We would be lying if we said that we have never fallen prey to modern crash diets. With our fast-paced lives zipping by us, we are becoming more physically inactive by the day. This is often accompanied by a growing leniency towards unhealthy food choices. There is also a growing dependency on the couch potato lifestyle. Except of course when a big occassion is scheduled. In such a scenario, even the best of us often look up “how to lose weight in one week”, without realising the dangers of crash diets we are adopting.
The truth is that changing your lifestyle to accomodate healthy food habits and exercise routines is often an overwhelming task. There are multiple reasons – it is a long and tedious process, there are multiple “solutions” everywhere. But mostly we want results and we want them immediately. Instead of taking a holistic, albeit longer, road to fitness, we end up following the latest crash diet with the hope of dropping some serious kilos very quickly.
But, we fail to realise the dangers of crash diets
They can harm your heart
Yes, you read that correctly. Crash diets are extremely calorie deficit in nature. The Master Cleanse diet, for example, involves consumption of only water, maple syrup, lemon juice, and cayenne pepper for several days. It entirely contradicts the balanced diet that is recommended by nutritionists across the world.
A balanced diet is a healthy mix of proteins, carbohydrates, essential fats along with other macronutrients and micronutrients. These diets are strongly recommended because they provide a healthy mix of nutrients and vitamins. On the other hand, a crash diet is devoid of these nutritional benefits. When a person opts to go a crash diet, they expose their hearts to the dangers of protein-calorie malnutrition. This can lead to heart palpitations and severe cardiac duress.
They can slow down your metabolism
One thing that all these crash diets have in common is a restriction on having balanced meals. They propagate the idea of cutting out all fats, almost all the carbohydrates, and fiber from your food. When you do that, initially you lose weight rapidly. But with time, your metabolism slows down, you experience acute constipation and a generally disturbed digestive system. So, when you stop the crash diet, which you inevitably will do, you gain back all the lost weight. This is because your metabolism is now slower than earlier. It cannot process and digest the food as quickly as it used to. This effectively reverses the benefits you initially achieved from the crash diet.
They can weaken your immune system
It is a long-standing and well-established fact that food, directly or indirectly, affects your immunity. A healthy and balanced diet will keep your immune system strong and prevent you from falling sick often. When you combine a balanced diet with regular exercise, the benefits only multiply. On the other hand, when you deprive your body of nutrients by jumping on a crash diet, you unwittingly weaken your immune system. You make yourself susceptible to varied illnesses caused by germs and bacteria.
They make you believe weight loss equals health and fitness
Trending fad diets focus on only one aspect i.e. food. They promote the idea that when you lose weight you become healthy. But these diets completely miss the point. When you follow a diet that is highly calorie deficit you will lose weight quickly and easily, but you will also lose strength. Because weight loss is not equal to a healthy lifestyle. Instead, for a healthy lifestyle, experts recommend 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of rigorous exercise every week. Only when you work out sufficiently and follow a diet with a healthy balance of nutrients, you become fitter and stronger with time.
They can weaken your cardiac functioning
A study on the effects of these crash diets has revealed that the protein deficit nature of these diets can cause the blood pressure of the dieter to drop drastically. This puts them at risk of a massive cardiac arrest that can prove fatal. A single cleanse routine might not cause noticeable trouble to your heart. However, when done repeatedly, these crash diets or juice cleanses can cause the heart muscles to become malnourished and weak. As a result, the heart becomes weaker and possibly cause arrhythmias in crash dieters.
They can lead to severe dehydration
When you go on a severe crash diet, not only do you lose weight rapidly, you also lose muscle strength, bone weight, and water. You may experience weakness and feel dizzy on hot days. In fact, even mildly strenuous physical tasks can make you feel completely drained of energy. Worst of all you may experience severe dehydration. With hydration levels of the body askew, the delicate balance of minerals i.e. salts and sugar in your body gets upset leading to headaches, constipation, and lethargy.
They make you irritable
Due to the restrictive nature of these crash diets, you completely stop eating anything and everything that you like to eat. Food has a direct correlation with our mood. When forbidden from eating what we like, we tend to get irritable and easily riled up with most minor inconveniences in our day to day lives.
Despite their “acclaimed benefits”, always remember the dangers of crash diets.
What we fail to realize is that fitness is not a ready to eat can of processed food. Rather it is a slow process that requires dedication and perseverance. It is an ongoing process where you have to make decisions every day, and remember to stay on track. You constantly need to make conscious healthy choices over convenience and short cuts. As convenient as crash diets may seem, the dangers of crash diets will always be prominent and far more impactful.
Instead of looking for shortcuts, you should adopt a holistic approach towards health and fitness, a complete 360-degree change in your outlook. A conscious effort to prioritize health overweight loss, a healthy and balanced diet, combined with recommended levels of physical activity is the best, safest and the healthiest way to lose weight and become lean and fit.
If you are overweight or obese, slimming down, even slightly will significantly lower your risk of developing ailments such as diabetes and heath diseases. It will also help improve your overall health and well-being. But following a crash diet will only do more harm than any good.
