What Are The Dangers Of Fad Dieting?

From the Atkins and South Beach diets to the grapefruit and cabbage soup diets, fad dieting continues to be a growing problem. Many fad diets promise quick and easy weight loss -- typically encouraging extreme dietary changes that cannot be sustained for long periods. Fad diets offer quick-fix solutions to losing weight rather than focusing on lifestyle changes. Often leading to yo-yo dieting, fad diets can be dangerous to your health.

Poor Nutrition

Many fad diets eliminate entire food groups and overemphasize the importance of other food groups, which may result in nutritional deficiencies. By excluding specific food groups from your diet, you are robbing your body of nutrients that it needs to function optimally. Eating a well-balanced diet that includes a variety of foods from all food groups provides your body with important vitamins and minerals to meet your nutritional needs.

Weight Gain

Fad diets typically require drastic changes in eating patterns. Maintaining extreme dietary changes is hard to do over the long run, so many people revert back to their old habits. Going back and forth with different eating patterns and different food choices can ultimately cause you to gain weight instead of keeping it off. Long-term weight loss can be achieved through maintaining a sensible, healthy meal plan that incorporates all food groups.

Eating Disorders

Experiencing immediate gratification through fad diets may lead you to develop unrealistic expectations about your weight. Fad dieting often leads to major health concerns, including potential for developing eating disorders. Short-term success and immediate weight loss through fad diets may trigger unhealthy eating habits and a dysfunctional relationship with food. Fad dieting does not account for emotional issues that may be tied to eating disorders.

Increased Stress

Dieting has been shown to make you cranky and increase stress at the molecular level. One study conducted at the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania discovered that mice placed on a diet exhibited increased levels of stress hormones and depression-like behavior. After taking blood samples of the mice, research also revealed that genes important in regulating stress and eating had changed.