As you strive to find that perfect diet and try to create a caloric deficit by fair means or foul, consider the many and real dangers of very severe calorie restriction.
Those skinny celebs and waif like models that you see, are either air brushed to look that way or they really are that thin, or chances are that they went the unhealthy route to get that thin. The dangers of extreme dieting and over exercising are many:
Your looks: As the body views severe calorie restriction as a draught like situation; one of scarcity, it saves up the available nutrients for the body’s vital functions: the heart, the brain and so on.
So immediately you will notice a negative impact on your skin, hair and nails and they lose their sheen, suppleness and vitality, becoming dry and lifeless as requisite nutrients are not allowed to reach.
Sallow, prematurely lined skin, thinning hair and brittle nails can be a direct consequence of severe calorie restriction. Even teeth can decay owing to lack of nutrients impacting your smile negatively.
Not feeling up to the mark: One may feel hungry all the time and may find lower energy levels due to lower blood sugar brought about by very few calories consumed.
There could even be feelings of confusion, dizzy spells and fatigue, so that one is not able to perform optimally and work/studies are negatively impacted. This can impact relationships negatively, and even lead to problems such as depression.
Fertility: A sharp calorie deficit puts the body under stress and this in turn suppresses the production of fertility hormones. This lowers fertility in women and may impact sex drive negatively in men as well.
What is also worrying is that this could have an irreversible impact on a woman’s fertility; even resuming a normal and healthy diet again may not help them regain their lost fertility.
Bones, Muscles and Vital Organs: Hormonal changes such as low estrogen production could cause bones to weaken and in severe cases this could cause loss of height and a curved spine as well as higher incidence of bone fractures.
There is muscle loss also when there is calorie deprivation since the body will protect fat stores and expend with the muscle mass. Even the vital organs of the body are negatively impacted: the heartbeat may become uneven and the brain mass may shrink. Circulation becomes poorer and your immunity suffers as well.
Reasons enough to eat healthy, wouldn’t you say?
