What do you think about extreme diets, like the popular 'chicken breast and ramen seasoning' trend? Would you recommend it?
To put it simply, while you might see immediate changes on the scale, I do not recommend it long-term. Forced fasting disrupts your metabolic balance, making your body highly susceptible to the yo-yo effect. The key is not starving yourself, but creating a body that can efficiently burn energy.
I have actually tried starving myself or sticking to a single food item in the past. I remember feeling dizzy and completely drained of energy. I thought it would lead to fast results, but all I was left with was intense hunger and lethargy.
Of course, these extreme diets have one clear advantage: by forcibly reducing calories, the number on the scale drops rapidly at first. That quick sense of achievement is the only real appeal.
However, the subsequent drawbacks are severe. Beyond the obvious nutritional imbalances, the body perceives this as an 'emergency state' and begins to conserve energy to survive. In Traditional Korean Medicine, this often leads to Spleen Deficiency (脾虛), where the digestive and absorptive functions weaken, causing your basal metabolic rate to plummet. Eventually, this transforms your body into a constitution that gains weight even after eating very little.
From a TKM perspective, excessive fasting allows 'Dam-eum' (痰飮, the accumulation of metabolic waste) and 'Eo-hyeol' (瘀血, blood stasis) to build up. It is as if the fire of your metabolism has been extinguished, leaving the 'trash' in your body with no way to be burned off.
Ultimately, the best method depends on your current physiological state. Rather than simply eating less, the answer to sustainable weight loss lies in clearing blocked energy (Qi) and normalizing your metabolism. If you are struggling, please feel free to visit the clinic so we can find a tailored approach together.
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