tell me how many times you put it diet alone and I will tell you how many times you failed. It may sound apocalyptic, omniscient or even arrogant. But the truth is that this is something that most nutritionists often say. They are no longer talking about diets for weight loss, but about the resources to adhere to Healthy habits so we can convert them into Lifestyle. In fact, as suggested by dietitian-nutritionist Belén Siscar, these are some of the keys we must consider:
Be careful with quick and miracle formulas
The first thing we should do as soon as we make the decision to “diet” is to get away from miraculous childwhich promise fast and amazing results in a short time.
Thus, he explains that formulas that include replacement shakes or detox plans with the promise of losing 10 kilos in a month are not only deceptive, but can also be harmful to health.
No change succeeds without effort
Little by little changes, setting realistic and achievable goals and working on adapting the body and mind to new habits are key to avoiding frustrations, relegation and “compensatory effects”. “Every change requires effort,” Siscar recalls.
Consult an expert
Another working key adherence to healthy habits (instead of going on a diet) is to leave it in the hands of a dietitian-nutritionist who helps us identify what is missing or what is left in our diet. “What works for everyone is not good for anyone. “One must follow a personalized guideline that suits our taste, our lifestyle, our schedules, our work dynamics… and everything that affects our everyday life,” he points out.
Weight is not the only reference
It is also important to stop obsessed with weight as the only indicator of our evolution. “Many times we have to check if the changes we are making are producing results and we only focus on whether I have lost weight or not. This is a serious mistake because there are other much more useful indicators such as the energy I have, whether I rest well, whether I have good digestion and whether my mood has changed”, explains the expert.
Understand what you are eating and why
Get informed, consult, research and work from Nutrition education It gives you a better choice of food. If you understand why one food is better than another for your health, because of the nutrients it provides; but you also discover why unhealthy food harms you, you find the necessary motivation to choose good, conscientiously and without remorse.
Move: without exercise, there are no good habits
The best eating habits should go hand in hand with mental exercise so they are effective so that we can see as a whole what helps us feel better and follow that beneficial lifestyle: diet, exercise and rest. “If we start from a very sedentary point, we can start by walking more on a daily basis, climbing and descending stairs, or driving less. It is important that each person can set realistic daily goals for physical activity and that they can progress and increase them every day,” he says.
What happens if I go on a diet myself?
Limiting food without professional criteria can have consequences on physical and mental health. So, according to Raquel Capel, Sports and Clinical Dietitian-Nutritionist and Head of Nutrition for the Vikika Team, this is what happens if a specialist is not consulted:
1. Locking in the case stagnation. This point is very dangerous, because we can create too large a caloric deficit, with everything that can entail: from nutritional deficiencies to the development of eating disorders, frustration, fear of food, etc.
2. energy deficit. Simply due to sheer ignorance of the nutritional strategy we must apply, we may have started a pre-fat diet, which is so energy deficient that it is not sustainable over time. This will cause us to be tired and we will quickly leave it.
3. Restriction unnecessary certain foods. This can lead to nutritional deficits that harm health. Carbohydrates and fats are usually alarmingly reduced. But, as Capel points out, a pronounced deficit in fat intake directly affects the female hormonal system, causing important pathologies that, in turn, can lead to unwanted health consequences.
4. Errors in diet. We do not know if we meet the necessary requirements for macro and micronutrients. Some vitamins play a leading role in our physiology, such as those from group B, with a direct effect on metabolism. Or antioxidants, so important in capturing free radicals, which cause damage at the cellular level.
5. The feedback effect it is guaranteed and it leads us into a vicious circle. If we want to achieve something permanent and guarantee that the kilos we lose come from fat, we must know that it takes time and that on a physiological level fat loss occurs more slowly.
6. loss of muscle mass. A characteristic feature when going on a diet without knowledge is usually the intake of a small amount of protein, a nutrient that participates in the formation and renewal of new tissues in the body, including muscle mass. If we do not eat enough protein, the body will, in order to survive, use its own muscle proteins, with the consequent loss of muscle mass, atrophy, occurrence of injuries, reduction of basal metabolism, etc.
7. Intestinal imbalancel. If our gut stops receiving certain nutrients, it will no longer be in balance, which can lead to digestive disorders of all kinds, some of which can be difficult to resolve.
8. Effects on mental health. An extreme weight loss plan will have a very direct effect on our mood, compromising our mental and emotional stability.
What may seem like a diet to lose a few pounds (which we will also quickly regain later), can lead to a cascade of imbalances in the functioning of the body.
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