Crash diets--diets that promise quick weight loss with an extreme change in your eating habits--are a popular way to lose weight, particularly around June and January reports CNN Health. However, nutritionists and other health professionals repeatedly warn that crash diets are dangerous in a number of important ways. They can contribute to the development of long-term health conditions and may create psychological problems that only make achieving your weight loss goals more difficult.
Aspects
The difference between a crash diet and a healthful weight loss program is that a well-rounded, sustainable weight loss plan focuses on a nutritious, varied diet. Lifestyles changes such as regular exercise and gradual weight loss are the sensible way to go, but crash diets focus exclusively on either dramatically decreasing calorie consumption or promising to add a wonder food into your diet that will magically burn fat for you. According to CNN Health, a crash diet is any diet plan that incorporates less than 1,200 calories a day. Some crash diet programs also require purchasing certain dietary aids or diuretics. Some incorporate extreme exercise regimens, while others either don't mention the importance of exercise to long-term weight loss or claim exercise is not needed to achieve results.
Signficance
When you begin a crash diet, you might actually experience a quick loss of pounds within the first week or two of following the plan. While this may make the diet appear to be working, TheSite.org cautions that another reason might be responsible for why you are losing the weight so quickly. It isn't because you are losing fat, but because you are using up your body's store of glycogen, and, with the used glycogen, water. Neither of these losses are permanent. The only long-term weight loss solution is to lose fat, but most crash diet regimens do not promote long-term fat loss.
Health Impact
Repeated crash dieting can, according to CNN Health, cause cardiac stress sufficient enough to increase the risk of heart attacks and the development of atherosclerosis. TheSite.org reports that repeated bouts of crash dieting can cause an increase in cholesterol levels. It is also thought to weaken the function of the immune system, to contribute to the development of osteoporosis, to increase the possibility of a severe nutrient deficiency--especially iron, vitamin B12, potassium and sodium--and to slow your metabolism to the point that, instead of losing pounds, you may end up gaining them. Because during a crash diet you may consume so few calories your body may begin burning muscle tissue, the function of several organs, including the heart, kidney and liver, can sustain severe damage.
Psychological Impact
A good deal of successful dieting and weight loss lies in the positive outlook of the dieter. Crash dieting can make dieters weak, irritable and much less able to resist inevitable food cravings. When crash dieters give in to these food-related temptations by eating too much or eating foods forbidden by the crash diet, they feel more unhappy with themselves and more likely to try increasingly outlandish crash diets in an attempt to break the cycle. Epigee.org adds that frequent crash dieters are at a greater risk for mental disorders such as depression, and eating disorders such as bulimia or anorexia.
Controversy
According to The Daily Beast, some recent research studies have undercut the idea that crash diets are always a bad idea. These studies indicate that crash diets may work if they include a strict calorie limit of 1,200 calories per day for people between 120 and 160 lb. and 1,800 calories per day for individuals between 200 and 240 lb. These diets are also only thought to work in the long-term if you are getting these daily calories from high protein, high fiber and low glycemic index foods, and spreading your consumption of the the day's total calories over three meals and several daily snacks.
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