Certified nutritionist-nutritionist, member of the International Association of Nutritionists.
“Dieting is the practice of controlled consumption of food to reduce, maintain, or increase body weight and to prevent and treat many diseases.”
Why is there no universal diet?
The fact is that the diets are based on the introduction of some products, the rejection of others or the reduction of the diet as a whole.
Nutrition must be built from the nutritional deficiencies and surpluses of a particular person, as well as their characteristics. For example, for someone who has severe liver problems, a protein diet is contraindicated. It can cause tremendous damage to physical health and be life-threatening.
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By the same principle, other diets harm a person’s physical and mental health, healthy and diseased organs, as well as general well-being.
Harmful effects can occur due to improper “entry” in the diet. For example, too sharp refusal of certain products, the need to follow certain rules – all this creates a lot of stress for the body. Therefore, each piece of food that enters the stomach is deposited in fat and weight is gained at the same rate that it is lost.
Therefore, a diet is a very dangerous and individual diet, which can be prescribed only after passing tests with a nutritionist and other doctors.
What happens to the body during diets?
When we arbitrarily go on a diet without the preparation and recommendations of specialists, the level of cortisol in the blood rises sharply, since the body is not ready for rapid changes in nutrition.
Cortisol is a hormone that breaks down protein, increases glucose levels, and promotes the formation of new fat tissue. It is produced in response to emergency situations that occur to the body, including hunger and stress.
This hormone literally fights our desire to diet. The body must be prepared for the unexpected, and it should not be blamed for the accumulation of reserves “for a rainy day.” However, we don’t need glucose or fat stores: our desires go against the body’s self-preservation processes.
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On low-calorie diets, the metabolism slows down, and the body multiplies the lost calories at the first opportunity. If a person has health problems, diets often make them worse.
Harm of intermittent fasting
Intermittent fasting (fasting) diets are based on work awarded with the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology. In 2016, the Japanese Yoshinori Ohsumi received an award for discovering the mechanisms of autophagy (the process by which a cell recycles its own constituents). At the same time, there are no unequivocal scientifically proven benefits of intermittent fasting diets.
Among the adverse effects are the most common: fatigue, insomnia, nausea and headache. For some people, these symptoms are temporary and appear only in the adjustment period, while others mark them as permanent.
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Intermittent fasting can cause irreparable damage to the health of a person who has liver diseases, diabetes, thyroid diseases, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract (even gastritis). The list of contraindications is so extensive that we can safely conclude that the number of people for whose health it will be useful is incredibly small, and it is not worth taking risks.
Harm of the ketogenic diet
The ketogenic diet is a diet plan for weight loss. The main principle is the consumption of food with a minimum amount of carbohydrates. The norm of carbohydrates in a ketogenic diet is 10%.
If you turn to the World Health Organization, you can see in the recommendations information about the rate of carbohydrate intake, which is 45-65% for a person to be healthy, full of energy during the day and not experience physical ailments.
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Why does the body need carbohydrates?
Carbohydrates are the key source of energy in the human body and just one gram provides four calories of energy. When carbohydrates are broken down in the body, glucose is formed, which is extremely important for the preservation of tissue proteins, fat metabolism, and nutrition of the central nervous system.
What happens when there are not enough carbohydrates in the body?
The minimal reactions of the body that are experienced with a ketogenic diet are: weakness, listlessness, headaches, constipation, bad breath.
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What dangers does the keto diet pose to human health globally?
In 2018, Polish professor Maciej Banach presented a report on the dangers of low-carb diets at the European Society of Cardiology congress. Studies have shown that in a control group of 24,000 participants, the risk of dying from heart disease, stroke, and cancer was 50%, 51%, and 35% higher among those who ate a high-fat, low-fat diet. in carbs.
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In addition, there is a huge list of health contraindications for the ketogenic diet, that is, in order to follow it, it is necessary to go through a full body check-up by a doctor.
Harm of a protein diet
The essence of a protein diet is that it is necessary to exclude completely simple carbohydrates, proteins should make up 60% of the daily diet, fats (exclusively vegetable) are present in a minimum amount.
Proteins (proteins) are vital to humans. They make up the bulk of the dense substances of the muscles, supporting tissues and protective formations (hair, nails). They form immune bodies that protect the body from infection. The body does not know how to accumulate protein, so a person must constantly eat protein foods.
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But for the normal functioning of all systems and organs, fats and carbohydrates are no less necessary. Not receiving vital substances from food, the body copes with their deficiency. Trying to make up for the missing carbohydrates, a person first spends his own reserves (glycogen) accumulated in the muscles and liver. Then the deferred fat reserves are consumed.
A diet rich in protein can lead to kidney disease (excessive consumption of protein foods causes wasting away, kidney stones form, and one of the most unpleasant deposits is oxalate stones, which cause excruciating pain for the person). due to an increase in bad cholesterol in the blood and bile. Negative effects are observed even with a short-term diet.
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Foods low in fiber and prescribed by the diet cause dysfunctions in the gastrointestinal tract. The person begins to suffer from constipation. The deterioration of the intestines leads to the fact that food is poorly digested and absorbed. Loss of appetite, nausea and bad breath. Malfunctions of the gastrointestinal tract provoke intoxication of the body. During the breakdown of proteins into amino acids, ammonia is formed in the body. It has a negative effect on the nervous system… A protein diet is especially harmful for women. They may have trouble conceiving. Reduced fertility is associated with the accumulation of protein breakdown products in the genitalia, which prevent fertilization.
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The dangers of a carbohydrate-free diet
The difference between a carb-free diet and a ketogenic diet is the amount of carbs consumed daily. The harm of ketogenic and carbohydrate-free diets is approximately the same, since the principle of their operation and construction is similar to each other.
Also read:
What are carbohydrates and what do they contain? The nutritionist named 22 products.
The main danger is the increased risk of cardiovascular disease. If you have problems with the kidneys: pyelonephritis, urolithiasis, have suffered injuries or there is a hereditary predisposition to your disease, then eating too much protein creates an additional load on the organs. This can worsen kidney function: chronic pathologies can worsen.
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An unbalanced diet deficient in carbohydrates can lead to osteoporosis and kidney stone formation. As well as a decrease in blood glucose levels, which is especially dangerous for people with diabetes, prediabetes or some metabolic disorders.
Also read:
How does the body signal the lack of proteins, fats and carbohydrates? The doctor named the symptoms.
Even healthy people against this background feel irritability, aggression, and weakness, malaise. This is especially important if you play sports, work a lot and need concentration and attention, sufficient physical strength.
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