Linda Bacon, PhD, dreads swimsuit season, but not because she has anything against the beach. Instead, the California-based nutritionist fears what the season brings: scores of otherwise health-conscious citizens who subject themselves to deprivation diets (like the Master Cleanse) or intense exercise regimens, often in blazing hot weather, to look slimmer in revealing clothes. Many unwittingly end up harming their health—and possibly even their hearts.
“Early June and January are the two times of year people do crazy, desperate things to get thin fast,” says Bacon, a nutrition professor at the City College of San Francisco and the author of Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight. “They go on fasts, yo-yo diets, detox programs, and ‘cleanses’ without realizing that there are serious consequences to weight loss and nutrient restriction.”
That crash dieting doesn’t work and can be dangerous is a message that gets lost in the national clamor over rising rates of overweight and obesity. Thinking of trying a lemonade fast or cabbage soup diet? Here’s what to keep in mind if fitting into your skinny jeans or your Speedo is high on your summer agenda.
Crash diets may harm your heart
Cardiologist Isadore Rosenfeld, MD, a professor of clinical medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, in New York City, and author of the forthcoming Doctor of the Heart: A Life in Medicine, opposes crash diets (less than 1,200 calories a day) and detox plans like the Master Cleanse. The Master Cleanse involves consuming a mixture of water, lemon juice, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper—and nothing else—for several days.
He says these very low-calorie regimens are based on the false theory that the body needs help eliminating waste.
Research suggests rapid weight loss can slow your metabolism, leading to future weight gain, and deprive your body of essential nutrients. What’s more, crash diets can weaken your immune system and increase your risk of dehydration, heart palpitations, and cardiac stress.
“A crash diet once won’t hurt your heart,” Dr. Rosenfeld says. “But crash dieting repeatedly increases the risk of heart attacks.”
Bacon adds that long-term calorie-cutting can eventually lead to heart muscle loss. “Yo-yo dieting can also damage your blood vessels. All that shrinking and growing causes micro tears that create a setup for atherosclerosis and other types of heart disease,” she says.
Chip Stinchfield, a 55-year-old shop owner in New Canaan, Conn., has experienced the cardiac effects of dieting firsthand. On the advice of friends, he went on a Master Cleanse for days and exercised vigorously. Another time he ate nothing but cottage cheese, beets, and peanut butter. Both were “quick, easy fixes” that helped him drop up to 10 pounds fast.
But both diets also gave him shortness of breath, heart palpitations, and “the feeling like I was going to have a heart attack.” Under pressure from his family, who thought his dieting might disable or kill him—like many extreme dieters, Stinchfield kept his doctor in the dark about his radical habits—he eventually went back to sensible eating.
Next page: Watch out for fad diets
Comments (18)
Thanks for this article. I must admit I went on the Master cleanse diet and can tell you first hand that the Master Cleanse detox diet slows down your metabolism big time. All the weight I lost came back real fast. What I did not know twas that it can have implications for my heart. Just glad I leaned my lesson.
The problem I have with this article is that they are talking about the Master Cleanse as though its intent is weight loss. Regardless of the fact that many people do the Master Cleanse to lose weight, its intention is to detoxify the body. To rid the body of harmful or useless toxins, and most proponents of the Master Cleanse are very forward about this fact. I am currently almost through with day 7 of the Master Cleanse and I feel great – more energy than normal and no feelings of hunger at all.
The Master Cleanse gets a bad rap because most doctors won’t endorse it. Doctors don’t endorse it because they never endorse anything unless it is healthy for everyone. Just think if a doctor put up signs in his clinic for the Master Cleanse and an excessively obese 65 year old man with heart problems and a cabinet full of medications went on it and nearly killed himself? It is dangerous for some people to try but the Master Cleanse is fine for healthy people who do it for the right reasons, do the research, and understand the way it impacts your body.
For example, I’m well aware that not eating slows your metabolism and therefore, I have been strength training off and on for the last 7 days because strength training can help increase your metabolism. I’m hoping they offset each other a bit. The key is also to eat healthier after the Cleanse – you can’t just pig out on pizza the day after you’re done and expect not to gain all the weight you lost and then some.
I’m confident that the Master Cleanse works because as I said, I haven’t eaten solid food in 7 days and amazingly all this “crap” keeps coming out of my body. I would not recommend the Master Cleanse to everyone, but done by a healthy person for no longer than 10 days with a solid commitment to a healthier lifestyle…I just don’t see the harm in it. Obviously consuming nothing but Red Bull and an occasional handful of cereal for however long it takes to lose 100 pounds that way is NOT healthy. I don’t really see how you can compare the two since the Master Cleanse is meant to be temporary. In my mind it would be worse to say, eat nothing but macaroni and cheese for 10 days straight – because you’re not gaining any quality nutrition from it and you’re doing the exact opposite of cleaning out your system, you’re stopping it up.
I do not believe that this diet is harmful to your health. You are gaining all of the calories needed (and more if you decide to consume more syrup) to maintain bodily function.
This site is very informative and explains the benefits of using Organic, Grade B Maple Syrup in this cleanse.
http://www.gradebmaplesyrup.org
Thanks Bryan for an informative article. For so many years, I helped people with their diets and yet one thing became absolutely clear. People are eating their feelings! So, we really needed to talk about what happened before they went for the food. An argument ? Feeling alone, not loved, getting older? A business that never seemed to get out of the start up stage? Sexual problems? I can go on and on but it is so important and easy to discover why and what food is providing us.
What if you missed your lunch? Do you really think that you will starve if you fast for a day? Personally, I find that if I eat light meals for lunch and dinner, the next day comes and I’m just not that hungry. Let’s just limit the intake and the quantity of what we eat. Is anybody ok with just one scoop of ice cream and not the pint? Be honest with yourself. You aren’t being bad, you are just having a habit that takes time to break. Did you know that it is healthier to eat less but eat right? You will look and feel more youthful when you make better choices. And you can! I know it! Harriet@youthingessentials.com
If you are interested in improving your health and dumping the focus on weight, there is a large community of people out there to support you. Check out the (free) Health at Every Size Community Resources: http://www.HAESCommunity.org.