What Are the Causes of Crash Diets?

Crash dieting is a restrictive way of eating that is usually done in an effort to lose weight quickly. Some crash diets require starvation and may be paired with extreme amounts of exercise, weight loss supplements or purging. Though most people understand the results of crash dieting to be temporary, they still turn to this extreme form of dieting as a solution to their health problems, body image struggles or weight challenges. Examples of drastic crash diets include the alcohol diet, the graham cracker diet, the tapeworm diet and "Fletcherizing," which is a chewing diet.

Special Events

One of the main causes of crash dieting is an upcoming special event. When an event requires you to dress in formal clothing and people will be looking at you, there is motivation to look your best, which usually equates to dropping a few pounds. If you procrastinate too long, drastic measures will be your only option. Events like school dances or the prom, weddings or school reunions are the most popular special events causing a person to crash diet.

Eating Disorders

Crash dieting is one of the signs of an eating disorder. Those suffering from anorexia-nervosa will crash diet nearly all the time. Severely restricting calories is the main component of anorexia. Bulimics, known for binging on massive amounts of food and vomiting or taking laxatives to purge, use crash dieting to control their food intake. Their purges may last for days, but ultimately result in binging on thousands of calories at one time. The binging and purging develops into a cycle of crash dieting.

After the Holidays

Though crash dieting after the holidays or the start of a new year is not a disease like bulimia, it shares some of the same motivation. People have a tendency to indulge in food during the holiday season. They eat more calories than normally, and the food is often rich and filled with empty calories. The start of a new year gives them a feeling of a fresh start, and their reaction to the binging of the holidays may be to drastically restrict calories. A crash diet like this is often an effective way to start a weight loss plan, and some people consider this kind of crash diet a fast or cleansing. The diet may include supplements or cleansing products like lemonade or tea to create a feeling of detoxification.

Illness

People suffering from an illness may find themselves crash dieting as a result of their condition. Prior to surgery or medical procedures like colonoscopies, patients are required to cleanse their digestive system and fast for 12 hours. Determining if you are suffering from a food allergy might require a crash diet to eliminate possible trigger foods. Eliminating foods like gluten and dairy from your diet enables you to slowly add certain foods back into your system, and determine which foods trigger allergic reactions. Though this is not a crash diet to lose weight, it does restrict calories and will create a temporary nutrition imbalance until the overall problem is remedied.