5 Things You Need to Know About the Health Risks of the Hacker's Diet

1. Engineer Turned Weight Loss Guru?

When you buy a book on dieting, you expect to receive information on how to eat better and lose weight. There is some of that information in "The Hacker's Diet" somewhere. However, the Hacker's Diet is not going to benefit the majority of people. It's written and developed from an engineering standpoint, which means a lot of excess information that might lead you nowhere except for the fast track to boredom. It's hard to understand at times and leaves a lot of things out of the balance. Misunderstanding and miscommunication can be a set up for discouragement. Discouragement can lead to depression. This can lead to a cycle that will not only set a person up for disappointment, but can also set the stage for illness by lowering the immune system.

2. Lack of Nutritional Guidance

A good diet provides you general guidelines with tips and suggestions to ensure you know how to get the nutrition you need to stay healthy during the weight loss transition. The Hacker's Diet was not designed from a healthy viewpoint. It doesn't offer a lot of nutritional information, except in the area of calories and how they work. There is little information on what foods are more beneficial than others and foods that should be avoided. If someone depended on this diet for nutrition advice, it could be a set up for a reduced immune system. Without the proper nutrients, the body's resistance to disease is lowered and people are more likely to become ill or prone to accidents.

3. Mass Production vs. Individual Need

The creator of the Hacker's Diet is a computer engineer by trade. Much of his thinking comes from plugging numbers into a formula and then solving the equation. We are dealing with human beings here, not math problems. With individual people, it's more than just a numbers game. There are health issues and disabilities to contend with. A diet should be able to be adapted to each individual as their needs require. This is possible with the Hacker's Diet, but not probable. Without knowing what their body needs, they can only guess at what foods are best for them. This means that nutrition will suffer and the digestive system can be thrown off balance allowing for ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome or other gastrointestinal difficulties.

4. Mental Exercise to Physical Exercise

Short of using mental gymnastics to get through the reading material of the Hacker's Diet, there is little information included on physical exercise. Sure it gives the number of calories burned for certain exercises, but that's about it. John Walker, the creator of the diet plan, has spent much of his life working at a desk, instead of working on his health. He found a way to lose weight that worked for him. He also realized that to keep from gaining weight, excess calories must be burned off or reduced. What is not explained by the Hacker's Diet is how to achieve that in a healthy manner.

5. Support and Motivation

Weight loss is only simple or easy to the person who has a high metabolism and can eat anything they want without gaining an ounce. Most of us, though, are challenged by the task and without motivation and support tend to fail miserably. A good support system will be there for you and help you stay motivated. Two people exercising together is more fun and worthwhile than working out solo. Peers are there when you need to vent and also when you want to celebrate reaching your goal. Burning more calories than you eat is a general rule of thumb in weight loss. Keeping your spirits high and yourself motivated is something that depends on you and your outlook on things. Feedback from a computer is rarely motivational enough to help you.