The Snake Diet is a weight loss plan that has gained attention for its promises of rapid results through prolonged fasting. However, it's crucial to examine the diet's principles, potential dangers, and scientific validity before considering it. This article provides a thorough analysis of the Snake Diet, its phases, claims, and associated risks.
Overview of the Snake Diet
The Snake Diet isn't just a restrictive diet; it's promoted as a lifestyle centered on prolonged fasting. It's based on the notion that humans are capable of enduring long periods without food, drawing from the idea that our ancestors faced times of famine. The diet suggests that the body can function on just one meal a few times a week.
Cole Robinson, who identifies as a fasting coach, created the Snake Diet. It's important to note that Robinson lacks formal qualifications in medicine, biology, or nutrition.
Core Principles
The diet begins with an initial fast lasting 48 hours or longer, accompanied by "Snake Juice," an electrolyte beverage. After this initial phase, a feeding window of only 1-2 hours is allowed before the next fast begins. Robinson suggests that once the desired weight is achieved, individuals can cycle in and out of fasts, consuming just one meal every 24-48 hours. It is important to note that the scientific basis for many of these claims is questionable.
Snake Juice
Snake Juice is a key component of the Snake Diet and consists of:
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- 8 cups (2 liters) of water
- 1/2 teaspoon (2 g) of Himalayan pink salt
- 1 teaspoon (5 g) of salt-free potassium chloride
- 1/2 teaspoon (2 g) of food-grade Epsom salts
While a commercial powdered electrolyte mix is available, dosage guidelines for the homemade version are vague. The commercial product limits users to three packets per day.
Calorie Recommendations
Robinson's calorie recommendations are notably low. He suggests that those new to the diet need no more than 3,500 calories per week. This is significantly less than the USDA recommendations of 1,600-2,400 daily calories for women and 2,000-3,000 for men, which translates to roughly 11,200-16,800 and 14,000-21,000 calories per week, respectively. Such a large discrepancy puts individuals on the Snake Diet at risk of severe calorie deprivation.
For maintenance, Robinson recommends 8,500 calories per week (distributed across 5 meals) for active women and 20,000 calories per week (across 3 total eating days) for active men.
Ketosis
The Snake Diet encourages measuring ketones with urine strips. Ketosis is a metabolic state where the body burns fat for energy instead of glucose, often resulting from starvation, prolonged fasting, or a low-carb, high-fat diet.
The Three Phases of the Snake Diet
The Snake Diet is structured into three distinct phases:
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Phase 1: Initial Fast
This phase is designed for newcomers to the diet, focusing on achieving and maintaining ketosis. The initial fast should last at least 48 hours and is supplemented with unspecified amounts of an apple cider vinegar drink and Snake Juice. A 1-2 hour eating window follows, with no specific guidelines on food choices, before transitioning into a longer, 72-hour fast, succeeded by a second feeding window. This phase aims to "detoxify your liver," though the specific toxins targeted are not identified. It's important to recognize that the liver and kidneys naturally eliminate harmful compounds from the body.
Phase 2: Weight Loss Phase
During this phase, individuals cycle through extended fasts of 48-96 hours, punctuated by single meals. The diet encourages fasting until it becomes unbearable, which can be detrimental to health. This phase continues until the desired weight is reached.
Phase 3: Maintenance Phase
The maintenance phase involves 24-48-hour fast cycles interspersed with single meals. Individuals are instructed to pay attention to their body's natural hunger cues during this phase. However, this instruction seems contradictory to the diet's overall message of ignoring hunger cues. Prolonged fasting can also alter leptin and ghrelin levels, which are hormones that regulate hunger and fullness.
Weight Loss and the Snake Diet
Fasting and calorie restriction lead to weight loss because the body is forced to utilize its energy reserves. During a fast, the body typically burns both fat and lean muscle mass to sustain vital organs. Because the Snake Diet doesn't adequately replenish these losses with food, it can result in rapid but potentially dangerous weight loss.
On average, individuals may lose about 2 pounds (0.9 kg) per day during the first week of a fast and then around 0.7 pounds (0.3 kg) per day by the third week. It is important to note that a safe weight loss range is about 1-2 pounds (0.5-0.9 kg) per week.
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The Snake Diet primarily relies on prolonged starvation and doesn't promote healthy eating habits or address unhealthy behaviors that may have contributed to weight gain. Furthermore, the body requires regular food intake to meet its nutrient and energy needs. Essential nutrients like vitamins, protein, and fat must come from food, as the body cannot produce them. Therefore, long-term fasting can jeopardize health and increase the risk of various diseases.
Unsubstantiated Claims
Robinson asserts that the Snake Diet can cure type 2 diabetes, herpes, and inflammation. However, these claims are not supported by scientific evidence. While weight loss can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes in individuals with obesity or excess weight, it's an overstatement to suggest that the Snake Diet cures diabetes. Research on prolonged fasting and its effects on inflammation and diabetes has yielded mixed results.
Risks and Downsides of the Snake Diet
The Snake Diet comes with several potential downsides:
Unhealthy Relationship with Food
Robinson's language and approach can promote an unhealthy relationship with food and body image. His videos often encourage fasting "until you feel like death," which can be particularly dangerous for individuals with disordered eating tendencies or conditions like insulin resistance or diabetes.
Extreme Restriction
The Snake Diet is very restrictive, and the body requires a variety of nutrients to function properly, even in sedentary individuals. The diet devalues dietary variety and provides few guidelines on food choices, even though variety is essential for obtaining the necessary nutrients.
Dry Fasting
Robinson advocates for occasional dry fasts, which restrict all food and liquids, including water. The duration and specific circumstances for this method are unclear. Restricting water intake, especially when already eating very little and irregularly, significantly increases the risk of dehydration and is extremely dangerous.
Unsustainability
Like many restrictive diets, the Snake Diet is not sustainable in the long term. It promotes prolonged food restriction that lacks scientific support, rather than encouraging healthy lifestyle changes. The body cannot survive on a diet built around starvation.
Potential Dangers
The Snake Diet carries significant health risks. Robinson claims that Snake Juice fulfills all micronutrient needs, but each 5-gram packet only provides a fraction of the Daily Values (DVs) for sodium and potassium. The body needs around 30 different vitamins and minerals from food, and long-term fasting can lead to electrolyte imbalances and nutritional deficiencies.