We have been surprised by the transformation of Adele, British singer and producer, that have been posted in social media and, of course, we ask what was the secret to her weight loss.
Adele finally revealed what she was doing to shed of the weight and it involves wine and chocolate! Who could believe that you can lose weight and still be able to drink wine and have some of those mouth watering chocolate bars??
This is the famous Sirtfood Diet. It has become the latest trend in the weight loss world as it was popularised by celebrities and famous people in Europe.
What is Sirtfood Diet?
Sirtfood diet was created by Glen Matten and Aidan Goggins, nutritionists in a private gym in the UK, who have learned about Sirtuin proteins, or what we know now as SIRT.
Their studies claimed that when you activate SIRT proteins in the body it results to burning fats and preserving body muscles, generally promoting good health. They are known to regulate physiological functions including metabolism and inflammation. The activation of these proteins are brought about by extreme caloric restriction and extreme exercise.
Matten & Goggins found out that certain nutrients can mimic caloric restriction resulting to activation of sirtuin proteins and they have built the concept of this diet around this premise.
One of the examples of these nutrients is Resveratrol which can be found in wine. There are also certain plant food that have high level of these nutrients and they are called ‘sirtfood’.
List of Sirtfoods:
- Arugula
- Cocoa
- Capers
- Celery
- Chilis
- Coffee
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Garlic
- Green Tea
- Kale
- Dates
- Onions
- Red Wine
- Soy
- Strawberries
- Turmeric
- Walnut
Different Phases in Sirtfood Diet
Sirtfood diet have been divided into different phases which combines caloric restriction and having sirtfood meals. This condition will activate higher level of sirtuins and can result to weight loss and good body function.
This diet also include having Sirtfood Green Juice along with your meals. Sirtfood green juice includes kale, arugula, parsley, celery, apple, ginger, lemon and matcha green tea.
Phase 1
This phase consist of 7 days which is focused on caloric restriction.
Day 1-3 is restricting your diet to 1000 calories. You are allowed to have 3 servings of Sirtfood green juice and 1 Sirtfood meal in a day.
Day 4-7 is restricting your diet to 1500 calories. You are allowed to have 2 servings of Sirtfood green juice, 2 servings of Sirtfood meals plus dark chocolate.
Phase 2 Maintenance
This phase lasts for 2 weeks and focuses more on the quality of meals rather than the portion. You are allowed to have 1 serving of Sirtfood green juice, 3 Sirtfood meals, 1-2 servings of Sirtfood snacks in a day. You are also allowed to have 1 glass of wine 2-3 days per week.
Phase 3 Sirtfood for life
This is a lifestyle change that you have to incorporate to be able to maintain your health. You will need to ensure that you fill your meals with more plant based food that have sirt-activating nutrients.
Is Sirtfood Diet effective?
Unfortunately, there is not much studies to back up the claim of the Sirtfood Diet and there are many controversies surrounding the study that they have conducted.
During their study, they have no control group to compare the study to. They have 39 participants that are attending their private gym and the study involved only the phase 1 of the sirtfood diet, so many have raised questions about what happens during phase 2 and 3.
Furthermore, the study is not published in any academic journal so it can’t really claim that these are studies based on scientific facts.
Having said all these, the basic premise of Sirtfood Diet is good as it promotes it’s top 20 Sirtfood, which are all healthy in nature. Basically, this diet is promoting a healthy plant based diet, except for Phase 1 which is focused primarily on caloric restriction.
Eating a plant based diet can actually result in weight loss and better health as this will be low in calories but the question is how do we maintain this. As always, this will all boil down to lifestyle change and having a solid foundation of what you think is healthy and can improve your way of living.
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