Why Teenagers should Avoid Fad Diets?
Nobody should regard fad diets as the best way to lose weight as they just don't work in the long run. Many people want to believe that by following the latest popular diet they will be able to lose lots of weight quickly, and maybe they will but it won't be good for their health, and they will probably regain all the weight they lost anyway. It is particularly important for teenagers to steer clear of fad diets because fad diets only work by getting you to drastically reduce your calorie intake. Teenagers' bodies are still developing and thus require a substantial number of calories; more than a fully-grown adult, and so if they fail to eat a healthy diet it could affect their overall health and development.
It is a real challenge being a teenager as you face pressure to do well at school, decide on a potential career path, and fit in with your peers. During your adolescence you tend to become more conscious of your body, particularly when you start to develop an interest in the opposite sex. It can therefore be especially hard for those teenagers who are overweight or obese and are bullied as a result of this. Their self-esteem can take a battering and they become convinced that if they lose all their excess weight they will be much happier.
Losing weight might make them feel better about their bodies and improve their health, but only if they take steps to lose weight at a gradual rate by eating sensibly and exercising more. However, teenagers are not exactly known for their patience, and fad diets seem to offer the perfect solution - since they offer you the possibility of losing a lot of weight pretty fast. Basically, though, these diets involve you consuming so few calories that they could be considered starvation diets. They don't require you to learn about healthy eating or getting the balance right between the calories you consume and the calories you burn. They simply offer you guidelines on the foods you are 'allowed' eat and those you are not.
Everybody needs variety in their diet, especially growing teenagers, and whilst adolescents who choose to follow fad diets might be happy with the results at first, eventually they will have an overwhelming urge to overindulge in those 'forbidden' foods, even if they feel guilty afterwards. Eating disorders are most commonly diagnosed in teenagers and fad diets certainly don't get you to think in a healthy way about food, which for impressionable teenagers can be very dangerous. It is therefore evident that fad diets do not offer an appropriate solution for teenagers who are trying to lose weight.
It is a real challenge being a teenager as you face pressure to do well at school, decide on a potential career path, and fit in with your peers. During your adolescence you tend to become more conscious of your body, particularly when you start to develop an interest in the opposite sex. It can therefore be especially hard for those teenagers who are overweight or obese and are bullied as a result of this. Their self-esteem can take a battering and they become convinced that if they lose all their excess weight they will be much happier.
Losing weight might make them feel better about their bodies and improve their health, but only if they take steps to lose weight at a gradual rate by eating sensibly and exercising more. However, teenagers are not exactly known for their patience, and fad diets seem to offer the perfect solution - since they offer you the possibility of losing a lot of weight pretty fast. Basically, though, these diets involve you consuming so few calories that they could be considered starvation diets. They don't require you to learn about healthy eating or getting the balance right between the calories you consume and the calories you burn. They simply offer you guidelines on the foods you are 'allowed' eat and those you are not.
Everybody needs variety in their diet, especially growing teenagers, and whilst adolescents who choose to follow fad diets might be happy with the results at first, eventually they will have an overwhelming urge to overindulge in those 'forbidden' foods, even if they feel guilty afterwards. Eating disorders are most commonly diagnosed in teenagers and fad diets certainly don't get you to think in a healthy way about food, which for impressionable teenagers can be very dangerous. It is therefore evident that fad diets do not offer an appropriate solution for teenagers who are trying to lose weight.
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