Extreme Dieting - cutting out major food groups, liquid diets, the ice cream diet, etc.
People tell me they have tried every diet in the book, the ice cream diet, the cabbage soup diet, the peanut butter and jelly diet, even low carb and low fat diets, and almost every single one will say something along the lines of "…and then I stopped doing it and gained back everything I lost." This is because when you stop eating from major food groups, or only eat one or two things you are eating a low calorie diet. Eat only ice cream three or four times a day and besides getting sick of ice cream rather quickly, you will probably be eating no more than 1800. A half cup serving of regular vanilla ice cream has about 150 calories in it, if you eat three servings at 450 calories four times a day that's only 1800 calories. Exercise for an hour, even moderately and you will burn off 200 of those for a total of 1600 calories a day, which will ensure weight loss. I am not endorsing the ice cream diet or any other extreme dieting plan that requires cutting out major food groups in any way, it is not safe and can very quickly lead to malnutrition and other major health problems.
Another form of extreme dieting is low carb when not done properly. People think they can just cut out carbohydrates and drop fifteen pounds, sure, but when you stop the low carb lifestyle after a few weeks you'll gain back those fifteen, maybe more. If you are going to do low carb do it right. Eat lean sources of protein like white meat chicken and turkey, use lean ground beef, low fat or part skim cheeses and yogurt, eggs and egg whites, beans, and soy protein like tofu.
Eat carbohydrates, but eat the right ones, whole grains and legumes. Eat brown rice instead of white, use whole wheat flour, eat whole grain bread, and read the label to make sure it is really whole grain bread. Whole grains have not had fiber and vitamins and minerals removed. Fiber takes longer to digest, you stay satiated for longer, and you eat less because it fill you up.
The moral of the story is that extreme dieting is not good. It is not good for your metabolism because when you eat a low calorie diet of any kind your metabolism slows down because the body goes into starvation mode trying to conserve the calories you do consume. When you stop your extreme diet your metabolism is still in conservation mode so when you do start eating more calories it takes longer to burn them because the body has to work hard to get your metabolism going again. You don't see the numbers on the scale moving in the right direction, or moving at all, so you start extreme dieting again and the metabolism saga continues.
Don't hold back, just eat things in moderation.
Filed under: General
Tags: extreme dieting, food groups, low calorie, low carb, low fat, major food groups
