Friday, 30 October 2009
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The Dangers of an "ABC Diet"
Here at Healthkicker, we want to promote and strive for all of our readers to be healthy and safe. More importantly, we want to spread word about how certain diets and exercises can help or hurt all of you.
Because we've received so many messages about people being on or starting the "ABC Diet" (aka: Ana Boot Camp) our own MsEnergyDrink@healthkicker sought after a little bit of information regarding what exactly this diet entails. Unfortuantely, our results were not pleasant.
The "ABC Diet" is a pro-anorexia diet where people limit their calorie intake to 600 calories or less. While this may not seem like a big deal, such a low intake of calories per day for the extreme lengths of time that the ABC Diet requires (sometimes amounting beyond 10 days with the additional six days of fasting in between) can have some serious effects.
Although this diet does "work" in the sense that its users will see weight loss, the results are not permanent OR safe by any means. People who have followed this diet can see issues with:
- Malnutrition
- Fatigue
- A learned obsession with calories, fat and sugar intakes
- Paranoia
- Sensitivity to cold temperatures
- Depression
- An increased likelihood to participate in other dangerous eating rituals
While we hope that many of you are reading Healthkicker to learn about the safe ways to diet, exercise and live, we also want you all to know about the dangerous and damaging lifestyles too, to help you avoid them.
Have you ever heard of the "ABC Diet"? What do you think about such an extreme diet?
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Comments (162)
Am I the only one who read the title and thought "Ewww Already Been Chewed diet?"
@Nina1981@xanga - No. No, you are not. I was really thinking this was the human adaptation of cow cuds or something.
Also, can people stop thinking that being thin equals health? This is why diets suck. It's more about superficiality than it is about health.
I've never heard of it, but if I weren't afraid of getting sick I would totally try it.
I had not heard about it before. And yeesh. I hate extreme diets, pro-anorexia or not.
i've done this diet twice.
each day is a different caloric intake, the most being 800 and there is an occasional fast.you make this seem like a horrible diet, where if you do it you'll die.its not for extreme amounts of time. the full diet is for 50 days, just like any other diet or regime someone else would do, there wouldn't be any result if you just did it for a week or so.stop calling it extreme, because it's not.I have heard the name but did not know what it stood for. Wow. That's really scary. I'm sick of this weight obsession. What ever happened to just wanting to be HEALTHY? It's not about the numbers on the scale or a size 00 you can squeeze into. It's about having a healthy, strong body that enables you to enjoy life. Now THAT is beautiful.
@fallen_into_decadence@xanga - it is extreme though...a lot of people take it to the extremes, you make 50 days seem like nothing. The normal caloric intake for each day is 1200 or something like that, so the ABC diet is kind of like a starvation diet, even if the highest it goes to is 800 calories, you're still restricting and it is still dangerous. Don't make it seem like it isn't. The poster isn't making it seem like you'll die from doing it, what the post is saying is it's dangerous and dangerous side effects can occur. No where in it did I read "Do this diet and you'll DIE!"
this diet is not meant for normal people. it was created by an anorexic for anorexics, which is why the calorie intakes seem so low for average people. 800 calories is actually a lot for most people with anorexia.
@fallen_into_decadence@xanga - It is extreme. 800 calories is not a life sustaining intake. It brings extreme health risks. Look up your BMR - that's the amount of calories your body needs just to stay alive. It's almost definitely higher than 800. Thus, this diet is extreme.
This diet disgusts me. I have a health issue that is causing me to lose drastic amounts of weight, and so I look just like all those "thinspo" pictures that pro-ana girls post. I am skin and bones and extremely unhealthy. My body is in danger. And the fact that girls to this voluntarily disgusts me. I know that anorexia is a mental disorder, I've had an eating disorder myself, but heroin addiction usually stems from a mental disorder, too - do you think I'm going to accept their behavior? No. Both are addictions, both do stupid things, both need help. None of them need my sympathy. The fact that anyone would voluntarily choose to put their health in such danger really, really angers me. Guess what? You'd feel a hell of a lot differently if the choice was out of your hands. Try consuming 3000 calories a day and STILL losing weight. Yeah.
I know this post isn't supporting this diet, but it's just giving these girls yet another unhealthy idea.
@anorexique_xo@xanga - @vegaskandigirl@xanga - for normal ppl, this post says those things to you. but for someone who has an ED, i dont see is that way.
i've heard of it.
i've tried it for about a week.
i'd try it again.
Last May I started a diet of 500 calories a day, monday-friday. I lost about 20 pounds in a month and a half. I am now eating regularly (+/- 1200 Cal a day) and I am maintaining my weight. I am in no way unhealthy or suffered any health problems. Having said that I really think it just depends on what your body needs. Mine was just fine on an extreme diet. And now I'm much healthier and fitter looking!
@whitetrashpoet@xanga - your BMR is NOT the amount of calories your body needs to survive-- it's the amount your body needs to MAINTAIN weight. My BMR is around 1600 calories. If I ate that much a day I wouldn't lose anything. If I ate less-- my body CERTAINLY wouldn't freak out and die.
@scarletchord@xanga - Have you ever looked up BMR? Do you actually know what it is? It's the amount of calories your body requires to maintain its normal function. If you continually deprive your body of its necessary caloric requirements you will suffer negative effects to your health.
"The energy expended by the body at rest to maintain normal function."
"The level of energy required to sustain the body's vital functions in the waking state.
"The energy requirements necessary for maintenance of life processes such as heart beat, breathing and cell metabolic activities."
"
Basal metabolic rate(BMR) refers to the minimum amount of energy -- in the form of calories
-- that your body requires to complete its normal functions, such as
breathing, breaking down food, and keeping your heart and brain
working."
It's called research.
@Nina1981@xanga - LOL, that's what I thought the first time some one mentioned the ABC diet to me.@my_secret_diary_xx@xanga - bad M, bad :(
yes, it's been around awhile. i don't think anyone that would embark on it would care that's it's dangerous, though. the majority are probably the same people that want to catch the anorexic "lifestyle" like a cold, after all.
there's no doubt it's dangerous in a few ways. but you can't really talk sense into people that are of the mindset that it's a good idea to do this kind of thing.
a daily intake of 600cal sounds little.... it SOUNDS little..
i'm female 106lbs and 157.... i'm chubby but statiscally healthy. If i were to eat the 1200 daily requirement i would make myself so full i'd feel sick. about a month ago i counted my calorie intake. over two weeks my average was 700 calories. and this 700 calories included a daily dose of some sort of chocolate.. candy or lolly... 700cal/day is not a diet!!!
for me personally i think 300 would be my limit.. but i love food too much :P
@anorexique_xo@xanga - im not anorexic at all.. i love my food but 800 is a lot for me too.... so this diet is actually for those who actually NEED to be on a diet... dont you reckon?
I haven't heard of this diet, and I'm glad that I haven't. That means that, hopefully, none of my friends and family are trying it. I'm glad that Healthkicker is pro-active in also letting its members know about what is going on with things like this so that we don't get sucked into something we don't really realize is going to hurt us.
Its too bad that such a diet has become so popular that even Healthkicker has had to make a post about it to let its members know what's going on, though. But, I'm still glad it was posted about.
Thanks for the head's up!
I just don't like the word diet. I like just simple life style changes.
Don't see why a diet like that would appeal to people. There are much healthier and enjoyable ways to lose weight.
As a recovered anorexic who well, basically lived by the same principles of the ABC diet for quite a few years I can tell you that it is absolutely destructive and will ruin your mental and physical state. I've recovered now, 2 years later.
I think it's good that people are warned about this. crash diets in general are simply idiotic and destructive, healthy habits are the only answer, and by healthy I mean eating more than 1500 calories (at the very least, depending on what exercises you do) working out 3+ times per week, choosing the healthy alternatives.
These diets destroy your metabolism and you have to restrict more and more to see results, it's addictive but affects your mood to the extremes, causes depression (basically what is mentioned above)
Have heard of it, have been on Xanga in the whole 'pro-ana' bs scene for quite a while, never knew that's what it stood for tho. Funny listening to all these people try do defend their craziness... I'm here, I appreciate the community, but I don't condone the idea of using eating disorders as a quick way to lose weight and look 'hot' in your prom dress or whatever. If it weren't for pro-ana sites maybe I wouldn't have gone so extreme myself, maybe I wouldn't be struggling with this six years later.
Hell, I run a thinspo blog... how big of a hypocrite am I? *Sigh* starvation- it's a hell of a drug.
@fallen_into_decadence@xanga - you admit you have an ED. I'm assuming you also know that it's more mental than physical.
So it seems redundant and absurd that you would argue that to your warped view
(ED altered view) this ABC diet is not abnormal and that to the rest of
the "normal" people who are not suffering from EDs are incorrect in
their stating an opinion that this could be a potentially dangerous
diet...
I can't even begin to comprehend your logic behind your statements.
@Nina1981@xanga - Hahaha. Definitely not. You have no idea how long I was trying to figure out what that diet entailed before I actually read the article.