by MATTHEW SMITH Staff Writer
Jessica Schnaider, a 41-year-old Florida resident is bringing attention to the new Ketogenic Enteral Nutrition (KEN) Diet. The extreme plan is a prime example of the drastic measures women are taking to lose weight. Invented by Gianfranco Cappello in Italy, the diet uses a tube inserted into the nose that goes down to the stomach, giving the dieter 130 calories of nutrients a day, a dangerously low amount for a typical diet. The tube diet sends the user into starvation mode, forcing the body to rely on its stores of fat for energy. Claimed to get rid of 10 percent of body fat per day, for 10 days. However, the diet is not high in protein and can cause kidney problems, and those with kidney problems are not recommended to take it. The KEN diet requires users to spend 23 hours a day (one off for a shower) with a tube attached to the nose, and carry the liquid and electric pump at all times. The diet has side effects including constipation from a lack of fiber, bad breath, and exhaustion. If the tube becomes dislodged, there is a chance the liquid food can go into the lungs. Most diets involve hard work with exercise and diet management, allowing a person to slowly and healthily lose pounds, a healthy amount being 1-2 lbs. per week. This diet, however, has a much more rapid weight loss, which can be dangerous. Good diets require education on portion control and eating healthy, but the KEN diet just siphons off all the fat, leaving one very susceptible to gaining it all back without proper education. Someone with an eating problem or disorder will gain most, if not all of his/her fat back after the 10 day diet. Experts warn it may even cause anorexia in those prone to it. The diet is an easy, and dangerous, way out, as opposed to hard work through dieting and exercise. Moreover, the KEN diet denies the user that vital education to keep their weight in check. “In today’s day and age, people will try anything to lose weight, no matter how dangerous. Once you start to eat normal foods again your body will just return to your original weight or you might even gain more lbs. This diet should be considered a type of anorexia. If people want to lose weight and keep it off in an effective manner then they should eat a well balanced diet and exercise on a daily basis,” says senior Felicia Davino. As one can see, the cons clearly outweigh the pros, and though you will lose a large amount of weight, something so unnatural cannot be good for the body, as a healthy weight loss is 1-2 lbs. per week. “People are being lazy. Why not just work out and do a simple diet rather than just not eating?” says sophomore Gerardo Sanchez.
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