9 Diet Tricks That are Actually Dangerous

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Every few months, there seems to be a new diet craze or fad that comes out! But, what is the problem with these fad diets? They are not always backed by science, restrictive, and can in fact be actually dangerous.

But, for serious and seriously healthy weight loss, your best bet is to follow the simple, proven methods, and avoid these dangerous diets at all costs.

Dangerous Diets:

1. Celebrity “Detoxes”

Although Beyonce have done the Master Cleanse before, drinking only maple syrup, water, red pepper flakes and lemon juice will not turn you into Bey. This virtually zero-calorie elixir will make you lose weight, but, this will also deprive you of the energy to do absolutely anything except maybe vomit.

Queen B may be a “Survivor,” but living life becomes very hard when your sole source of calories is a condiment.

2. Cotton Ball Diet

This diet has “dangerous” written all over it, but, many people still continue to think it’s effective and safe.

Here’s how it goes: instead of eating, you eat down 5 cotton balls dipped in lemonade, orange juice, or a smoothie as a meal to make you feel full. Not only are those cotton balls loaded with dangerous chemicals, but, experts also say consuming them could severely obstruct your intestinal tract, which can be life-threatening.

Use them in the bathroom and keep them away from your meal plate.

3. Grapefruit Diet

Like cabbage, grapefruit is great in moderation: it’s full of potassium, vitamin A, and vitamin C. When you surround your entire diet around one food, though, this is when things get messy.

This fad diet, wherein you consume nothing more than grapefruit for 10-12 days, first became a thing in the 1930’s, and it is somehow still making the rounds.

Consume grapefruit with your meals if you want to, but, consuming only the fruit can lead to serious health problems down the line, according to the Cleveland Clinic, particularly because you are not getting everything your body needs to function properly, like, you know, protein.

4. HCG Diet

HCG or what is known as “human chorionic gonadotropin,” is a hormone that is produced during pregnancy. This diet has you inject it into your body, and follow some ridiculous restrictions such as eating 800 calories per day, avoiding exercise and rationing a single vegetable per meal. These extreme measures only cause more harm than good. Potential side effects include arrhythmia, gallstones, and neurological deficits.

5. Juice Cleanses

Juice cleanses are very trendy and will probably always be super trendy: every Instagram celebrity swears by them as a healthy way to lose weight. But the reality, though, is that drinking all your calories does a lot more harm than good: Experts say cleanses are not a long-term solution to weight loss.

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Once you eat normal food again, you will gain the weight back, and while you are drinking juices, you put yourself at risk of nutritional deficiencies. Also, because they are low in protein, the weight you do lose is not fat, it’s muscles.

6. Ketogenic Diet

This popular low-carb, high-fat diet aims to initiate ketosis, when your body primarily burns fat for energy instead of carbohydrates. Some versions budget less than 10% of your total calories for protein and carbs, which may be great if you like to eat butter and bacon for every single meal.

But some food for thought: Ketogenic diets are used for some seizure disorders that areuntreatable with many medications. What’s my point? If an extreme diet can affect ones brain chemistry, then, may be too extreme for you.

7. Military Diet

The Military Diet, also called the Hot Dog Diet involves eating foods such as tuna and hot dogs to lose weight. There are claims that it can make you lose 10 pounds in a week and boosts your metabolism, but according to experts, that’s all false.

You might lose some water weight, but, remember that the low-calorie count can put your body straight into starvation-mode, which actually slows down your metabolism, and not speed it up.

And because your body thinks you are starving, you will actually end up packing on more pounds after your “diet” is over.

8. Tea-Toxing

Most weight-loss teas include herbs, which are often fine (just consult with your doctor about potential drug interactions). The more concerning “tea-toxes” contain senna leaves, which is an active ingredient in laxatives.

Besides potentially pooping in your pants, you will lose electrolytes with any water weight you shed, causing (best case) muscle cramping and (worst case) cardiac arrest.

9. Werewolf Diet

Don’t worry! The werewolf diet does not have you howling at the moon and hunting prey. What is does have you do, is almost as crazy, though: ingesting only fruit, vegetable juice and water for 24 hours during the full moon or new moon.

Not only are you missing out on eating on real food, but, you are also setting yourself up for failure: experts say there’s no research to back it up and you will regain any weight you lose.

Related Articles:

  1. Boiled Egg and Grapefruit Diet
  2. Japanese Morning Diet: A Fast and Effective Way to Lose Weight
  3. How to Use the 7-Day Cucumber Diet to Reduce Weight Fast

Sources:
MSN
GoodHousekeeping

photo credit: pixabay

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