How crazy can diets get?

How crazy can diets get? How about getting injections of a pregnant woman's urine? Or eating nothing but cabbage soup?

 

On The Early Show Wednesday, Lisa Drayer, a registered dietician and author of "The Beauty Diet: Looking Great has Never Been So Delicious, spotlighted fad diets in general, and pointed to several in particular, debunking myths as she did.

 

She says most of the diets are based on some truth but, what many people don't understand is the damage some extreme diets can do to the body.

 

Fad diets, says Drayer, tend to be low in calories, low in protein, and can lead to nutrient deficiencies that interfere with health and beauty if followed for a prolonged period of time. They also cause rapid weight loss, which is difficult to sustain, and many people on them quickly regain any weight that they lost. Also, many fad diets are based on a single food. Often, we hear the benefits of a specific food (red wine comes to mind) and, next thing you know, there's a new diet out, highlighting that specific food. Typically, these diets are low in calories, and the food is just one of their components.

 

Drayer says fad diets interfere with inner and outer beauty: Drastic weight loss can lead to hair loss. Rapid weight loss in itself is a stress on the body and can trigger metabolism changes that affect hair growth. If you lose more than 10 percent of your body weight over a couple of months, you can lose hair. The condition, known as telogen effluvium, is typically set off by diets that lack protein. Also, nutrition deficiencies caused by restrictive diets can interfere with beauty by leading to dry skin, aging skin, brittle nails, brittle hair, as well as the hair loss.

 

FAD 1: The Grapefruit Diet

The Grapefruit Diet, has been around for a LONG time - over 70 years, and continues to gain popularity through word of mouth and online.

 

What it does to the body
The diet is based on the premise that grapefruit contains a special ingredient that causes our bodies to burn fat. However, there are no scientific studies that prove that grapefruit is a magic fat burner. It does not contain special "fat-burning" enzymes.

 

Basically, the diet is a low carb, high protein diet, where ½ grapefruit is added to meals. The weight loss (10 pounds in 12 days) that occurs is from loss of fluids, and not fat, due to a drastic cut in carbs and calories - not grapefruit per se.

 

All that being said, grapefruit is low in calories and a great source of vitamin C (pink and red grapefruit contain lycopene and beta carotene), so adding it as a snack or part of a meal can certainly boost the nutritional value of your meal and help you control calories if you're looking to drop pounds.

 

What: The Grapefruit Diet
How: Cut carbs
Add 1/2 Grapefruit to all meals
Cons: Short term at best
Only water weight dropped

 

FAD 2: The Juice Fast Diet

 

First of all, Sipping Juice All Day (as in a Fast) is Bad for Your Teeth. Which do you think is more harmful to your teeth: having a piece of chocolate cake at one sitting or sipping juice throughout the day? Believe it or not, the answer is juice, because sipping continuously throughout the day provides a constant opportunity for the sugars to attack your teeth (chances are, we eat a piece of chocolate cake pretty quickly!) Teeth don't really care about portion control.

The juice fast diet is a type of detox diet. It involves drinking only vegetable and fruit juices and water; there is no intake of solid foods. People may fast for anywhere from 2 days, to one week or longer. The purported benefits include everything from losing weight and feeling and looking younger to gaining more energy and experiencing improved mental clarity.

 

What it does to the body

 

Basically, the purpose of juicing is to "cleanse" the body. Before the fast, you eliminate alcohol, caffeine, and sugar. The juice fast consists of juices from carrots, celery, apples, cucumber, beets, and spinach.

 

There are a few things to keep in mind:
1. There is no biological need to detox - our kidneys and liver remove toxins from our bodies every day.
2. The diet is very low in calories and protein, and can cause low energy, headaches, and irritability.
3. Diabetics, those prone to low blood sugar, pregnant or nursing women, and anyone with a serious health problem should not detox.

 

Vegetable and fruit juices can be included in your diet-they are a good source of vitamins and antioxidants -- but they should not completely replace a balanced diet with lean proteins, low-fat dairy, and whole grains.

 

What: The Juice Fast
How: NO solid food
All fruit juice fast

 

Cons: Bad for teeth
Fasts can cause low energy,
headaches and irritability

 

FAD 3:The Cabbage Soup Diet

 

The Cabbage Soup Diet is basically another fad diet that involves consuming a large amount of cabbage soup-along with other low calorie fruits and vegetables, as well as milk and meat -- for 7 days.

 

What it does to the body
The diet is not a very practical diet - it is basically a list of specific food combinations that you can eat, along with the soup.
It is very low in calories, and similar to other fad diets, most of the weight lost is not body fat, but water weight.

 

Research shows that eating a broth based soup before a meal can help you consume fewer calories during a meal. It's even more beneficial if your soup is high in fiber, like cabbage soup. So, adding soup to otherwise healthy, balanced meals can help to jumpstart weight loss.

 

What: Cabbage Soup Diet
How: Low cal veggies, fruits
Lots of Cabbage Soup

 

Cons: Only water weight dropped
Can cause weakness, irritability

 

FAD 4-The Weight Loss Cure

 

Despite being dis-proven by the FDA, this remedy is still very expensive, and immensely popular.

 

The Weight Loss Cure

Basically, The Weight Loss Cure is based on the theory that injections of Human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) -- a hormone found in the urine of pregnant women-allows dieters to comfortably consume only 500-calories a day. The diet claims you can lose at least 30 pounds in 30 days...with no hunger...no exercise...and no surgery-and is said to be successful in correcting food cravings and low-metabolism.

 

What it does to the body
The author claims that HCG mobilizes stored fat, suppresses appetite, and redistributes fat from the waist, hips, and thighs. However, there is no scientific evidence to support these claims. Also, consuming only 500 calories per day is basically a semi-starvation diet and can cause loss of muscle, including muscle from our organs, including our heart.

 

There really is no truth here: this medical breakthrough has been debunked and discredited by the American Medical Association, the Food and Drug Administration.

//wbztv.com/