Health
Desperate to lose weight, many people resort to extreme weight loss methods. One of the latest dangerous trends is eating cotton balls soaked in juice, lemonade and cocktails.
The fashionable diet has begun to spread on the Internet: chat rooms, blogs and YouTube, which describes how to lose weight using cotton balls.
The idea is that cotton balls make you feel full and you don't gain weight. Some eat only cotton wool all day, others swallow such “fillers” before eating to eat less.
Those who follow this diet claim that they can swallow up to 5 juice-soaked balls in one sitting to feel full.
Medical experts are seriously concerned about the newfangled diet, calling it “very dangerous”. Most cotton balls are not even natural and are bleached polyester fibers that contain large amounts of chemicals.
“Eating cotton balls is like eating cloth, buttons or coins,” said specialist Dr. Ovidio Bermudez. In addition to the risk of choking and malnutrition, it can also lead to blockages in the intestinal tract, which can be deadly.
Read also: The 10 craziest diets
The most dangerous diets to lose weight this year
Experts from the British Dietetic Association have compiled a list of this year's most dangerous fashion diets to avoid.
Sun-eating — nourishing the air and the sun
Followers of the Bretharian diet or sun-eating believe that they can not eat or drink, as they can only eat air and sunlight.
Celebrities who followed this diet included actress Michelle Pfeiffer, who was a member of a cult that had advocates for this lifestyle. Singer Madonna was also a follower of eating air, where you pretend to eat food off your plate and “fill up” by swallowing air.
Read also: The woman decided to eat only air, water and light
Expert opinion: This diet increases the risk of dehydration, lack of nutrients and can lead to death.
Biotype diet
This diet carefully selects foods to change the hormonal balance and reduce the amount of fat in certain areas of the body.
Singer Boy George allegedly attributed his weight loss to this diet.
Expert opinion: Diet advocates rely too much on supplements, and the diet itself is based on the pseudoscience that hormones are involved in fat metabolism.
Gluten-free diet
This diet avoids gluten, a protein found in wheat, oats and barley.
Actress Gwyneth Paltrow is an adherent to this diet.
Expert opinion: Many foods contain gluten, including bread, pastries, cakes and cookies, and they are high in calories, which can help you lose weight. But many people mistakenly believe that it is possible to eat other gluten-free foods, such as sausages and beer, without restrictions. But gluten-free doesn't mean low in calories.
Alcorexia or drancorexia
Dieters consume very few calories through food, and consume alcohol in large quantities. So, for example, if you follow a low-calorie diet, you save about 1,500 kcal per day, which provides about 11,500 kcal, which is consumed through alcoholic beverages (based on recommended 2000 kcal per day for women). This equates to about 131 glasses of wine.
Many top models follow this diet
Expert opinion: A low-calorie diet is crazy in and of itself, and you won't be getting enough calories, vitamins and nutrients. Alcohol has a low nutritional value, and regular alcohol abuse is extremely harmful to health.
Dukan diet
This is a diet that consumes large amounts of protein and very few carbohydrates, which leads to rapid weight loss.
Among the adherents of this diet are Jennifer Lopez and Carol Middleton, mother of the Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton.
Expert opinion: Even the creator of the diet, Pierre Ducan, was banned from practicing this diet in France in 2013. The diet leads to lack of energy, constipation, lack of vitamins and minerals, and bad breath.