Is your goal fat loss? Have you tried everything? cleaned up your diet and nutrition, working out more, done calorie restriction, cut out carbs and still not shifiting the fat? You are not alone…
If weight loss (fat loss) has been elusive and you don’t want to go down the Ozempic route you can investigate a way of eating that can help you lose weight naturally without resorting to injections.
Fat Loss Diets
In this blog I want to explore the basis of three most effective diets for fat loss that are backed by science. Interestingly, they are all effective when you look at the outcome of investigative studies.
The reason they are all effective is because they are restrictive in some way (that’s how diets work) but this isn’t just about calories in vs. calories out. It is about which one works best for your unique body type, genetic factors and predisposing factors that affect how you react to food you eat. It is all about how we store and liberate fat and we all do this slightly differently. Read on…
You Need To Know How You Store Fat?
We store fat primarily in the form of triglycerides in specialised cells called adipocytes (fat cells). If excess calories are consumed, the body converts these calories into triglycerides and stores them in these fat cells which can expand in size (up to 30x their original size!) to accommodate the extra energy. This storage occurs in various locations, including subcutaneous (under the skin) and visceral (around the organs) fat and even in the organs i.e. liver.
Did you know that how we store/utilise fat depends on a few different factors regardless of diet? This is why your friend can eat whatever they like and still not put on weight, yet you can’t so much as sniff a piece of bread. But, if you are eating well, doing everything right (or you think you are) and still find it hard to lose fat then the following points could help shed some light.
Some Predisposing Factors To Consider:
1. If your Mum was good at storing fat, you are likely to be too. Genetics do play a part.
2. If you have been storing excess fat for a while (years) it is harder to lose fat. Fat cells have a memory! (wish mine would forget like I do each time I walk into a room and wonder what I am there for!! )
3. Diet of course plays a part but how your body uses fat, protein and carbohydrates depends on insulin sensitivity which is affected by your current fat storage capacity. Note: we lose insulin sensitivity with age.
4. Calories! I know, not popular but it’s true. If we eat too many calories our body puts excess into storage (fat cells). Calorie intake does matter.
5. How sedentary you are. How many minutes in each hour do you remain seated?
6. How good your body is at using fat stores for energy, cognitive function, movement, keep us alive whilst we sleep i.e. fasting.
7. How stressed you are and how much sleep you get. Insulin levels go up in response to stress and poor sleep thereby putting you into “fat storage” mode.
Move More, Eat Less Theory?
If you have already got excess fat stores, there is very little evidence that doing more exercise helps you to lose weight. If you are good at storing fat you may need to consider a new approach to shake up your metabolism and break into those fat cells which shrink but never go completely hence they are easy to re-fill. Eating less works but is largely unsustainable because of fat cell memory and hunger hormones; hence yo-yo dieting.
Eating a balanced diet that keeps you satisfied and uses whole foods is much more likely to be sustainable which is why my Eat Better Feel Better (my four-week online programme) works so well and is by far the best for a realistic and achievable approach to fat loss because it is not a diet, more of a re-balance approach that is not restrictive (read reviews). But let’s take a look at some popular and successful diets created by three experts that all work for different reasons.
The Ornish Diet
The Ornish diet is a vegetarian diet low in fat, refined sugar, and animal protein.
It doesn’t label foods as “good” or “bad,” and there are no restrictions on calories unless you’re trying to lose weight. It does, however, eliminate meat, poultry, and fish, processed foods and refined grains. Instead you fill up on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, soy products, low fat dairy, and egg whites. This is still a form of dietary restriction and like any good diet that works removes processed foods saturated fats and added sugars. This could be why its so effective.
Nutrition is just one aspect of the Ornish diet. It is also a lifestyle rather than an eating plan, as it looks at other aspects of your lifestyle, such as exercise, stress management, and social interplay.
The diet was developed in 1977 by Dean Ornish, MD, then a clinical professor of medicine at the University of California in San Francisco, and is based on the idea that diet, exercise, and relationships all contribute to a person’s health.
The Zone Diet
The Zone Diet, developed by Dr. Barry Sears, is a dietary approach that focuses on maintaining a specific balance of macronutrients (40% carbohydrates, 30% protein, and 30% fat) to optimise hormonal balance and reduce inflammation in the body. The diet is based on consuming low-glycaemic-index carbohydrates, restricting grains/starches i.e., potatoes, rice, pasta, but maximises on fruits and vegetables, lean protein, and monounsaturated fats.
The Longevity Diet
Prof. Valter Longo has identified some of the key pathways that regulate ageing and how these reduce the incidence and progression of multiple diseases including cancer.
His popular Fasting Mimicking Diet (FMD) is a popular and health protective intervention as part of the Longevity Diet which can be practiced for five days each month until target weight is reached. He promotes the Longevity diet as a “lifelong, health-boosting plan, you will feel the benefits of fasting without the hunger and live a longer, healthier and more fulfilled life.” The diet limits animal protein and is founded mostly on plant-based foods but does include fish and seafood.
Comparing Diets
Do you see a similarity between all three? They all avoid processed foods, added sugars and refined grains. They all maximise intake of vegetables and fruits and include some healthy fats. They reduce animal proteins in varying amounts. The difference with my Eat Better programme is that it is not restrictive at all but takes an 80:20 approach allowing for those BBQ’s, parties and weekends. Yet it walks you through the common pitfalls of where you may be going wrong so that you begin to make better choices. We cover macronutrients, portion control, how to avoid sugar cravings, filling up on good nutrition with delicious, simple recipes that include a variety of foods and even looks at sleep and stress reduction. If you would like to join my next live programme book now to save your space. Eat Better Feel Better
If you are intrigued to know more about the above diets, I am sharing the evidence of these diets in an easy to digest format with recipes to follow this month in my VIP group.
Get the information you need to make informed choices about where you need to make changes to get results along with delicious recipes and my amazing community to support you all the way. Being part of my community puts you at the forefront of nutritional science so you can enjoy your best health from the inside-out..
Learn more about my VIP group here. You can join just for the month and get all the above information you want and much more, there are recipes, challenges, science and more inside the group all ready to access. Annual membership includes free access to my next Eat Better Feel Better programme worth £199.50