Watch more How to Recognize & Treat Eating Disorders videos: http://www.howcast.com/videos/507647-What-Are-Crash-Dieting-Side-Effects-Eating-Disorders

One of the things we know about side effects of severe dieting is that psychological effects that can come out of severe dieting can actually look a whole lot like symptoms that we see in patients with anorexia nervosa. I’m going to tell you about a study that was conducted in the 1940’s. It was called the Minnesota Semi Starvation Experiments, where conscientious war objectors were actually allowed to enroll in a research protocol that took place in Minnesota, in which men, without a history of any sorts of eating problems were put on a crash diet. They were severely food restricted to the point where they lost about 25 percent of their body weight. And what did they see amongst these men?

They saw that the men were obsessing about food all the time, that they were very preoccupied with food. There were long drawn out rituals in which the men dawdled in the cafeteria where they were eating for one, two hours, cutting up on their meals into little pieces and really exhibiting a lot of the obsessionality around food that we see in patients with anorexia nervosa.

So a crash diet is likely to make you crazy with thoughts about food. So that’s one of the worst side effects that I can think of with respect to crash dieting from a psychological point of view. Anxiety, depression, can all come out as a part of crash dieting and were seen in those men as well.

There are physical effects from crash dieting as well and obviously, as we see in anorexia nervosa if your body gets to a medically underweight place, there are medical features that can begin to emerge. Losing your period can happen. It can be bad for your bones. People that are maintaining very extremely low body physics can develop osteoporosis, which is irreversible once it has set in, or very difficult to reverse. And there can be a variety of electrolyte changes. If a person gets to below 75 percent of what’s considered a medically appropriate weight for them, a person is at increased risk for death from cardiac causes.

So, not only are these side effects, these are actually potentially lethal effects that a person is bringing on if crash dieting is continuing to an extreme.

So, if you’re interested in helpful weight loss, working with a nutritionist to develop a daily pattern, a sustainable pattern, with adequate caloric intake, adequate nutritional value, a good balance of different types of foods, that’s not overly rule bound, is the surest way to develop life-long patterns of healthful eating approaches that will allow our weight to stabilize in a healthful place.

Crash dieting not the answer. Not sustainable. Bad for your health. Not the way to go.

The diet and fitness industries are setup to focus on the effect, but not the root cause or why a person does what they do. Unlike other health related addictions, they focus on an individuals root cause in order to create sustainable outcomes. With the obesity and chronic conditions at an all-time high, the only one benefiting from these industries are the social media gurus who gain from society’s health failures.

Jay Cardiello is an industry-leading Health Strategist who is respected in the fitness and medical communities serving as a strength and conditioning coach to both professional athletes in the MLB and NFL and celebrities including Sophia Vegara, Jennifer Lopez, and Ryan Seacrest.

Highlights of Jay’s long and impressive resume include being named the #1 Motivator in Health and Wellness by Shape in 2013. He was ranked by Greatist.com along with Michelle Obama and Dr. Oz on a list of those who have made an impact on health and wellness worldwide.

Jay is the author of Cardio Core 4×4, co-star of the ABC television show “My Diet is Better than Yours,” founder of JCORE, co-founder of the “Off the Scale” intervention program and creator of the “Jay Cardiello No Diet Plan.”

Jay serves as a member of the Advisory Board for Dr. Oz’s ShareCare and is a Committee Board Member to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

He lives in NYC with his son.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx
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