Abstract

The task of Dieting is a very difficult task in the life of the human being. You want to Diet but you crave for your favourite dish as well and the biggest nightmare is, what if the favourite dish of yours is something which is full of calories. Calories, isn't it a scary word to even hear or the fat feels more scary. Well it's difficult to accept but both the calories and the fat are important for the body like vitamins and minerals. So why eating low in fat and calorie free food is in trend. Why is it becoming a new fad? All of us seek answers to these questions in the back of our mind, such as why I cannot have rice over bread and how taking a heavy meal makes me fat. This all is common as we are humans and we believe in eating trends or new food fads. We keep on saying that yes dieting is important but why? Instead of dieting, why can't we choose the right items to eat? So, in this article we are going to cover the ill effects of dieting and how it affects the body.

Introduction

Today's generation needs to understand that good nutrition is not based on the latest fashions. Fashionable things are good either to make money or to impress someone but in reality there is nothing like fashionable eating. If we are eating or not eating just to impress someone, then are we living in reality? That's a straight "NO". We have to eat because as the owner of our body we are responsible for taking care of it. But what we do, we eat but under the latest fads of food fashion and then we land in malnutrition, digestion troubles, menstrual troubles etc. Yes, it is important to look pretty but you must understand food is the first step towards being pretty. How? Let's understand this with this article ahead.

The first food fad – "Try a calorie free diet"

Calories are the unit of energy. The amount of calories a person has is that much amount of energy. If the person is having more calories than required by the body, the body simply stores that in the form of fat. You know there is one more interesting fact that a packed food with a label of "FAT FREE" also has calories.

One more interesting fact is that high levels of calories will result in fat accumulation but low levels of calories also result in anaemia, infertility, bone loss, poor dental health along with decrease in thyroid function. Just not these many others can develop as well.

The second food fad – "Have a protein rich diet"

Proteins are required for the structural, functional and regulation of the body's tissues and organs. But what if you are having high amounts of proteins in your diet? Adequate might help you in building a body of your dreams but excess of course it will do the opposite. As excess of everything is bad. Excess amounts of protein have an impact on your hairs, it makes them rough and the hair strand loses its flexibility. It can deposit in various parts of your body like in kidneys forming kidney stones. Excess protein can disturb your digestion causing disturbance in the intestinal flora thus causing situations like recurrent diarrhoea or long term constipation, incomplete evacuation etc. It can also cause irritability and headaches as well.

The Third food fad – "A low carb diet"

What are carbs? They are carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are the primary source of energy and the human brain's preferred energy source. Carbohydrates are broken down by the body into glucose and this glucose is used by the body's cells, tissues and organs. If we start having a diet which is low in carbohydrates for a long time then ultimately your body will start breaking down fat into ketones to meet the requirement of energy. It is called ketosis. Ketosis can cause bad breath, headache, fatigue and weakness.

Cut the carbs, cut the carbs and cut the carbs. Your stomach may feel full but your body will starve.

The Fourth food fad – Ketogenic diet

Another diet for rapid weight loss is the ketogenic diet. Now this diet contains low carbohydrates but high fat. As we already know till now that both carbohydrates and fat are important for the body but in a balanced amount. But if we simply increase fat content in our diet and lower the carbohydrates then what do you think will happen? One can land with severely low blood sugar due to low carbohydrates and may develop High cholesterol problems due to high fat intake.

There are many other types of diet plans and yes those may also have some serious effects on the body, if used for a very long time. We must understand that it's not our clothing which can be changed whenever we like. Our diet patterns must be fixed because our body wants to have regular meals without too many conflicting tastes, at regular times of the day, year after year. So why are we opting for new diet plans?

If we discuss diet then yes diet is region specific. If fries, pizza, burger and other food articles are suitable to Person "A" who is an american by birth then it doesn't mean that it will be suitable for an Indian who has just shifted to America for work or living.

Sudden shift in your diets can cause a lot of digestion troubles and may hamper your metabolism. Some people shift from naturally available foods to frozen or canned food articles. This is also a very drastic shift in someone's diet. Why are we opting for preserved or canned food articles when we have resources? We can go to a supermarket, purchase some fresh vegetables and keep them in our fridge for 3-4 days or even a week.

Obviously preparing fresh things takes time but life's for when you cannot spend time preparing your own meal. Because the first step for taking care of your body starts not from dieting but it starts from your choices. What type of food you actually have, whether it's canned or fresh, freshly made or stored, ready to eat or self prepared, obviously these things matter if you're talking about eating healthy.

Now the person who is diet conscious also believes in labels. He or she will go to the market and look through every label. Some provide them with correct information, some labels confuse them and some convenience them.

Myths of labelling

As mentioned above some labels provide correct information, some labels are confusing and some are convincing. Your diet must not depend on labels as it's like putting your head inside a lion's mouth. Maybe you get it out on time, maybe not. Governments in various countries have introduced laws or have taken steps to standardise labelling in recent years yet there are still huge discrepancies in product labelling. Labels are the way of advertising so that the consumer can be convinced to buy their products, nothing more, nothing less. If you just want to have the nutritional information you may visit a library but reading labels is not going to help you. Manufacturers will never tell you that two medium size potatoes will provide you equal grams of protein as 30 grams of packed chicken. See, According to quick guesses now you are definitely getting what we want to convey.

Now, the topic is about the ill effects of dieting. So, finally let's discuss them.

Ill Effects Of Dieting

Dieting, what is it actually? Restrict yourself to small meal quantities or avoid having meals which make you gain weight. Perspective of dieting is different for every human being.

For some, dieting means only eating healthy, freshly prepared food. On the other hand, some people might take dieting as following a peculiar type of dieting like ketogenic diet, low fat diet etc.

The main thing is what is the purpose of dieting and how you understand dieting. If you are dieting to make your body healthy then you must choose a diet which exactly makes you healthy not malnourished. Same applies if you want to lose weight as well or look pretty or want a glow on your face.

Have a diet that makes you lose weight and why to depend on diet alone, do exercise often. You will lose weight gradually. You want to look pretty and want that charm on your face for which you are spending so much on lotions and masks, then exercise, eat a healthy diet which is full of nutrients.

According to this we can divide dieting in two parts: healthy and unhealthy dieting or positive and negative dieting.

After this, what dangers exactly dieting without thinking brings. It can bring you your worst nightmare. Unhealthy or negative dieting can disrupt the metabolism to the point where it is hard to have any kind of decent health. This has become reality in western world and yes this negative dieting is far more widespread than you may imagine. We come across many people who have done so much damage to their bodies by too much dieting.

According to the Ayurvedic viewpoint, negative or unhealthy dieting causes damage to enzyme function. Ayurveda explains it as principles of agni. Agni is defined as the digestive fire and disruption in its working means invitation to many diseases. Other than digestion, agni is there in every cell of the body. Which means agni is responsible for the cellular function as well. If there is no balance of agni in the body then obviously disruption in the body's work will surely be noticed. And yes, unhealthy or negative dieting is capable of doing this.

Even eating things which are off season can also disrupt enzyme function or can cause disruption of agni. Like having mangoes in december!!

In addition, before opting for diet, one must understand the constitution of their body. Here, Ayurveda has the concept of prakriti. Vata prakriti, pitta prakriti and kapha prakriti. A peculiar type of diet can not work in all types of prakritis. For example, having raw fruits in large amounts, fruit juices or vegetable juices may be good for some people but for vata types this will never work.

As we were discussing the concept of agni, then disruption in its function results in ama or endotoxin accumulation. These endotoxins are capable of causing a variety of conditions starting from autoimmune conditions and may result in cancer as well. These days, alcohol and smoking are the secondary causes for building diseases in the human body but the diet has become the primary.

What are people doing these days? Cutting out nutrients from the food they have and have pills just to control their fat intake from the intestine. Yes, we are taking pills to block fat or nutrients and this is human empowering. You may control people around you, you may control situations around you, you can also control your own personal behaviour but sorry to say readers you cannot control your body. Body is like a temple, you have to worship it , take care of it and only after that you will see how much it can do for you. So, stop imaging to control your body and start working for it.

Last but not least, Planet Ayurveda explains one more method other than healthy dieting that is healthy fasting, also called as langhan. Various fasts like famous intermittent fasting and many others. Fasting helps to digest the endotoxins present in your body, it keeps your digestion balanced, the agni at cellular levels in check and also helps in getting energy from the excessive deposited fats. It makes your appetite better and also cleanses your body.

CONCLUSION

The motto of this article is to let people know that "Let Health be empowered not manipulations". Empower your mind, educate yourself about what has to be eaten and what has to be followed. Don't enslave yourself to social conditions or trends because one thing that suits someone is not bound to give your results as well. High tech products and promises from various companies, don't let them make a fool out of you. You should know your worth and the worth of your body and time. So, don't play with the natural metabolism of your body and start understanding its requirements. In case of any query kindly visit