Editor’s Note: Injury prevention and wellness handouts are an effective (and inexpensive) way to educate and motivate employees to use good work practices and take care of their bodies.

Scroll to the bottom of this post for the free Wellness Handout PDF file.

—

The Dangers of Extreme Diets

“One should eat to live. Not live to eat.”
~ Cicero

Are you looking to lose some weight?

If so, you aren’t alone.

Perhaps you’ve heard the news that approximately 69.2% of people (in the U.S.) are overweight. In response, many people are resorting to dangerous and extreme diets to shed those extra pounds.

The promise of a quick fix or “magic bullet” to win the battle of the bulge has led them to cause more harm to their bodies than good.

The Dangers of Extreme Diets

Permanently maintaining a healthy body weight requires permanently living a healthy lifestyle. Many extreme diets do not abide by this principle. These diets typically endorse extreme measures like cutting out an entire food group, extreme calorie restrictions or taking a magic pill while the pounds miraculously fall off.

In other words, extreme diets will sacrifice health for a temporary loss of weight. This often leads to the “yo-yo” effect where a person will lose a bunch of weight only to gain it back, and then some. The end result is that this person put their health at risk only to pack on a few more pounds.

That’s not what we want for you. Instead of extreme dieting, consider making a commitment to healthier habits for life.

The truth is, whatever you eat is your diet. We are all on a “diet” all the time. Your choice is to commit to a healthy diet for the rest of your life or struggle to lose weight with the latest magic diet pill or extreme measure. We recommend a healthy diet for life. It’s a slower, but healthier and more sustainable strategy for weight loss and overall health.

Beware of Extreme Diets and False Claims

• Avoid starvation, fasting or extreme low-calorie diets.
• Beware “magic” diet pills that claim extreme results with little effort.
• Beware a diet that denies your body an entire food group.

You need a balanced amount of vitamins and nutrients to fuel your body. Diets that don’t give you the nutrition you need will put your health at risk!

Healthy Lifestyle Fundamentals

By following a simple diet and exercise plan, you can get to your ideal weight and maintain it for life.

Follow these basic guidelines:

• Eat a balanced diet: Food is fuel for your body. Nutrition is all about providing your body with the best fuel for optimal health and vitality. You diet should be balanced and include complex carbs, lean protein and fruits and vegetables. A simple guideline for each meal is to have ½ of your plate be fruits and vegetables, ¼ of your plate be lean protein and ¼ of your plate be complex carbs. Don’t forget to drink plenty of water!
• Maintain calorie control: If you eat more calories than you burn, you will gain weight. If you eat less calories than you burn, you will lose weight. So to lose weight, you will need to burn more calories than you consume. To lose 1 pound, you will need to burn 3,500 calories. Do this every week for one year and you will have lost 52 pounds!
• Exercise: Daily exercise will help you burn calories and transform your body in to a fat-burning machine. We recommend a mix of cardiovascular exercise, weight training and stretching for your exercise regimen.

Free Employee Wellness Handout – The Dangers of Extreme Diets

The Dangers of Extreme Diets [PDF]