Over the years, people have tried some crazy (and dangerous) things in the name of weight loss. Cotton ball diet are just one of the latest.
In the cotton ball diet, those in search of a smaller waistline eat cotton balls soaked in juice to curb their appetite and dramatically cut their daily calorie intake. But eating cotton balls isn’t just unappetizing. It’s potentially deadly.
Eating cotton balls — or any non-food item — in an effort to lose weight isn’t a diet. It’s disordered eating. And like eating disorders such as bulimia, anorexia, and bingeing, the cotton ball diet comes with serious potential health risks.
Eating disorders typically stem from body dissatisfaction. Nearly half of people treated for eating disorders are also living with mood disorders such as depression,
So how are models sustaining an energy level if they’re simply eating cotton balls dipped in orange juice?
My best guess is that they’re sustaining on caffeine and/or other supplements, but I can’t imagine they can sustain very long. Your blood pressure is so low and out of whack when you’re not eating, so they probably eat a few cotton balls and the orange juice spikes their energy, and then they’ll crash. They can’t be eating more than 500-800 calories a day on a diet like this.
What are some of the possible side effects from a cotton ball diet?
Well, there’s got to be malnutrition going on, and it’s likely that if they keep a diet like this up, their bodies will go into starvation mode, meaning their metabolism will slow down and their body will process any fat and protein available, which leads to becoming dangerously skinny.
Plus, because cotton is not meant to be digested, it could be harmful to their oesophagus and intestinal tract. There’s likely to be constipation, which they might be combating with laxatives. I would absolutely not recommend cotton ball diet to anyone.