Danger Ahead: 17 Diets to avoid at all costs

Maureen Diament 05 May 2015 updated the 6 October 2015 à 23:07

1/17
The liquid diet
THE PRINCIPLE
This diet consists of consuming only liquids, like water, broth and herb teas.
DANGER AHEAD
The good news, at least, is the body is hydrated. But it is the only positive point of this diet (pretty close to the hunger strike), which is deeply lacking everything that is essential to our health: lipids, carbohydrates and proteins. As a result, hypoglycaemias multiply and cause tiredness and muscle wastage. If at the beginning, we starve, after a while we just have nausea. And when we start eating solid foods again, our body stores all that it can as fat.
2/17
The cotton ball diet
THE PRINCIPLE
This consists of eating cotton balls soaked in orange juice or smoothie… It is not a joke. The promise is to remove the sensation of hunger by making the stomach inflate and feel full.
DANGER AHEAD
Malnutrition, breathlessness, poisoning and intestinal obstruction...Do we really need to go on?
3/17
The monomaniac diet
THE PRINCIPLE
For several days, we eat only a single food with fat-burning virtues, such as the pineapple or the grapefruit.
DANGER AHEAD
Besides being totally depressing, the mono-diet can quickly cause deficiencies. The lack of proteins, amino acids and fatty acids cause fast muscular loss, tiredness, low morale, depression and even cardiac issues. And of course, all the lost kilos reappear as soon as we start eating normally again.
4/17
The fork diet

THE PRINCIPLE
We can eat only foods that can be pricked with a fork. Knives, spoons and fingers are strictly prohibited. Unless you are very agile or creative, it is the end of bread, sauces, ice cream, meat, sweets, yoghurt……
DANGER AHEAD
A lack of calcium. If milk is not forbidden, eating yoghurts, cottage cheese or cheese with a fork is problematic. The absence of meat, eggs and fish equates to a vegetarian diet, in which it is imperative to compensate for the deficiencies; especially amino acids and vitamins. The meals take hours, during which we do not miss to be considered as a fool.
5/17
The corset
THE PRINCIPLE
Wear a corset every day to reduce our waist measurement... At first, we are only restricted a few hours a day, rising gradually to 12 hours.
DANGER AHEAD
In the long-term, it can hurt the internal organs, damage the skin, and restrict breathing. The lack of oxygenation disrupts the metabolism. On the other hand, if we continue to eat while wearing the corset, calories will have to be stored somewhere else... Thus, will we soon see an integral corset for the whole body?
6/17
Coffee with butter
THE PRINCIPLE

Add unsalted organic butter, palm oil and coconut oil to our coffee. The objective of this mixture is to create an appetite suppressant: the (good) fat associated with coffee reduces the desire to nibble before lunch.
DANGER AHEAD
The bulletproof diet recommends consuming 50 to 70 % of our daily calories in (good) fat form. As one gram of lipids equates to 9Kcal (while one gram of carbohydrate only equates to 4Kcal), we quickly understand that it is necessary to reduce the portions. The diet also recommends being wary of sugars (cereal, table sugar and fruits have to be banished). Long life thus to the tartars, as cooked food loses some of its nutrients. We forgot to tell you that the diet works better if you buy the pack of coffee at 30 SGD and the coconut oil created by the founder of this extremely profitable diet. If a diet rich in (good) fat can be interesting for the health, this one is not necessarily the most adapted.
7/17
The cabbage diet
THE PRINCIPLE
It is a mono-diet low in calories, which lasts from 3 to 7 days.
DANGER AHEAD
First of all, you will never be able to swallow cabbages (which is a pity as they are full of health virtues), then the first food you will eat after your mono-diet will be stored directly in our bottoms in fat form. The yo-yo effect is 100 % guaranteed.
8/17
The spoon diet
THE PRINCIPLE
The first phase lasts 2 weeks with a food intake of 800 calories a day.
For the second phase, this is increased to 1000/1200 calories a day.
We end with 1600 calories a day.
DANGER AHEAD
As eating 800 Kcal a day is more similar to anorexia than dieting, it is needless to hope to practise any physical activity with so little energy.
9/17
The Fletcher Diet
THE PRINCIPLE
To follow this diet (established in 1899!), it is necessary to chew solid food at least 100 times before swallowing. Anything that cannot be liquefied must be spat out (so glamorous, isn’t it?). As for liquids, it is advisable to swish them around the mouth for 15 seconds.
DANGER AHEAD
The (good?) news is you will spend a lot of time at the table, so many meals are long and boring. While chewing correctly our food is essential to good digestion (and lose weight), 100 times seem wildly excessive. The Fletcher diet is not really dangerous, but it is pointless to go to such extremes.
10/17
The tapeworm diet
THE PRINCIPLE
As you will have guessed, this diet involves implanting a tapeworm in the stomach, which will eat some of the food you swallow. A kind of flatmate who watches our weight.
DANGER AHEAD
As the tapeworm feeds in our stomach, it grows and causes various disorders: tiredness, abdominal pains, headaches, insomnia… This intestinal parasite can reach 10m in length. This is why the doctors kill the tapeworms with an anti-parasitic. It is not a diet, it is an illness.
11/17
The Hallelujah Diet
THE PRINCIPLE
Based exclusively on chapter I, verse 29 of Genesis (the first book in The Bible), this diet banishes all animal-based products (except honey) and permits only fruits, vegetables, and certain cereals, provided that they are 85% raw.
DANGER AHEAD
This is a very strict version of the vegan diet. On the menu: multiple deficiencies, weak immunity and possible depression.
12/17
The baby food jar diet
THE PRINCIPLE
Eating jars of baby food. The purpose is to eat approximately 10 a day (fortunately, there is flavours choice). In this diet, only one “traditional” meal is permitted each day.
DANGER AHEAD
If these baby food jars are perfectly adapted to the needs of toddlers, the same is not true for adults. A baby does not chew. Yet, chewing favours the sensation of satiety. After eating 15 jars of baby food, we will still be very hungry… As a result, quickly, vitamin deficiencies in fibres and in minerals will appear, accompanied by a feeling of tiredness and physical and intellectual weakness.
13/17
The starter diet
THE PRINCIPLE
Based on the principles of “Chrono-nutrition”, but with clearly restricted quantities, the Starter diet must be followed for no more than 4 consecutive weeks to avoid endangering the body by forcing it to use its own reserves. Anything can be eaten (except some lactose and bananas).
DANGER AHEAD
It is stated clearly that, with this diet, food supplements need to be taken to avoid tiredness. In other words, it is not a balanced diet. The “Chrono-nutrition” is more satisfying from a diversity and portion point of view. This diet is misadvised in cases of diabetes (types 1 and 2). The risk of regaining weight after stopping the programme is huge, especially if we do not continue to follow the rules of “Chrono-nutrition”; In brief, we have to do it forever.
14/17
The 5/2 diet
THE PRINCIPLE
Alternate 5 days where you eat what you want, and 2 fasting days, during which the calorie consumption is limited to 500 kcal for women, and 600 kcal for men.
DANGER AHEAD
If this diet has, on the basis, a healthy point (it is widely a “Mediterranean” diet type), a team of English researchers demonstrated last year (2014) that it increases significantly the risk of infection and mortality. On the other hand, this way of alternating food and fast does not absolutely take into account the psychological dimension of weight loss. This is a real problem because, to strengthen the results durably, the 5/2 diet must be adopted for eternity.
15/17
The raw food diet
THE PRINCIPLE
Eat only (or almost) raw foods. This food model includes numerous subgroups: the fruitarians (especially fruits), the granivories (especially seeds), or the instinctos (eating raw food separately). The general idea is that the less a food is distorted (including by cooking), the more it brings to the body what it needs, without toxins.
DANGER AHEAD
If raw foodism can be an interesting diet in the short-term to treat certain pathologies, it is better to seek the advice of a specialist. Otherwise, it could cause deficiencies, in particular in calcium, zinc and vitamin B12. Numerous people who have followed this diet report experiencing tiredness, nervousness, low blood pressure, impotence or frigidity, spasmophilia and depression...
16/17
The HCG diet
THE PRINCIPLE
Lose a lot of weight fast, by injecting or by taking drops of HCG: a hormone presents in pregnant women. The Americans are fans of this diet, which recommends consuming only 500 Kcal a day! No worries, the hormone is there to take away your appetite!
DANGER AHEAD
Injecting hormones “to force the body” to use its own reserves, while eating only 500 Kcal a day, is physiologically more than doubtful. Nausea, tiredness, digestive disorders are also often on the menu.
17/17
The “patch on the tongue” diet
THE PRINCIPLE
A patch sewn under the tongue of the patients that makes the consumption of solid food very painful. As a result, they consume only liquids.

DANGER AHEAD
Once again, we have hit rock bottom. This diet is a form of torture that does not teach the slightest thing about food balance. As soon as we remove the patch, we pile on the kilos. In addition, we may have picked up an ulcer or an infection thanks to this wonderful technique.

We all dream of losing excess kilos quickly and without (too much) effort. But there is no way to succumb to the latest weight-loss trend. We examined in detail 17 diets that ruin our health, instead of helping us feel better.

MIND-BOGGLING DIETS

How far can you go to lose some kilos? Are you ready to count your calories? To stop eating certain foods? To only eat at certain hours? To fast from time to time? To eat cotton balls to have the sensation of filling your stomach? To implant a tapeworm so that it eats for you? In brief, would you risk your health to lose weight?

If you answered yes – and we hope that you didn’t – avoid diets that encourage harmful habits. More or less extreme, they remain dangerous, even if it is only for a short period. Even when they are guaranteed by a doctor. And even if dozens of photos posted on Instagram are there to prove that they work.

If we instantly see that certain diets are detrimental to our weight, health and wallet, others are more sneaky and difficult to detect. Thanks to good marketing and some so-called scientific arguments, it is easy to fall into the trap. Particularly when we have a lot of weight to lose and are in search of an effective and fast solution. We have listed for you 18 famous diets, and explain in detail why you should abandon them in order to stay fit and healthy. And it is only the tip of the iceberg; the miracle methods are numerous. It cannot be said enough, to lose weight and maintain it durably, it is necessary to adopt a healthy and well-balanced diet, and to take regular exercise.

Maureen Diament

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MIND-BOGGLING DIETS

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