• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Sun Health Center

We help your mind function at peak performance, to experience a happier, healthier and high-achieving life.

855-459-0278
  • About Us
    • Dr. Dogris
    • Our Staff
    • Our Facilities
    • Book an Appointment
    • Contact Us
  • Neuro Therapy
    • Peak Performance
    • Mental Health Issues
    • Traumatic Brain Injury
    • Addiction Treatment Services
  • IV Therapy
    • IV Ketamine Therapy
    • IV Vitamin Infusions
  • MAT
    • Suboxone Maintenance
    • Vivitrol
  • Blog

The Health Risks of Fad Diets

Nov 27, 2022 by Sunhealth

The risks of fad diets
The risks of fad diets
If you’re trying to lose weight, it’s important to avoid the dieting cycle. Read on to learn more about the health risks of following restrictive fad diets. Losing excess weight reduces the risk of chronic disease, but many people are trapped in a cycle of starting a new diet and following it for a while, then giving up because the diet is too restrictive. Then, they start over again with a new diet and repeat the process. Diets represent a change to our normal eating habits, so it’s only natural that they cause changes in how we think, feel and perform. Here are some risks to consider with the dieting cycle.

Health Risks With Intermittent Fasting

Unlike traditional fasting, which involves going without food for long periods, intermittent fasting focuses on alternating periods of eating with periods of fasting. Although intermittent fasting has been shown to burn fat, it also has some risks. Like other unhealthy dieting methods, intermittent fasting may cause you to overeat. When you deprive your body of food, you’re more likely to indulge the next time you eat a full meal. According to experts from Harvard Medical School, intermittent fasting may also cause constipation, lethargy and headaches. For people with chronic health conditions, intermittent fasting may even cause electrolyte imbalances or make it difficult to take medications as prescribed. If you have diabetes, the foods you eat and when you eat them play an important role in maintaining normal blood sugar levels. That’s why it’s important to consult a healthcare professional before trying intermittent fasting. If you wait too long to eat, your blood sugar may drop suddenly, causing dizziness, weakness and other symptoms. Vitamin and mineral deficiencies are also possible complications.

Health Risks With Keto

The ketogenic diet, commonly known as “keto,” severely restricts carbohydrate intake and promotes high-fat, moderate-protein foods. The National Library of Medicine reports that people following the keto diet typically get 5% to 10% of their calories from carbohydrates, 30% to 35% from protein and 55% to 60% from fat. This diet has several risks, especially for people with a history of kidney, liver, thyroid, gallbladder and pancreas problems. Consuming high amounts of saturated fat may increase the risk of heart disease, so it’s important to choose heart-healthy fat sources. Too much protein may also tax the kidneys, increasing the risk of kidney stones or causing kidney function to decline. When you severely restrict your carbohydrate intake, you may miss out on important nutrients, resulting in vitamin and mineral deficiencies. One of the main risks of fad dieting also applies to the keto diet: upset stomach, dizziness, mood swings and other symptoms that occur as your body adjusts to a new way of eating. These symptoms may make it difficult to perform other routine activities.

Health Risks With Atkins-Style Diets

In the 1960s, Robert Atkins developed the Atkins diet based on his belief that excessive carbohydrate intake was the driving force behind weight gain and chronic health problems. Like the ketogenic diet, the Atkins diet restricts carbohydrate intake and emphasizes consuming proteins and fats. Unlike many diets, Atkins doesn’t involve measuring portions or counting calories. Instead, people who follow Atkins count net carbs, or the total number of carbohydrates minus the number of grams of fiber in each food. For example, if a food has 10 grams of carbohydrates and 3 grams of fiber, it has 7 net carbs. The purpose of restricting carbohydrate intake is to force your body to use fat as an energy source.

Phases of the Atkins Diet

The Atkins diet has four phases progressing from most restrictive to least restrictive. Atkins designed the dieting cycle this way to help people lose more weight in the beginning and slowly transition from weight loss to weight maintenance.
  • Phase 1: During the first phase, you eat no more than 20 grams of net carbs per day.
  • Phase 2: The net carb limit increases to 30 grams per day during the second phase.
  • Phase 3: When you reach the third phase, you increase your net carb limit by 10 grams per week until you reach your weight loss goal.
  • Phase 4: During the maintenance phase, you can eat up to 120 grams of net carbs per day. If you begin to gain weight, you may need to reduce your net carb intake until you reach your goal again.

Potential Risks

Although Atkins may help you reach your goal weight, the diet does have some risks. Due to emphasizing protein and fat, the Atkins diet typically includes processed meats. Eating too many processed meats is linked to an increased risk of heart disease. Severe carbohydrate restriction has also been known to cause kidney problems, constipation and low blood sugar. Nutrient deficiencies are one of the most serious health risks of fad dieting, especially when you cut out many foods from the same food group. Some people on Atkins restrict their intake of fruits and vegetables to avoid going over their net carb limits each day. Limiting your consumption of produce makes it more difficult to get the right amount of nutrients.

Health Risks of Calorie Counting in the Dieting Cycle

At some point in the dieting cycle, many people turn to calorie counting to help them lose weight. Everyone has a basal metabolic rate or a minimum number of calories needed to sustain basic life-sustaining functions. Calorie counting makes it easier to avoid consuming more calories than you need each day, which may help you lose weight or prevent weight gain. Although calorie counting is a popular approach to weight loss, the idea that all you have to do to lose weight is burn more calories than you consume is somewhat outdated. Several factors affect how your body processes calories, which means you may have a hard time losing weight even if you cut calories. One of the main risks of counting calories is that you’ll become obsessed with your food consumption, leading to an increased risk of eating disorders. There’s also a risk that you won’t consume enough calories to meet your body’s needs, leading to fatigue, dry skin and other negative consequences.

Moderation Is Key

Even the best diet can be dangerous if you go overboard with cutting calories or restricting food groups. If the dieting cycle is causing you to engage in disordered eating patterns, Sun Health Center can help. We offer recovery therapies to ease your mind and restore your physical health.
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Footer

Sun Health Center Logo

502 South Federal Highway
Deerfield Beach, FL 33441
contact@sunhealthcenter.com
855-459-0278

Book an Appointment
Privacy Policy
About Us

© 2025 Sun Health Center All Rights Reserved

Manage Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}

Book an Appointment

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Subscribe to Our Posts