WEIGHT!

THERE’S MORE: THE TRUTH ABOUT CRASH DIETING

An Argumentative Research Paper

Submitted To:

Mrs. Cheryl Baldric

Jenna Christy C. Matalam

Russelle S. Santiago

March 12, 2009

Ateneo de Davao University

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“Health is wealth”. This is a very famous quotation pertaining to the health

of man. Health, as defined by the World Health Organization, is the complete state of

physical, mental and emotional well-being and not merely the absence of infirmity or

disease. It is holistic, for it covers all aspects of life. Yet, what is stressed upon most of

the time, as compared to other various aspects of health and life, is our physical health.

Despite the busy lifestyles of people nowadays, most of us think of ways on how to be

and to maintain being physically fit. We are also affected by various social factors that

can influence our perception of beauty and being healthy, like what is shown on mass

media which affects our body image too. In order to attain physical fitness, people

engage in various activities, diets and exercises. But the most used method is crash

dieting. In crash dieting, there is an immediate weight loss because of low intake of

calories in the body. Though it may seem very effective, it also has its adverse effects

such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia. This essay seeks to prove that although crash

dieting is a fast and inexpensive way to lose weight, it causes physiological and

psychological effects on the body.

People nowadays have always wanted to achieve the kind of beauty they aspire.

Vanity you may call it, but to some it is definitely a serious business. That is why some

people resort to crash dieting. Crash dieting is a fast way to reduce weight. Why? How?

The following are just some of the reasons why crash dieting is a sure fire way to

trimming off those unwanted inches and reduce your weight like of a feather!

Some forms of crash-dieting involve a low-caloric intake. According to Grosvenor

and Smith (2006), low-caloric intake causes rapid weight loss due to the consumption of

fewer calories than what a person usually takes in. Calories are acquired from the foods
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that are eaten. Calories represent the energy people get from various foods that they

eat to enable them to perform various activities. The more activities people do, the

higher their energy-intake must be. This is exemplified in active persons such as those

who love the outdoors and athletes who are engaging in strenuous and vigorous sports

activities. However, if a person consumes more high-caloric foods in proportion to his or

her activities of daily living, the problem then licks in. Those calories which were not

used will be converted through series of physiological and chemical reactions into fats

which will be stored on certain areas of the body people usually complain of with being

fatty (e.g. hips, upper arms, thighs).

Foods vary in their caloric content and the major food group which contains the

highest amount of calories is the carbohydrate food group. According to Grosvenor, et.

al. (2006), low carbohydrate food content makes you lose weight, because total energy

intake is lessened. Foods such as rice, various root crops, pastries and cakes, and

other foods considered as unhealthy such as fast foods, are high in caloric content, and

are the kinds of food people love to eat. Actually, consumption of foods high in

carbohydrates isn’t bad, it is even very essential on our diet in order for the body to be

supplied with energy in order to be functional. Since they are the food which gives off

most of the calories, those who want to lose weight may want to consider monitoring

their carbohydrate intake. From our research in the web, in blogs of aspiring weight

reducers, the one thing they cut down were sweet foods and beverages. According to

their testimonies, if a person cuts down on his or her rice or even total elimination of rice

on their diet, one could lose at least 3 pounds a week! But of course, results vary on

different people and consistency and frequency of the activity mentioned.

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However, crash dieting and its effects are temporary solutions. The positive

repercussions of this kind of diet will quickly diminish as fast as its time of onset. Crash

dieting may be a quick-fix solution to lose with but, it leads to quick-failures. The

following to be mentioned hereafter are points that could support this argument.

Crash diets are linked to the yo-yo diet effect because of the impact that this type

of diet has on a person’s body metabolism (www.epigee.org). It is also stated there that

during crash diets, your body eventually clues in to the fact that it is receiving a very low

number of calories. When that happens, your body’s metabolism reacts then adjusts to

change and therefore burns a few calories. This would lead to the future situation that

when a certain person decides to lie-low on his crash diets and then returns to eating

more, his body would only burn few calories resulting to faster weight gain. Thus, you

have to maintain eating less once you started crash dieting unless the person resorts to

other forms of weight loss such as exercise.

Commercially-endorsed forms of diets have each encouraging and tempting

marketing strategies with all positive testimonies by people who lost weight, and their

never-ending promises. But what people don’t’ know is that some of the things those

people attest to are not 100% true. One of which is the promise to lose weight. Of

course, people would lose weight after eliminating sweets, carbohydrate-rich foods and

meat and fats from their diet but it does not guarantee definite weight loss. In reality,

75% of the initial weight loss in crash dieting is from water loss (Grosvenor and Smith,

2006). When you think that you are losing 14 pounds of fat after weeks of low-fat, low-

carbohydrate and high-protein diet, you could be merely losing five pounds of fat, a

pound or two of protein and at most 8 pounds of water in your body. To permanently
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lose weight, a person must assure that he or she loses fat tissue and not lean tissue or

water weight.

Crash dieting is an inexpensive diet. In our times today, we are bombarded with

so many problems: spiritual, environmentally, physically and financially. Due to that,

people think of ways on reducing their expenses. One of which is that, many people do

crash diets in order to save money (www.savingadvice.com). Of course, during rash

diets, your food choice is limited because you want to lose weight. Therefore, since your

food list is restricted, so will be your budget! Here we cans say that the food eaten is

directly proportional to the cost of buying food.

As mentioned earlier, crash dieting is an inexpensive diet because of the limited

food choice. How did it become so? Here’s the explanation. A person gets into dieting

for the want of a physical change that is to say, to lose weight. In order to lose weight,

one has to be careful of what he or she eats, which means less intake of this and that. A

person then reviews the kinds of food he or she can eat and select only those that could

contribute less or low fat or “carbs”. When you do this you would realize that your food

list becomes shorter. Thus, limiting the kinds of food a person can consume.

On the contrary, crash dieting weakens the bodily system. This is due to the lack

of important nutrients that supply our body in order to function well. When not supplied

enough of such, crash dieting causes a log of perilous effects to the body that may lead

to diseases and if worst comes to worst, death. During crash dieting, the body is not

well-fed with vitamins and nutrients in need. Long term crash dieting can result in

nutritional deficiencies, as a result of eating a poor variety of foods

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(http://www.epigee.org/fitness/crash_diets.html). If such habit continues, these people

are at risk for iron deficiency anemia, vitamin B12 deficiency and also for potassium and

sodium deficiency. Inadequate intake of nutrients may also lead to hair loss and dry

skin. Furthermore, since almost all of the crash dieters lessen their carbohydrate

consumption, they are at risk for Ketosis, which is and abnormal metabolic state that

may lead to bad breath and nausea. Lastly, crash dieters are also at risk for ulcerations

and internal bleedings caused by the body’s consumption of its own glycogen and

feeding on its own body tissues.

There are so many reasons why people especially those who are

conscious with their body image engage in different forms of diet. One of which involves

the society. The dieter can gain acceptance from the society once his/her goal is

achieved. In fact as what was previously mentioned, women who go on dieting were

very much influenced and inspired by peers and the norms of society in general.

People, specifically the women, always need to be affirmed with what they think,

they do or have best. There are positive effects of crash dieting which Include improving

body image and increasing self-esteem (Grosvenor and Smith, 2006). First off is the

improvement of one’s body image. You want to look better Body image is how a person

views of himself/herself. This improvement happens after a certain crash dieter notices

his/her loss of weight. Of course, the crash dieter’s goal is to lose weight; it is in fact

their primary goal. If a dieter begins to recognize that he/she is starting to lose weight or

become thinner than before, it is only but natural to like what he/she sees. Inside that

certain person’s mind, he/she likes himself/herself better Because of such positive

effects, crash dieters are aspired to pursue with their dieting for it makes them feel more
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beautiful. This feeling in turn makes them more comfortable with themselves, having a

renewed and improved love and care for self thereby improving body image and self-

esteem.

Crash dieting also appears to be caused by the want of the dieters to feel better

in social situations in order to make more friends and avoid feeling lonely or bored.

Supposing there is a certain person named A. In few months time, A will celebrate her

debut and she wants to look better and thinner. Since there is less than ample time for

A to gradually lose weight, she then opts to do crash dieting. Come A’s debut, she

achieved her goal and the crash diet seemed to be effective for her. In this situation,

crash dieting helped person A in feeling better during a certain social situation. But you

might question, why does a person want to look better socially? It is because a person

wants to look better so that he/she can be more confident socially. When there are

social functions or events, if one person is feeling well then he/she could mingle with the

people more efficiently, potentially making more friends and could prevent boredom

during such occasions.

Although the positive effects on how a crash dieter interacts socially are

promising and undeniably tempting especially for those socially inept, there is still the

other side of the story. Eating disorders can arise from crash dieting even if a crash

dieter gains social acceptance. The issue of social acceptance is also a negative major

factor in dieting. In our times today, the influence of mass media has an enormous

effect on people of different races, gender and ages. Our society and others like it favor

thinness, especially in women. Magazines, newspapers, and television screens display

camera-ready women, flaws hidden, unrealistically thin (Health and Home,

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2005).Although some people may deny it, the constant exposure to such

advertisements can inflict a change on our personal perception of beauty. One of the

most famous thoughts on the perception of beauty is that having flat stomachs or having

36-24-36 vital statistics is the only epitome of beauty. This notion can destroy the body

image as well as the self-esteem of a person because of the stereotype. This would

force that certain person to be what the society classifies as beautiful and crash dieting

is the most popular way of attain such status. This kind of behavior puts the health of a

person at risk too.

Eating disorders such as Anorexia nervosa may result from crash dieting. Men

develop eating disorders due to concerns about health and fitness; women, due to

concerns about appearance and social acceptance (www.bodyfatguide.com). This also

puts women in a greater risk for incurring an eating disorder. Anorexia nervosa, the

most famous eating disorder which does not only plague ordinary people but also those

in the entertainment industry, is a lifestyle behavior, adopted in response to social

pressure. It is a disorder based on the drive on the drive to be thin. People having

anorexia are intentionally fighting off hunger because they fear fat. Even if those

patients treated for the said medical problem, majority of them continue to fear and

obsess over food and fat. Those people who are anorexic are proud of their weight loss

achievement and don’t see the actual effect on their bodies.

From the previous paragraphs, we have affirmed that crash dieting is a fast and

inexpensive way to lose weight. However, its negative effects outweigh the

aforementioned points. Aspiring weight-losers and people in general must take note that

crash dieting only has temporary effects which are backed up by the yo-yo effect.
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Furthermore, it causes weakened bodily system and eating disorders. Another major

reason why people engage in crash dieting is social acceptance. Even though social

acceptance is a vital point in achieving the overall health of a person, it ought not to be

the sole reason to risk other aspects of health. It causes detrimental effects to our

physical and psychological health.

We, the proponents of this essay, recommend that aspiring weight-losers must

first consider the efficacy and safety of a diet before they venture into it. They must also

consider the duration of its effects, if it is long-term or short-term. But for those who

really want to lose weight quickly, be reminded that crash dieting is not the safest way to

do so.
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Bibliography

Diet vs. Exercise. (2005, January-February). Health and Home, p. 16-17.

Of Statistics and Waistlines. (2005, January-February). Health and Home, p.6.

Diehl, H., & Ludington, A. (2003, May-June). Snack Attack. Health and Home, p.6.

The 10 principles of losing weight. (2005, March-April). Health and Home, p.6.

Terry, T. (2003, May-June). Weight loss or health loss?. Health and Home, p. 12-13.

Grosvenor, M., & Smolin, L. (2006). Nutrition: Everyday Choices. California: John Wiley

& Sons Incorporated.

Crash and burn: yo-yo and crash dieting. (n.d.). Retrieved January 21, 2009 from

http://www.epigee.org/fitness/crash_diets.html

Crash diets: too good to be true?.(n.d) Retrieved January 21, 2009 from

http://diet.lovetoknow.com/wiki/crash-diets

Stop anorexia!. (n.d.). Retrieved February 5, 2009 from

http://www.bodyfatguide.com/stopanorexia.html

Trowbridge, D. (2008, November 3). The One-month spending crash diet. Retrieved

January 28, 2009, from http://www.savingadvice.com/blog/2008/11/03/103221-

spendingdiet.html
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