What is Snake Diet, and Is It Safe?

Snake diet, which has gained popularity in recent times, is not simply a diet that restricts certain foods or calories but a lifestyle that involves long hours of fasting.

Snake diet for primarily invented by Cole Robinson, who is not certified in any nutrition-related field but is known as a coach.

The inspiration for this diet is derived from a snake, which eats one giant meal rich in protein and does not eat for the next 22 hours.

Also, it is based on the fact that humans have survived famines where they suffered from lack of food and yet sustained by consuming just one meal a few times a week.

This diet starts by fasting for 48 hours, followed by a small eating window of 1-2 hours, and then again the fasting period begins.

The fasting window is to be used to clear the body of sugar and any toxins and turn up the metabolic rate.

During the fasting period, the body is kept hydrated by electrolyte beverages such as Snake Juice and water.

According to Healthline, Robinson claims that once you have reached your goal weight, you can keep cycling in and out of fasts, surviving one meal every 24-48 hours.

You get all your macros while fasting for as long as possible.These claims are hypothetical and have not been backed by any scientific proof.

How To Follow The Snake Diet?

As claimed by Robinson, Snake Diet is neither like the ketogenic diet that focuses on eating high fat foods nor intermittent fasting which allows a big eating window, in which, there are chances of consuming too many carbs.

There are several rules which are displayed on his website and also discussed through his youtube channel.

You have to consume Snake Juice as a part of this diet, during fasting window. This juice can be bought from his website or made at home (around $39.99 on amazon). Its contents are-

– 2 litres (8 cups) of water

– 1/2 teaspoon (2g) of Himalyan pink salt

– 1 teaspoon of salt-free potassium chloride

– 1/2 teaspoon (2g) of food-grade Epsom salt

Proper amount of dosage is not given.

The 1600 to 1800 calories for women and 2000 to 3000 for men are recommended per day which means 11000 to15000 for women and 14000 to 21000 for men per week.

But according to this diet, for a beginner, 3500 calories per week are sufficient. The body is deprived of enough calories and hence energy required for day to day activities.

After reaching the goal weight, calories are progressively increased for both men and women.

Ketosis is the metabolic stage achieved when body has been in starved state for a pronlonged period of time and glucose levels drop down, so, the body uses fat for energy instead of glucose.

This is why during this diet, measuring of ketones through urine strip is recommended.

Snake diet comprises of 3 phases to lower the weight of your body to a great extent but in a dangerous way. These phases include-

Phase 1

This phase is for beginners in which the body learns to adapt to the new diet and use ketosis as a method for energy.

Diet starts with initial 48 hours of the fasting period. In that phase, the body is supplemented by water, Snake Juice in a certain amount, apple-cider vinegar, and lemon juice.

Followed by this, is the eating window which lasts for 1-2 hours. There are no specific details on the constituents of the diet. It is meant to be a giant meal with sufficient macros.

After this, come the long hours of fasting period (72 hours), during which you are not allowed to eat and you can consume only the supplements suggested.

This period is required for the detoxification of the liver. Toxins will be excreted out of the body naturally.

As a matter of fact, he suggests going fasting for a longer period of time if you are not losing weight.

As per research detox, diets do have some benefits but this is not a good idea because the body needs energy for working.

Phase 2

Phase 2 requires you to fast for as long as your body does not give in until it is broken by intake of a single meal and then again the window starts.

This cycling between such long term diets will make you lose weight but also cause weakness.

This cycle is to be followed until you reach your goal weight.

Phase 3

Phase 3 involves fasting periods lasting for 24-48 hours, broken by single meals within the eating window.

Here the method changes from ignoring cravings and hunger need to meeting the natural hunger needs and wants of the body.

Since both body and mind get adapted to the earlier described method of not responding to the hunger cues of the body, this requires a bit more effort.

There are two hormones in your body known as leptin and ghrelin and centers in the brain, responsible for hunger and fullness that may be altered to a certain level due to long periods of not eating.

Can It Help You Lose Weight?

Yes, your body drastically loses weight in a short amount of time because the required nourishment is not given to it. So, your body starts to lose not only fat but also muscle mass required for strength.

It starts to become dull and weak. Nutrients for cells are not fulfilled. This method indeed leads to the loss of weight but is a dangerous way to get rid of unwanted body fat.

Moreover, once the body adapts itself to a certain amount of calories, they need to be decreased further.

In the initial two weeks, around 2 lbs is lost per week and from the third week onwards around 0.7 lb is lost.

The key to a healthy weight loss is following proper balanced diet along with some sort of physical workout and a positive mindset.

This is clearly not depicted by the methods of this diet. It does not help in getting rid of the bad habits that mostly lead to weight gain.

Plus, it makes your body so weak that you are hardly capable of physical activity anymore. Not just this, even the brain functioning starts to lose efficiency as well.

This idea of prolonged fasting until starvation puts the body at a risk of various health issues because the cells are deprived of essential nutrients required for functioning.

Immunity also weakens due to this. You do not need to drop down to such ridiculous levels for losing weight.

Does the Snake Diet Have Any Benefits?

Even though weight loss reduces the risk of many problems, Robinson states that it helps cure diabetes type 2, herpes, inflammation, and even cancer. These statements do not have any scientific evidence to prove that they are true.

There are varied views regarding the effect of fasting and starvation on inflammation and diabetes.

Studies have been conducted in adults that fasting over a period of 4 to 21 days with only 250 calories allowed per day.

Results conclude that there has been an effect on blood sugar level, blood pressure, and improved mood. Detoxification of the liver and kidney also occurs to a small extent.

Superficially, Snake Diet may seem like intermittent fasting but it is not. It has much-shorted duration of eating window and insanely long periods of fasting while intermittent fasting at least allows you to have a proper breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Downsides of Snake Diet

This diet’s adds a number of health issues to the body and has disadvantages-

1. Promotes Unhealthy Relationship With Food

Snake diet and its creator, Robinson, promote starvation and deprivation of the body from the calories required. This influences your mind to avoid nourishment and to starve yourself until the body gives in.

People and especially the ones already suffering from problems may be pushing themselves to another level to reduce weight while posing more threats to health.

2. Very Restrictive

Distribution of macros and proper nutrients throughout the meals of the day is very crucial to meet the body’s requirement for nourishment.

There is no mention of proper guidelines related to food under this diet. Rather, by cutting down foods and calories to a great extent, the question arises, how to meet the needs of the body?

Robinson also discusses occasional dry diets, which means no liquid and food for a certain period of time, not even water is allowed. This restricts so much in your diet and can lead to dehydration.

Restraining up to this extent in a diet,which is natural and healthy for the body, can have so many consequences.

3. Unsustainable

Any diet which tells you to completely cut off a particular type of food or scale down too many amounts of calories is certainly not sustainable.

Your body cannot survive in a limited range of foods because every element of a natural diet is meant for some function in your body.

Same way, the body cannot survive in starvation all along and at some point, you have to come back on the normal track.

4 .May be Dangerous

Robinson is no nutrition expert and his theories and methods do not stand upon any scientific base.

The Snake Juice he suggests is not a proper supplement because does not fulfill the vitamins and micronutrient requirement of the body.

Such diets can cause imbalances in the body related to electrolytes and digestive problems.

These can cause diseases related to major organs of the body. Brain efficiency decreases. The body starts showing fatigue and you will become lethargic.

Conclusion

No doubt such diets cause weight loss very quickly. But this is accompanied by lots of consequences. Pushing yourself to insane levels to attain a certain body type is not a good idea.

Body positivity should be promoted.

Some people do practice Snake Diet but awareness should be spread regarding it because it is certainly not something that would promote a healthy lifestyle but the opposite.

Instead, you must try and change eating habits and start doing physical activity to burn calories. There are more a number of ways to get rid of unwanted fat in a healthier way.

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