the weight back (and maybe even more) is very high! This is fine if you don’t mind being at your ideal weight for a bit, but then ballooning up again to a weight that you hate. But if you want to keep the weight off forever, then a fad diet is not for you.
“When you’re done with the diet, and you go back to eating the way you used to, you’re likely to gain back the weight, and maybe more.” WebMD
The reason is that dangerous fad diets are not a change in lifestyle. Fad diets typically call for a drastic calorie reduction or a sharp change in habits. Most people can stick to it until the weight is off, but then return to more comfortable eating habits once they diet has done its ‘magic’. Of course, increasing calorie intake or returning to old habits causes the weight to come back on, and eventually it becomes time for another fad diet.
When you change your lifestyle and start incorporating healthy eating habits and consistent exercise, you lose weight slowly, but that weight tends to stay off – unless you go back to your old lifestyle.
Things Could Go Very Wrong
Losing weight is great for diabetes, right? Not if you engage in a fad diet in order to do it.
Certain fad diets can cause a diabetic’s blood sugar to spike downwards. The issue is that a person with diabetes cannot regular blood sugar in the same way a person living without diabetes can. This means that diabetics need to monitor their blood sugar more often to ensure they are giving themselves the right amount of medication to avoid issues. The health risks of low blood sugar are fainting, seizure, and even coma.
Moreover, the type of diet you choose could cause other problems. For instance, a drastic low carb diet causes your body to go into ketosis (your body burns its fat for fuel). The problem is that diabetics could experience hypoglycemia (deficiency of glucose) before they reach ketosis. This could lead to seizures or unconsciousness, which could have fatal effects.
Other Risks That Come
If you are a healthy person, then engaging in a fad diet could still cause problems (besides the probability of gaining the weight back). This includes:
- Dehydration
- Fatigue
- Weakness
- Headaches
- Constipation
- Lack of nutrients
- Nausea
- Fainting
- Increased risk of heart disease
- Kidney problems
- Development of eating disorders
All of these things can impact a person now and in the future in a negative way. For instance, if someone continues to engage in fad diets, the accumulation of continuous stress on the body, both physically and mentally, can lead to disastrous and life-threatening illnesses, such as heart attack, stroke, low immune system, and diabetes. Therefore, the desire to be healthy should be a huge reason to avoid dangerous fad diets.