Is Your Diet Killing You

1. Is Your Diet Killing You?

2. After all of the holiday feasting and the extra pounds to prove it, many of us have made New Year’s Resolutions to lose weight.  We are bound and determined to stick to our diets, get fit, and look good.  But, be careful.  Not all weight loss is good for you. • People start new dieting programs because of many different reasons.  Sometimes your doctor encourages you to do so, other times we just feel fat and want to do something about it ourselves.  Sometimes people feel that the body they see in the mirror is out of control, forcing them to live in a world of insecurity, struggling emotionally, suffering in silence.

3. New diets can create abnormal eating patterns which can lead to eating disorders.  Eating disorders may begin with a preoccupation with food and weight, but they are most often about much more than food.  They generally arise from a variety of physical, emotional, social, and familial issues.  Self-esteem problems are at the core of many eating disorders. • Depression may precede eating disorders and also contribute to their onset.  It has also been observed that living with the eating disorder leads to depression.  Some common eating disorders are anorexia, compulsive eating, binge eating, and bulimia.  Eating disorders can be dangerous and eventually lead to poor health.  They result in a drop in your confidence and performance levels and thus further leads to more depression.

4. Americans can be obsessed with their appearances and their bodies.  We spend more than $40 billion dollars a year on dieting and diet-related products.  In the United States, as many as 10 million females and 1 million males are fighting a life and death battle with an eating disorder.  Approximately 25 million more are struggling with binge eating disorder.  Not all diets are bad but, not all diets are good.  If you find yourself becoming so absorbed in your diet and start doing extreme things such as making excuses for not eating, avoiding eating in front of others, or are trying to hide your dramatic weight loss behind baggy clothing, you need to get help.  You are not alone.  But there is hope. • Dealing with an eating disorder may not be easy.  It is very important for you to be aware of the disorder and adopt the required corrective approach as soon as possible.  See your physician if you, or someone you love, may be dealing with as eating disorder.

5. EXTREME DIETS CAN CAUSE EXTREME HEALTH PROBLEMS • Heart Disease – Anorexia can cause irregular heart rhythms and result in smaller heart muscles. • Hormonal Changes – Changes in reproductive hormones and in thyroid hormones can cause absence of menstruation, infertility, bone loss, and retarded growth. • Imbalance of minerals and electrolytes – Your body needs adequate levels of minerals, particularly calcium and potassium, in order to maintain the electric currents that keep your heart beating.  If left imbalances, this can be life-threatening. • Nerve Damage – Eating disorders can cause brain and nerve damage, seizures, and loss of feeling. • Digestive Problems – Anorexia can cause constipation and bloating.

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