Slimming diets via social media…a risky trend

Influencers seeking to achieve fame on social media are turning into guinea pigs for the most popular diets currently available.Weight loss“, such as intermittent fasting, the apple diet, and others, to lose weight quickly, which is a risky trend, according to specialists.

A woman says in a video clip Tik Tok It received more than 45,000 likes: “You wake up and abstain from eating, and when lunchtime comes, you can eat whatever you want.” She was talking while eating a meal after a period of fasting.

A French influencer recommends the same technique, but by taking an “appetite suppressant” capsule, whoever wants to buy it gets her own “discount code.” A few months ago, she said that she lost 3 kilograms in 3 days by eating only apples.

For his part, French nutrition expert and founder of the Obesity Observatory, Pierre Azzam, says that these diets are cruel and aim to attract attention, noting that algorithms complement this already harmful system, as they distract Internet users “between one diet and another.”

Azzam points out that “people, especially young people who want to lose weight, find themselves stuck in a dilemma of information that is sometimes contradictory or combined.” Nightly intermittent fasting, which requires stopping eating for 16 hours between dinner and the first meal the next day, “can be “Interesting, but not suitable for everyone,” according to nutritionist Arnaud Coccole.

He stresses: “We cannot copy the same typical diet for people who suffer from weight gain due to stress, or who take medications.”

“95% of diets fail.”

Nutritionist Cocoll receives patients daily who are “overweight and have adopted diets,” and he points out that “95% of diets fail within the five years following their adoption,” according to a study conducted by the French health authorities, as “people regain all the weight they lost.”.

“Most… Diets It is based on prevention and frustration and the body hates being subjected to cruelty.”

While a nutritionist prefers the American Weight Watchers program, which is based on restoring nutritional balance rather than preventing a person from eating certain foods.

While Azzam warns against the “deadly” advice given by some Internet users, which focuses only on losing weight “quickly and easily, without effort, in a reflection of consumer society, and outside of any public health concerns.”

He says, “Our body is alive and full of proteins, and if we treat it too hard, we risk losing muscle mass, and the damage will subsequently affect the formation of organs, in addition to facing hormonal disorders, problems in the digestive system, and long-term diseases.”

He is concerned about the impact of these videos on those who are easily influenced, as they may cause “tendencies toward anorexia, bulimia nervosa, or eating disorders.”

He stresses the necessity of consulting a therapist or specialist if one is suffering from weight gain, but what is more important than that is “better nutritional education, which begins in the first thousand days of a person’s life or even in the womb,” according to the two doctors.

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