Dieting: Is it good for you?

As we start seeing ourself fat and obese, we think of dieting at first place and start adopting very less food eating practices. Many girls start this practice at early age to avoid being over weight in future. Today, dieting has become a fashion for them. But how many of us know that dieting itself is a reason for rising obesity trend. Moreover, dieting can be harmful in many ways, specially to women's look.

According to USDA, dieting should not be just eating salads or drinking juices, but should consists of eating proportionate amounts of grains, fruits, vegetables, meat and beans, calcium-retaining dairy products and unsaturated oils.

That's why a person on dieting should be very careful on how to diet. Sudden food-intake reduction and rapid weight loss can have many side effects such as hairfall, calcium deficiency,  Irritability, Depression, Kidney disease, Muscle atrophy,  Bloodshot eyes, Reduced sex drive , Prolonged hunger and most importantly Subsequent weight gain.

Hair Fall

If you eat less or no calorie foods it is certain that you will face some health problems. One such is hair fall. Normally, you have deficiency of vitamins, minerals and proteins when you are under dieting and it may be severe if you do not follow a proper guideline. Similarly, deficiency of iron may lead to low oxygen flow in blood which in turn can damage hair follicles  Hair follicles have phases. If you do intense dieting, the hair follicles after resting phase will not get proper nutrition and you may experience severe hair fall.

Deficiency of Calcium

Calcium is a must for our bones health. As we grow older, the bone-marrow begins to destroy. But if you eat nutritious foods daily, then the process becomes slower. For a woman up to 33 yrs, her bones remain healthy. After that, the marrow density begins to decrease. Normally we need 800mg of calcium daily from our food. So, be careful while choosing your diet plan.

Moreover, absorption of calcium is also important for well being of bone. For this you need to eat unsaturated fats, green veggies, chocolates, coco etc. Unsaturated fats such as olive oil do not have cholesterol.

In 2002, American Journal of Kidney diseases has studied ten subjects consuming low carbohydrate high protein (LCHP) diet and concluded that- " Consumption of an LCHP diet for 6 weeks delivers a marked acid load to the kidney, increases the risk for stone formation, decreases estimated calcium balance, and may increase the risk for bone loss".

Wrinkles on skin

Female skins aged between 20-30 years is very elastic. Due to excessive dieting or sudden weight loss the skin may tend to lose its elasticity. For a beautiful, wrinkle free skin, our food must contain calories. Experts says, eating less calorie foods during daytime may make you slim, but at the same time you may experience dehydration resulting dry skin. Because, salt and carbohydrates in calorie rich foods help to hold water in cells.

Subsequent weight gain

Many studies revealed that diets that focus solely on sudden weight loss may lead to gaining the weight back again even adding more pounds. It is referred as "dieting-induced weight-gain".

Diet-cycle showing dieting-induced weight gain

Biologically, when you diet, your body experiences the dieting process as a form of starvation. Your cells don’t know you are voluntarily restricting your food intake. Then the body shifts into primal survival mode where metabolism slows down and food cravings escalate. When you lost weight substantially you stop dieting and begin to eat again those foods that you left. Actually, dieting disconnects you from your innate hunger and satiety cues, and it becomes easier to eat in the absence of hunger and develop a mistrust of your biological eating cues.

Should you stop dieting, then?

No, absolutely not. My objective of this post is to point out the consequences of wrong dieting habits. Dieting should not be a fasting for days or not eating fat less or protein less foods. It should be a change of your eating habits from processed and oily junk foods to a complete balanced food habit for rest of your life and avoiding over-eating.

Quick weight-loss diets and fad diets often do not teach you how to lead a lifestyle or maintain the weight loss after you have worked so hard to achieve it.

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