There are two extremes among people – those who are perpetually dieting and those who would rather die eating. Most sensible people fall somewhere in the middle of these two extremes. And yet diets of various sorts remain very popular – there are fad diets to lose weight, to pack on muscle and so on. There is the Atkins diet, the Zone Diet, the South Beach diet, Ketogenic diet and a whole host of others that come and go. But the fact is that nothing short of a lifestyle change will make any kind of lasting difference. There are several reasons diets simply don’t work:
A recent study revealed that extreme or crash diets impact heart function. Extreme caloric deprivation can cause heart fat content to rise because of a deterioration in heart function and reduced ability to pump blood.
A diet has a beginning and an end. That is why it will not work out in the long term. A diet could cause weight loss in the short term, but as soon as the diet ends, the weight will come back. This is the main reason diets don’t work.
Some people diet to get to some particular dress size or to get a particular weight by a particular date. We are all meant to be different body types and sizes; it is unrealistic for all of us to try to be a particular size and shape. This is neither realistic nor desirable.
Diets either expect you to cut down drastically on calories or they ask you to cut out entire food groups, both of which could be unhealthy. Nature intended for us to have a wide variety of seasonal produce. Diets militate against this and could lead to nutritional deficiencies.
Many dieters go on a diet, achieve some weight loss and then go back to their earlier eating habits, regaining the lost weight; in some cases gaining even more weight. They then go on another diet. This yo-yo dieting can be terrible for the system.
Caloric restriction signals times of scarcity to the body. This slows down the body's metabolism and actually prevents fat loss. The body may cannibalize its own lean muscle while preventing loss of fat. The human body is evolved this way to cope with times of famine and calamity.
Depending upon the severity and duration of a diet, it can do real harm and may contribute to a range of problems from mood swings to actual depression to fatigue. Extreme caloric restriction can cause hair and bone loss and in cases, infertility.
The media, peer pressure etc put a lot of pressure on people to look a certain way. A negative body image could be among the fallouts of a diet.
If diets are more about size and weight rather than about health, they are a problem. When health is scarified at the altar of vanity, the diet becomes counterproductive.
Some of us are meant to be a certain size, trying to become smaller or bigger may be difficult to impossible. The way we metabolize food, may be different. A diet that works for one may not work for another. A diet may work only so far and no further.
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