The Dangers of Fad Dieting

The word ‘diet’ alone can make most people jump to the thought of restricted food choices and (more often than not) defeat – but the rise of fad dieting over the past few years has for many people, increased the appeal of losing weight and losing it fast.

According to Reader’s Digest, there are many dangers to fad dieting including dehydration, tiredness, digestive problems and malnutrition. These risks are often overlooked by people before starting diets, as they are attracted to the idea of losing weight quickly.

Here’s a look at three current fad diets with discussion of their methods and more important, their associated health risks... 

Ketogenic diet

The ketogenic diet, most commonly known as the keto diet, is a low-carb and high-fat diet. It makes the body produce molecules called ‘ketones’ to rely on when blood sugar levels are in low supply. For many people, the appeal of this diet is that the body is forced to run on fat, making it burn at an increased rate.

Foods containing high levels of fat that are often recommended for this diet include:

• Cheese
• Seafood
• Some vegetables (for example, potatoes)
• Nuts and seeds
• Meat
• Eggs
• Avocados

As the keto diet focuses on eating foods high in fat, foods with carbohydrates aren’t consumed and therefore the body is put into a condition that’s unnatural.

The risk of avoiding carbohydrates can also have major effects on people with diabetes or high blood pressure, or for women who are breastfeeding. The reason for this is that purposely avoiding carbohydrates that increase blood sugar levels can impact insulin doses, increase potential side effects (for example, headaches) and affect already low sugar levels as a result of breast feeding.  

Paleolithic diet

The approach of the paleolithic (or paleo) diet is simple – only consume food a caveman would eat. Alternatively, a different approach is to only eat foods where children can name the ingredients.

The focus of the paleo diet is to avoid processed and packaged foods, instead eating fresh fruit and vegetables, eggs, nuts and seeds, meat, seafood and healthy oils (for example, olive and coconut oils).

Much like other diets that restrict eating certain types of food, the paleo diet has many health risks. The major concern is that it puts people at risk of deficiencies in calcium and vitamin D due to a lack of dairy.

In addition, if the diet isn’t monitored correctly, there is potential for above recommended levels of saturated fat and protein to be consumed. This can lead to an increased risk of kidney and heart disease and some types of cancers.

Intermittent fasting

Quite possibly the most dangerous recent fad diet is intermittent fasting;  rather than looking at what to eat, it focuses on when to eat and switches between periods of eating and fasting.

Unlike most diets, there are five different methods of intermittent fasting.

The most popular method is the 16:8, which involves eating anytime during an 8-hour period and fasting for the other 16 of the day.

Next is the 5:2 method, which looks at eating normally for five days of the week and consuming only 500-600 calories two days a week.

More complex is the eat-stop-eat method which focuses on eating normally but fasting for 24 hours approximately two times a week. This method is similar to alternative day fasting where every second day is fasting while the others are eating normally.

The last method is the warrior diet, where the day is spent fasting to allow for a “feast” at night within a four-hour period.

Along with the obvious health risks previously mentioned from fad diets, fasting is only a ‘quick fix’ to losing weight as it is fluid loss, not substantial weight loss and therefore isn’t long term.  

Before starting any fad diets, it’s highly recommended you consult with a doctor to be aware of any potential health risks.