Dieting Risks

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• QWhat are the possible side effects of a slow-carb diet?

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  A Tim Ferriss , Fitness, answered

  If you get headaches or have other symptoms of low blood sugar, 90% of the time it will be because you are not eating enough. First-time slow-carbers are accustomed to eating small portions of calorically dense carbohydrates (think bagels or pasta), and they duplicate the portion sizes with the calorically lighter slow-carb foods, resulting in insufficient calories. Expect that you can eat two to three times as much volume, and assume that you should.
  
  Likewise, if you have trouble sleeping due to hunger, you're not eating enough. In these cases, consume a bit of protein prior to bed, which can be as simple as 1-2 tablespoons of almond butter (ideal) or peanut butter with no additives (the only ingredients should be peanuts and perhaps salt). Note to the ladies, for whom peanut butter seems to be like crack: the tablespoon scoop should be no more than a small mound, not half the jar balanced on a spoon.
• QWhat happens to our skin, if fat tissue shrinks?

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  A Dr. Doris Day, MD , Dermatology, answered

  Over time we lose not just collagen and elastin from our skin but also bone and fat. This can make the skin sag and make us look older than our years. Much of these changes are genetic, however for those who go through yo-yo dieting or for those with low body fat, the face can look gaunt and older at a much younger age, leading to the expression  of having to choose between “your fanny or your face.”  Besides avoiding the yo-yo diets that accelerate the process, for those who have fat loss, there are wonderful soft tissue fillers that add volume in a very natural and lasting manner. As new products have become available we have advanced injection techniques so we are no longer simply chasing and filling lines and wrinkles, but rather restoring volume and a more youthful appearance. One of the most undertreated areas are the temples. Strategically adding volume in the temples and the mid-face can add balance and harmony to the face, and no one will know anything was done. Options for products to use are: Sculptra, Perlane, Restylane, Juvederm, Radiesse. It is very important to be evaluated and treated by a trained aesthetic physician for safest treatment and optimal outcome.  The aesthetic physician will be able to determine the right treatment plan and product for you.

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• QWhat are the drawbacks of a calorie-restricted diet?

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  A Discovery Health answered

  Calorie-restricted diets generate a lot of buzz about their possible benefits, from lower blood pressure and improved heart health to longevity - but they aren't for everyone. Cutting up to 30 percent of your daily calorie intake also can cause you to look gaunt or emaciated and experience dizziness, memory loss, loss of muscle mass, a faulty menstrual cycle and a lowered libido. Eliminating more calories - up to 60 percent of daily intake - causes signs of starvation in lab mice. Even without the side effects, some people find these diets too much of a hassle. Finding foods that pack the nutrients without the caloric punch while keeping a balance of proteins, carbohydrates and fats is time-consuming, and can be expensive.

• QIs a diet that eliminates carbohydrates healthy?

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  A Judy Caplan , Nutrition & Dietetics, answered on behalf of Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

  Carbohydrates are needed for energy. They are the fuel that runs the body. Eliminating carbohydrates can be healthy if you eliminate the "bad" carbs and keep some "good" ones.Bad carbs are ones made from processed flours, refined, sugars, and trans fats. These carbs break down quickly into sugar and cause a quick rise in blood sugar. Good carbs are more complex carbs and contain fiber and breakdown slowly. Fruits and vegetables contain carbs too. If you eliminate all carbs from your diet you will be missing out on many nutrients, fiber, antioxidants, enzymes, and low fat sources of food.

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• QWhy are certain fad diets bad for my health?

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  A Cindy Guirino , Nutrition & Dietetics, answered

  FAD diets should stand for FORGET ANOTHER DIET!  Instead FOCUS on the foods that provide your body with energy and nutrition: nutrient-dense whole foods.  If you fill your plate with what matters instead of some new trend or fad way of eating, you will gain GOOD HEALTH!

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• QHow does skipping meals affect weight loss?

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  A Dr. Dawn Marcus , Neurology, answered

  Skipping meals is a common problem. About 40 percent of adults skip at least one meal over a two-day period. Although you might think breakfast is the most commonly missed meal, people are actually most likely to skip lunch. The problem with skipping meals is that meal skipping usually results in in-between meal snacking. In one survey, people ate an average of two snacks each day. In this same survey, people eating three meals a day tended to be normal weight, while those eating more often than three meals a day were overweight.

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• QWhat are the dangers of the K-E diet?

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  A Dr. David L. Katz, MD, MPH , Preventive Medicine, answered

  “K-E” stands for ketogenic enteral nutrition. A better, more descriptive term for the new diet is the nasogastric tube diet. The K-E diet involves inserting a feeding tube into the nose, down the esophagus, through the stomach, and into the duodenum, and then infusing a high-protein feeding solution continuously.
  
  This is done in the hospital routinely for people who can’t eat. But that’s not what the K-E diet is about. It’s about brides-to-be who want to lose 10 pounds or so in a hurry to look good in a wedding dress.
  
  This diet is little short of lunacy on the part of any such bride-to-be; colossally misplaced priorities on the part of any groom-to-be watching it happen; and as profound an abrogation of professional ethics on the part of doctors peddling it (for $1,500) as I have ever seen.
  
  Everything about this is appalling. Not so much because of the risk of metabolic complications from a ketogenic diet over a period of just 10 days. These are real, and include stresses on the liver, kidneys, and skeleton -- but for people healthy at the start, such concerns are both minor and remote. Bone loss will occur, but will be inconsequential if limited to a 10-day span. Constipation is the one complication that will occur almost without fail. A ketogenic diet is used in medical practice to treat intractable seizures -- but that's a case where the inconvenience and adverse effects of the diet are the lesser of two evils, because the alternative is uncontrollable epilepsy.
  
  What makes the K-E diet truly appalling is that it transforms a medical therapy into the indulgence of a short-term, short-sighted, vanity-driven whim.
  
  If the K-E diet survives a while -- and I sure hope it doesn’t -- I bet it will come to be defined as an eating disorder in its own right. I fully appreciate the frustration many people feel when trying to lose weight, but if bulimia is not the right answer for that problem, neither is this!
  
  A nasogastric tube is an unpleasant, undesirable medical procedure we impose on sick patients who can't eat. It carries with it a risk of aspiration pneumonia, which can be fatal.
  
  In terms of quick weight loss, this dangerous nonsense is a guarantee of quick rebound with interest, since it involves no useful behavior change whatsoever. As for the doctors involved in peddling this travesty, I condemn their actions. The job of physicians is not to come up with any way to satisfy a patient's whim no matter how fundamentally at odds with health.