Popular diets have been proven to cause lasting damage to your body, science shows

At some point, almost everyone has considered dieting for one reason or another. For many, it’s losing a few pounds. For others, it is about “building up” during strength training. While being mindful and aware of what you eat is a healthy decision, there is a difference between cleaning up your meals and going to the extreme. As many experts will repeat, diets are not successful in the long run as many people revert to their old ways, causing them to put on weight or lose their gains.

In fact, one of the biggest problems with extreme and fad diets is that they are not sustainable. They force you to temporarily change how much and what you eat, but don’t necessarily teach you anything about healthier eating in the long run, says Dr. Josh Ax, DNM, CNS, DC, author and founder of Ancient Nutrition. More importantly, there are many popular diets that can cause damage to your body, so it’s essential to think twice before diving into any of these fads. Here’s what you need to know about these current fad diets, and for healthier weight loss tips, be sure to check out our list of 15 Underrated Weight Loss Tips That Actually Work.

You probably have at least one friend who is a strong supporter of the keto diet. In this diet, you severely restrict carbohydrates while increasing your fat and protein intake. One of the reasons this approach is so popular is because you lose a lot of weight very quickly. However, while this study shows that the keto diet can be an effective treatment for epilepsy, the long-term effects of the ketogenic diet in the general population are largely unknown, warns Serena Poon, a celebrity chef and nutritionist.

Its main concern with keto is that it tends to force people to overdose on meat and neglect plant-based foods.

“Vegetables and fruits are important sources of vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients and antioxidants that really support optimal health,” says Poon. “A diet that lacks these foods can leave you with nutrient deficiencies and unprotected against disease.”

Plus, she adds that a diet high in red meat and saturated fat increases inflammation, which is a precursor to most chronic diseases.

Here’s why you need antioxidants in your diet and how to eat more of them.

“I’m on juice cleansing” is a common phrase on sitcoms, especially when a character is trying to lose a lot of weight in a short period of time.

In reality, this approach to eating is not sustainable, can be uncomfortable, and is not good news for your overall health. As Dr Ax explains, detox-type juice cleanses (like the Master Cleanse or the Chou Soup Diet) are generally very restrictive and low in calories, which can be helpful for rapid weight loss.

“However, they can also end up negatively impacting your metabolic rate,” he says. “This is obviously the last thing you want when trying to improve your body composition.”

Why is this happening? When we don’t give our body enough energy through calories, it is forced to go into a metabolic state that many call “ starvation mode. ”

“This means you need fewer calories each day just to maintain your weight, which makes weight loss and even long-term maintenance difficult,” he says. In addition, you will also lose muscle mass!

Here are 10 signs that a cleansing juice is wrong.

To put it bluntly, Keith Thomas-Ayoob, EdD, RD, FAND, calls this diet ridiculous. With this dietary approach, you cut down on acidic foods, which claims to lead to poor health. Instead, you fill your meals with alkaline foods, which are said to help your body balance its pH and be beneficial. But as Thomas-Ayoob says, there is little credible science to back this up, and our bodies are well equipped to deal with acid-alkali balance and pH. And our diet has little impact on this function.

“This diet cuts out many nutritious foods, including fish, whole grains, and dairy products, all of which contain nutrients that are hard to get from other food groups,” he says. “It is quite low in omega-3 fatty acids for example, because oily fish (and almost all fish) are prohibited, as are nuts like walnuts, which also contain omega-3 fatty acids.”

This is dangerous because omitting good sources of omega-3s is not ideal for promoting optimal heart health. Additionally, Thomas-Ayoob says that minimizing dairy is a great way to limit your ability to get enough calcium, a nutrient of concern because most people fail to get enough calcium.

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First things first: Poon says that a pure plant-based diet can promote optimal health. However, going from a meat eater to a vegan will require essential changes and the right food choices. As Poon puts it, all too often she says people will “ go vegans ” but then fill their diets mostly with meat substitutes, like vegan wrappers and fast food.

“These are still processed foods, and while they may theoretically be better than a mainstream brand, they are generally not healthy foods,” she says. “Many packaged foods contain processed ingredients, such as refined grains, added sugar, and oils that can lead to inflammation, which is a precursor to most diseases.”

If you choose to use herbal plants, Poon focuses on consuming a range of healthy herbs and supplementing with vitamins and minerals that your diet may be lacking.

No, you don’t eat reptiles on this diet. However, it will probably still scare you. As Dr. Ax explains, this approach involves eating a giant meal every other day – and nothing else. It is believed to result in rapid weight loss via prolonged fasting. There are several stages to eating, the first being getting about 3,500 calories per week, which is far less than average adult needs.

“It doesn’t emphasize the importance of nutritional quality and it’s hard to put into practice if you’re someone who enjoys eating socially with others,” he says. “Fasting can also be difficult for some people, leading to problems such as brain fog, mood swings and trouble sleeping.

As it seems, the military regime is highly regulated and repetitive. As Dr. Ax explains, this approach usually involves eating the same foods over and over while keeping an insufficient calorie intake. It might only consume 800 to 1,100 calories several days a week.

“The meals included in this diet are somewhat unusual and not necessarily the most nutritious, consisting of foods like cottage cheese, eggs, salted crackers and ice cream,” he says.

Proponents of this diet claim that you can lose up to “10 pounds in less than a week.”

“But remember, just because the number on the scale may drop while following such a diet doesn’t mean your body composition or your health actually improves,” he says. “A reduction in body fat may be associated with improvements in markers like insulin sensitivity, but weight loss alone can mean you’re losing mass in other areas that you don’t want to include. muscle mass. “

Plus, when you don’t eat enough, it negatively impacts your brain and your ability to focus, remember things, and be creative.

“You are more likely to feel tired, sluggish, and confused if you are not properly fed, and you may even find that you get sick more easily because the stress of dieting can take a toll on your immune system.” , he said. .

Here’s the deal: The HCG diet involves taking the hormone HCG with the aim of shedding a pound. This is the hormone produced in the body during pregnancy and is usually only given with a prescription for infertility.

Although most experts warn against the HCG diet, Poon says some people still try it because of the promise of rapid weight loss. Not only is it dangerous to take HCG (unless your doctor tells you to), it is also both problematic and harmful to limit calories so much.

On this diet, Poon explains that you only eat 500 calories per day. Yes, that’s right: 500!

“You can lose weight quickly mainly due to calorie restriction, but you can also experience symptoms like fatigue, depression, blood clots, irregular heartbeat, vitamin deficiency, or electrolyte imbalance,” she says. “The risks definitely outweigh the benefits of this one. I would avoid this diet no matter what.”

In addition to these diets, you might want to check out our list of the most unhealthy diets of 2020, according to experts.