When it comes to losing weight, there are no shortcuts. Some ‘hard to digest’ facts about fad diets are presented in this article.
Just as a car needs proper gasoline to run smoothly, the body needs proper nutrients to function properly. Since people are becoming health conscious, they are opting for various diets to keep their body healthy. However, at the same time, obesity has also become a common concern worldwide, due to which more people are opting for fitness training. Young men and women seem to be crazy about fad diets because of their popularity.
What are Fad Diets?
Diets that promise excessive or rather miraculous weight loss are known as fad diets. These diets are very difficult to maintain and very restrictive, as they are designed for quick weight loss. Actually, very few fad diets are based on scientific information, and most people follow these diets due to their popularity. Such diets can lead to various health complications, as they are unbalanced and unhealthy.
Side Effects
- These diets do not recommend increased physical activity as part of their plan. Also, they may have some negative effects on people affected by diabetes or high blood pressure.
- These diets generally recommend the consumption of foods of just one particular group, avoiding others. This is completely unhealthy, as proteins, fats, and carbohydrates are essential to maintain your health.
- Following such a diet may result in insomnia, fatigue, low blood pressure, kidney diseases, malnutrition, dehydration, or diarrhea. Also, people on these diets have been reported to have gained weight after stopping the diet.
- Such diets can be beneficial, if with the initial quick weight loss, one gets motivated and tries hard to maintain the weight. The person might then start consuming healthy food and willingly opt for a healthy lifestyle.
- Such diets aren’t feasible as life-long eating plans, even though they claim that they are easy to follow. Since this diet is followed to suddenly lose weight, it affects the body and people gain weight after a short period of time.
- Most fad diets being low fat and low carb diets, cannot help you stay satiated. The diets which make you replace meals with shakes or meal replacement bars often leave you unsatisfied, and one cannot follow them for a long period of time.
- Overweight people should not opt for starvation techniques for the sake of losing massive amounts of weight in a short period of time. The body needs some time to adapt to a certain diet, and suddenly cutting off its usual calorie intake is only going to make things worse.
- Following a balanced diet, developing good eating habits, maintaining sleep patterns, and regularly exercising can definitely help lose weight permanently. Most of the time, the diets that are designed to lose weight fast, make a person deficient in necessary vitamins, minerals, and proteins.
Hence, following a healthy diet that not only keeps the pounds off, but also provides the right balance of calories and nutrition is essential to maintain proper weight for your height and age. This, of course, requires a lifestyle change.
If a fad diet, is followed for a long time, it may lead to potential health hazards. For a safe, effective, and long term weight loss, one should get an appropriate number of calories from a balanced diet. The diet should be rich in fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free dairy products. Also, one should avoid fast foods and be physically active at all times.