Tapeworm Diet
There are people who actually eat tapeworms just to lose weight. This is said to be an urban myth and had been around for almost a hundred years.
Tapeworms are parasitic flatworms with ribbon-like bodies, flows along your blood stream and lives in the intestines. These worms can infect humans, pigs, sheep, fishes, cows and dogs.
You will acquire a tapeworm in your body if you eat undercooked or raw meat from infected animals, also, when you drink contaminated water and eating the food prepared by those who are infected by the tapeworm.
Once acquired, the tapeworm will attach itself to the walls of your intestines and absorbs all the nutrients as it continues to grow and produce eggs which can be shed in the feces.
Some tapeworms can grow up to 15-30 feet and will live in the host’s body up to 20 years.
While the tapeworm and your body shares the food. The tapeworm helps trim down the amount of calories that you absorb but doesn’t reduce the calories that you eat.
If you decide to ingest a tapeworm, eat raw meat and foods containing tapeworm. There is also a tablet you can buy as they are advertised in some countries. This was last shown on the Tyra Banks Show in 2009, but they were not promoting the diet, only the opposite, showing the audience sizes of tapeworms and discussed about the worms while everyone at the show squirmed.
Consuming tapeworms is very dangerous and can cause undesirable side effects, including occasionally death. Reports noted that one tapeworm can’t absorb enough food and nutrients to make a big difference in weight. It will only cause you malnutrition and anemia. Symptoms like nausea, bloating, loss of appetite, vitamin deficiencies, weakness, diarrhea and malnutrition will occur when ingested a tapeworm. Serious complications may happen to individuals with tapeworms inside of them. To remove these parasites, a surgery may sometimes be needed to resolve the blockage in the intestines.
Despite the risks, people are still willing to ingest tapeworm for weight loss. These are still advertised this day, after 100 years of this myth. Sure, the tapeworms can actually help with losing weight but can that ever outweigh the list of negatives and disadvantages? No.
Some people don’t understand the danger and health risks just for weight loss. Consuming tapeworms to shed a few pounds should not be considered at all.
Related Pages
- Guide to Analyzing Diets
- Comparison of diets — a complete list
Any comments, suggestions, or corrections? Please let us know.
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