Dump Dieting for Your Brain’s Sake

One of my main concerns with any type of dieting involves the potential negative impact on the brain down the line—because everything starts in the brain and it can be relatively easily damaged. Here are two potential problems.

 Weight-loss diets can impact the brain negatively (e.g., disrupt synthesis of neurotransmitters, alter brain chemistry, decrease intelligence, trigger mental processing problems). Avoid all crash diets (e.g., less than 1000 calories per day) or rapid weight-loss diets. You can shed smarts as well as pounds if you’re not careful. (Maggie Greenwood-Robinson PhD. 20/20 Thinking.)

Dieting starves the brain of serotonin. This can trigger a cycle of dieting and bingeing—as there isn’t enough serotonin to signal satisfaction. (Faith Hickman Brynie. 101 Questions Your Brain Has Asked About Itself But Couldn’t Answer, Until Now.)