If you have been on a weight loss mission for a while, then in all probability you'd have come across terms such as Paleo, keto and raw-food movement. Now it's time to add The Snake Diet to that long list of fitness fads.
Cole Robinson of Alberta claims to be the founder of The Snake Diet, and he believes the key to losing weight is the way we consume food.
The Snake Diet follows a three-step program where the first phase involves clearing the liver of toxins. In the second phase, you follow a flexible fasting routine. "Fasting is a highly personal undertaking that you can be coached through and with experience your body will crave to live," claims Robinson on his website.
The final stage is maintenance, which involves listening to your body's natural hunger cues in a bid to maintain the weight loss.
Basically, the diet works in the way snakes consumes their food-- eat a huge meal and then live off it as long as you can.
What prompted Robinson to come up with The Snake Diet is his frustration at fitness coaches and trainers doling out advice to clients without properly understanding how food is converted into fuel.
Besides helping lose weight, Robinson also claims that The Snake Diet helps cure type 2 diabetes, herpes and inflammation.
Is The Snake Diet Safe?
The Snake Diet community is Over 170,000 members strong and it has a number of glowing reviews on its official page. But is The Snake Diet really safe? No, says Mumbai-based nutritionist Raheela Hasan.
“This diet is not good for your body for many reasons. It requires long periods of fasting, eating just one meal that makes you feel lighter, but it is not a sustainable option,” she told HT.
Like with most other diets, you'll end up regaining the lost weight once you stop fasting. “This diet is dangerous because it can lead to loss of nutrients and will adversely affect your metabolism. Eating just one meal a day is not practical. If you starve, the body starts storing fats when there is no other source of energy,” added Hasan.
Julie Upton, co-founder of Appetite for Health, concurs. “I would not recommend it to anyone for even a short-term trial, as it is not based on any clear evidence nor does it have any clinical evidence that is peer-reviewed to support the program,” Upton told Women's Health, adding that it would be impossible to follow the diet for a significant amount of time.
