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Many popular diets and marathons of supposedly proper nutrition are actually dangerous to health. Together with experts, we figure out how to lose weight correctly.
The belief that there is a magic diet on which you can lose weight and never gain weight again is a myth. For most people, it is the diet that kicks off the cycle of subsequent weight gain. But how to deal with extra pounds?
dietitian at the Semeynaya clinic, psychologist, specialist in weight and eating behavior correction, anti age medicine and nutrigenetics
A diet is not a fairy tale in which, once losing weight, the body will forever remain so; this is especially true for fast diets and strong weight loss. The system doesn’t work like that. One has only to turn to normal nutrition, as the weight will begin to return. Having flown through the set point, it will become even larger than it was before the diet.
Truly, and scientifically proven, only a diet that you can stick to for the rest of your life works. Therefore, the main thing to work with is to change eating habits and eating behavior.
Rudolf Liebel, a pediatrician and molecular geneticist who took part in the discovery of the hormone leptin, said that two people with the same weight, the first of whom lost weight and the second was never fat, differ from each other in one thing – the brain. This is true in the sense that diet affects the relationships between hormones, neurotransmitters, and brain structures. In addition, diets affect the mental state and mental balance of a person.
Why diets don’t help you lose weight
Diets do not lead to sustained weight loss or health benefits for most people. Many would be better off not dieting at all. Their weight would be practically the same, and the body would not suffer as a result of weight loss and subsequent gain.
For millennia, food shortages and hunger have been a human reality. Only those people who could store fat in well-fed times managed to survive the hungry. Today’s reality is a huge amount of affordable and cheap food. But our cave biology has not changed, and for her diet is a signal to slow down energy metabolism and store fat. All those who tried to lose weight and understood that the last two or three kg did not go away faced this. This is just a consequence of the reduction of energy expenditure by the body. Now we can quite accurately measure the level of metabolism before and after a diet and we know that fasting, unbalanced nutrition, dietary restrictions slow down the basal metabolism.
Up to two-thirds of people after dieting will gain more weight than they have lost within four to five years, but that’s not bad news. If diets kept their promises, the problem of overweight in society would have been solved long ago. Only 5-10% of the population is genetically programmed to lose weight rather than gain weight.
Why dieting can be dangerous
Diets appeal to us with their simplicity, concreteness and the almost immediate effect we see on the scales. It is worth removing “harmful” foods from your diet for a month or two, reducing the calorie content of the diet, as our health, mood and figure immediately begin to change for the better, right? But the gurus of commercial diets, however, do not say that the first results on the scales are water and glycogen that have left us, which both left and will return. It is more important not short-term, but long-term consequences of weight loss.
Trying to lose weight forces us to ignore the natural cycle of hunger, food intake, and satisfaction. When we stop following dietary rules (which inevitably happens with most), we lose the ability to understand when the moment of satiety arrives. The division of foods and dishes into “good” and “bad”, the feeling of guilt if we broke loose and ate the forbidden fruit – all this forms food deprivation, which supports the behavior of a chronically overeating person.
Diets that will not help you cope with excess weight
Many popular diets focus on short-term weight loss. With obesity, they will not help and are shown only if you need to lose a few pounds.
Atkins Diet
The favorite nutritionist of Hollywood stars has developed a diet that involves a complete rejection of carbohydrates. It really helps to lose weight quickly without fasting, because you can easily consume proteins and fats.
Pros: the body is quickly saturated with meat and gives a boost of energy for a long time. In addition, using a protein diet helps maintain muscle mass.
Cons: long-term use can lead to severe pathology of the gastrointestinal tract with impaired peristalsis. It is especially dangerous for schoolchildren, students and everyone who is engaged in intellectual work. They simply need carbohydrates in large quantities, memory and performance depend on them.
Counting calories
One of the most recognized ways. It is necessary to establish a certain rate of daily calories received by your body – this figure may be different depending on individual characteristics.
Pros: teaches reasonable restrictions, instills correct eating habits.
Cons: nutrition by counting calories does not take into account either the meal regimen, nor the amount of food per meal, nor the composition balanced in proteins, fats, vitamins, microelements, etc. But this is now often used in various Internet marathons.
Ketodiet
Low-carb diet (like Atkins, Ducan, Kremlin), but very high in fat. It was developed for patients with brain pathologies and is now being followed without any indication. The basis of the diet is fatty meat, and very few vegetables and fruits, cereals. Especially suitable for men.
Pros: blood sugar levels remain normal due to low carbohydrate intake (bad cholesterol levels are often reduced).
Cons: there is a risk of consuming the wrong fats (for example, saturated animals), which is harmful to the body. There are studies on the increase in the blood of the hormone cortisol (stress hormone) in ardent followers of this diet, which, in turn, affects the hormones ghrelin and leptin and contributes to weight gain.
Paleodiet
Eating one kind of low-carb diet. The idea is to eliminate all modern foods (refined, refined and modified) from the diet and return to the principles of nutrition of the ancient people of the Paleolithic era, who lived by hunting and gathering. These are meat, fish, eggs, fruits, vegetables, seeds and nuts. Cereals, alcohol, salt, semi-finished products, dairy products, beans are completely excluded. Suitable for people with autoimmune and cardiovascular diseases, insulin resistance and type XNUMX diabetes, as well as those who are obese, cancer or acne.
Pros: clean food without harmful chemicals, preservatives, dyes and other additives. Anti-inflammatory: Nutrients in vegetables, oils, nuts, seeds, and fruits can help reduce inflammation.
Cons: not suitable for people with digestive problems in the gastrointestinal tract, vegetarians: the diet contains a lot of animal protein, while legumes are not allowed. Many familiar products (the same bread, pasta, cereals) are excluded.
Gluten free diet
It is prescribed for gluten intolerance (celiac disease) or high sensitivity to it. All foods containing gluten (which contain grains of wheat, rye, oats and barley) are excluded from the diet. The first to be banned are baked goods, pasta and cereals.
This is a nutritional treatment protocol not intended for weight loss. While many have recently tried to eliminate gluten from the diet, it is really important for those who suffer from celiac disease, and there are relatively few such patients. There are many gluten-free foods available today, but many contain more sugar and fat than their gluten-free counterparts. And often they have nothing to do with healthy eating. In this case, it’s marketing. That is, gluten-free foods are far from harmless for the figure: the opinion that they cannot lead to weight gain is wrong. Avoiding gluten-containing whole grains reduces the amount of nutrients your body needs.
To lose a few extra pounds without harm to the body and keep yourself in good shape without harm to health, only proper nutrition will help. What are its main principles?
Leading expert of the Center for Molecular Diagnostics CMD Central Research Institute of Epidemiology, Rospotrebnadzor
A healthy diet ensures the normal functioning of the body. It allows you to stay in good shape, maintain performance, promote health and prevent disease. There are no healthy or proper eating patterns, but there are basic principles. At first, they may seem difficult to comply with. But this is not the case. It is difficult to give up foods that are not beneficial or even harmful. Although they seem so delicious.
A healthy diet is based on vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, and whole grains. They must provide from 50 to 60% of the energy. Experts also recommend that you include about 400 grams of fruits and vegetables in your daily diet.
It is advisable to eat fish twice a week.
Limit your intake of salt and simple carbohydrates. These are sugar, sweets, soda, white bread. But snacks, fast food, smoked meats, as well as sausages and sausages, in which, as a rule, only a smell from meat, must be completely excluded.
It is better to eat freshly prepared food, give preference to steamed dishes. Try to eat as soon as hunger only makes itself felt. There is no need to wait until the desire and readiness to “eat the elephant” appear. This tip will help you to reduce your portion size and avoid overeating.
The process of eating should be conscious, take place in a calm state. Food should be chewed well, and it is better to put the appliances aside rather than hold them in your hand.
Breakfast should be hearty, and dinner should be light and not less than 2 hours before bedtime.
You need to eat so that there are enough calories. Their daily amount is individual for everyone. It depends on weight, height and degree of physical activity. Calculating your daily allowance is pretty straightforward. There are calculators on the Internet, and a specialist will help you to determine in more detail the amount of calories you need and your diet, depending on your goals.
Losing weight with a healthy diet is possible. To do this, simply reduce the number of calories consumed. And no special diets are required, just food should remain varied and complete.
Don’t forget that it’s important to take time out to exercise. You don’t have to go to the gym several times a week and do your best. It is enough to accustom yourself to walking or to take time for aerobics, yoga or regular exercises in the morning. Exercise is the main companion to a healthy diet. Together, they will help you lose weight and maintain a healthy body and maintain beauty.