Monthly Archives: April 2018

Blog Post 1

http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/five-bite-diet-work-9698.html

 

Perhaps one of the most bizarre diets in theory has been announced and has risen with popularity within the last year. The Five Bites diet, consisting of a meal plan where there is not breakfast and one can only eat five bites of whatever food he or she desires has gotten too much attention from young women in particular. Allowing for any food to be eaten with as big of a bite as needed, this diet still can only consist of nearly 800 calories a day. However, there are much more negative effects to this style of heating than the positives of losing weight. The San Francisco Gate, an online news source based in the Bay Area, reports on this fad diet.

To give some more details, a day in the life of a Five Bite user consists of only 10 bites of food. Breakfast is skipped, which should be the first concern as breakfast has been proven to increase likelihoods of academic achievement as well as help promote cognitive and behavioral development. Thus, diet followers are left with 10 bites to divide between lunch and dinner. There are no limitations on the foods used for the precious bites so long as it includes protein and users remember to take a multivitamin everyday. The appeal of this diet stems from the simplicity of the rules and the ability to continue eating unhealthy foods. The dangers of this fad diet lie in the lack of healthy nutrients based on the limiting intake of healthy foods and the low calorie count.

The online source for the San Francisco Chronicle appears valid in it’s claim that the Five Bite Diet should not be encouraged simply because it will not work. Writer Jessica Brusso highlights the difficulties associated with this plan such as lack of nutrients and proteins going into the body on a daily basis, as well as there not being enough food to curb hunger  causing the person to quit quickly. She also provides a healthier alternative to the diet of the USDA’s MyPlate Program. While she doesn’t provide links within the article to other sources, she includes citations at the bottom of the article and provides names and websites she references. Ultimately, Jessica Brusso successfully denies this unhealthy diet and provides a healthy alternative for readers.

 

Question:

Due to the lack of food intake on a daily basis, is it safe to classify this diet as a form of anorexia, or it causing anorexia?