Calorie Deprivation Diets Don’t Work

Almost all diets are based on calorie restriction one way or another. These diets simply do not work because they cause they are based on self-denial.  Sooner later we give in to temptation, as it is human nature to simply crave variety when it comes to food. It is also too much of a punishment to be denied food as well as it is a natural urge to fill our bellies.

Psychologically and physically it is too hard on us as humans to stay hungry or not eat enough. We punish ourselves by not eating enough fat or calories or just a single food. This can cause psychological problems and compulsive behaviors like bulimia or anorexia.

The worst diets for you nutritionally are the ones that force you to eat a single food only. A good example of was the Cabbage Soup Diet.  We were led to believe that eating some magically fat burning combination of cabbages, V8 juice and Lipton Onion Soup Mix combined with eating only bananas one day or only drinking milk another would lead to weight loss.

This is a great example of a diet that is based completely on calorie deprivation – about 800 to 1000 calories a day.  Starvation leads to rebound weight gain even if you lose a bit of weight at first on this type of diet. This is because after denying yourself of the fats, oils and carbs that you crave all day you tend to binge on them even more.

Another good example is the classic Grapefruit Diet, which is largely all meat, no carbs, grapefruit and black coffee.  It is also a diet that is below 1000 calories a day. Any diet that is that low in calories is bound to be ineffective and it can also make you very sick. All humans need a variety of foods to function properly.

Think Weight Watchers it the healthy way to go?  It isn’t. The problem with the Weight Watcher's Program is that you are still limited in calories and that the foods that you are allowed to eat or given to eat are often very acidic in nature. The result is that your body becomes more vulnerable to disease in general because the body is more prone to losing weight and staying healthy if it is in an alkaline state.  The prepackaged food involved with Weight Watchers is not that healthy either.

To keep your body in an alkaline state you need to eat in a healthy way that includes the consumption of organic vegetables and juices. Find a diet that is vegetarian or based on the European food pyramid and you will be much healthier.