To give an example of what I am talking about, I got told by a bloke this week that he is going on a 1000kcal deficit... FOR A MONTH. I know! WHAT!
This particular specimen had apparently lost 5kg in 6 weeks on his current diet, and wanted to 'really push on' to 'get in shape' for summer, so thought he would just bin-off his cals almost completely. JEEEESUS, I thought. This guy's mad, he needs locking up, I need to get the men in white coats over sharpo before he implodes!.. But then I thought about it.. A LOT.. it was niggling at me for a good day or two before I realised he is not alone. Not by far, and now I am starting to wonder how I have missed this epidemic before! Thousands of mad-arse people are currently settling into some insane program of self-destruction conjured up from the 'the less I eat, the more weight I'll lose' mantra that has had people yo-yo dieting for decades, creating the obesity epidemic the western world is stuck in.
I am not a
dietician and nor am I claiming to be, and perhaps that emphasises the point I am
going to make here, that you don’t NEED to be a dietician to learn the basics
of good eating and how to fuel your body effectively for your goals - whether
that be to lose your ass fat, get buff for the beach or just to support your
training and everyday life. Trying to put
into place these extreme super-diets without knowing what’s going on inside, is
like swimming in the sea wearing t-bone steaks for trunks – sooner or later a
shark will have your nuts off.
Now, the
metabolic damage that is inevitably caused by fad-dieting may not be as drastic
as a shark noshing your knackers, but it is still not something people should
be looking to inflict on themselves. After all, diets are implemented with a
goal in mind, and if people knew the lasting impacts of their actions was in
fact going to be the exact opposite of that goal ie slowed metabolism and fat
storage, then I am sure they wouldn’t do it.
Unfortunately,
in the world where the government’s word is trusted, it is just a shame that it
seems the food industry has whipped out the flute and everyone is dancing to
their tune. A tune the government has bought into big-time, whereby the basics
of the human diet are being skewed from day 1 with its advice starting in
primary schools setting the snowball off down the hill to turn into the
avalanche that is now the 'normal' western diet. A bit of education goes a long
way, and it is unfortunate that the calories in vs calories out seems to be the
go-to fix for all things nutrition.
I see people
munching down Cheerios for breakfast, then will skip lunch (but for a bag of Monster Munch) then have a microwave dinner for tea, then spout some BS like ‘I’m
cutting me’ cals to get sexy fer summa love’ …Good luck with that! Why not try one of those weird looking things called a vegetable?!.. Anyway, I'm spent. No big learning going on here, just a bit of a vent. I promise to include something a little more worth while next time.. maybe.
Toodles
