Fad Diet Dangers
What are the short-term dangers of fad diets?
Usually on a lot of these fad diets, the calorie intake is so restricted. Some of them if you are doing a fast or just a liquid diet, your gut doesn't have a chance to do what it needs to do, so it could stop working properly. You could suffer constipation, you could suffer pain when you do start eating again, and also all other kinds of gastrointestinal problems can happen. Also you may have bad breath, which may not be so great for the people around you, because when you restrict calories like that your body goes into something called ketosis and produces acidic bodies that give you bad breath.
What are the long-term dangers of fad diets?
The long-term dangers of fad diets, again, if you're yo-yo dieting, which we do see a lot of people doing, is it's very difficult on your heart to be going up and down all the time with this kind of weight. And also it's tough on your metabolism as well. Your metabolism starts to slow down, you start to gain more fat, and again, that's not good for your heart either. So there is a possibility that you could increase your chance for heart disease.
Are fad diets dangerous if I have heart disease?
Someone with heart problems, particularly if they have heart disease, should be following a nutritionally balanced diet, exercising. By following a fad diet, depending on what the fad is all about, if it's a fast, if it's some kind of cleansing or detox, it could be putting this person at risk by not getting the essential nutrients. Over time that could play some havoc on their heart.
Are fad diets dangerous if I have diabetes?
Fad diets can be very dangerous for a person with diabetes. A person with diabetes has got to keep their blood sugar levels under control, and with a fad diet if they're restricting calories their blood sugar can plummet. They can become hypoglycaemic. That can lead to a coma. Once they start eating again, their blood sugar spikes and it's very important for the diabetic to keep those blood sugar levels balanced. Not so easy on a fad diet to do that.
