First of all, let's agree that a "diet" is simply a list of the foods you eat, can eat, or should eat. Unfortunately, however, today when we hear or see the word "diet" we tend to think of some special way of eating in order to lose weight. In most instances, such diets should more properly be called fad diets...or worse.
One of the worst things about a diet is that it begins to restrict food intake in some way or another. While it is apparently obvious that eating fewer calories may result in a weight loss, many people do not realize that restricting calories and nutritional variety can have several hidden dangers.
It is fairly easy to realize, once we think about it, that we require many different nutrients to remain healthy, and creating a broad list of nutritional no-no's increases our chances of having a negative impact on our health...even if we DO manage to lose weight in the process.
One of the less obvious effects, however, is that dieting may actually impact our metabolism in a negative way.
If we cut calories drastically, our body may decide to slow down its resting metabolic rate. For the process of burning calories (i.e. either burning fat or burning calories from food before it can become fat), a higher metabolic rate is desired as this helps us get rid of unwanted or unneeded calories. Our bodies are equipped with a mechanism which interprets a sudden, drastic drop in calories as a potential famine. At that point, it automatically cuts down the calories it needs to carry out normal activities.
Even worse, most people will eventually go off their diet, but their bodies will not raise their metabolic rate back to its previous level. Once off the diet, most people will go back to eating the same amount of food as before, but now their body will burn fewer calories, resulting in a weight gain. Many people try diet after diet, experiencing the same process over and over again. This yo-yo dieting, as it is called, actually results in weight gain rather than weight loss.
Another effect is that of loss of lean muscle tissue. When people drastically cut calories and nutritional intake, as happens on many fad diets, the body will have to search for alternate sources of energy and repair materials. Since the food being taken in is not enough, the body will rob Peter to pay Paul, tearing down tissue to satisfy its needs for energy and building materials.
It is obvious that such a situation cannot be healthy in itself, but it also has a bad affect on metabolism as well. Often, much of the tissue which is broken down is lean muscle tissue which is necessary to the higher metabolism needed to lose weight or at least keep it from going up. As lean muscle tissue diminishes, the metabolic rate decreases, thus making it harder to control your weight.
Also, exercise is an important component of a healthy weight loss or weight management program. Regular, moderate exercise not only raises the metabolic rate during the duration of the exercise itself, but results in an elevated metabolic rate for some time after the exercise is ended, resulting in weight loss. If someone diets too drastically, they may actually rob themselves not only of the raw materials their body will need to conduct normal activities, but they may also find their energy level becoming lower, making it harder for them to engage in physical activity which can help them lose weight.
So, at the very least, drastic dieting, as opposed to healthy eating, can result in poor health, lower energy, weight gain, and, in extreme cases, can even result in death.
About the Author
Donovan Baldwin is a freelance writer living in Copperas Cove, Texas. He is a University of West Florida alumnus, a member of Mensa and the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, and is retired from the U. S. Army after 21 years of service. In his career, he has held many managerial and supervisory positions. However, his main pleasures have long been writing, nature, health, and fitness. In the last few years, he has been able to combine these pleasures by writing poetry and articles on subjects such as health, fitness, yoga, weightlifting, weight loss, the environment, global warming, happiness, self improvement, life and the arts. He has a collection of articles on health, fitness, diet, and weight loss at http://nodiet4me.com/articledirectory/.
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