Go ahead and file this one under horrifying-new-weight loss-trends:
The Tongue Patch Diet.
How does it work? Well, your friendly neighborhood plastic surgeon applies a postage stamp-sized piece of mesh to the surface of your tongue. The result? Eating becomes horribly painful, so you're forced to give up solid food and stick to a liquid diet.
The procedure is gaining popularity in appearance-obsessed countries like Venezuela, where "Time" reports one clinic performing 900 tongue patch procedures a month. There's only one clinic in the states that's doing it (in Los Angeles, naturally), and the doctor there says it's a "last resort" for patients who don't have the willpower to diet on their own.
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Sure, like most fad diets it may be initially effective, since not being able to eat will make anyone lose weight. But what about the long-term effects?
The patch is removed after 30 days (before it can become absorbed into your skin) and then you're back to relying on good old portion control. Or, the far more likely scenario: You'll start gorging on all the food you stared longingly at while you sipped juice for the past 30 days.
We're going to go out on a limb here and say the odds of gaining back some or all of the weight you'll lose due to a tongue patch are pretty high. And not just because there's nothing to stop you from eating once the patch has been removed. All-liquid diets can actually slow your metabolism and prompt your body to
store fat, which means there's a good chance you'll gain back even more weight when you start eating food again.
All that said, are you intrigued? Would you ever try The Tongue Patch Diet?
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