Supplements Shop

The Healthy Way

Ask The Expert

Mesotherapy

Chelation Therapy

Weight Loss

Longevity

EIS system

Tell A Friend

New Patient Form

Read Dr. Elena Krasnov's Weekly Column in the Health & Fitness section of the 24 Hours Magazine. Look for new articles every week!

Monday, July 27, 2009

Be Clear about Safety of Weight Loss Program

Q: Dear Elena: My friend is on a certain very well known diet, which gives injections and limits calorie intake. I know this is harmful to her because she is eating barely anything. She is losing weight, however how can I get it through to her that this is could cause her to have health problems.

A: I generally promote exercise and diet while many diets focus on eating certain types of food to promote weight loss. The diet program you are talking about sounds like the one that uses injections of B6 and B12 vitamins? These shots help your body go into a state where you burn fat as fuel (according to the company web-site). This is great but there a couple of concerns with regards to this program. Health problems can occur with an exaggerated duration of ketone state. The other concern I have in this program is your friend’s rate of metabolism. Metabolism is the body caloric expenditure rate that is affected by nutrition, exercise, genetics and many other factors. The diet doesn't focus on exercise, which is a huge mistake to keep the weight off. Muscle mass is extremely important for the maintenance phase and afterwards. If you are considering this diet please bring up the exercise point and ask if they can recommend a personal trainer.

The weight loss itself is achievable due to the caloric restriction, which is mostly due to starvation mode. This occurs when a person consumes less than 1,000 calories per day, which leads to substantial weight loss. This weight loss method increases numerous health risks, such as heart attack and malnutrition. It also slows down your metabolism and as soon as you increase your caloric intake even by 100 calories per day your friend will gain weight again. Hence, I have come across a lot of my patients who have used this diet successfully but gained a lot of weight back as soon as they were off.

Our body is designed to conserve energy by shutting off metabolism at the time of famine (starvation). Eating small frequent meals will help start up the metabolic rate and prevent fast weight gain when getting off the diet. Working out with weights will help build up lean muscle mass which naturally has a high metabolic rate. The more muscle you have the more calories you can consume without weight gain. Eating frequently through the day is also important to rev up your metabolism. When losing weight is important to work with a health provider who has your short and long term health interests in mind. Both Naturopaths and Holistic Nutritionists will look at your overall health while helping you to shape up.

All The Healthy Way articles:

Dr. Elena Krasnov is a registered Naturopathic Doctor and Clinic Director of the Toronto Naturopathic Clinic. Submit your questions online at 24hrs.ca

Co-written by Miranda Tallon-Malisani Holistic Nutritionist