Unveiling the Dangers of Diets: A Discussion on Nutrient Depletion, Metabolism and Mental Health

Ever wondered why those fad diets never seem to stick? What if we told you that they can have detrimental impacts on both your body and mind? Yes, you heard it right! The allure of diets - the short-term 'gains' they offer - often blinds us to the long-term costs, such as the decrease in metabolic rate from drastic calorie restriction and nutrient depletion due to the elimination of entire food groups. We're going to expose these hidden health hazards, which include fatigue, weakened immune systems, and impaired cognitive function that can be the result of such dietary restrictions.

But the harm of diets goes deeper than just the physical. We'll also be focusing on the psychological impacts of restrictive diets, revealing the cycle of failure many face and the emotional toll it takes. With an increased risk of developing eating disorders, heightened food cravings, and a fixation on forbidden foods, diets can lead to a negative self-image and feelings of inadequacy. But fear not, we won't leave you in despair. We'll debunk some common diet myths and talk about starting the healing process. Our goal is to guide you towards building a relationship with food and your body that's free of stress and filled with confidence, joy, and peace. Get ready for an enlightening discussion that could change your relationship with food forever!

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Let's dive into all the ways that diets wreak havoc on your body and your mind, talking about the truth about dieting Now, I know it's so alluring to restrict, to listen to these external rules and these you know, quote unquote diet gurus.

Speaker 1: 0:19

Let's talk about the facts. Let's dive into your experience and let's dive into the research behind how diets wreak havoc on your body and on your mind. So we're going to be diving into this and really assessing if dieting is truly this golden ticket to your health, or is it actually wreaking havoc on your bodies in all these unsuspected ways? So let's uncover the truth about diets and the impact on our overall well-being. Now, this attraction to diets is, of course, very understandable, because we are in a world where this quest for the ideal body is constantly, constantly glorified. It's no wonder that diets have captured everyone's attention and we're trying all these different diets, from keto to paleo to vegan, intermittent fasting. I mean, these plans really promise these various benefits, right, they say that you're going to lose weight, you're going to have improved energy, you're going to have better confidence, right? But beneath the surface, what's really happening to our bodies, what's really happening to our minds and mental health when we embark on these diets. Let's dive into it. So, first of all, we have these very short term gains quote unquote gains with these long term costs. At first glance, and when we're first setting out on a new diet, many diets seem promising, leading to these quick fixes that really allure us and we may lose weight as the diet promised at first, and we might even, because of this experience the sense of like a boosted confidence, okay. However, research paints a very different picture and reveals the hidden costs of diets. Now, the first cost is metabolic impact. Drastic calorie restriction, you know, just manipulating your body and food in that way, a very common element of many diets can cause metap metabolic rates to just plummet. So a study published in the journal in 2016, I don't like to say this word because so it's the, I'm gonna call it the O word so a study published in the journal quote unquote the O word 2016 showed that extreme dieting significantly lowers metabolic rate, making it difficult to sustain weight loss over time. So let's dive deeper into this topic.

Speaker 1: 3:08

Okay, of metabolic impact and what's going on. Okay, so caloric restriction and metabolic rate. Now, when individuals engage in drastic restriction, the body perceives this as a form of starvation. So, in response, the body's gonna initiate various adaptive mechanisms to conserve energy, and one of these adaptations is a reduction in metabolic rate, which refers to the number of calories the body can burn at rest to maintain these basic physiological functions. Right, like keeping our heart, heart going, get the breath, all those things that happen with internally. Okay, a study published in 2016 investigated these impacts of dieting on the metabolic rate, and the findings revealed that participants who underwent these caloric restriction in these diets experienced a substantial decrease in their metabolic rates. Okay, so this means that their bodies were burning fewer calories at rest than before this dieting.

Speaker 1: 4:09

Okay, so, number one, what we just covered is that your body thinks that you are starving, goes into starvation mode when you are restricting it and you're trying to manipulate it through these diets, and what happens is you end up burning less calories. You metap, your metabolism slows down, and the reason it does that is because it's just best trying to take care of you. So if it's not getting enough food, it's gonna go whoa, whoa, whoa. We need to conserve our energy. We need to conserve the little energy that we are getting. So let's slow down our metabolism so it's not working as hard, so we're not burning as many calories, because we know those calories for our all these other functions. We have to continue to do, and I'm worried we're not gonna get those calories we need, so let's slow it down. In closing up, how metabolism is impacted by caloric restriction, let's talk about the adaptive responses to caloric restriction, and that is the fact that the body is remarkable in its ability to adapt to these changes in the caloric intake that we have on these diets, and so, when faced with this, it responds by slowing down all these processes in the body for survival, which includes hormone levels, such as a decrease in thyroid hormones, and this plays a crucial role in regulating metabolism as well. So impact on metabolism is absolutely there and research backs it up.

Speaker 1: 5:33

Let's talk about the next impact that dieting has on your body nutrient depletion. Nutrient depletion is something I see so often, and it refers to a situation where the body is not receiving an adequate amount of essential vitamins and minerals that are necessary for our proper psychological and physiological functioning. So diets that eliminate these entire food groups or call for just an extreme calorie restriction, that you're not getting enough of the nutrients right, they can significantly contribute to nutrient depletion and not getting enough of those nutrients that help us to be feeling great and be giving our body all it needs to do, or all it needs to do all that it does. So to back this up with some research, the British Journal of Nutrition published a study in 2018 and it highlighted the consequences of these restrictive diets on nutrient intake.

Speaker 1: 6:33

When essential vitamins and minerals are not obtained in sufficient quantities from your diet, it can lead to various health issues. So some of the common deficiencies that were found and often the common deficiencies that I see as well include vitamins like A, c, d, e and minerals such as calcium, iron, magnesium and potassium. Now, nutrient deficiencies can manifest in various ways, including just feeling very tired. That fatigue right. Weakened immune systems I see it all the time. Impaired cognitive function, like your brain actually changes. A starved brain actually looks different if you were to take an MRI of that. Also, brittle nails, hair loss, skin issues and so much more. So each vitamin and minerals and each mineral play a very unique role in supporting all these different bodily functions and in the absence of these, they can have very like just cascading effects on our overall health, and I really want to highlight this weakened immune system. So this is a very notable consequence of nutrient depletion. Essential vitamins and minerals are crucial for your immune function and their deficiency can compromise the body's ability to fight off infections and illnesses and you're just more prone to sickness. And this really, really underscores the importance of just a variety of foods in your diet, a well-balanced diet, enough of these nutrients, enough calories, enough food to get in all the different nutrients in the right amounts that we need to support your overall health and resilience.

Speaker 1: 8:18

Diets are not about your health. They're not about your health. They are rooted in fatphobia and the thin ideal they run and kept up by. It's a money-making industry. We already named two things and we have so many more. But that diets, how they hurt our health. Anyways back, I got a little sidetracked, but prolonged nutrient depletion just has serious impacts and these chronic deficiencies can like if you're consistently dieting, it can lead to just the development of these various health conditions later as well, like anemia, osteoporosis, cardiovascular issues, neurological disorders there's a lot. So the body really requires this harmonious blend of nutrients to maintain that optimal health, and imbalances are going to disrupt these delicate systems. So it's super important.

Speaker 1: 9:26

Now let's talk about the psychological toll of diets. We chatted about a couple physical impacts of dieting and I want to move to the psychological toll. Restriction of foods and restriction of certain foods can really trigger these obsessive thoughts and, of course, research backs this up. But ask yourself how does dieting impact you? How does it impact your relationship with food and your impact and your relationship with individual foods that you are restriction, restricting, when individuals deprive themselves of certain foods or food groups, it's gonna lead to these heightened cravings and these heightened preoccupations, feeling obsessed or feeling like you can't stop thinking about that food, ruminating on that food. It's just always on your mind. The desire for forbidden foods can become just all consuming so stressful, contributing to just huge psychological stress, and this is so common. Many people will blame themselves and say what's wrong with me? Nothing's wrong with you, you are in this cycle. That is inevitable. Inevitable if you are restricting food, if you are using external rules, if you don't have body trust and if you are on the dieting hamster wheel.

Speaker 1: 10:44

So a study published in the Journal of Appetite in 2008 investigated this psychological impact of these restrictive diets and the findings revealed that individuals on these diets exhibited increased food cravings and preoccupations. I'm gonna say that again the findings revealed that individuals on such diets exhibited increased food cravings and preoccupations, whereas prior to the diet they were not preoccupied with it. They didn't have these same cravings. But what happens when you get on these diets and you take out foods you take out enough food you are going to become more obsessed, more preoccupied with food, and that is the result of taking out food. So this is just one study I mentioned. There are numerous studies that support this. All right, so, as we chatted about preoccupation with food, obsession with food definitely increases with dieting and that's one of the psychological effects.

Speaker 1: 11:43

But if we keep moving toward what it can, how it can present and how it can unfold when you continue to diet, let's talk about the statistics around eating disorders. One of the most challenging aspects of dieting is the cycle of failure that many individuals experience because you're set up to fail with these diets. Nida, the National Eating Disorder Association, reports that 35% of quote unquote normal eaters progress to pathological dieting and, of those, 20 to 25% develop full-blown eating disorders. This constant cycle of attempting and failing at diets can contribute to these feelings of inadequacy, frustration and negative self-image, leading to eating disorders or chronic dieting. So again, I'm gonna say that again. So NIDA reports and found that 35% of normal eaters progress to pathological dieting. Once they start dieting, they become chronic dieters and of those 35%, 20 to 25% develop full-blown eating disorders, binge eating, anorexia and you just on and on the spectrum of disordered eating and eating disorders. That is so sad and also, if that is something you're experiencing, you are not alone and help is out there for you. So development of eating disorders is huge.

Speaker 1: 13:08

With dieting, it's a huge concern and this, just this restrictive eating patterns with dieting, combined with this pressure to achieve these unrealistic body standards and this thin ideal we have in Western culture, it can really contribute to the onset and continuation of conditions and disorders like anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder and, yeah, it makes me so upset. Another psychological impact that diets have, of course, is impacts on self-esteem. I mean, this goes hand in hand with what we were just talking about, but I just wanted to name it that impacts on self-esteem. Feeling like you have repeated failure can really start to just erode your self-esteem, and constantly striving to meet these unrealistic weight or appearance goals or these food goals and consistently falling short is really going to create this negative feedback loop that reinforces your feelings of worthiness and disappointment. And then you try another diet to feel better, but then you just feel worse because you can't maintain it and you quote unquote fail and it's just a this never ending feedback loop. And lastly, on your mental health.

Speaker 1: 14:20

What else happens is body and stress greatly increases with your time dieting. Many people, if they're starting to experience some body and stress, they think that or are told that dieting is going to help them, that restricting food, manipulating their body, changing their body, is what's going to help them. They hear, if you don't like your body, you can change it and then you will like your body, and that is absolutely false and there's a ton of podcast episodes on this that you should check out. But this is false. You cannot disrespect and treat your body in a poor way and then expect to have a self-compassionate relationship with your body. That is not what makes up body image. That is not what helps body image. So this relentless pursuit of this quote unquote ideal body, through these diets, through disrespect, are absolutely going to contribute to body image distress and so many people struggle with body and stress and they don't know how to heal their body image. And dieting absolutely is not helping. It leads to individuals developing this really unhealthy preoccupation with their appearance and just leading to like dissatisfaction, negative self-perception and just an impacted life, and it's just so, so tough. So I can go on and on with all that dieting does, all the havoc it wreaks on your physical health and your mental health. But I think I explained enough today, so I'm just going to wrap it up with some facts, in hopes that these facts will further ground you, further help you, further help you raise awareness around your relationship with food and body and what is the next best steps for you.

Speaker 1: 16:06

I want to break down three myths today as we wrap up, so that we can bust some of these myths that you hear often, that truly perpetuate these allure of these diets. Okay, so the first one is one size fits all that if you were to eat the same and exercise the same and be on the same diet as your, your favorite fit influencer right that are promoting their ways, even if you were to eat exactly the same way, you are going to look different. Everyone's body is different. If everyone in the world ate and moved the same, we would still all look very, very different, and we need to eat differently as well. And the only way to know how to eat is to listen to our bodies by building body trust, understanding our cues, getting uncomfortable to bring all foods back in to really have this grounding, self compassionate relationship with food and body. Research published in the Journal of annual review of nutrition 2017 emphasizes the uniqueness of individual individuals responses to all of the different ways of eating. There's no one size fits all approach to nutrition and our bodies metabolize and react to foods differently, and we and we have a diverse array of bodies, and that is a wonderful thing. Although we hear so often that there's one ideal body, we are all meant to be of different judgments, shapes and sizes, and trying to fight that is only going to wreak havoc on your body and make you miserable.

Speaker 1: 17:41

The second myth I want to bust is quick fixes and the promise of a magical life with your ideal body that's promoted through dieting. Now again, when you are working on having a better body image and having a better relationship with food, these quick fixes through diets to all of a sudden, through this diet, find your best relationship with your body, to love your body and to know exactly how to eat by just following these rules. It's just, it's very promoted that you're going to have this ideal life if you're able to pursue this ideal way of eating and this ideal body and we know that's not sustainable and we know it causes a lot of problems along the way True health, true compassionate, respectful relationship with food and body, that's a journey and there's a lot of things to explore. It's not this just quick destination that you're going to arrive through this diet and I say this time and time again in the, in the podcast and with my clients. And that is, if you want a self compassionate, accepting, respectful, trusting relationship with food and body, which is, of course, what we're trying to obtain, even if we are seeking that through diets. If you want that kind of relationship with food and body, it has to be built on that. And diets are not built on trusting your body, respecting your body, listening to your body, speaking kindly to your body. It's not built on that. We are using the wrong building blocks with dieting and we will never get there through dieting.

Speaker 1: 19:28

And myth number three happiness hinges on the ideal body. Happiness hinges on the ideal weight. I can tell you through my experience with working with many clients and experience with myself and research and working with colleagues that finding and obtaining a healthy relationship with food and body helps to bring happiness and joy and peace. And people are stuck on trying to obtain their ideal body. Even if they were to obtain their ideal body momentarily, it's never enough. It does not bring joy. Those are not equivalent and it's very short lived, and there's a lot of research to back this up as well.

Speaker 1: 20:15

And the problem this misconception is that really people believe that weight and obtaining this ideal body equals body image work. No, that is not how you fix negative body image. A study in the journal Body Image in 2007 demonstrated that body dissatisfaction and low self-esteem persisted despite weight loss and weight loss attempts. This is really multi-dimensional and shouldn't solely depend on the number on the scale. And shouldn't depend on the number on the scale. This myth is absolutely incorrect and one of the worst, because it really leads people astray. When people genuinely want to work on their relationship with body and feel better in their body, usually what they find is a diet, and that is the last thing they want to do in order to feel better about their body and to feel better about their relationship with food, to feel more in control and more confident. So I hope those myths busted, help to just ground you a little bit more, raise a little bit more awareness around diets and the havoc on your body.

Speaker 1: 21:25

All right, as we close up here, I want to ask you, if this is helpful to you, please subscribe. It's super helpful as, especially as a new podcaster with a new podcast helps to reach other people, so this is helpful. Download the episodes and give me a five star rating. That would be awesome. Share with your friends who you think would benefit from hearing this.

Speaker 1: 21:47

Also, if you are interested in learning more about your relationship with food and body and you are curious about where would be a helpful place to start when it comes to your relationship with food and body, what are you strong in, what do you do well in and what needs work, and where can you get started with doing some of that healing work when it comes to healing your body image, go to my Instagram at JamieRD underscore, and there is a freebie on my link tree that you can download, that you can, where you can take a quiz to find out more about your unique relationship with your body and the areas that are doing well, that you can encourage, and the areas that you're not doing so well in, and you'll get your some resources as well that come along with it that you can get started with to help you with your relationship with food and body.

Speaker 1: 22:39

So, anyways, you are so awesome and wonderful and you should pat yourself on the back for being here. I'm just so proud of you for listening to, maybe, an alternative way of thinking that goes against that strong part of you that wants to diet or that has a lot of distress with body image. I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you are willing to have these little seeds planted to help blossom your relationship with food and body into a relationship with food and body. You absolutely deserve one that is free and full of confidence and full of joy and full of peace. Until next time, stay radiant and we'll chat soon.