Health Fitness

Type 2 Diabetes and Weight Loss: Avoid Crash Diets at All Costs

The fact that something is difficult to do and is more complicated does not mean that it is necessarily more fruitful. For example, a 10K run will burn significantly more calories than running half the distance. But why run 10K when you could do two 5K runs? It’s much better to fit two 5K runs into your weekly schedule than to aim for a Herculean effort on Sunday with a 10K jog. Not to mention there are long-term issues with long-distance running, but that’s beside the point.

The same applies to diet and nutrition. Just because something is harder to achieve, not to mention that you have to be very careful about what you do when it comes to your diet, there are plenty of ideas that could have dangerous results. You need to stay away from extreme diets.

Consider an individual Matthew, who wants to lose weight more than anything else. Matt is a 45-year-old man diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. His doctor has told him for years that his weight is a problem. But the best he’s been able to do is move a little in the right direction, before getting stuck and inevitably going back to the old ways.

Matthew is sick of calling himself fat and feeling out of shape. He knows that he deserves much better. It is a delicate period in his life and the cardiovascular risks are becoming real. The last thing he needs is to suffer the same fate as someone close to him, who is also dealing with type 2 diabetes. You’ve tried what his doctor advised, but it just didn’t work for him. He has to try something new…

  • maybe you’ll search and stumble upon an online fad or a strict diet.
  • a friend may tell you about a crash diet, claiming it worked for them.

No matter what, you need to be careful because some diets will do more harm than good. Such is the case of a diet that proposes…

  • severe caloric restrictions,
  • complete avoidance of carbohydrates, or
  • too much of a food like protein.

Especially the first one on the list: it has become quite popular nowadays to try extremely low calorie diets for a “temporary” period. Temporary in this sense should be a matter of one or two days. There is no physiological problem with going a short period on minimal food. Your body finds a way to cope. But when you spend several days or weeks consuming an intake of just over 1,000 calories or even less, that’s serious concern. Add diet pills to the equation and we have a more significant problem.

Not only are these diets extreme, but so are the repercussions. The consequences are rarely talked about, while the potential benefits receive all the attention. Even if you can apply your willpower to accomplish these feats, it doesn’t mean you have to.

But why not apply the same motivation to something less extreme? Anything proven to work? A balanced diet is all you need to follow. Progress may be slower, true. But the benefits are guaranteed and priceless.

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