What is the craziest diet you’ve heard of?

[JustHatched 12,123]

???

[Sinister 2,583]

Simple, Atkins.

Bread makes me fat, so I'll just order this triple bacon cheeseburger with extra cheese and mayo without the bun so I can lose weight.

Makes sense to me.

Yes, I understand that not everyone does it that way but I know those that do.

[DavidCore89 7,404]

[Arruda 718]

I was reading an interview with Ronda Rousey and she mentioned she used the Warrior Diet. Definitely the weirdest I ever heard of. It's physiological principles make sense to me, though I don't think it has been widely studied, so it's hard to gauge stuff like its long-term effects etc.

 

The diet consists of only one large meal per day, preferably a couple of hours before going to sleep. During the day you under-eat or fast entirely. Why it seems to make some sense to me from a purely theoretical point of view?

 

Our body's level of activity is highly intertwined in the balance of two systems, the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system. The first activates your heart, directs flow of blood toward muscles, increases your state of alertedness, visual acuity, etc. When intensily active It's responsible for the "fight or flight" moments we animals experience during high stress, be you a deer runing away from a lion, or a human having a fit of agressive rage to protect his loved ones from a threat. The seond is responsible for the "rest and digest" phase of our bodies. Blood flow is redirected from muscles and brain to the gut. As a result you get sleepy, tired, and lose concentration. It is activated by eating or resting. We all experience this to various degrees with that post-lunch sleepiness. Both aren't completely active at the same sime, as their actions contradict each other. That's why you feel terrible when exercising after eating, you don't have enough blood in you to serve your gut (digestive process is demanding) and your muscles/brain at the same time.

 

The idea of the diet is the presumption that this was how humans fed in our hunter-gatherer stages. They had to maintain high levels of alertness and physical capacity during the whole day, only resting when they retreated to their more secure locations at night. Also the notion that switching from "fight or flight" to "rest and digest" several times per day is inneficient in terms of energy metabolism and even in the way you feel throughout the day. For someone like Ronda the benefits are that she can train longer hours during day and at a higher level of concentration, and then before resting at night she eats a highly caloric meal. Parasympathetic system is also more active during your sleep, so this leads to a continuum in it's activation and arguably a more efficient digestion and nutrient accumulation. Accumulate fuel sources during the night, burn them during the day.

 

I really don't know how effective it is, as all I've read about it is conjecture. I have a good understanding of how our bodies work, so to me it is conjecture that makes sense, but as in many theories like these there may be unforeseen factors that only careful studies by specialists will be able to iron it out. 

 

 

The Atkins diet also makes sense as a weight losing strategy, due to the way our body selects it's nutrients. At the lack of glucose (a carbohydrate) it will metabolize fat. It's been widely studied, but there's no consensus in relation to his long term benefits. It may be good for your heart, as it seems to have a good effect on your cholesterol levels (it may not make much sense to you, but believe me that for someone that understand biochemistry it does).

Edited June 6, 2016 by Arruda

[Squirrel 5,180]

Forget diets. You should eat according to your metabolism. If you have a slow one, don't eat so much and exercise more. If you have a fast metabolism then you can probably get away with eating more but still exercise. What you're actually eating or not eating shouldn't make much difference as long as you're sticking to what your body can burn off.

If something is preventing you from exercise don't spend your days eating tons of junk food and having sugary drinks. That's where the damage is done.

[Sinister 2,583]

That last paragraph says it all.

Atkins may make sense, but thinking one can take in tons of grease and sugar because they didn't eat a Bun......is insanity. Lol

[Pen0sIRE 201]

On 6/6/2016 at 5:34 PM, Sinister said:

That last paragraph says it all.

Atkins may make sense, but thinking one can take in tons of grease and sugar because they didn't eat a Bun......is insanity. Lol

Atkins got it wrong tbh, the keto diet is very similar but you only use these good fats that people keep banging on about. it also cuts out all these sugars that atkins allowed i've been doing it for about a month now and the results have been incredible. alongside the weight lose my brain and energy levels have been increasing everyday. it does get to me when i walk by a bakery though!

 

its interesting to know that your body can use fats as energy and doesn't need to break carbs down to glucose for that kick of energy. its also handy because i can still drink black coffee which may have been a breaking point if not allowed

 

 

[CandyRotten 161]

To me, all diets seem crazy. I always got told moderation and exercise is the best

[Arruda 718]

On 06/06/2016 at 5:34 PM, Sinister said:

That last paragraph says it all.

Atkins may make sense, but thinking one can take in tons of grease and sugar because they didn't eat a Bun......is insanity. Lol

You can't abuse sugar in Atkins or other ketogenic diets. It's protein you abuse, and you can eat more fat than in other diets, but it's not necessarily good to take too much of it.

 

Personally I'm not fond of these diets that majorly disrupt your natural biochemical ways, but I think they can be an option for whoever can't lose weight the simple way (that is, eating less, regardless of what you chose to eat).

[djw180 7,005]

3 hours ago, CandyRotten said:

To me, all diets seem crazy. I always got told moderation and exercise is the best

Agree.

The basics of any good diet are surely use up more calories than you eat and you'll lose weight. Of course if sticking to a specific plan / diet whatever helps someone keep proper track of how many calories they are eating then that makes sense. But I find the idea of just eating specific foods a bit odd.

 

I have to mention this anecdote as well. True story, well assuming my mate wasn't making it up. He did the Atkins and it worked for him, but he was always a big meat eater with bare minimum of veg etc anyway. His mum decided to try it as well. A few months later she told him it wasn't working, she was gaining weight. So he asked her what she was eating and she started to go through what she ate for each meal in a typical week. She was going to MacDonalds quite often, but he thought although it might not be the healthiest option there was no reason why it shouldn't still work. The conversation went on. Then something occurred to him. He said "Mum, you are just eating the burgers aren't you, not the burger buns as well", of course her answer was no.

Edited June 10, 2016 by djw180

[CandyRotten 161]

1 hour ago, djw180 said:

Agree.

The basics of any good diet are surely use up more calories than you eat and you'll lose weight. Of course if sticking to a specific plan / diet whatever helps someone keep proper track of how many calories they are eating then that makes sense. But I find the idea of just eating specific foods a bit odd.

 

I have to mention this anecdote as well. True story, well amusing my mate wasn't making it up. He did the Atkins and it worked for him, but he was always a big meat eater with bare minimum of veg etc anyway. His mum decided to try it as well. A few months later she told him it wasn't working, she was gaining weight. So he asked her what she was eating and she started to go through what she ate for each meal in a typical week. She was going to MacDonalds quite often, but he thought although it might not be the healthiest option there was no reason why it shouldn't still work. The conversation went on. Then something occurred to him. He said "Mum, you are just eating the burgers aren't you, not the burger buns as well", of course her answer was no.

That's sound like something I would do. How can you eat a burger without a bun? Seems crazy to me. (It holds in the bacon and cheese ha ha)

Edited June 10, 2016 by CandyRotten

[Pen0sIRE 201]

On 10/06/2016 at 0:52 PM, djw180 said:

Agree.

The basics of any good diet are surely use up more calories than you eat and you'll lose weight. Of course if sticking to a specific plan / diet whatever helps someone keep proper track of how many calories they are eating then that makes sense. But I find the idea of just eating specific foods a bit odd.

 

i should probably add to my original post, im not just trying to "just" lose a bit of weight, im training in muai thai and trying to get fighter fit. both the paleo diet and the keto diet are beneficial for muscle whilst burning fat.

also i like the fact that you can get energy from fats and not just using glucose via carbs. all i can say is it feels different and "good", the human body is incredibly interesting and i like to change things up now and again! its my first time in 28 years trying something so different and its been nothing but beneficial. you cant knock what you haven't tried

im sure i wont be on a non-carb diet forever but for what im doing right now its perfect.

Edited June 13, 2016 by Pen0sIRE