The 5 most dangerous and unhealthy diets

We are constantly looking for a faster and easier way to lose weight. Diets tempt us with promised “drastic” results, ease and simplicity, but they are rarely sane or healthy.

These five diets top the list of the most harmful for the human body. Remember, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is harmful. Read on to find out which diets you should never try.

1. Grapefruit Diet

Famous as early as 1930, this strange diet still maintains its level of popularity. Her idea is very simple: if you eat grapefruit before meals, drink a lot of water, eat light protein foods and forget about carbohydrates, then you will burn more fat.

Supporters of this diet claim that if they do it for about 10 days, they can lose weight up to 10 kilograms. There may be some truth to this, says nutritionist Erin Palinsky-Wade.

“It is believed that eating grapefruit can help reduce the waistline and slim down the lower body, as the fruit has diuretic properties. Because of them, you expel a lot of fluids”.

In addition, because of the fiber, the fruit creates a feeling of satiety, and at the same time it is low in calories. This way you don’t feel hungry and reduce the total intake of calories during the day.

2. The Tapeworm Diet

While not for the squeamish, this fad is rumored to have been popular at the dawn of the 20th century. Daredevils have swallowed tapeworm eggs in pills so that the worm grows inside their body.

The tapeworm remains and feeds on the body until the desired weight loss is achieved. It is then removed with an antiparasitic pill.

“This is an incredibly dangerous and unhealthy weight loss option that could potentially be deadly,” says Erin Palinsky-Wade.

“Not only will it lead to serious nutritional deficiencies that can cause complications, but you will gain the weight back immediately after the parasite is gone”.

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3. The Pepper, Lemon, and Maple Syrup Diet

Based on Stanley Burroughs’ detox book, there’s a buzz about the diet known as “Lemonena.” This miraculous elixir consists of only water, lemon juice, hot red pepper and maple syrup. The dietitian promises that you’ll lose a lot of weight and you do, but not for long, says Dr. Alice Levine of Los Angeles.

“The likelihood of regaining the lost pounds as soon as you stop dieting and go back to solid food is huge,” says Levine.

According to her, there is another risk – this diet can make it more difficult to lose weight in the future. The reason is that such low-calorie diets cause muscle loss and lower metabolism.

4. Baby food diet

The idea is to replace breakfast and lunch with small jars of baby purees and then eat a low-calorie dinner.

If you choose to eat nothing but small jars of pureed food, you will most likely lose the same weight as eating small portions of normal food, which you can also put in for convenience in jars.

“This diet robs you of the pleasure of eating real food and is not a good long-term approach to weight loss,” says Alice Levine.

5. The Sleeping Beauty Diet

This diet became popular after it was mentioned in the popular 1960s novel Valley of the Dolls and was rumored to have been used by Elvis Presley.

This is surely the laziest diet of all time. All you need to do is take sleeping pills to keep you unconscious for as long as it takes to reach your ideal weight.

Basically, it’s starvation accompanied by muscle atrophy, says nutritionist Erin Palinsky-Wide. “Not only can going without food and water for days lead to a slower metabolism and dehydration, but you risk damaging all the organs in your body because of improper use of sleeping pills,” he adds. she.