ChickSpeak

Women of all ages feel the pressure to maintain an acceptable body image by society’s standards. College women, in particular, are targeted the most by the media’s effort to create the stereotype of “the perfect woman” in movies, television shows and magazines. Exercise has received a great deal of recognition as a healthy initiative for young women struggling with weight issues, but what about women who seek alternative options for looking like their favorite Hollywood star?

College life incorporates high-profile events including Homecoming, formal dances, and theme parties. Halloween, for college students, translates into an opportunity to show as much skin as possible. While these specific events emphasize looking your absolute best, some women bypass healthy options like exercise and appropriate diet. Instead they opt for a quicker and more effective solution: crash dieting.

Why should you alter your entire lifestyle in order to get gradual results over a long period of time when, as an alternative, you can drop a significant amount of weight with a short term starvation?

One of the main reasons to avoid this depriving mechanism of losing weight, other than sudden death, is the short-term and long-term health effects that may result from the fast. Psychological factors including depression, eating disorders, and other mental health issues may result from the mood swings and extreme cravings that accompany crash dieting. The restrictive nature of depriving the body of nourishment may block out healthy food alternatives that the body needs to maintain blood oxygen levels. Dieters who ignore vitamins including potassium, sodium, or vitamin B12 often possess low levels of electrolytes that promote proper muscle and nerve functioning in the body. Organs including the liver, kidney, heart, and brain are also directly affected by low caloric intake and inadequate amounts of energy.

Considering that girls who put themselves on crash diets are desperately seeking to shed pounds, it is not sensible for them to use a weight loss mechanism they cannot maintain for an extended period of time. As they limit their nutritional intake, their metabolisms slow down and learn to process small amounts of food. Once they are through with the diet and go back to their normal lifestyle habits, their metabolisms overcompensate and can only process a small amount. This usually results in more weight gain from their habitual lifestyle than would occur even before the crash diet. 

While crash dieting may seem like the quickest way to drop the pounds before a big event, it is vital to consider its effect the body. Instead of losing weight in the fastest manner possible, consider slowly reducing your caloric intake and exercising as part of your regular schedule. Not only will this promote a mechanism of weight loss, but it will encourage a lifestyle change that is stable and easier to adapt to over an extended period of time.

Epigee: Crash and Burn: Yo-Yo and Crash Dieting

Jenn Sinrich is in her third year at Northeastern University majoring in History and Journalism. She loves living in Boston and especially likes running by the Charles River. She enjoys acting and theater, musicals and listening to show tunes, scrap booking and collaging, and anything else that encourages and inspires creativity.