- Severe and deliberate restriction on the amount of energy consumed in food (calorie intake). For example, it could be following a well-known diet or simply counting calories and setting strict limits.
- Restricting the diversity of foods and one type of eating:
- low carb diets: protein diet, Atkins diet;
- low fat diet;
- juice diet.
- Irregular meals:
- hour diet;
- diet 5: 2 (five days a week we eat normally and two days a week - we significantly limit ourselves with food);
- skipping meals;
- "Lent Days", vol. i. refusal to eat on certain days.
Who follows the diet?
Diets are common and popular. It is estimated that about half of normal weight women have tried to follow a diet. One study found that almost 70% of 15-year-old girls follow a diet and 8% of them follow an extremely strict diet. Another study found that about 70% of women and 45% of dieters were overweight and did not have to follow any diet.
Before dieting there is dissatisfaction with your body and the desire to lose weight.
A study in the UK found that two-thirds of 14-15 year old girls and half of 12-13 year old girls want to lose a few pounds. Due to the associated stress, about a quarter of young girls missed 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 eating disorders increases fivefold, but with a strict diet - eighteen times.
Frequent, strict diets contribute to being overweight. 95% of those who follow a diet to lose weight will gain more in the next two years than those who lose weight as a result of dieting. This is due to the fact that during the diet people severely limit the number of calories and variety of foods, experiencing constant hunger. Perhaps people who follow a diet for a short time can ignore hunger, but after long diets, appetite and overeating increase. This in turn causes feelings of guilt and failure, which can exacerbate dissatisfaction with yourself and your body. Some people live a similar diet cycle throughout their lives - that is, the diet takes a certain amount of time and energy each day.
In addition, diets have been found to slow down metabolism - slowing down the calorie burning rate.
Normal metabolic rate is restored some time after a person returns to a healthy and adequate diet.
A strict diet affects both mental and physical health. Bad breath, tiredness, overeating, headaches and cramps, constipation, sleep disturbances and possibly bone destruction may occur.
Diets can change the body's natural response to food, needs and appetite. A person stops feeling hungry and full of satiety, he can stop distinguishing his emotional needs from hunger.
Why do we follow diets?
Many people with normal weight consider themselves overweight and want to lose weight by following a diet. In addition, many overweight people want to lose those extra pounds and believe that diet will help them.
It is known that about ⅓ of the world's population is overweight, but about twice as many people want to lose weight.
They follow a diet behind the desire to become slimmer. All over the world, the pursuit of slimming is associated with many reasons, one of which is the equally common fear of gaining weight. It turned out that such fears may appear in primary school students. For some reason, in our society, perfection is considered something shameful and reprehensible.
Through advertising, the desire to follow a diet people are supported by companies that focus on everything related to diets (diets, books, groceries and other goods). As we work in a very lucrative industry, the nutrition industry is unnaturally optimistic about diets. In fact, it has been found that half of the people who follow a diet gain weight - so some of them are able to maintain the weight lost through diet for five years.
The success of a strict diet depends on many physical and mental factors, and in the case of obesity it is very ineffective for weight loss.