This content has been Fact-Checked by a Certified Nutritionist in our Publishing Team. Learn more here. Always consult a medical professional before commencing any diet.
Snake diet, at first sight, might seem the diet plan everyone was looking for;
It offers quick and drastic weight loss, has specific fasting phases, specially-made slimming juice, and many success stories of people who tried it.
However, like any other diet program that involves intermittent fasting, there is a lot of mistrust connected with the Snake diet’s sustainability and safety.
A starvation-based program, like the Snake diet, can cause various health complications if not applied correctly.
Read on if you are curious about the real and long-term effects of this diet.
In this review, we offer you our impartial and honest evaluation of both pros and cons. We also investigate the adverse side effects of the snake diet.
What is the Snake Diet?
Snake diet is said to be a fasting lifestyle that has a proactive eating routine.
It was introduced by Cole Robinson, who, despite not having any related qualifications, calls himself a fasting coach.
According to him, not a very long time ago people were dealing with food scarcity. And now, the food culture has changed to such extent that it is possible to access an unlimited amount of food at any time of the day and night.
Hence, the Snake aims to help people to abstain from food for several days to get their body into fat-burning mode.
This way, it is possible to make your body burn the stored fat, which is often very hard to get rid of.
Overall, Snake diet is very restrictive.
The newcomers are immediately involved in the initial fast that lasts for 48 hours.
During that time, the dieter doesn’t even drink water and consumes only the Snake juice, which is a special electrolyte drink invented by the author.
After that, there is an eating window of 1-2 hours before the next fast.
It is said that once you reach your target weight, you may keep fasting for 24-48 hours from time to time if you feel the need.
When you look closely at the program, it becomes evident there is a lot of ambiguous information that hardly inspires trust in the method.
For instance, there are no specifications regarding the food amount you should eat during the 1-2 hours eating window.
As for the Snake juice, you can either purchase it from the author’s website or make one at home. There are no certain guidelines for preparing the Snake juice at home.
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Snake Diet Program
The Snake diet method is based on encouraging longer fasting periods and really small windows for eating.
In general, the body still requires energy, whether a person is fasting or not.
The main energy source usually comes from grains, dairy products, fruits, beans, sweets, and other carbohydrates containing glucose.
The liver requires about 8-hour fasting, after which it will run out of its glucose reserves and the body will then enter the fasting mode called ketosis.
According to the Snake diet program, to burn the stubborn fat, you will need to fast for extended periods. In fact, the program has 3 phases with corresponding fasting lengths.
Phase 1
This initial phase targets the newcomers and encourages them to try to reach and maintain ketosis.
The minimum duration of the fast in this stage is 48 hours, during which the only beverage to be consumed is Snake juice.
After this, you will have a 1-2-hour window to eat. There are no specifications about what you can eat and what to avoid.
Although the author claims that starting from phase 1, the body removes a considerable amount of toxins and other harmful compounds.
There is no scientific evidence proving that the Snake diet is truly a detox diet.
Phase 2
Phase 2 starts with longer fasts, between 48-96 hours and only one meal break.
The author encourages to continue fasting until you are unable to tolerate it or you have reached your weight goal.
Phase 3
In the final phase, continue fasting for 24h to 48 hours with 1- meal window.
You are advised to follow your body’s natural hunger signs and eat whenever you want – every 12, 24, 36, or 48 hours.
This seems a little contradictory to the diet’s principal message, which says to keep fasting until you physically can’t endure it.
Are you interested in fasting?
Try something less hardcore and scientifically proven: Intermittent Fasting (IF).
The best thing about IF apart from the fact that it actually works and you won’t starve to death (jokes), is that you can start slowly by eating every 6 hours or 8 hours if you are new to fasting.
Always consult your doctor before starting any diet!
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Snake Juice Recipe
The Snake juice ingredients include water, baking soda, Himalayan pink salt, food-grade Epsom salt, and others. That doesn’t sound like juice at all!
If you are interested in making the drink at home, we have the Snake diet recipe summarized for you.
What you will need:
- Water – 2 liters
- Sodium chloride (Himalayan pink salt) – 1/2 tsp
- Magnesium Sulphate (food grade Epsom salt) – 1/2 tsp
- Salt-free potassium chloride – 1 tsp
- Sodium Bicarbonate (baking soda) – 1 tsp
The powder mix is available online.
The drink is believed to be easy to make and transport.
It is also convenient for travel, sports and contributes to flu recovery.
There are no sweeteners or artificially flavored ingredients.
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Snake Diet – How it Works
Start the first 48-hour fast with the Snake Juice drink after supper.
During the initial fasting period, the body supposedly will start to adjust and get rid of food addiction. It is also expected to remove toxins and other harmful substances.
It’s recommended to record your weight at the same time every day and also test your urine for ketones.
When the fasting period is over, you can finally eat during the 1-2 hours feeding window.
Now, for the even crazier part, the 72-hour + fast.
During this period, a person is only recommended to consume only the Snake diet juice.
Some people also like taking fasting supplements, it’s a personal choice and every diet has a different rule about it.
If you are interested in finding out what kind of supplements someone can take during fasting periods, check out this complete Fasting Supplements Guide.
Snake Diet Pros and Cons
Although the author claims that the Snake diet can cure inflammation, type 2 diabetes, and other health issues, he doesn’t provide any scientific proof of its true effects.
The Snake diet benefits are the following:
- Clean and tightened skin
- Quick weight loss
- Increased metabolism
- Fat loss
- Cured type 2 diabetes
- Increased human growth hormone
- Cellular cleansing
It is also important to mention that there are no recent studies of this type of fasting practices that last more than 4 days.
In one of the studies, around 1400 participants were having prolonged fasts. However, they consumed 250 calories per day and had doctors to supervise them.
The participants have noted improvement in their health and overall well-being.
These results, however, don’t apply to the Snake diet. Hence, it is yet unclear if the benefit claims of the program proponents actually have a scientific base.
In terms of drawbacks, there are a lot of things to mention as well.
Restrictive diet program
Not eating and not drinking for a long period may be harmful to your health, even if you eventually lose some weight. This is definitely not recommended for anyone! Always consult with your GP on any diets you are interested in trying out.
Does not encourage a healthy lifestyle
The way the author promotes the diet and the need to lose weight creates more negative feelings towards food.
In most of the sustainable diet programs, people feel encouraged to develop a mindful eating habit, while in Snake diet’s case you should starve until you tolerate it. I think I would pass out!
No specific guidelines
Usually, there are certain rules and food guidelines on how to get prepared for fasting and how to break the fast when you have reached your goal.
These guidelines are necessary to avoid any harmful consequences connected with restraining yourself from eating and then going back to your normal lifestyle.
Not suitable for everyone
If you suffer from any disease or taking any medications so don’t think to try this diet ever.
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Snake Diet Results
Surely, when you restrict calories, you lose weight as your body has to use the stored energy.
That’s why you can find numerous success stories shared on the official Snake diet website.
In general, people lose 0.9 kg (2 pounds) each day during a fast. As the weight loss rate decreases, they start to lose 0.3 kg (0.7 pounds) per day.
The safest range for losing weight during a fast is between 0.5kg – 0.9 kg per week. This means that the Snake diet’s drastic effect on weight can potentially be dangerous.
In fact, a 5-gram packet of Snake juice powder doesn’t meet the daily values for sodium and potassium (only 27% and 29% respectively).
So, compared to other fasting programs, the Snake diet is quite extreme. Most of the time you are simply starving yourself and miss around 30 different nutrients and vitamins.
Studies have proven over and over again that if you are looking for long-term results, you are better off following a balanced diet and exercise.
Recommended reading:
- Make a habit of exercising wherever you are with TRX Core Exercises.
Snake Diet Side Effects & Warnings
Although the program has a wide audience and a decent number of followers, we can’t ignore the potential side effects associated with it.
The number one problem is the risk of dehydration and nutritional deficiency.
While the author only mentions caffeine and sugar withdrawal. Headaches and dizziness are going to be a side effect from them.
There is also a concern about meeting the micronutrients and vitamin needs.
It is also well-known that when you limit your food intake, our body starts burning both fat and muscle. This process is called starvation mode.
This means if you fast incorrectly, without proper planning, it may later cause loss of muscle and health problems.
Losing weight quickly often means gaining it back. And it is unrealistic to starve yourself forever to keep your weight off.
There are many sustainable diets that encourage slow and steady weight loss.
There is no problem in starting slow because eventually, you will be able to lose weight and, most importantly, keep your desired weight without hurting your health.
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This content has been Fact-Checked by a Certified Nutritionist in our Publishing Team. Learn more here.