We should not be so quick to accept the claims of fad diets and follow them, instead we should find the research that has been done and make an informed decision based on what we find.
Dieting has been around for a long time, with the first recorded diet being, "An Essay of Health and Long Life" by George Cheyne back in 1724. He was one of the first dietitians, and he managed to return to being healthy again after using his diet to overcome obesity. The 1800's was when dieting began to really come into it's own. William Banting wrote "Letter on Corpulence, Addressed to the Public" which became an incredibly popular diet plan which was widely used. This writing was important because it has remained relevant to this day and made dieting something that was trendy and cool. Today, in the 21st century, dieting has blown up tremendously. There are hundreds, if not thousands of diets, all easily accessible to us by way of the internet. The issue we run into today is that so many popular diets overstate the benefits of the diet, and never speak of the possible downsides. While most diets are effective for losing weight if followed consistently, it is important for the public to be informed scientifically on a diet they wish to pursue so that they are aware of possible risks and side affects. We will look at the Keto diet as an example of what I am talking about. This diet has been incredibly popular in the news and media recently because of it ability to help a follower of the diet lose fat very quickly. To quickly sum up the diet, you restrict your carbohydrate intake to 5% or less of your daily calories and eat about 75% of your daily calories from fats, and about 20% of your calories from protein. By doing this, your body runs out of its normal energy source, sugar, and begins to burn fat for energy instead. This process is called ketosis and produces ketone bodies (which are what is burned for energy). Ketosis does promote fat loss. Because of this, the keto has become overblown and overhyped. People seriously consider this diet because of it. However, this diet comes with some significant downsides.
Ketone bodies are naturally generated by the body and in small amounts are fine. However, as ketone bodies grow in number in the blood they can become dangerous. One ketone which is produced is acetone, which we all know as the chemical used in nail polish remover. It would seem like a bad idea to induce excessive generation of a chemical like that in your blood. In fact, an excessive amount of acetone in the blood is a condition called Ketoacidosis.
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| Acetone Molecule. |
- headache
- slurred speech
- lethargy
- coma
- low blood pressure.
Another issue with the keto diet is that it is incredibly difficult to keep up with. Restricting carbohydrates to 5% of caloric intake or less is incredibly difficult, especially when you think about how most people eat roughly 50% of their calories in a day from carbohydrates. This is a very difficult transition to make. Then figuring out how to eat healthy proteins and fats compounds the difficulty. Many who try the diet end up eating a lot of red meat and processed foods which cause other health issues.
The longevity of a diet is the most important factor when picking a diet to follow. If it is too difficult to keep up with, you won't have success in losing or keeping off weight. You need to be able to maintain a diet for a long time for it to have a good effect on you. Many highly restrictive diets, such as the keto diet, will not work for most people simply because they are very difficult to follow. Not only this, but restrictive diets have very real potential negative health affects. These two factors make such fad diets very unappealing.
Looking at dieting as a whole, we should first and foremost do it with the intent to become a healthier person. To accomplish this we should research a diet and become informed on it. There are so many people who just take what the media says about a diet and base their opinion purely on that. We need to look at the research and see what has been found. We live in the Information Age where we have limitless knowledge at our fingertips. We should take advantage of this and keep ourselves informed. By doing this we can avoid making poor health choices.
Because we have been conditioned by the media to want to look a certain way, which often is impossible, we are drawn to dieting. Sometimes we seek out a diet because it would be beneficial for our health. Whatever the reason is, we need to be sure to become informed and not just follow the trends in dieting because it is popular and seems amazing. Often, things that the media shows to us are overdramatized. Such it is with fad diets.
As we seek to become a healthier people, may we all become a more informed people as well.
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Another historical theme that could tie into this is the search for order. It's difficult to find the balance between order and chaos--between finding something that works and will make us change and grow, but also keeping it within reasonable bounds so there aren't extreme consequences. The longevity factor is important in this aspect.
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