Don’t diet to lose weight. The simple and straightforward reason is that diets tend to cause more harm than good.
The major reason obesity is on the rise is because of the inactive lifestyle adopted by many. This is further amplified by poor eating habits. And, when a major event comes up, even the best of us try to find ways to lose weight quickly. When you follow a diet that promises quick results, you get caught in a vicious circle. You experience rapid weight loss at the cost of poor health. When you come off the diet, you put on all the weight you lost, plus some more. This does more harm than good because it does not even treat the real reason why you are putting on weight.
For example, a person might be suffering from an underlying health condition that may be causing the weight gain. They may not realize that, and hence not get it treated. They may instead mindlessly go on a crash diet just because their favorite celebrity benefited from it. In such a case, it can cause irreparable damage and even worsen the health condition.
Plus, the diets that you find on the Internet are there for the masses. They are generalized, and not meant for your needs and requirements alone. They tend to follow the cookie-cutter approach and fail to fulfill individual requirements. Since they do not take your personal needs into account, they do not look into health conditions, lineage, food choices, etc.
When you follow a diet that eliminates all fats from the diet – even the good ones, you risk robbing your joints off lubrication. It also causes digestive issues by hurting our gut. Other nutrient deficiencies that can rear their ugly head on account of a crash diet include anemia, extreme hair fall, constipation, constant fatigue, etc.
They can mess up the body’s metabolism and affect its ability to burn calories effectively. When you go on an extreme diet, your metabolism slows down because there aren’t too many calories to burn in the first place. When you inevitably stop dieting because of the unsustainable nature of the diet, your metabolism is a lot slower. It cannot keep up with the onslaught of calories and as a result, you end up gaining more weight than you had initially lost.
Our bodies are self-sufficient in many ways. One of which is shielding itself from infections and illnesses. It is the body’s immune system that helps ensure that you don’t fall sick often. Nutrient deficit diets that promise weight loss can weaken the immune system and breach the body’s self-defense mechanism making you susceptible to diseases.
If you fall prey to a crash diet that is protein deficit in nature you can weaken your heart’s muscle tissues. As a result, the heart is unable to pump enough blood across the body which can cause a fatal drop in the blood pressure and if left unchecked, lead to a cardiac arrest or arrhythmias. It is a very heavy price to pay in exchange for losing a few kilos of weight we’d say.
Other than causing severe physical harm to the body, diets also try to prey on our vanity. Mainstream media has over the years sold a very dated idea of beauty. It has normalized body shaming and puts women with a perceivably ‘sexy’ figure high on a pedestal. In our quest to lose weight, the ultimate idea is never to become fitter with a reduced risk of diabetes. The idea is always to look a certain way, to lose inches and kilos. Many young women struggling with body-image issues around the world fall into this trap and end up causing severe damage to their health.
They make you believe that it is the only food that you need to take care of while trying to lose weight. They belittle the role of exercising and staying active. They tend to show exercising and sweating it out in a bad light almost as if saying why exercise when you can achieve the same results by simply starving.
Rather than falling down the rabbit hole of crash diets that promise instant weight loss, it is important to develop a holistic approach towards health and fitness. If you are overweight, to reduce the risk of diabetes and other lifestyle diseases you need to slim down. It is also equally important to take a healthy route to health and fitness. Eat well and eat mindfully. A balanced diet can nurture the body and the soul.
Work out. There are no short cuts to fitness and weight loss. Be patient with your body and strengthen it by exercising often. Experts recommend working out at least five times a week to maintain optimum cardiovascular health. Most importantly, listen to your body. Be kind and grateful for a body that lets you experience our beautiful world in all its glory.
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