- Severe and intentional limitation of the amount of energy consumed with food (calorie intake). For example, it could be following a well-known diet, or simply counting calories and setting rigid boundaries.
- Limiting the variety of foods and eating the same type:
- low carb diets: protein diet, Atkins diet;
- low-fat diets;
- fluid diets.
- Irregular meals:
- diet for hours;
- diet 5: 2 (five days a week we eat normally and two days a week - we are significantly restricted in food);
- skipping meals;
- "Days of fasting", d. m. th. refusal to eat on certain days.
Who is on a diet?
Diets are common and popular. It is believed that about half of normal weight women have tried to diet. One study found that almost 70% of 15-year-old girls are on a diet and 8% of them follow an extremely strict diet. Another study found that approximately 70% of women and 45% of those on a diet are not overweight and do not need to follow any diet.
Diet is preceded by dissatisfaction with your body and the desire to lose weight.
A UK study found that two-thirds of 14-15 year old girls and half of 12-13 year old girls want to lose a few pounds. Because of the stress associated with this, about a quarter of young girls skipped at least one meal a day.
Risks of diet
Diets increase the risk of an eating disorder. Scientists have found that if teenage girls eat a moderate diet, the risk of developing an eating disorder increases fivefold, and with a strict diet - eighteen times.
Frequent and strict diets contribute to excess weight. 95% of those who follow a diet to lose weight gain more in the next two years than they lost as a result of the diet. This is due to the fact that during the diet, people greatly limit the number of calories and variety of dishes, experiencing constant hunger. Maybe for a short time, those on a diet can ignore hunger, but after long diets, excessive appetite and overeating appear. This, in turn, leads to feelings of guilt and failure, which can exacerbate dissatisfaction with yourself and your body. Some people live in a similar cycle of diets throughout their lives - that is, the diet takes up a certain amount of their time and energy each day.
In addition, diets have been found to slow down metabolism - the rate of calorie burning slows down.
Normal metabolic rate is restored some time after the person returns to a healthy and adequate diet.
A strict diet affects mental and physical health. Bad breath, fatigue, overeating, headaches and cramps, constipation, sleep disturbances, and possibly bone destruction may occur.
Diets can alter the body's natural responses to food, needs and appetite. A person ceases to feel hunger and satiety, he can stop distinguishing his emotional needs from hunger.
Why do we diet?
Many normal weight people consider themselves overweight and want to lose weight by dieting. Also, many overweight people want to lose those extra pounds and believe that diet will help them with this.
It is known that about ⅓ of the world's population is overweight, but about twice as many people want to lose weight.
They are on a diet out of a desire to be slimmer. The worldwide search for detail has many reasons, one of which is the equally common fear of gaining weight. It was found that such a fear could already appear in primary school students. For some reason, in our society, completeness is considered something shameful and doomed.
Through advertising, the desire to go on a diet is relied upon by people from companies focused on everything related to diets (diets, books, groceries and other commodities). Because we are in a very lucrative industry, the diet industry is unnaturally optimistic about diets. In fact, it has been found that half of people who are on a diet gain weight as a result - few of them are able to maintain the weight lost as a result of the diet for five years.
The success of a strict diet depends on many physical and mental factors, and in obesity, it is very ineffective for weight loss.