- Serious and deliberate limitation 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 strict limits.
- Limiting food variety and eating the same type:
- low-carb diets: protein diet, Atkins diet;
- low-fat diets;
- juice diets
- Irregular meals:
- hourly diet;
- diet 5: 2 (we eat normally five days a week, and two days a week - we significantly limit ourselves in food);
- skipping meals;
- "Fasting days", that is. refusal to eat on certain days.
Who is on the diet?
Diets are common and popular. It is believed that about half of normal-weight women try dieting. One study found that almost 70% of 15-year-old girls are on a diet and 8% are on an extremely strict diet. Another study found that about 70% of women and 45% of dieters were not overweight and did not need to follow any diets.
Diet comes before dissatisfaction with your body and desire to lose weight.
A UK study 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 stress associated with this, about a quarter of teenage girls skip at least one meal a day.
Dietary risks
Diets increase the risk of eating disorders. Scientists have found that if adolescent girls eat a moderate diet, the risk of developing an eating disorder increases five times, and with a strict diet - eighteen times.
Frequent and strict diets contribute to excess weight. 95% of people who diet to lose weight gain more weight within two years than they lost as a result of the diet. This is due to the fact that during the diet, people very limited the number of calories and the variety of food, experiencing constant hunger. Maybe dieters can ignore hunger for a short time, but after long diets, increased appetite and overeating occur. This, in turn, leads to feelings of guilt and failure, which can increase dissatisfaction with yourself and your body. Some people live in a similar diet cycle their entire lives – meaning dieting takes up a certain portion of their time and energy each day.
In addition, diets have been found to slow down metabolism - the rate of 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 both mental and physical health. Bad breath, fatigue, overeating, headaches and cramps, constipation, sleep disturbances and possibly bone destruction may occur.
Diets can alter the body's natural responses to food, needs, and appetite. A person ceases to feel hunger and satiety, may cease to distinguish their emotional needs from hunger.
Why are we dieting?
Many people with normal weight see themselves as overweight and want to lose weight by dieting. In addition, many overweight people want to lose their excess weight and believe that diet will help them in this regard.
It is known that about ⅓ of the world's population is overweight, but about twice as many people want to lose weight.
They go on a diet with the desire to be thinner. There are many reasons for the worldwide pursuit of thinness, one of which is the equally common fear of getting fat. It turns out that such a fear can arise already in primary school students. For some reason, integrity is considered something shameful and condemned in our society.
Through advertising, people's desire to diet is supported by companies that focus on all things diet-related (diets, books, groceries and other products). Because we are in a highly lucrative industry, the diet industry is unnaturally optimistic about diets. In fact, it has been found that half of dieters gain weight as a result – few maintain the weight they lost as a result of the diet for five years.
The success of a strict diet depends on many physical and mental factors and is quite ineffective in weight loss in obesity.