Weight loss
Alternate day fasting may lead to successful weight loss. Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay

The snake diet is an extreme fasting plan that is currently gaining popularity among people who are trying to lose weight. It’s has been debated against by several health professionals. Here’s everything you need to know about the dangerous new weight loss diet:

The controversial diet was designed by a trainer named Cole Robinson (who doesn’t have any qualifications or backgrounds in the field of medicine, biology, or nutrition) who lives the way a snake does. It is designed to mimic the way wild animals like snakes eat. The overall plan is to eat only one large meal and then fast for the remaining of the day, or even for a few days altogether. And throughout the fasting times, you are allowed to drink only the ‘snake juice’ which is made using water, sea salt, sulfate salts, baking soda, and potassium chloride. The creator of this diet who made this drink opines that it will help replenish the electrolytes in the body.

The advantages of the snake diet according to its creator are:

  • It encourages proactive eating and has quite tight feeding windows. Such a diet can help cure type 2 diabetes and inflammation.
  • Your body gets into a metabolic state of ketosis where your body consumes fat instead of glucose as its main energy source.
  • It can help you lose weight just the way other restrictive diets do.

And here’s what experts opine:

  • Your body requires regular food intake to meets its nutrient and energy needs. And prolonged fasting makes you miss out on essential nutrients like protein, fat, minerals and vitamins which come from food sources.
  • Endangering your health in this way can put you at a higher risk of several diseases.
  • The snake diet can result in dangerous weight loss since it does not replenish any loss of fat or muscle mass with food.
  • A well-balanced diet and adequate physical activity are important determiners of health.
  • The diet does very little to promote healthy eating or help change unhealthy behaviors that might have caused unwanted weight gain.
  • Studies have not proved the effectiveness of the diet. One study, in particular, noted no improved mood, blood sugar regulation or reduced blood pressure.