Faddy Diets

Crash diets don't work. Find out why in this exclusive article from Bromley Health Management.

WHY DIETS FAIL

Crash diets don't work. You can shed pounds counting calories or drinking only vegetable juice but what happens as everyone knows, is we put it all back on again plus possibly some more !! Anyone who has ever dieted can look back over the years and see this familiar pattern. So why does this happen ?? Many people blame themselves due to a lack of willpower / self-control but the real underlying reason is this :

Thousands of years ago the body developed how to survive during times of starvation and these still occur today. If you put yourself on a low calorie diet the body will presume that tough times have come again ( drought, disaster,) and will 'down-regulate' - which means your metabolic rate will be lowered so that your body is able to survive on less. This would obviously be ideal if you were trying to survive an ice-age but it is not good if you are a 'diet junky' who is about to start eating cakes, biscuits again in their diet !! Each time you go back to 'normal' eating the body needs less and less to keep you going, and as a consequence stores even more as fat for when hard times may come again.

Even worse, the kind of weight that you lose on diets is often water not fat. Weight can be water, fat or muscle and if you are bloated it is often water that you lose on a crash diet. You won't be losing much fat, (the body is only capable of burning 1-2 lbs of actual fat per week.) There is no quick fix.

There are many different diets with various names including Cambridge, Beverly Hills and Atkins diet. However they will invariably be one of the following :

VERY LOW CALORIE DIETS : these usually involve meal replacement drinks. Problems related to this type of diet are (as mentioned previously), the body sees it as a time of famine so fat is stored and metabolic rate decreased, they are boring and anti-social and a person normally returns to original eating pattern when course is finished. Also there is often a low protein content that can cause breakdown of active muscle tissue and possibly degeneration of organs but not burning fat.

HIGH PROTEIN DIETS : one of the latest diet fads to come from America is the high protein, low carbohydrate diet. The theory is that protein is harder to digest and metabolise and therefore less calories are required over the day. However too much protein leads to the formation of toxic substances called ketones which can be harmful, even fatal over time. There is an increased risk of liver and kidney problems as these two organs are over worked trying to deal with the excess protein in the diet. Also you are increasing your risk of osteoporosis. This is because protein is made up of amino acids which have to be neutralised by the body through the release of calcium, an alkaline mineral, from the bones.

LOW FAT DIETS : although reduction of saturated fats is vital to weight loss, long term and yo-yo diets often exclude all fats without realising that there are 'essential fats',(omega 3 & omega 6 fats) that are vital for metabolism and without them our body simply cannot function properly. Also most low fat diets tend to be high in carbohydrates, i.e.. sugary, refined foods replace fatty foods. This then causes a blood sugar imbalance making maintaining weight very difficult.

FOOD COMBINING DIETS : DR Hay suggested food combining which means not eating carbohydrate foods at the same time as high protein foods. However it is known that protein helps to slow down the release of sugars from food to the bloodstream, helps stabalise blood sugar levels and thereby help to control weight. It is estimated that as many as 80% of the overweight have a blood sugar problem so therefore it would seem that combining carbohydrate with protein is a good idea.

SLIMMING PILLS :

Starch Blockers - these prevent carbohydrate digestion, and the theory is that if you are not digesting it then you cannot gain weight. However side effects of undigested carbohydrate in the digestive tract are bacterial and yeast infections and also terrible gas !

Chitosan - this inhibits the digestion of fat by attracting the fat to bind with it and then once bound it passes out of the body. However as well as 'bad' fats we have 'good' or 'essential' fats which as mentioned previously are vital for the body to work properly. A deficiency in these essential fats can lead to low energy, fatigue, allergy, mood swings and dry hair, nails and skin.

Drugs - some work by stopping the digestion of fats as above, and other slimming drugs are literally stimulants that suppress appetite but induce anxiety and hyperactivity and long term use will mess up the body's metabolism.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT - the con behind calorie counting.

A banana is approximately 100 calories, so if you eat one banana less every day for a year you would lose 36,500 calories. 1 pound of fat is equivalent to approx. 4,000 calories. Therefore you would lose 10lb in the first year, 50lb by the fifth year, 100lb after 10 years and then completely vanish after 15 years ??!!! All by eating one less banana a day................

Thursday, 15 March 2001

© 2001 Bromley Health Management