West Long Branch, N.J. (The Verge) It hasn’t even been a week since Good Morning America ran a segment about the quick-fix K-E Diet and already it’s causing controversy. The K-E diet promises extreme dieters extreme results in a short amount of time. It can help patients lose up to 20 pounds in just 10 days but there is a catch: for all 10 days, the dieter has a feeding tube inserted through the nose that connects to the stomach.
The dieter is not allowed to eat any solid food but are never hungry thanks to a constant flow of ‘food’. This mixture consists of fat, protein, and water which adds up to only 800 calories per day. Although the feeling of being hungry disappears during the 10 day diet, the desire may still be there. Junior Emily Blanchette told us, “the idea of not getting hungry, chewing food, and becoming full goes against everything I’ve ever known.”
Not only is this diet is extreme, risky, and just plain crazy, but it’s expensive too. Patients are monitored during the entire experience by their doctor and can pay up to $1500 for the entire process. Lucky the cost may discourage extreme dieters and those with eating disorders at bay, there are people who may still be intrigued.
With the pressure of wedding and prom season around the corner, many women and men may think that this is their quick fix but it is not. The risk factor is high and can result in permenant damage to the body. According to Livestrong, losing weight at a rapid rate can cause heart complications, a weakened immune system, weakened short-term memory loss, as well as poor academic performance, just to name a few.
Although some dieters may feel like this is the right choice for them, Blanchette feels differently, “It’s just an expensive crash diet. I mean, it may work, but won’t the person just gain back the weight just as quickly as they lost it?”
Consider it just some food for thought.
