What is the snake diet?
There are lots of nutritional plans, each with its own purpose. A snake diet is a new nutrition trend that recently started to gain popularity among people who are trying to achieve their weight-loss goal. This eating pattern is somewhat similar to the intermittent fasting but is a bit harsher. Primarily, a snake juice diet consists of starvation that leads to rapid weight loss. This eating plan resembles that of a snake, which involves a long fasting period, followed by a 1-2 hour eating window. Many followers of this diet consider it to be an effective way to achieve the desired weight. However, such an approach to nutrition is not recommended by the specialists, as this diet might be harmful to your overall health. This article explains how the snake diet works, and what dangers and risks it entails.
How The Snake Diet Works?
Unlike intermittent fasting, this nutritional philosophy can be divided into three main phases:
Unlike intermittent fasting, this nutritional philosophy can be divided into three main phases:
The goal of the first phase of this plan is your body entering ketosis. Ketosis is a metabolic state, during which, the human body burns fat instead of glucose (blood sugar) to get energy. Ketosis can be reached with the help of lengthy fasting or a low-carb diet, like a keto diet.
In order to enter ketosis, you will need to start with an initial 48-hour fasting period (or even longer) that should be supplemented with a snake juice. Then, there is an eating window of 1-2 hours before the next fasting period. After this, a 72-hour fasting period starts that is targeted to detoxify the liver. However, liver and kidneys are considered to be natural detoxifiers that flush all harmful compounds through urine, sweat, and feces. Moreover, the study shows that detox diets are not effective in purging any contaminants from the body.
People who start this diet for the first time need around 3.500 calories per week while the USDA recommends around 16.800 calories for women and 21.000 calories for men per week. A drastic calorie restriction can lead to a variety of health problems, including reduced fertility and weaker bones.
Phase 2
The second phase involves cycling between periods of eating and fasting, the fasting period should last up to 48-96 hours broken with one big meal. This phase should be followed until the desired weight is reached. Once you achieve your weight loss goal, the recommended weekly calorie intake should be around 8.500 for active women and 20.000 for active men. These calories should be distributed across 5 meals within 3 eating days.
Phase 3
This phase involves 24-48-hour fasting cycles broken with one big meal. It’s recommended to measure ketones in the body to track the process and maintain ketosis.
Snake diet juice recipe
You are not allowed to consume any calories during the fasting period when following this diet. The only thing that is allowed during the “No food” period is snake juice. You will need 5 snake diet ingredients to prepare this juice:
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
Snake diet refeed
There are no specific rules on what you can or can’t eat during your eating window. Fasting, just like high-fat and low-carb diets, leads to a fat-burning state of ketosis. Following a keto diet can make fasting easier as fatty food gives the feeling of satiety. Fasting can help you enter ketosis faster. Followers of the diet are also encouraged to keep their meals simple and be consistent.
Snake diet tips
There are certain recommendations that can help improve the dieting process:
Join the snake diet motivation group to get support and share your accountability posts
Look through the before and after pics other people throughout the day
Take weekly pics of your front, back and side to see the weight loss results
Keep yourself busy
Weight yourself daily to get motivation
If the weight remains the same, eat less and fast longer
Use the keto sticks to measure ketones level in your body
Sleep at least 8 hours every night
If you successfully passed phase 1 and reached your target weight, you should:
Adopt a fasting lifestyle once you achieved your weight loss goal
Keep eating one meal per day
Do not get back to your old eating habits
Do regular workouts
Eat whole foods to provide your body with nourishment
Starvation and drastic calorie restriction result in weight loss as the body is forced to use its energy deposits. Usually, our body burns fat and lean muscles simultaneously to survive. However, a snake juice diet does not replenish the food your body needs, which leads to a rapid, unhealthy weight loss. On a fast, you generally lose about 2 pounds (0.9 kg) per day during the first week, then 0.7 pounds (0.3 kg) per day by the third week. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a safe weight loss range is about 1–2 pounds (0.5–0.9 kg) per week. Moreover, the study shows that following a healthy, well-balanced diet and regular physical activity are the most important determiners of health. A snake diet doesn’t help you develop healthy eating habits and may lead to weight gain after getting back to a regular diet plan. Furthermore, this diet can’t provide all essential minerals, vitamins, nutrients which makes it extremely dangerous. The study shows that long-term fasting may lead to severe health problems.
Benefits of the snake diet
Followers of this diet claim, that this eating approach can treat a number of diseases, including type 2 diabetes, herpes, inflammation, nevertheless, these claims are unsubstantiated. The prolonged fasting and inflammation and diabetes need further study, as for now, the results are mixed. A snake diet resembles intermittent fasting but in this case, it is much harder to comply with the body’s nutritional needs. It is still unclear whether this diet has any benefits except for the dangerous weight loss. Since the Snake Diet requires eating irregularly and the amount of food is very small, any limitations on water intake will increase the risk of dehydration and are utterly dangerous. The human body needs around 30 different vitamins and minerals, which can be obtained by consuming food. Such a lengthy fasting can cause electrolyte imbalances and nutritional deficiencies.
Cons of a snake diet
Although it may be effective if you need to lose a couple of pounds really fast, it has a lot of downsides, which may significantly harm your health and body. Here are the main ones:
It encourages unhealthy eating habits
It can lead to extreme nutrient deficiencies, dehydration, and eating disorder
It is exhaustive and very restrictive
It is unsustainable, as requires prolonged fasting
It fails to meet your nutritional needs
It can be harmful to your health as this diet is not backed by science
A fasting lifestyle can cause a number of unpleasant symptoms especially in the transition period when your body switches from sugar burning to fat-burning mode. Symptoms may vary from person to person as they depend on many factors, such as your metabolic flexibility, health status, and lifestyle. Here is the list of the most common side effects of fasting:
dizziness
headaches
low blood sugar
muscle aches
weakness
fatigue
You are most likely to experience side effects of fasting if you are new to this way of nutrition. It’s better to limit your consumption of carbs and processed foods to reduce the possible side effects. However, if you already stick to a low carb diet, then you probably won’t experience any side effects. To obtain the best weight loss results, it’s important to stick to the fasting consistently and follow a healthy eating plan in order to reduce possible negative consequences.
Conclusion
Among all the existing diets, the snake diet catches the eye due to its nutrition philosophy and promised results. There are a lot of followers and defenders of this eating approach, however, be aware that this diet has not been tested and is scientifically suspect. Moreover, it bears a lot of risks and may significantly affect your health in a negative way. Reaching your target weight requires more than just a diet. To shed pounds in a healthy way and achieve that dream body, you need to change your eating habits, stick to a regular exercising routine, and, most importantly, stay healthy.
DISCLAIMER:
This article is intended for general informational purposes only and does not address individual circumstances. It is not a substitute for professional advice or help and should not be relied on to make decisions of any kind. A licensed physician should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any medical conditions. Any action you take upon the information presented in this article is strictly at your own risk and responsibility!
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