This may totally sound self-destructive but...

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squishyjenn
squishyjenn Posts: 245 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Since eating is supposed to be just to get nutrients and whatnot, is it possible to just eat multivitamins and drink water or something? I know you'd be missing out on sugar and carbs and fat and stuff but if you ate a small dose of those as well a day plus multivitamins wouldn't that be enough? Not saying I'm going to do this, just someone asked me this question and I thought I'd pose it to you guys.

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  • datagram40
    datagram40 Posts: 33 Member
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    Sounds like a bad idea. Anyone doing this I would expect to see them pass out. The body needs calories, etc for energy to burn. Can't run an engine without gas.
  • cabocobo
    cabocobo Posts: 15
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    "plz don't try this at home" warning is flashing
  • lordofultima
    lordofultima Posts: 293
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    You can supplement with vitamins and minerals all you want, but you still need calories to survive. Vitamins and Minerals are not calories, thus not food.
  • asamadani
    asamadani Posts: 1 Member
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    No. You are confusing vitamins with nutrients. Your body needs carbohydrates, fats and protein to function properly. Each plays its role. You need carbs for fuel, protein to maintain and support muscle and fats for a variety of reasons. There is literally no magic "pill". There's also a reason they call such things "supplements". They are just designed to fill gaps in your diet, not replace food.
  • suomaf
    suomaf Posts: 5 Member
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    I cannot be sure but I think you will need fiber in there somewhere. I am thinking as with all muscles if you do not use it, it will waste away and having the digestive system and intestines not working is not helpful.
  • soysos
    soysos Posts: 187 Member
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    even if you could, why the hell would you? it's the simple pleasures that make life worth living, and eating food is the most vital pleasure of them all.
  • stella77
    stella77 Posts: 282
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    Those multivitamins and supplements are now becoming questionable as well.
  • TateFTW
    TateFTW Posts: 658 Member
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    No. You are confusing vitamins with nutrients. Your body needs carbohydrates, fats and protein to function properly. Each plays its role. You need carbs for fuel, protein to maintain and support muscle and fats for a variety of reasons. There is literally no magic "pill". There's also a reason they call such things "supplements". They are just designed to fill gaps in your diet, not replace food.

    +1
  • elainegsd
    elainegsd Posts: 459 Member
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    In theory, you could do that, but you would have to eat something like 80 grams of pure protein, xx grams of pure fat, yy grams of pure carbs, etc.

    Since it is hard to defined the pure nutrients, we tend to eat them mixed up... Protein with a little fat, or whatever. If you think about it, isn't what you are describing exactly what so many of us are doing here? Cutting back to the basic nutrients in large enough quantities to keep us healthy and small enough quantities to lose weight?
  • goron59
    goron59 Posts: 890 Member
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    You might win a Darwin award if you tried.....
  • pkgirrl
    pkgirrl Posts: 587
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    .. off topic but,

    OMG have any of you guys read the Darwin Extinction Awards series? Goron's post reminded me, so freakin' hilarious!
  • ATT949
    ATT949 Posts: 1,245 Member
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    Those multivitamins and supplements are now becoming questionable as well.

    I live in Southern California, the epicenter of "woo" (supplements, metaphysical "stuff", and "alternative medicine"). I regularly run into people who tell me "Oh, I started taking xyz and I've never felt better." and I can see that they really do feel better.

    The sad part for me is that they pay lots and lots of money for many things that are no more effective than placebos and, as in the case of my wife, it kills them (acupuncture didn't do so good a job against stage IV breast cancer).

    If you're interested in a site that deals with woo from a medical perspective, you might want to check this site out:
    http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/
  • ATT949
    ATT949 Posts: 1,245 Member
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    Since eating is supposed to be just to get nutrients and whatnot, is it possible to just eat multivitamins and drink water or something? I know you'd be missing out on sugar and carbs and fat and stuff but if you ate a small dose of those as well a day plus multivitamins wouldn't that be enough? Not saying I'm going to do this, just someone asked me this question and I thought I'd pose it to you guys.
    Something like the "six pack of beer and a few multi-vitamins" diet? :smile:

    Like the good folks here on this forum will tell you, your body needs a variety of nutrients to lose weight consistently and to stay healthy. A "starvation diet" will work for a few days and then your body will defend itself by slowing down its metabolism.

    Another great thing about this site is that everyone here is on board with the idea that losing weight is a lifestyle change - you can "binge diet" but then you'll put the weight back on because you'll return to the eating habits that got us the extra weight in the first place.
  • GremlinJenny
    GremlinJenny Posts: 151
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    You might win a Darwin award if you tried.....

    hahahahaha!!!!

    it is not medically advised for the human body to receive less than 1200 cals a day. you need that minimum to sustain your voluntary and involuntary bodily functions. as someone so aptly pointed out, they're called "supplements", as in they supplement a regular diet of real food. the last thing you want is your body to attack itself, pulling from your bones and muscles to get the necessary nutrients that you're not feeding it. fats, sugars, sodium, carbs, protein, calcium, fiber.... the list goes on forever.

    not to mention that eating is really good for your teeth. the natural production of saliva during eating helps stave off lots of oral diseases. if you've ever gone a long period of time without eating, you'd notice that you get bad breath and you can start to actually feel plaque forming on your teeth almost instantly. ;)

    lastly, with the exception of prenatal vitamins, the vast majority of vitamins are not FDA regulated. they are approved for consumption, but not regulated so you really can't even be sure that you're getting ALL the vitamins that they're claiming. i take vitamins everyday, so i'm not saying don't take them. but they're most certainly not a replacement for food. =)
  • fizzyyumyum
    fizzyyumyum Posts: 19
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    not possible....i tried and ended up in hospital being force fed.....really not smart...the fact you even thought that isnt good :(
  • lessertess
    lessertess Posts: 855 Member
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    No. You are confusing vitamins with nutrients. Your body needs carbohydrates, fats and protein to function properly. Each plays its role. You need carbs for fuel, protein to maintain and support muscle and fats for a variety of reasons. There is literally no magic "pill". There's also a reason they call such things "supplements". They are just designed to fill gaps in your diet, not replace food.

    I agree. Additionally, there is increasing evidence that supplements can/are not absorbed and used by the body effectively and that you really need those supplements in conjunction with nutrients. As in, whole foods, not fortified foods or vitamens.

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