Dangers of Dieting

If you are on a diet, make sure you know the truth about protein and the dangers of liquid and carbohydrate diets. Keeping a diary helps too.

If dieting were as easy as eating less and exercising more, fewer women would be overweight and you wouldn't be reading this article. The fact is that dieting is riddled with problems like hunger, weakness, nervousness and irritability.

The Pitfalls of the High Protein Diet
You must have heard of the high protein diet which a couple of women I know have been trying out, but they're as round as ever and far more irritable. In a high protein diet you're supposed to eat chicken, eggs, fish and cheese and stay away from all energy giving carbohydrates and this can be very dangerous.

According to Dr. Snehlata Panday in 'Slim Now & Stay Slim', this diet can prove to be a vicious cycle. You depend on encouraging ketoses in your body - an abnormal condition. Ketoses is damaging to your kidneys. It causes the calories to leave your body in the form of ketones. And here's the trap --- if you don't drink enough water, ketoses can damage your kidneys, and it's difficult to drink water in this condition since ketoses causes nausea!

Your weight loss depends then on fluid loss which can lead to dangerous dehydration. What's more, you can get heavy gout, arthritis and kidney stones because protein produces uric acid.

Dangers of the Liquid and the High Carbohydrate Diets
Other dangerous diets that can affect your health are the liquid diet that leads to severe dehydration, and the high carbohydrate diet that can interfere with glands like the pituitary and the pancreas to increase insulin levels that will result in high fat deposits in the body. But the high protein diet is incomparable in terms of damage.

The Undue Emphasis on Protein
Remember how our teachers in school told us that a normal balanced diet should include meat and fish? Well, in view of the latest research into nutrition, this myth has been shattered and our animal friends can now feel a little more comfortable about sharing the earth with us. Did you know that plants generally rank higher than animal products in protein content?

Soyabeans has 40 per cent protein as compared to meat which has only 20 per cent! A vegetarian diet (which, by the way can save you from a milieu of diseases caused by meat) supplemented with eggs and dairy products can provide one with the all the protein one needs. Doctors say that malnutrition can happen even when the diet has meat in it because of the deficit in total calories needed per day. In such a circumstance, protein is used to provide the body with energy.

However meat and even eggs and dairy products can be easily dispensed with when certain food combinations are eaten. For example, the amino acids in short supply in rice are plentiful in legumes and so rice eaten with legumes becomes a complete protein.

One thing though to remember is that if you're a vegetarian and don't eat eggs, dairy products and nuts, you'll be missing zinc and Vitamin B12 that is present in meat. So take your daily dose of B12 and you've got the ultimate diet.

Behaviour Control
Let's face it: Why most diets fail is due to uncontrolled eating and lack of discipline. Behaviour Control is a weight loss tool that can make any diet work better.
"There's absolutely no such thing as fattening food," maintains an eminent American behavioural scientist. "There are only fattening ways to eat."

This system requires you to keep a diary that records every morsel you put into your mouth. And also when, where, why and with whom you ate. Were you upset, keeping someone company, bored, nervous, frustrated, celebrating or relaxing? Was it breakfast, lunch, dinner or a snack? Keeping a diary will help you confront your bad habits and can be very unsettling, but it is highly effective. Once you see a pattern emerging in your diary, you can reverse it by eating only when you're hungry.

And remember, it takes about 20 minutes for your body to signal your brain that you're full, so give it a chance will you, before you reach out for more. Studies show that this kind of discipline can help overweight people lose weight more successfully than conventional, medically supervised diets - and what's most important, keep the weight in control in the long run.

So when you go onto your next diet, remember that without behaviour control, you're not really going to see the light. Bon appetit!