Do you often look at your reflection on the mirror and say, “I am fat”? Or, do you eat and gain weight and suddenly feel guilty? Do you feel that you are desperate to shed those pounds once and for all and as fast as you could? Chances are you will result to this — crash dieting.

If you are thinking about it, stop right there. The following paragraphs will provide you with the truth about this so called fast diet.

Crash dieting is shocking your body with a sudden low-energy food regime. This often appears to work after just a few days.

Crash diets appear to work but they never do. If a person desperate to lose weight undergoes such a regimen, he or she will appear to lose weight-rapidly, therefore, it will look like everything is working out quite as planned. But that is where all the lie starts. This rapid weight loss is the result of the body eating up its limited store of a certain carbohydrate called glycogen. This use of glycogen makes the body lose water; thus, the appearance of losing weight. But the truth is, the body is not losing any of its body fat-what you aimed to lose in the first place.

Crash Diet health risks

• The body does not get enough vitamins and nutrients it actually needs. This may lead to hair loss and dry skin causing the dieter to have unhealthy scalp that may lead to bald spots.
• The lack of carbohydrates from the body may lead to having ketosis. “Ketosis is an abnormal metabolic state that may lead to bad breath and nausea” (Fast died, fad diet)
• If a person undergoes a no-carb diet, the body, after eating up all the glycogen it has, will then feed on the body tissues. This can lead to ulcer and internal bleeding since the body is literally eating itself from the inside.

It gets even more dangerous as time passes.

Crash dieting is illogical. Since it works like a charm in a couple of days, it is only obvious that as easy as you shed off those pounds, it is also that easy to put them back in. This off again, back again movement of fat causes a yo-yo effect on the person’s weight. The yo-yo effect is never healthy. It messes up the body’s metabolism. This may continue on to harmful cholesterol that may cause the health conscious to be plagued with different heart problems and arterial diseases.

Depriving yourself is never the answer. Preventing your body from eating certain foods will never work. Since your body was used to eating that kind of food before, it can only hold off for a limited period of time. It will then miss the food and you’d end up putting on more weight than ever.

We must always remember that variety is key for a healthy body. One must also trust that there is no easy way to shed those pounds. All you can really do is do it old school-slowly but surely with the right diet and regular exercise.