- Heavy and deliberate restriction 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 limits.
- Limiting the variety of foods and eating the same types:
- low-carbohydrate diet: protein diet, Atkins diet;
- low-fat diet;
- juice diet.
- Irregular eating:
- hourly diets;
- diet 5: 2 (five days a week we eat normally and two days a week - we significantly limit ourselves in food);
- skip meals;
- "Fasting days", ie. refusal to eat on certain days.
Who's on a diet?
Diets are common and popular. It is believed that about half of normal weight women have tried the diet. One study found that nearly 70% of 15-year-old girls were on a diet and 8% of them followed a very strict diet. Another study found that about 70% of women and 45% of dieters were not overweight and did not need to follow any diet.
The diet is preceded by dissatisfaction with your body and a desire to lose weight.
A British study found that two thirds of girls aged 14-15 years and half of girls aged 12-13 years wanted to lose a few pounds. Due to the stress associated with this, about a quarter of young girls skip at least one meal a day.
Diet risk
Diet increases the risk of eating disorders. 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.
Strict diets often lead to being overweight. 95% of those who follow a diet to lose more weight in the next two years than they lose as a result of the diet. This is due to the fact that during the diet, people severely limit the number of calories and variety of dishes, experience a constant feeling of hunger. Perhaps for a short time, the dieter can ignore hunger, but after a long diet, appetite increases and overeating occurs. This, in turn, leads to feelings of guilt and failure, which can exacerbate dissatisfaction with yourself and your body. Some people live the same diet cycle their whole life - that is, diets consume a portion of their time and energy each day.
In addition, the diet has been shown to slow down metabolism - the rate at which 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 bone breakdown may occur.
Diet can change the body's natural response to food, needs, and appetite. A person stops feeling hungry and full, he may stop distinguishing his emotional needs from hunger.
Why do we go on a diet?
Many people of normal weight consider themselves overweight and want to lose weight by dieting. Also, many overweight people want to lose extra weight and believe that dieting will help them in this regard.
It is known that about the world's population is overweight, but about twice as many people want to lose weight.
They go on a diet because they want to be slimmer. The worldwide pursuit of slimness has many reasons, one of which is the equally common fear of getting fat. It is said that such fears can appear in elementary school students. For some reason, in our society, completeness is seen as something shameful and cursed.
Through advertising, the desire to go on a diet is supported by companies that focus on all things diet related (diet, books, groceries, and other items). Because we are in such a lucrative industry, the diet industry is unnaturally optimistic about dieting. In fact, it has been found that half of people who diet gain weight as a result - few of them are able to maintain the weight lost as a result of dieting for five years.
The success of a strict diet depends on many physical and mental factors, and on obesity, it is not very effective for weight loss.