Some people will diet regardless of the costs to their health. Here are 5 crazy and dangerous weight loss methods that we categorically recommend that you steer clear of if you are trying to lose weight.
Tapeworm diet
What is the tapeworm diet? Involving the gross practice of putting a tapeworm in your body in order that the parasite will feed off what you eat so that you don’t put on weight. The tapeworm would usually be ingested the form of a pill and the parasite would then grown inside the stomach. The diet is not legal although tapeworm diet pills can be bought from often dubious sources.
Why the tapeworm diet is bad for you Clearly ingesting a tapeworm that is going to use you as a host is a form of dangerous weight loss and not going to be good for your health. The tapeworm will consume many of the nutrients that the body needs to function effectively. More significantly perhaps is the fact that a tapeworm is not guaranteed to remain in the stomach, but can move around in the body, even reaching the brain, which could have potentially deadly consequences. Anyone with a tapeworm infestation could suffer from a number of complaints, including intestinal discomfort and headaches. If you forget to take the medication to kill the tapeworm, it could grow to 20-30 feet.
The Prolinn Diet
What does the Prolinn Diet involve? Another diet you’ll probably be pretty grossed out by, the Prolinn Diet was revealed in 1976 by Roger Linn in his book The Last Chance Diet. He suggested what was basically a starvation diet, where the only thing consumed was a low-calorie liquid drink derived from collagen - the collagen coming from hooves and hides from slaughterhouses.
Why the Prolinn Diet can be bad for you The track record of the Prolinn diet most definitely wasn’t great with a large number of dieters suffering a heart attack while following it. The low-quality protein concoction Prolinn may not have directly been responsible for the heart attacks, but the fact that people were effectively starving themselves led many to experience abnormal heart rhythms or worse. Prolinn, being low in vitamins, minerals and electrolytes, offers very little to sustain a person and is most definitely not recommended as a viable diet option.
The cigarette diet
What does the cigarette diet involve?
It’s all about trying to suppress your appetite with a cigarette. Think of what is sometimes referred to as the ‘model’s diet’, which consists of cigarettes and water. In the past tobacco companies actually marketed their products as weight loss aids and were successful in doing so for a time with sales increasing backed by this sort of campaign.
Why the cigarette diet can be bad for you If you don’t known that smoking is bad for you then welcome to planet earth! Cigarettes contain nicotine and lots of harmful substances including carbon monoxide, formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide. Cancers, heart disease, strokes, impotence, and osteoporosis are just a few of the risks of smoking, so clearly the cigarette diet is not one to touch.
Fruitarian diet
What is the fruitarian diet? As you might have guessed, it involves eating nothing but fruit. Some following a fruitarian diet might also eat nuts and seeds, but that apart, all other food is off the menu.
Why a fruitarian diet can be bad for you A balanced diet is what the body needs, and eating just fruit doesn’t provide that as you’ll miss out on fatty acids and nutrients the body needs. A lack of vitamin B12, for example, could lead to anaemia. Researchers at Colombia University also identified a lack of protein, iron, zinc, vitamin D and calcium by following the fruitarian diet which could leads to symptoms including tiredness, reduced immunity and osteoporosis. The acid in fruit also doesn’t do much for the health of your teeth.
hCG Diet
What does the hCG diet involve? It involves ingesting or injecting the hCG hormone - human chorionic gonadotropin which is a hormone produced during pregnancy to help baby growth - and then going on a calorie restricted diet of no more than 800 calories. The hormone is found in the urine of pregnant women and the human placenta can be injected into the bloodstream, ingested or rubbed into the skin.
Why the hGC diet can be bad for you There is are no clinical trials or studies that back up any claims of success from the hCG diet. It is thought than any weight loss that does occur is due to the calorie restrictions placed on those taking part in the diet. As we have said before, eating so little is not recommended as it means the body will be lacking vital vitamins and minerals it needs. The hCG hormone has also been linked with potentially dangerous condition ovarian hyperstimulation.
