“MIRACLE DIET” FOR WEIGHT LOSS: NO SCIENTIFIC BASIS AND HEALTH HAZARD.
Often appear new diets, disseminated through television, magazines, fashion, food, etc.., They share the promise of rapid weight loss with little effort. These “miracle diets” are frequently the result of the search for economic benefits rather than promoting a healthy and balanced diet and are prescribed by people without scientific knowledge or professional in the field of nutrition.
In general, these diets induce a restriction of energy intake very severe, which leads to deficiencies in vitamins and minerals, altered metabolism and food monotony that makes them unsustainable in the long and dangerous to health. It is therefore characterized by low calories they provide. Faced with this situation of near starvation, the organism reacts by compensating for the lack of energy received by an increase in the destruction of body protein as an alternative source of energy, causing a loss of muscle mass and, secondly, the formation of hazardous substances to the body when the diet is prolonged in time.
However, those who follow these diets misinterprets the loss of muscle mass and thus weight to the success of the scheme chosen because it provides spectacular results to get on the scales during the first weeks. This is because muscle tissue is rich in water, thus eliminating much fluid in the first phase. Sometimes this process is enhanced by the use of diuretics (drugs that promote excretion of urine), leading to an even more striking weight loss.
An additional problem of these “miracle diets” is that they favor a very rapid recovery of lost weight (effect “bounce” or “yo-yo”). The trend exacerbated weight recovery occurs because the situations set in motion powerful fast neural and hormonal mechanisms that oppose weight loss: improved performance in body metabolism, with increased energy savings and increased appetite. These mechanisms lead to a rapid recovery of lost weight in turns to eat as usual. The recovered weight is predominantly due to the formation of fatty tissue, which is precisely the health problems incurred and that we should reduce the diet (as demonstrated in experiments and by the great Spanish scientist Professor of Nutrition Grande Covián 30 years).
The signs for recognizing a “miracle diet” is.
- The promise of rapid weight loss: more than 5 kg per month.
- Can be worn without effort.
- Announce that are completely safe, without risks to health.
In short, very restrictive diets very low in calories, although they get the weight decrease in the short term, constitute an unacceptable risk to health because it can:
- Lead to deficiencies in protein, vitamins and minerals for the lack of food consumption.
- Negative psychological effects.
- Trigger even eating disorders (anorexia and bulimia), sometimes more serious than being overweight was intended to correct.
- Encourage the effect “bounce” or “yo-yo”.
- By abandoning these diets, people on these diets have not learned to eat healthy and return to the habits that made them fat.
Classification and description of the major “miracle diets”.
Generally, so-called miracle diets “can be classified into three groups:
- Unbalanced calorie diets: these are included in the diet of the Mayo Clinic Diet “take half” Diet Gourmet Diet Zero. These diets cause a rebound effect, characterized by rapid weight gain, which results in increased fat mass and muscle mass loss. This is because your metabolism adjusts to the drastic reduction in energy intake by reducing energy expenditure. These schemes are often monotonous, besides presenting many nutrient deficiencies, especially if extended over long periods of time.
- Dissociative Diets: Diet of Hay or decoupled scheme Shelton, Hollywood Diet, Diet Montignac, Antidieta, etc.. They are based on the rationale that food does not contribute to weight gain for themselves, but to be consumed by certain combinations. Do not restrict food intake energy but is trying to prevent its use as an energy source with decoupling. This theory has no scientific basis and results are due only to lower energy consumption. Furthermore, this type of consumption is almost impossible because there are no foods containing no protein or carbohydrates.
- Diets exclusive: based on removing any nutrients from the diet. These diets may be: i) rich in carbohydrates and without lipids and proteins, as the Diet Dr. Prittikin and Diet Dr Haas, ii) high protein and no carbohydrates; Scardale Diet, Diet Astronauts, and the Hollywood Diet Protein Diet Liquid. Cause liver and kidney overload very important, iii) rich-fat Atkins Diet, Diet Lutz. They are known as ketogenic diets. They can be very dangerous to health, causing serious disruptions in metabolism.