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It is common for bulimics to diet or fast in between binges in order to "compensate". Unfortunately what many of them do not realize is that dieting has many severe side effects which can encourage the bulimic behavior.
A diet is when you attempt to take external control over when, what and how much food you consume. In the western society the word ‘diet’ normally means to restrict – sometimes drastically food intake.
Dieting has become so ingrained in our western society that it seems to have become a national pastime.
Very few people are aware of the dangers of diets
If people were told the dangers of dieting and how going on a diet will lead to failure, weight gain, depression, low self esteem, or put them at high risks of becoming a bulimic or anorexic many would probably not bother wasting their time money on doing it.
95% of all diets fail. Fact. People are faced with an abundance of choice when deciding on what diet to go on, many follow the trend on what’s new to the market. It does not matter which one you try, the long term usually result in similar outcome. Most people end up putting the weight back on, and many end up weighing more than they had before the diet started.
There are severe physical risks and psychological risks associated with dieting which many people are not aware of.
When people go on a diet they attempt to decrease energy intake by food restriction. However our body can not tell the difference between ‘food restriction’ and a starvation situation.
Everyone is built with a natural survival response if their body is lacking food. This response has evolved over centuries of human development and has enabled our ancestors to survive at times of famine and drought. This powerful survival tool has been vital for the survival of mankind.
Your body will signal to you to eat when your leptin level decreases in your body; in response it signals the release of secondary hormone, ghrelin, this triggers the feeling of ‘hunger’.
Everyone is born with ‘hunger’ simply for the reason that without food we will not survive. Our ‘natural hunger’ or ‘motivation’ to consume food has developed over thousands of years of evolution; without this survival instinct the human race would not exist today.
Danger of ignoring hunger signals
When these hunger signals are ignored and you do not eat your body will believe it is in a starvation situation. Your survival instincts will then kick in, your body will slow down, your metabolism is slowed so your body can survive on the little calories you manage to find and your built-in drive to get food will be switched on.
You will start to plan to get food and food will be pushed as the central focus of your mind. This motivation is in place to force you to do something about your starvation situation.
Our ancestors would not have survived long if their motivation wasn’t triggered during periods of famine. The same food motivation is triggered when you diet.
Lengthy dieting can be very dangerous due to the risk of malnutrition. Low calorie diets can lead to a lack of blood glucose; this is the preferred source of energy of the brain. Without this your body will make do metabolizing sugars from protein, this however can lead to muscle wasting.
Other physical side effects include:
• Prolonged hunger
• Loss of libido
• Fatigue
• Fainting and dizziness
• Sinus problems
• Acidosis
• Gallbladder disease
• Irritability
• Muscle ache
• Malnutrition