Do crash diets work?

culled from:tescohealthandwellbeing.com

Crash dieting is one of the most persistent fads since time began. Most of us probably think we are wise to urban legends, so why do so many of us still believe in crash diets, and do crash diets work?
The answer is No! They are short term solutions and potentially very dangerous to your health and wellbeing. Most of us who answer honestly realise there is no magic potion, but we still get sucked into the promising claims of the modern day cabbage soup diets. Some people are so desperate to achieve success they are willing to do just about anything to speed up their weight loss.
Crash dieting is really just a code word for losing water and body muscle, the fat we want to shed is typically last to shift. As soon as you stop the crash diet, you’ll simply regain the weight — and a bit more besides. Yo-yo dieting should come with the following disclaimer ‘it will mess up your metabolism’.
Whether you are a size 12 and just want quick weight loss solutions to get in shape, or need to lose weight for the sake of your health it is as if all sense and reason crumbles once you clap eyes on these 3 little words; 'Lose Weight Fast’. We forget about previous failures, hunger pangs, emotional turmoil and the rest of the ugly side effects that come hand in hand with crash diets. We tell ourselves that “It will be different this time, I will lose the weight and keep it off”...sound familiar?
Astonishingly over four in five women in the UK between the ages of 25 and 45 have 'crash dieted' in the past 12 months. Among some of the more popular unsuccessful fad diets are the lemonade diet, pH miracle diet, Hollywood diet and grapefruit diet.
Shockingly Samantha Crowe was so worried that she would look fat in her wedding dress, she decided to embark on a 530 calorie per day diet and although she achieved a 3 stone loss in 11 weeks, she died of heart failure, which doubtlessly may have been caused by her diet. At 34 and with no medical problems, she had everything to live for.
From Jamie Oliver, to members of the government, we have seen more healthy eating promotions over the past few years than ever before, but the messages lack the sensationalism and motivation that is still stirred up by Crash Diet ads. We are already in the second decade of the 21st century; computers have been integrated into our phones, we have found cures for cancer and we are on the cusp of identifying treatments for blindness, nevertheless we still haven’t moved on from crash dieting.
The alternative is to lose weight the healthy way. Learn what your body needs to stay healthy, energised and vibrant. It's not all about looking good, but it's also important to feel good and I promise you won't feel good on a crash diet.
Feed your body with tasty, nutritious foods and you will lose the weight and keep it off! Do crash diets work? Certainly not.