26 Apr Diets: Are they Worth Risking Your Health?

If you plan on undergoing a diet this summer, you might believe that along with shedding some weight, you’ll also be much healthier. However this is not always the case! Not only do a majority of diets lead to long-term weight gain (the infamous yo-yo effect) but also even more worrying, they irreparably weaken your metabolism and increase your stress levels.

Dieting can have serious long-term consequences and in 90% of cases, its effectiveness does not exceed three years. Some people even gain extra kilos when returning to back to their usual diet! When undergoing a diet, your metabolism is disrupted and weakened, as diets generally lead you to ingest fewer calories than you would generally consume. The immediate effect will be that much of your weight loss will affect your bone mass and most importantly, your muscle mass. With less muscle mass, you waste less energy and therefore consumer fewer calories. However, by consuming fewer calories, your body behaves as though you are suffering from famine: it begins to stores higher levels of fat and even avoids the elimination of some waste. Your body, during this stage, is reacting to a survival mechanism.

To conclude, during a diet, you reduce your ability to burn calories, increase your fat production and store unwanted waste, resulting in the weakening of your metabolism in the long term. During dieting, there is also a risk of increase stress levels as most often, diets are associated with intense feelings of frustration and guilt – restrictions of any kind, sense of injustice in relation to people who do not suffer from a weight problem, binge eating and self-devaluation in case of failure… In such circumstances, your stress levels increase, leading to a secretion of neuropeptide Y (a neurotransmitter) that stimulates the proliferation of fat cells that promote the storage of nutrients and insulin resistance in muscles.

Serious Consequences for your General Well-Being

The weakening of your metabolism and increased stress levels during a diet phase may have a multitude of long-term adverse consequences: increased body fat and decreased muscle mass, bone demineralisation, mineral and vitamin deficiencies, increased risk of cardiovascular diseases consecutive to the effects of yo-yo diets, eating disorders and depression to name a few… The consequences of a diet for your health can be far more serious than you might imagine. There is no magic formula for the line of a top model or an athlete. However, if you follow these simple tips, your health will greatly improve and you will see that your excess weight will disappear gradually and smoothly.

1. Forget the Short Term!

Instead of trying to lose weight in preparation for your vacation, look to find a healthy diet that will promote your health in the long-run. Your goal must be long-term and not a hypothetical immediate improvement! Once you realise that your regime change can change your life, you are more likely to follow it without difficulty. A positive experience leads to essential health benefits as with optimal health you feel more energy and more optimism.

2. Follow Approved Diets

Researchers in the US have published a study comparing different diets and concluded that a diet with a low glycemic index (a reduction of mealy, starches and sugars) is the best choice to lose weight permanently. This scheme has its advantages of not entirely eliminating a category of foods that will make it much easier to follow in the long-term. Quite ironically, the study simply confirmed what European doctors were already advocating in the 19^th century when consulting patients with obesity! Simply to decrease the consumption of bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, sugar and keep fat as they contribute to the proper functioning of the metabolism! The study falsified what nutritionists have been recommending for over 50 years – eating less fat and compensating by cereals. We now know such high glycemic index foods are largely responsible for the increase in obesity and diabetes.

3. Support and Adapt Your Metabolism with Plants

When you start changing your eating habits, your metabolism reacts and tries to compensate. According to naturopaths, your cells will remember this new mode and your metabolism will always tend to want to compensate for the loss of a particular substance that is missed out during your diet. To break this vicious circle, you must accompany your food with a rebalancing in order to help regulate your metabolism and your fat cells. In other words, your body will have to learn to function normally and appropriately to your new diet. To support this rebalancing act, certain foods have very interesting properties. For instance, guarana and caffeine helps the fat in your body pass into the blood where they can then be consumed to provide energy. Ash leaves and green tea also promote drainage while green coffee, pineapple and red vine help your body get rid of weight-related imperfections (e.g. cellulitis). Of course, none of these natural assets will benefit you if you do not use them in support of a regime and a healthy lifestyle.

4. Targeted Nutritional Supplements

If you do not have the ability to get this kind of preparation, there are shops in the plethora of dietary supplements in the field of thinness. You must of course avoid all products that present themselves as ‘miracle pills’ that can help you lose any excess weight instantly. As often with dietary supplements, they are less effective and the sales agreements are far-fetched!