Extreme new diet comes to South Florida Thursday, June 07, 2012 By Laura Escamillo/Staff Reporter - Janelle Malagon Section Editor Advertising Many women seek perfection by going under the knife or committing to extreme diets. Ketogenic Enteral Nutrition (K-E Diet) has been introduced by Dr. Oliver Di Pietro of Bay Harbor Islands, Florida.  The diet promises the loss of an approximate 20 pounds in a period of ten days. Dr. Di Pietro charges $1,500 for the ten day treatment. The K-E Diet consists of having a feeding tube inserted through the patient’s nose to their stomach. They are constantly fed a slow drip of protein and fat mixed with water, a combination which contains zero carbohydrates and amounts to a daily total of 800 calories.  Dr. Di Pietro said in an interview to ABC news, “Within a few hours your hunger and appetite go away completely, so patients are actually not hungry at all for the whole 10 days. That’s what is so amazing about this diet.”  There is no hospitalization while on this diet, only occasional supervision by a doctor to make sure things are going as planned. The solution of food is carried around as a purse.  To seek the results they want, patients have to maintain the tube in their nose for exactly ten days. The most common side effects from this extreme diet are bad breath and constipation because there is no fiber going into the body.  Jessica Shnaider, a Miami business woman who has tried this diet, told ABC news that during those 10 days she felt very tired, not even being able to walk along the beach as recommended by the doctor, and that it was weird having to tell people she wasn’t sick. “I wasn’t putting myself at risk. I asked the doctor ‘Is there any kind of medicine or drug in the mixture?’ because I didn’t want that. And he said, ‘No, just protein powder,’ so I was fine. It made sense to me. Why can they say it’s crazy?” Shnaider said. Losing so much weight in so little time can be dangerous to one’s physical and mental health. Patients with kidney issues are warned off from taking this route to weight loss.  “If you lose the weight too quickly your mind is not going to be able to catch up with a newer, skinnier you,” Bethany Marshall, a psychoanalyst based in Beverly Hills, said.  The diet has said to been mostly used by soon-to-be brides that want to look perfect in their wedding gowns; women feel the need to be slim. Anad.org (Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders) states that one half of teenage girls and almost one third of teenage boys are using unhealthy weight control behaviors which consists of skipping meals, vomiting, laxatives, smoking and vomiting.  According to them, one percent of female adolescents have anorexia. “If you want to lose weight do it the healthy way. Go to the gym and watch what you eat. You shouldn’t risk your health to look a certain way,” Zamile Acosta, a senior, said. Adults warn against the dangers of trying to conform to an unrealistic image. “This diet is mindboggling. It’s a total nightmare,” Barbara Paulsen, Varela’s health teacher who has been a nurse for almost 40 years, said. “This diet is for people who have no self-esteem and have negative views of their personal image. It can be fatal to your health your body needs minerals and nutrients.”  When Paulsen was asked if this could influence students in Varela to pursue extreme weight loss she said, “In every class I’ve had I always speak about the dangers of bulimia, anorexia, extreme weight loss. Students are very educated when it comes to knowing the harms of these diets.”

Back to the articles list