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Dieting - Dangers of dieting

Dieting - Dangers of dieting: Encyclopedia II - Dieting - Dangers of dieting

Strange or extreme diets can be very dangerous, and they are often ineffective. If one seeks the sensible and popular ideal of being lean and athletic, then starvation diets are counterproductive. Dieting - Diet pills. There are many diet pills for sale, some which are associated with comprehensive dietary programs. Many such pills, including many of those containing vitamins and ...

Dieting: Encyclopedia II - Dieting - Dangers of dieting

Dieting - Dangers of dieting

Strange or extreme diets can be very dangerous, and they are often ineffective. If one seeks the sensible and popular ideal of being lean and athletic, then starvation diets are counterproductive.

Dieting - Diet pills

There are many diet pills for sale, some which are associated with comprehensive dietary programs. Many such pills, including many of those containing vitamins and minerals, are not effective for losing weight.

Some drugs enable short-term weight loss, usually with unpleasant and potentially dangerous side effects. The drugs include (physiologically active) herbal products available at health food stores, as well as over-the-counter (OTC) and prescribed medications provided by doctors and pharmacists.

Typically these drugs fall into two classes: diuretics to induce water-weight loss and stimulants (such as ephedrine) to increase heart rate and reduce appetite. Both classes of drugs can cause kidney and liver damage, and stimulants can cause sudden heart attacks and addiction.

Dieting - Yo-yo dieting

Yo-yo dieting is defined by alternating periods of feast and famine (that the dieter deliberately undertakes). It is a particularly ineffective method of sustaining weight loss.

The human body responds to starvation by decreasing metabolism. When food is again available, it is stored immediately as fat. This survival mechanism, while a useful response to genuine food scarcity, leaves the yo-yo dieter feeling lethargic and fatigued (and defeated).

Metabolism can be restored to a higher level with exercise and a sensible weight-loss diet. This diet is defined by the minimum safe caloric intake of 75 percent of the basal metabolic rate or 4200 kilojoules (1000 Calories), whichever is greater. (Those eating less should do so only under medical supervision. Parents and guardians should consult medical professionals before placing their children on any type of diet.)

Once an ideal weight is attained, a weight-maintenance diet is essential. This requires limiting excess caloric intake and making small changes in caloric intake in response to physical observations (of one's weight and appearance).

Dieting - Scientific analysis of the dangers of fasting

While anyone can lose weight by fasting (temporarily stopping one's food intake altogether), it is an extremely dangerous practice. When concentration camp survivors, who involuntarily suffered famine as a result of the horrendous living conditions, were examined by doctors, what little weight they had was mostly fat, with practically no muscle.

The reason for the muscle loss is due to the fact that the brain cannot rely on fat for fuel. The brain can only rely on glucose and, to an extent, ketones to fuel itself. Ketones can be made from fats. When carbohydrates are initially limited, the brain still relies heavily on glucose for fuel, but after roughly 2-3 weeks the brain will gradually change its fuel usage to ketones. However, the brain can never use ketones to fuel itself 100%; at least 15% of its fuel must come from glucose. Due to the fact that fasts, very low calorie diets, and low-carbohydrate diets restrict the intake of carbohydrates, glucose must be obtained from some other source. Therefore, the body creates glucose from the available amino acids. These, in turn, are derived from dietary protein or from muscle, if dietary protein is insufficient. For this reason, any low carbohydrate diet is potentially hazardous: if protein intake is not adequate, muscle loss will result. This conversion of amino acids to glucose is called gluconeogenesis.

A very low calorie diet that restricts all carbohydrates and non-essential fats, while providing just enough dietary protein to prevent muscle loss, is termed a protein sparing modified fast or PSMF. This is possible when dietary protein is sufficient to meet the body's glucose needs via gluconeogenesis conversion, thus sparing muscle protein. After a good deal of experimentation, it was found that a protein intake of 1 - 1.5 grams of protein per kilogram of ideal bodyweight prevented the loss of body protein. A somewhat "safer" (although higher calorie) intake of .8 to 1.2 grams of protein per pound of LBM is often recommended, with even greater requirements for active individuals. Thus, a PSMF allows for rapid fat loss due to the severe caloric deficit that is created when nearly all carbohydrates and fats are removed from the diet. As with any VLCD, the PSMF is an extreme dieting technique subject to the same potential hazards: hormonal changes, rapid metabolic slowdown, nutrient deficiencies, and other side effects, and should be used with extreme caution.

The "safest" method of weight loss, to avoid rapid metabolic slowdown and possible muscle loss, is to eat a sensible, healthy diet while moderately decreasing caloric intake, and to increase exercise gradually until weight loss results. A good guideline to follow would be to create a calorie deficit of roughly 20% of normal daily caloric intake (calculate your daily caloric intake). Half of the deficit should be created through diet and the other half through exercise. This should allow one to lose fat, and maintain muscle mass, therefore curbing the metabolic slowdown associated with a reduction in bodyweight. Weight lifting is also a good guideline to follow as it has been shown to cause a response in the body to maintain muscle stores, and even stimulate muscle growth in untrained individuals, while on a caloric deficit.