Liquid Diet RANT!

Small caveat: Please remember that even though I read everything I can get my hands on that pertains to nutrition and fitness, I am NOT an RD or a PT or an MD!  I do however have personal experience that has formed some VERY strong views, opinions, and thoughts on the subjects of health and fitness!

OK…It is time to talk about the latest twist in this old “fad” to lose weight….  Here is a link if you want to watch the video “of a satisfied customer” who actually only kept the feeding tube, YES I SAID FEEDING TUBE, in for 8 days, because she lost the 10# she needed to lose to fit into her wedding dress 2 days early!  Says she has kept it off, but I noticed they did not say what she eats now, and to me, she looks like she has NO muscle tone:P  What good is being skinny if you are NOT healthy and look like a stick figure???

http://gma.yahoo.com/k-e-diet-brides-using-feeding-tubes-rapidly-080053646–abc-news-health.html

First…those who know me know, as sad as it is to admit, that “back in the day”, I probably would have tried this:(  In fact, I drank nothing but diet shakes for 3 weeks once, and dropped 25#.  As an obese woman, I was ECSTATIC!!!  But now ask me how long it took for it to come back on when I decided to switch to a healthy diet!  Yep!  A HEALTHY DIET!  I was using it as a “jump-start” to what was supposed to be an all new healthy lifestyle.  But my body was so starved for nutrients after only 3 week, that I had already damaged my metabolism.  And even healthy, sensible meals like salads, chicken, broccoli, and brown rice, and an egg white and veggie omelette made me gain weight!  FAST!  All the weight was back and even brought “friends” within about 8 weeks!

As you can imagine, that just beat me down.  I was devastated and convinced that I was just destined to be fat my whole life.  So the next thing I knew, I was sitting in McDonald’s drive thru ordering enough food for a family of 4!

What really appalls me about this K-E Diet is that a DOCTOR is promoting it and saying it is perfectly healthy and that you will not lose muscle OR mess up your metabolism!

OK!  What do we know from A&P 101???  Your body, when in a state of starvation, will hold on to the fat, and cannibalize the muscle!  Maybe this doctor, skipped that day of PRE-MED!  I actually took this class in high school just for the record.  But he obviously did not skip the day that they taught them how to PREY ON OVERWEIGHT PEOPLE!!  In my opinion based on my personal experience, 800 calories of liquid for 10 days WILL put your body in a state of starvation and WILL screw up your metabolism!  I personally don’t believe in fasts and/or food free cleanses either for the same reason.  Besides the fact that I simply like to eat!  How do you think I got and stayed fat???

I love the part when he says that a side effect is constipation!  OF WHAT!  What are you going to make a bowel movement with when you have NO FOOD in your digestive tract???  That feeling is NOT constipation, but probably your colon seizing because it has not had the fiber it needs to work properly for so long!  UGH!  Also, your body NEEDS carbohydrates for energy and focus and simply for your brain to work properly.  HHMMMM…wonder why she was too tired to do anything?  UGH!  REALLY????

Now let’s talk about the money!  $1500 for 10 days of a doctor starving you!  If you want to throw your money away, give me $1500 and I will starve you for 10 days.  Let’s go!  Seriously!  I need the money!  For that kind of money, I could almost  quit my job and follow you around for 10 days and you wouldn’t even have to look like an escaped hospital patient!  That is just NUTS!

So PLEASE people…..remember!  THERE IS NO MAGIC PILL!  The ONLY way to truly get healthy and lose weight is a sensible diet and exercise.  Deprivation is NOT the answer.  LOTS of healthy food to keep you full is the key.  There are days that I eat POUNDS of vegetables to keep me from eating “junk”.   And other days, I eat pizza and drink beer.  It is about balancing your life in a way that works for you.  Starvation and Deprivation are NOT the answer.  I am WORTH the effort, and I work hard for my results!  What does it say about a person who thinks their health is only worth 10 days of hard work?  HHHMMMM

I apologize if this post seems like a big ramble.  I just get so upset that these things are even out there.  And since it has now been on all the national morning television shows, it will just become more popular and even more people are going to go down yet another scary road on their quest for a smaller waist and a lower number on the scale.  And the only place they are going is a farther away from their goal of being healthy:(

Before closing, I have to once again thank my husband for dealing with the crazy rants that things like this set off in me.  Often times like this when one of these crazy “lose weight quick” things come up, I will be screaming at the television(or him) arguing my opinion like a crazy woman!  This morning, he was like, “Baby…Baby…calm down!  I am on your side!”  LOL!  Gotta love that man:)