The fad diets are a shortcut for weight loss at the cost of long-term damage to our bodies and our minds. The writer stresses that a healthy, well-rounded and natural diet is all we need to feel good about ourselves. Read on...
opinion
The industrial revolution marked a significant shift in lifestyle and work patterns. With the rise of industrialisation, there was a transition from manual labour to desk jobs, and the need for a different approach to nutrition and physical activity emerged. This sedentary lifestyle has forced people into this routine of odd diets and eating habits because our way of living doesn’t allow us to be as physically active as our bodies require.
With the addition of fast food, additives and chemicals added to our food, weight gain has become incredibly easy and fast. The processed foods that we consume on the daily have ruined our bodies in unimaginable ways. Our metabolism has plummeted which cause easier weight gain and more difficult weight loss.
Diet used to mean what an individual ate the entire day. The term ‘diet’ refers to the total amount of food and drink consumed. But in the early 1900’s the meaning of the world changed completely to one that meant to restrict food intake to lose weight. Now, there are terms like Mediterranean, ketogenic, gluten-free, plant-based, intermittent fasting, raw vegan, veganism, low-carb, low-fat, low-calorie, high-protein, atkins, pescatarian, low sodium. ‘Diets’ now refer to a particular food that a person eats in order to lose or maintain their weight. People try these diets, from removing carbohydrates which are essential for the energy we require for day-to-day tasks to increasing fats to an incredulous amount which are not only unhealthy but could be life threatening if taken for a longer period of time.
But how did we go from just cutting out sugar from our sustenance to pescetarianism and keto in just a couple of years?
All of this began when Billat-Savarin argued against obesity being a disease but a by-product of lifestyle. In his book, ‘The Physiology of Taste’ or ‘Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy’, he documented the idea of avoiding bread, flour-based foods, and sugary and starchy foods like potatoes. His diet advice became the blueprint for the extremely popular Paleo, Keto, Atkins, Caveman, and other diets that are still being followed by a large group of people today.
The obsessions with these diets are very much prominent in teenagers and adults alike today. It all stems from the idea that obesity or being ‘fat’ or overweight is bad and ugly and disgusting. Big corporations have taken full advantage of this, feeding off of people’s insecurities and low self-esteem. And on top of that, social media has further pushed these unrealistic beauty standards our way. Social media has played a pivotal role in this, from advertisement of weight loss teas, to water diets and photo shop. They have deceived generations with this idea of beauty and size that does not exist. It does not simply exist. They capture images in a manner that is not only easy to manipulate and change but then sell those images to young boys and girls.
Disguised under the façade of ‘healthy’ and ‘clean’ eating, unhealthy eating habits and borderline starvation have become trend now. These trends are ruining metabolic reactions, develops binge eating disorder and destructs muscle mass along with damaging self-esteem.
Just eating raw fruits and vegetables is depriving us of essential nutrients needed for the development of our bodies and minds.
The fad diets are a shortcut for weight loss at the cost of long-term damage to our bodies and our minds. We are only harming ourselves if we continue to consume food in such a restrictive and constrained fashion.
A healthy, well-rounded and natural diet is all we need to feel good about ourselves not just physiologically but psychologically. The goal should not be to look a certain way, to be a certain weight and size but ultimately to feel good in the body that we have, to be active physically and mentally and to be able to do the best with the body that we have; to nourish, sustain and cherish it. Food is supposed to fuel us, keep us warm and give us energy, to help us function but if we demonise and criminalise it, we are going to stop functioning the way we are meant to be.
