Everybody we know is dieting these days! Be it a special K diet or the Mediterranean diet, everyone is jumping on the dieting wagon to lose weight. Dieting is regulating the intake of food into the body, to achieve a desired weight loss. Throw the word ‘crash’ ahead of diet and what you get is a potent recipe for disaster! Crash dieting, a restrictive type of dieting is one of the harsher ways to lose weight, on the body.
Crash dieting has long been the instant answer to rapid weight loss, but is this diet healthy? Is it harming us in the long run? Are the instant results of weight loss, worthy enough of depriving our body of its nutrition? The answer is ‘No’ to all! Weight loss achieved by crash dieting works on a yo-yo basis; weight lost due is gained immediately after stopping the diet! Not only this but individuals who opt for repeated crash dieting put themselves at a number of health risks.
So what is Crash Dieting?
Crash dieting is the most restrictive type of dieting which is designed to produce a considerable decrease in the body weight! The diet exchanges your normal food intake with meager food, concentrating on the reduction of calories in your body. Crash dieting makes you lose a lot of weight but in the form of water from your body, which causes you to gain back the weight immediately. Drastic reduction of food input puts your body into the ‘starvation mode’ and it begins to derive the needed energy from muscles, tissues and even bones, making you highly vulnerable towards many health risks!
Health risks associated with repeated Crash Dieting
Crash dieting with its low calorie intake and sudden weight loss can cause many health problems for its regular practitioners!
Following is a list of health risks that are associated with Crash dieting
Irregular Periods in Women: The sudden weight loss and the immediate gain back of the weight, due to the yo-yo effect of crash dieting sends conflicting signals to the brain! This leads to a hormonal imbalance in the body which causes irregular periods in women who opt for crash dieting. An irregular menstrual cycle further increases their chances of infertility.- Organ Damage: As crash dieting promotes a severe reduction in the calorie and carbohydrate intake, this directly puts your organs at risk! A lack of calories and carbohydrates means that the organs don’t get their required fuel and they begin burning their own muscle tissue to gain the needed energy! Vital organs such as your heart, liver, kidney and the brain face damage due to the crash diets!
- Blood Pressure: Crash dieting with its emphasis on low calorie intake, deprives the body of Potassium and other possible sources of salt, thereby causing Sodium depletion which causes low Blood Pressure.
- Anemia: Crash dieting encourages reducing the intake of food drastically. This defies the body of its precious vitamins and nutrients, particularly vitamin B-12 and Folate which lead to anemia, as both of them are essential for the formation of Red Blood Cells.
- Depression: Lowering the intake of food, means lowering the intake of nutrients! Nutrients such as vitamin B and Vitamin C are needed for the production of serotonin and dopamine, which are neurotransmitters. A lack of these two in our bodies will cause depression and irritability.
- Osteoporosis: Calcium is needed by the body for maintenance of strong bones. Crash dieting results in our body being denied of calcium sources, which leads to calcium from the bones being used by the body leaving them weak and fragile. This condition is known as Osteoporosis.
- Lowered Metabolism: Severe curtailment of food intake sends the body into ‘starvation mode’ and this result in the body lowering its metabolism. A lowered metabolism rate helps the body survive off less food. This particular occurrence is also the reason, why
crash dieters tend to gain weight quickly once they stop dieting, as the body requires fewer calories than before!
- Fat build up: Crash Dieting results in the body storing away fat for later use and instead burns muscle for the needed energy to function properly. This stored fat along with lowered metabolism leads to weight gain once the individual stops dieting!
- Hair loss: Repeated crash dieting can reduce the levels of vitamins and nutrients in the body, which can make hair dry, lifeless and brittle leading to hair loss. It can also cause the skin to lose its glow and appear dry and parched, sometimes a change in skin color is also observed in regular crash dieters!
- Platform for Eating Disorders: Repeated crash dieting to reduce weight might also serve as a platform for serious eating disorders such as Anorexia Nervosa (avoiding food altogether)and Bulimia Nervosa (immediate purging of food after eating). These eating disorders however pose a higher level of health risk than crash dieting!
Is there any alternative to Crash dieting?
Yes, there is an alternative to Crash dieting. A balanced diet along with moderate exercise is the best alternative to crash dieting! And if you are really keen on dropping those ungainly pounds, a safe bet would be to keep a realistic goal of losing 1-2 kgs every two weeks by following a proper diet and exercising regularly for atleast 30 minutes a day! During this period, you would be well advised to stay off junk food, artificial sweeteners and saturated fat.
Do remember that when you lose weight by Crash dieting, you are also losing your health along with it!
