Embarking on a journey towards a healthier lifestyle often begins with dietary changes. While the long-term benefits of a balanced diet are undeniable, the initial transition can sometimes bring about unexpected and even unpleasant effects. This article explores the potential consequences of sudden dietary shifts, drawing upon scientific research and expert opinions to provide a comprehensive understanding of this complex topic.
The Evolutionary Paradox of Dietary Restriction
Experts at the Healthy Lifespan Institute at the University of Sheffield and Brown University in the USA, conducted a study challenging the existing evolutionary theory that dietary restriction triggers a survival strategy. The research, using fruit flies (Drosophilia melanogaster), revealed that flies subjected to a restricted diet and then returned to a rich diet experienced higher mortality rates and laid fewer eggs compared to those consistently fed a rich diet. This suggests that dietary restriction might be an escape from the damaging effects of a rich diet, rather than an enhancer of repair and maintenance mechanisms.
Andrew McCracken, Ph.D. student, noted that the study's most surprising finding was that restricted diets can be the origin of particular types of damage to the individual, contrary to expectations and current evolutionary theory. This highlights the intricate relationship between diet and health, emphasizing that the precise mechanisms at play are not fully understood.
Common Negative Reactions to Healthier Eating
Many people resolve to start eating healthier, whether it's cutting back carbs, eating more protein, or trying a specific diet. However, when you switch to a new diet, you may experience temporary discomfort as your body adapts to the changes. These side effects are usually mild and temporary. Here are some common negative reactions that can occur when transitioning to a healthier diet:
Digestive Discomfort
Increasing your intake of fresh fruits and vegetables means you’re probably upping your intake of fiber. But go easy on the produce at first to give your digestive system time to adjust. If you’re significantly increasing the amount of fiber from veggies and beans, you can experience bowel changes, such as looser stools.Reduce your intake, and you should feel better within a couple days. On the flip side, if you’re not drinking enough water, all that fiber can make you constipated. “You need to drink at least 60 to 70 ounces of water.
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Sudden changes in fiber intake can lead to pooping problems. Eating better, but feeling worse? You’ve started to eat better. You’ve sworn off the fried food, cut your sugar intake, and substituted junk with healthier options.
Staci McIntosh notes that a lot of times our gut is populated with bacteria, and it gets specific to the types of foods that we're eating. If you've gone from a low-fiber diet to a pretty high-fiber diet without a transition period, and without enough water during that time, digestive issues can arise.
Cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and cauliflower are packed full of nutrients and lauded for their cancer-prevention properties. They currently come in more forms than ever-think of all the convenient bags of cauliflower rice or broccoli slaw at your grocery store. They’re also extremely gas-producing. “They can create cramps and bloating, so you might want to take it easy,” says Babb.
Brain Fog and Cravings
Some people experience brain fog when starting a new diet. Staci McIntosh suggests that this could be related to the specific dietary changes made, such as the introduction of non-nutritive sugar replacements like saccharin and aspartame.
Extreme cravings are also a common reaction, which Staci McIntosh attributes to human nature.
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Headaches and Withdrawal Symptoms
Headaches might be caused by getting rid of the bad stuff and you're actually going through withdrawals.
Overcompensation and Misleading Labels
You probably can’t eat your weight in blueberries. But you can sabotage your weight loss by consuming more calories from popular foods than you might realize. Classic examples are sautéing everything in coconut oil, dunking too many apple slices in almond butter, or downing a monster-sized smoothie. All of which are healthy options on their own, but in excess can really pack on the calories, fat, and sugar. And don’t get fooled by “gluten-free” or “dairy-free” labeling. A gluten-free cupcake is still a calorie bomb, even if it feels a little healthier. “Be aware of eating too many snack substitutes, which are still processed and often calorically dense,” says Babb. Watch out for these "healthy" foods that are bad for you:
Psychological Effects and Burnout
Trendy temporary diets that advise giving up whole food categories, such as dairy, carbs, sugar, alcohol, soy or legumes? You might lose a few pounds. You also might lose your perspective by embracing a rigid definition of healthy eating. “People get extreme and psychologically fearful of eating certain foods or mistrust the signals or cues their body is giving them,” says Babb. One miserable side effect is isolating yourself because you’re scared of being tempted by certain foods in social settings. Another is getting bored with what you're eating, which won't exactly incentivize you to keep your plan going. “Look for a food plan that will be sustainable past the month of January,” she says.
Perhaps you’ve chopped one too many red pepper. Or you just want a Sunday Fun Day that doesn’t include making a big pot of your healthy whatever for the week. Or you forget to put your lunchbox ice packs back in the freezer when you get home. It might all just feel like too much work-and so you order takeout to make your life easier. This happens to everyone, says Babb. That's why time management is so important. “You’ve got to build in time to plan and prep your meals,” says Babb. “Or you’ll be out and about and won’t be able to find something that’s compatible with your eating plan.
Disappointment and Unrealistic Goals
Goals are wonderful motivational tools. They’re also setups for feeling lousy if you make unrealistic ones, such as losing 10 pounds in two weeks or eating absolutely zero carbs. “You can be too fixated on those three numbers on the scale and lose sight of other health effects, such as having more energy or sleeping better,” says Babb. “That’s why I always have my patients answer ‘Why are you doing this?’ or ‘What do you want to gain from eating better?’” Perhaps the answer relates to setting an example for your family or feeling lighter in your body or feeling less achy.
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Refeeding Syndrome: A Serious Concern
Refeeding syndrome is a potentially fatal condition that can occur when malnourished individuals begin to eat again. It's caused by low stores of certain micronutrients in your body. Your stores are low when you have been malnourished. The most common nutrients involved are phosphorus, potassium and magnesium. When you begin refeeding, your cells demand these electrolytes to metabolize the food.
The electrolytes you have move rapidly from your blood into your cells. But because you don’t have enough, this shift leaves low levels of them in your blood. Low electrolyte levels in your blood are called “deficiencies”. They throw off your body’s chemistry. Electrolyte deficiencies cause the many various complications that can appear in refeeding syndrome.
Symptoms of Refeeding Syndrome
Refeeding syndrome can manifest in a variety of ways. The most common form is acute phosphate deficiency. But other deficiencies and imbalances may also contribute.
Phosphate deficiency: Phosphorus deficiency (hypophosphatemia) is the most common feature of refeeding syndrome. Phosphate deficiency affects cellular processes throughout your body. It may cause:
- Muscle weakness.
- Trouble breathing.
- Double vision.
- Swallowing problems.
- Seizures.
- Coma.
- Cardiomyopathy (heart weakness).
If you have severe symptoms, phosphate deficiency can cause organ failure, which can be fatal.
Magnesium deficiency: Magnesium is an important factor in metabolism. Magnesium deficiency (hypomagnesemia) affects every organ in your body.
Potassium deficiency: Mild potassium deficiency (hypokalemia) may not cause symptoms. But more severe deficiency may result in:
- Muscle weakness.
- Muscle cramps.
- Fatigue.
- Severe constipation due to paralyzed bowel movements.
- Arrhythmia.
- Respiratory failure.
Thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency: Thiamine deficiency is particularly triggered by refeeding with carbohydrates. It can result in severe neurological symptoms, including:
- Delirium.
- Vision problems.
- Hypothermia.
- Ataxia (balance and coordination problems).
- Amnesia.
- Confabulation (creating false memories).
Body-fluid disturbances: Metabolic changes can affect the balance of sodium and water in your body. In refeeding, this can lead to either fluid overload or dehydration. This can cause:
- Hypotension (low blood pressure).
- Muscle spasms.
- Pulmonary edema (fluid in your lungs).
- Kidney dysfunction.
- Congestive cardiac (heart) failure.
- Seizures.
Blood sugar problems: Reintroducing glucose during refeeding can lead to hyperglycemia (high blood sugar).
General Recommendations for a Healthy Diet
Consuming a healthy diet throughout life helps to prevent malnutrition in all its forms as well as a range of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and conditions. lifestyles have led to a shift in dietary patterns. People are now consuming more foods high in energy, fats, free sugars and salt/sodium, and many people do not eat enough fruit, vegetables and other dietary fibre such as whole grains.
The exact make-up of a diversified, balanced and healthy diet will vary depending on individual characteristics (e.g. age, gender, lifestyle and degree of physical activity), cultural context, locally available foods and dietary customs. the basic principles of what constitutes a healthy diet remain the same.
Dietary Guidelines for Adults
A healthy diet includes the following:
- Fruit, vegetables, legumes (e.g. lentils and beans), nuts and whole grains (e.g. unprocessed maize, millet, oats, wheat and brown rice).
- At least 400 g (i.e. energy intake for additional health benefits (7). Free sugars are all sugars added to foods or drinks by the manufacturer, cook or consumer, as well as sugars naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juices and fruit juice concentrates.
- Less than 30% of total energy intake from fats (1, 2, 3). wafers, and cooking oils and spreads) and ruminant trans-fats (found in meat and dairy foods from ruminant animals, such as cows, sheep, goats and camels). 10% of total energy intake and trans-fats to less than 1% of total energy intake (5). In particular, industrially-produced trans-fats are not part of a healthy diet and should be avoided (4, 6).
- Less than 5 g of salt (equivalent to about one teaspoon) per day (8). Salt should be iodized.
Dietary Guidelines for Infants and Young Children
In the first 2 years of a child’s life, optimal nutrition fosters healthy growth and improves cognitive development. It also reduces the risk of becoming overweight or obese and developing NCDs later in life.
Advice on a healthy diet for infants and children is similar to that for adults, but the following elements are also important:
- Infants should be breastfed exclusively during the first 6 months of life.
- Infants should be breastfed continuously until 2 years of age and beyond.
- From 6 months of age, breast milk should be complemented with a variety of adequate, safe and nutrient-dense foods. Salt and sugars should not be added to complementary foods.
Practical Tips for Maintaining a Healthy Diet
Fruit and vegetables: Eating at least 400 g, or five portions, of fruit and vegetables per day reduces the risk of NCDs (2) and helps to ensure an adequate daily intake of dietary fibre.
- Fruit and vegetable intake can be improved by:
- always including vegetables in meals;
- eating fresh fruit and raw vegetables as snacks;
- eating fresh fruit and vegetables that are in season; and
- eating a variety of fruit and vegetables.
- Fruit and vegetable intake can be improved by:
Fats: Reducing the amount of total fat intake to less than 30% of total energy intake helps to prevent unhealthy weight gain in the adult population (1, 2, 3). Also, the risk of developing NCDs is lowered by:
- reducing saturated fats to less than 10% of total energy intake;
- reducing trans-fats to less than 1% of total energy intake; and
- replacing both saturated fats and trans-fats with unsaturated fats (2, 3) - in particular, with polyunsaturated fats.
Fat intake, especially saturated fat and industrially-produced trans-fat intake, can be reduced by:
- steaming or boiling instead of frying when cooking;
- replacing butter, lard and ghee with oils rich in polyunsaturated fats, such as soybean, canola (rapeseed), corn, safflower and sunflower oils;
- eating reduced-fat dairy foods and lean meats, or trimming visible fat from meat; and
- limiting the consumption of baked and fried foods, and pre-packaged snacks and foods (e.g. doughnuts, cakes, pies, cookies, biscuits and wafers) that contain industrially-produced trans-fats.
Salt, sodium and potassium: Most people consume too much sodium through salt (corresponding to consuming an average of 9-12 g of salt per day) and not enough potassium (less than 3.5 g). blood pressure, which in turn increases the risk of heart disease and stroke (8, 11).
- Reducing salt intake to the recommended level of less than 5 g per day could prevent 1.7 million deaths each year (12).
People are often unaware of the amount of salt they consume. In many countries, most salt comes from processed foods (e.g. in large amounts (e.g. bread). Salt is also added to foods during cooking (e.g. bouillon, stock cubes, soy sauce and fish sauce) or at the point of consumption (e.g. table salt).
- Salt intake can be reduced by:
- limiting the amount of salt and high-sodium condiments (e.g. soy sauce, fish sauce and bouillon) when cooking and preparing foods;
- not having salt or high-sodium sauces on the table;
- limiting the consumption of salty snacks; and
- choosing products with lower sodium content.
Some food manufacturers are reformulating recipes to reduce the sodium content of their products, and people should be encouraged to check nutrition labels to see how much sodium is in a product before purchasing or consuming it.
Potassium can mitigate the negative effects of elevated sodium consumption on blood pressure. Intake of potassium can be increased by consuming fresh fruit and vegetables.
Sugars: In both adults and children, the intake of free sugars should be reduced to less than 10% of total energy intake (2, 7). A reduction to less than 5% of total energy intake would provide additional health benefits (7). Consuming free sugars increases the risk of dental caries (tooth decay). Excess calories from foods and drinks high in free sugars also contribute to unhealthy weight gain, which can lead to overweight and obesity. free sugars influence blood pressure and serum lipids, and suggests that a reduction in free sugars intake reduces risk factors for cardiovascular diseases (13).
- Sugars intake can be reduced by:
- limiting the consumption of foods and drinks containing high amounts of sugars, such as sugary snacks, candies and sugar-sweetened beverages (i.e. soft drinks, fruit or vegetable juices and drinks, liquid and powder concentrates, flavoured water, energy and sports drinks, ready‐to‐drink tea, ready‐to‐drink coffee and flavoured milk drinks); and
- eating fresh fruit and raw vegetables as snacks instead of sugary snacks.
- Sugars intake can be reduced by:
Promoting Healthy Diets: A Multifaceted Approach
Diet evolves over time, being influenced by many social and economic factors that interact in a complex manner to shape individual dietary patterns. healthy foods), individual preferences and beliefs, cultural traditions, and geographical and environmental aspects (including climate change). balanced and healthy diet - requires the involvement of multiple sectors and stakeholders, including government, and the public and private sectors.
Governments have a central role in creating a healthy food environment that enables people to adopt and maintain healthy dietary practices. Effective actions by policy-makers to create a healthy food environment include the following:
- Creating coherence in national policies and investment plans - including trade, food and agricultural policies - to promote a healthy diet and protect public health through:
- increasing incentives for producers and retailers to grow, use and sell fresh fruit and vegetables;
- reducing incentives for the food industry to continue or increase production of processed foods containing high levels of saturated fats, trans-fats, free sugars and salt/sodium;
- encouraging reformulation of food products to reduce the contents of saturated fats, trans-fats, free sugars and salt/sodium, with the goal of eliminating industrially-produced trans-fats;
- implementing the WHO recommendations on the marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages to children;
- establishing standards to foster healthy dietary practices through ensuring the availability of healthy, nutritious, safe and affordable foods in pre-schools, schools, other public institutions and the workplace;
- exploring regulatory and voluntary instruments (e.g. marketing regulations and nutrition labelling policies), and economic incentives or disincentives (e.g. the addition of front-of-pack labelling to facilitate consumer understanding; and
- providing nutrition and dietary counselling at primary health-care facilities.
- Promoting appropriate infant and young child feeding practices through:
- implementing the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes and subsequent relevant World Health Assembly resolutions;
- implementing policies and practices to promote protection of working mothers; and
- promoting, protecting and supporting breastfeeding in health services and the community, including through the Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative.
WHO's Response to Promote Healthy Diets
The “WHO Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health” (14) was adopted in 2004 by the Health Assembly. at global, regional and local levels to support healthy diets and physical activity.
In 2010, the Health Assembly endorsed a set of recommendations on the marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages to children (15). impact on children of the marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages to children. in children, the improvement of breastfeeding, and the reduction of anaemia and low birthweight (9).
In 2013, the Health Assembly agreed to nine global voluntary targets for the prevention and control of NCDs. These targets include a halt to the rise in diabetes and obesity, and a 30% relative reduction in the intake of salt by 2025. Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases 2013-2020” (10) provides guidance and policy options for Member States, WHO and other United Nations agencies to achieve the targets.
With many countries now seeing a rapid rise in obesity among infants and children, in May 2014 WHO set up the Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity. obesity in different contexts around the world (16). In November 2014, WHO organized, jointly with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2). for Action (18) which recommends a set of policy options and strategies to promote diversified, safe and healthy diets at all stages of life. WHO is helping countries to implement the commitments made at ICN2.
In May 2018, the Health Assembly approved the 13th General Programme of Work (GPW13), which will guide the work of WHO in 2019-2023 (19). the food supply are identified in GPW13 as part of WHO’s priority actions to achieve the aims of ensuring healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. trans-fats, WHO has developed a roadmap for countries (the REPLACE action package) to help accelerate actions (6).