Don't Diet in 2019: Reason #20: Finger-pricks and peeing on sticks isn't fun
Some of these extreme diets require you to have a medical degree!
People are willing to do some crazy shit on a diet. Literally.
If I told you that putting someone else’s poop up your bum would help you lose weight, would you do it? Well, guess what, there’s some scientific evidence that doing just that — or even EATING someone else’s poop — could change your microbiome to help you lose weight. The research on this is very preliminary and mostly conducted on rats and mice…but you better believe people are already flocking to do this kind of thing.
People will do some crazy stuff for the promise of quick and easy weight loss.
We’ll count points, calories, and grams. We’ll measure, weigh, and track every morsel of food that passes our lips down to the ounce. We’ll spend $300 per month on supplements and take 27 pills a day. We’ll do coffee enemas and shove someone else’s fecal matter up our rear. We’ll prick our fingers and pee on sticks. All for the promise of fast weight loss.
Moving on from poop transplants…let’s talk about keto for a moment. The ketogenic diet is currently the “golden child” of the diet industry (keep in mind that 30 years ago, extreme low-fat and no-fat diets were the fad), and is also my favorite extreme diet to pick on. I don’t plan to go into full detail on why I I’m not a fan of keto (you can read more the pros and cons of keto here), but this is just one of many reasons: it’s too extreme.
Let me explain. To get the benefits of keto your body must be in the state of ketosis. You hear people talk about “dirty keto” or “relaxed keto”. Sorry there’s no such thing. Your body is either IN or NOT IN ketosis. There is almost zero margin for error with this diet. And the only way to really know for sure is to test blood or urine on a daily basis. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to prick my fingers or pee all over my hand every day!
That said, if you enjoy pooping in cups or shoving foreign objects up your bum, pricking your finger or peeing on test strips every day, or if you really like wasting your time crunching numbers, counting calories, weighing food, weighing yourself, and worrying about food and yourself all the time — extreme diets are just the ticket to developing and feeding neurotic behaviors.
What you should do instead…
Anti-Diet Wisdom: Diets that require extreme precision, massive amounts of math, or — er — messy cleanups, don’t work. This is one of the reasons why people who are initially successful at diets like keto or Weight Watchers typically regain all the weight: maintaining these extremes is unrealistic! As soon as they stop counting or testing, they’re off the diet.
Honestly assess how far you’re willing to go to make a “lifestyle” change. It’s not a lifestyle if you can’t do it for life! If a diet seems extreme from the get-go or requires you to do crazy stuff that you would never normally consider, it’s probably not a realistic long-term solution. Remember: for the average person to be healthy does not require extreme measures!
Blog Author: Kelly Bailey, IIN certified holistic nutrition coach, and NPTI certified personal trainer
Learn more about the author here.