Shakespeare

Do you know anyone who had lost a large amount of weight in an extremely short period of time but gained it all back again? If you do, that person probably resorted to extreme dieting techniques. Extreme dieting can be defined as restricting calories or fundamental food groups in an unhealthy way. With the number of obese people in America growing, it is no wonder that more and more people are starting to diet in unsafe manners. A huge problem that arises is when teens start restricting their food and essential nutrients, which can be very harmful to their still-developing body. Not only is it detrimental to a teen's physical health, but to his or her mental health as well. When a teenager starts to diet in a hazardous manner, he or she brings a barrage of problems upon one's self. These problems can include but are not restricted to obesity, eating disorders, and nutritional deficiencies.

Some people may be surprised by the fact that dieting can actually cause obesity later in life. This seems like a paradox, but in reality it isn't. When someone diets, it slows down their metabolism. When this individual resorts to old eating habits, their metabolism doesn't have time to adjust, and the weight they lost is immediately returned. Dieting also lowers a person's blood sugar which can trigger depression. This depression, in turn, causes binge eating which can also result in weight gain. A Harvard Medical School study of 8,203 girls and 6,769 boys found that the adolescents who dieted frequently actually gained more weight each year than other children (Diet fact or fiction: Science World). Both the males and females suffered from the boomerang effect of dieting and gained an average of two pounds more than the non-dieters. They then determined that the weight gain was due to the fact that when teens diet, they are restricting themselves. When a person cuts down on calories, it becomes very hard for them to control