80% of ten-year-old girls have been on a diet. They live from the example of magazines, mentors, and mothers, They hear words like vegan and paleo coming out of the mouths of the women the look up to, and they follow in their footsteps. But children's bodies are different than adults. Do these diets that restrict food groups cause harm to the bodies of younger women. I put my body to the test. Being 17 at the time of the experiment, my hormones are unbalanced, my brain is still developing, and I am more active than most adults, making me need more calories. Beyond that, I have POTs syndrome, a disorder that's symptoms are made worse by poor nutrition. While it may take others a few months to show malnutrition, it can take me only a few days to show results. This made me a great guinea pig for my own experiment. Is it okay for teenage girls to cut out entire food groups, just for the sake of being skinny?
The Outline
My parents, teachers, and doctors created one rule for me while undergoing my experiment; if I have multiple seizures directly linked to this experiment, I am done with the diet. I thought it was reasonable. Using a template given to me by my nutritionist, Dr. Ty Doty, I created a two week off, two week on system. I would spend two weeks on one of for diets, then two weeks eating normally, then move on to the next diet for two weeks. But first, I started with a baseline.
The Baseline
I used the FDA recommended diet for my baseline. It's a balanced diet that includes all food groups while minimizing sugar intake. Because of the precision needed for this diet to be functional, I found myself eating the same foods over and over again. It was then that I realized that this experiment would be harder than I thought. I was already tired of dieting and, technically, I hadn't even started yet. But once I finished the diet, I looked at my recorded parameters: how much energy I had, if my sleep was disturbed, was I in control of my emotions, etc. In totally, I had ten different health parameters that research shows are directly linked to health and nutrition. After my baseline diet, the numbers showed that I was healthier and I could feel it too. Maybe that's why I was taken aback by the results of my first diet.
Gluten-free
Disclaimer: if you have celiac disease, please do not stop living gluten-free just because of my results. This part of the experiment takes into context a body that can process wheat. For those who don't know, the gluten-free diet cuts out gluten, a by-product of wheat. That means that most processed grains are out. In the end, I classified the food group cut out as starchy carbs. I thought this diet might be good for me and make me eats less processed foods. I was very, very wrong. By the eighth day, I was in bed and not getting out because I was so lethargic. I had lost tons of weight, which was technically the design of the diet, but it was because I was having so many seizures I was dangerous to move. My doctor pulled me off the diet. I went to my nutritionist and asked him why I had a reaction to a diet that I assumed would be rather harmless. He explained to me that because I was so focused on, "I can't eat that," I wasn't focused on what I was eating. My diet of the foods I could eat without worry, like rice, potatoes, vegetables, and meats, was highly unbalanced towards meats. I was not getting enough carbs, leading to my constant tiredness and lack of focus in class, as well as my seizures. This was only made worse by my age. Teens burn more energy and therefore need more energy in the form of healthy carbs. I was starving my body of the energy I needed.
Vegetarian
After doing my research on vegetarianism, or not eating meat, I decided to dissect my experiment into two parts. The first week, I would eat eggs, and the second I would not. This is due to the division within the vegetarian community on whether or not eating eggs is ethical. The first week, I realized that cookies were vegetarian. I did not miss meat at all because I was too busy eating cookies. Overall, I still felt fine though. The second week, cookies were not allowed because they have eggs in them. I still felt fine throughout the week and went to my nutritionist thinking that he would actually approve. I was wrong. He expressed his shock that I hadn't had a seizure almost the minute I walked into his office. I was anemic and immediately placed on iron. While I had exhibited some symptoms of anemia during the two weeks, I hadn't caught it. It was subtle, and while I thought I was healthy, my body was telling a different story. Not only that, but I was not getting near enough protein. This is especially bad for teens because our brains are still developing, as well as our muscles and bones. We need that protein to grow.
Paleo
The Paleo diet is known as "the Caveman" diet. The goal is to not eat any processed food. Only meat, fruit, vegetables, nuts, and legumes. I was concerned about my carb intake, after the disaster that was going gluten-free. But my fears were useless. Because of my high vegetable and fruit intake, I had a well-balanced amount of healthy carbs in my diet. In fact, this was the most balanced diet I had. I felt great and had energy. All my research was showing that this was good for me. But mentally, I was drained. While my friends were eating freely and making cookies, I was sitting in the corner with grapes. I stopped eating in the cafeteria and became crabby whenever I saw people around me enjoying what I couldn't have. All I could think was, "I am at the best possible time to be able to enjoy food, but I'm stuck with so little options." It made me think of the 14, 12, and 10 years old who were restricting themselves this must. What could possibly be appealing about this to a little girl? While my nutritionist approved the diet, I couldn't help but wonder what teenager has the self-control to keep to it.
Vegan
I thought originally that Veganism would be Vegetarianism, but a little worse. So I did my research on the reasons why people would be Vegan, and in the end, I was a little excited for my last diet. I cut out all animal products. At first, I felt great, but pretty soon my seizures started to worsen. On the eleventh day, after five days of trying to push through, I was pulled off the diet. My nutritionist explained that the lack of protein I had when vegetarian was laughable compared to this. My brain was no longer functioning appropriately. I saw that these diets can have long-term effects when the seizures didn't stop after I stopped the diet. The seizures I had due to Veganism triggered a relapse of my POTs. I had difficulties for a month after.
Conclusion
When I had finished all my diets, I collected the data and compared. In the end, best diet for me was the FDA baseline. What I was shocked by was even though I ate the most calories on that diet, I lost the most weight and had the best muscle tone after. Balance was key. When I presented my findings to my nutritionist, he said this was great for me. The research I did was great for my specific body, but I couldn't speak alone for every teen in the world. If there were a hundred kids doing this experiment, that would be mass results. But through this experiment, I found out how my eating affects my body. I know that I do better the most vegetables I eat and that I do better getting my protein from meat rather than legumes. So I challenge everyone, adult or child, to do what I have done to an extent. How does your body thrive? Are you sluggish after lunch when you have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Or do you thrive after frequent but small meals? The way I ate affected nearly every aspect of my life, how is it affecting yours?