Hear the word “diet“Two things can happen: a type of food (such as a vegetarian diet or a flexitarian diet) or to mean a meal plan for weight loss (what if a fast diet to lose belly fat, what if a diet to lose five kilos…). The latter are usually quite unrealistic – many of them are nicknamed “miracle diets” – and end up achieving the opposite effect of what is sought: the one known as the yo-yo effect.
There are so many of both that the names often jump out at us or we simply don’t know what they are talking about. This happens to us, for example, with hormonal diet. It’s definitely a concept you’ve heard before – it’s really trendy – but you still don’t really know what this diet consists of. It is precisely for this reason that we turned to experts to explain what it is, what it consists of and how to follow it.
What is a hormonal diet?
The first thing to know in order to understand hormonal nutrition is that in our body there are hormones that can affect our ability to lose, gain or maintain weight. They are the most famous estrogenscausing, for example, severe weight changes in menopause, but there are others such as leptin about that insulin. Based on this fact, the hormonal diet is based, as explained by Dr. Life Clinics, on the fact that “the difficulty in losing weight lies in the incorrect functioning of these hormones”, so if we correct these imbalances we can help “prevent the accumulation of body fat.
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An imbalance that is tried to be corrected by diet, “controlling the type of food eaten, reducing carbohydrate consumption and increasing protein consumption,” they explain, “as well as monitoring the time of day when these meals are eaten.” So, the hormonal diet is neither a meal regimen nor a diet pattern, but a kind of “food detoxification“.
What is a hormonal diet and how to follow it
This process of “food detoxification” is achieved, which is carried out with a hormonal diet doing these three steps for six weeks (each of them has its own duration), after which our body will already regulate these hormones. These are the stages:
two weeks of detoxification
The first 15 days are called detoxification weeks because they bring with them throwing out a certain type of food which, according to experts, are harmful to the body. Who? Alcoholic beverages, dairy products, citrus fruits, red meat, added sugars and caffeine, among others. In short: products containing allergens.
For what purpose? Swap all these products for “foods with more nutrients and a lower glycemic index,” explains Dr. Life Clinics. Some suitable foods that can replace them are fruits, vegetable drinks, vegetables and nuts.
Consider these tips for choosing a healthy vegetable drink and which are the healthiest nuts before your next trip to the supermarket.
This phase is necessary, says Dr. Rebeca García, “because due to aging the cells of the small intestine, the enterocytes, separate from each other, allowing this type of allergenic food to filter and enter the blood, causing some types of allergies”.
The period in which experts also recommend increase the intake of probioticstaking supplements if needed.
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food re-education
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After these two weeks we will gradually reintroduce many foods that we have withdrawn, except for ultra-processed food (it is forbidden in our diet) and energy drinks (an infinite source of liquid calories). And that is that although there are no forbidden foods as such, the latter are harmful, so it is better to avoid them.
Strengthening of complementary activities
Proponents of this way of eating believe that it is important not to reduce everything to food when we want to lose weight, but also introduce physical activity into our life as one of our habits main. Especially, experts say, if they are “cardiovascular or strength work.”
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If you don’t know where to start, check out the best cardio exercises (that also get the best results) or these full-body strength exercises with weights.