The word dieting has become a craze. It's in vogue; there's no escaping it, it's in every magazine and all over television. Although it is okay to aspire to be healthy and have a good figure, what actually happens is far from it. People omit certain elements from their foods and assume since they're losing weight, it can't be unhealthy. Wrong methods of dieting can lead to many side-effects: let's look into some such wrong methods of dieting and their ill-effects:
1. Not eating for prolonged intervals: When the stomach is kept completely empty, it leads to high acid levels. Prolonged starvation can lead to stomach ulcers (especially when combined with smoking which is believed to cut appetite.)
2. Eating no veggies: A diet without vegetables can lead to severe constipation due to lack of roughage. Constant constipation can then leads to piles (hemorrhoids).
3. Not having enough calcium: A diet poor in calcium and rich in refined foods and sugar can lead to calcium loss from the bones and osteoporosis.
4. Losing weight rapidly: During weight loss, it is natural for hair to fall. Nevertheless if one loses more than two kilos of weight a month, then they could have substantial chunks of hair fall occurring. After a certain age(35) and more so in women, losing more than two kilos a month could lead to dry skin, early wrinkles formation and pigmentation problems.
5. Avoiding oils completely: When you rid your diet of any oils (no or less cooking oil), both men and women aged 30+ yrs will then experience dry lusterless skin. It's important to have a minimum helping of 5gms of oil in your food per day.
6. Eating all proteins: An all protein diet with the exclusion of carbs can mess your digestive system up, leading to kidney and liver disorders.
7. Drinking a lot of aerated drinks: People, whose intake of sugar free aerated drinks is high, think they are avoiding calories but in fact all they are doing is increasing the chemicals in their system. Excessive consumption of aerated drinks may also cause some water retention as well as insulin fluctuation.
Last, but not the least, is when people think they are exercising regularly; hence they can consume anything. Nutrition is "not only calories", it is much more than that. As a matter of fact, people who exercise should eat healthier to see the real effects of exercise.
