Half Day Diet Review
Very Low Calorie Diets (VLCD) are a major culprit. A study Half Day Diet Review published in 'Medicine & Science in Exercise & Sport' monitored a number of female gymnasts and runners. The athletes who ate the fewest calories per day had the highest body fat percentages. Due to low calories the body had the ability to slow down its own metabolic rate to conserve energy. We have known for decades about this "Starvation Mode" but it doesn't seem to stop people from cutting calories to 'starvation' levels.
As a species mankind needs to be able to do this. Food supplies were not always constant. Certain foods were only available certain times of the year and other foods were only available when the opportunity arose (hunting). Our bodies have always known to adapt when food supplies were low and we are not a million years away from the times when this was a good thing.
The leading cause of death until the 20th Century was starvation. Mankind has been on this planet for about 5 million years, so the concept of dieting to look better is a pretty recent thing. It was about 3.2 million years ago that we eventually got ourselves upright. 'Lucy' was found in Ethiopa back in 1974.
