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Jojo effect? How successful are lightning diets for losing weight?
As soon as the summer has moved in, we also show more skin. For obese people, this also means giving away fat deposits. Not a few then rely on so-called "lightning diets". These are weight loss treatments that promise a quick loss of kilos. While you can indeed lose fat fast, such radical diets are not characterized by much joy. The yo-yo effect is fast. "Such short-term diets do not have a lasting effect and jeopardize a balanced nutrient intake," confirms Antje Gahl, spokeswoman for the German Nutrition Society (DGE). "Losing weight quickly and just as quickly regaining the starting weight or even more - that characterizes these diets and can lead to the so-called yo-yo effect," warns Gahl. But it can work differently too.
The only chance: long-term weight loss
Instead, the DGE recommends long-term weight loss based on a combination of dietary change, behavioral change and increased physical activity. A wholesome diet and about 30-60 minutes of exercise per day belong together and help to regulate the weight. In food selection, energy density is a useful feature: foods with high energy density contain more energy (calories) per serving than those with low energy density.
Foods with low and medium energy density (up to 225 kcal per 100 g) should be the basis of the daily diet. These include natural plant foods, especially vegetables and fruits. A lower energy density makes it possible to eat saturating amounts with comparatively low energy input. Two apples (250 g), six carrots (450 g) or 300 g low-fat yoghurt contain as much calories as half a croissant (30 g), namely 150 kcal.
Fast weight loss often produces the so-called JoJo effect. (Picture: Picture-Factory / fotolia.com) Only someone who consumes less calories than the body consumes can lose weight. In order to maintain body weight, energy intake and energy expenditure must be balanced. In many diets, the energy intake is below 1 000 kcal per day. This calorie-tight diet leads to the fact that you lose a lot of weight in no time. However, the high weight loss is due in large part to water losses and the breakdown of muscle protein. The desired reduction of adipose tissue is limited.
Trend diets in the critical overview:
interval fasting
Interval fasting, such as "5: 2 fasting", is fasted on one or more days of the week. Most of the fast days are only drinks such as tea or water supplied. However, how the diet and the energy supply should look the other days is up to you. The DGE does not consider this method useful to regulate the long-term weight. A conversion to a health-promoting diet does not take place thereby.
Detoxify
Detox diets like Detox are currently in vogue. By avoiding processed foods, sugar, white flour, gluten or yeast, the weight should be reduced. At the same time, the body breaks down harmful substances such as alcohol, drugs or environmental toxins. Teas or massages accompany this diet. However, there is no scientific evidence that such measures promote the excretion of toxins.
Stone Age Diet
Stone Age nutrition theory, Paleo Diet, assumes that the human organism has adapted genetically to the food environment of the Paleolithic Paleolithic. Mainly this is understood as a diet with many wild plants and game meat. The assumption that only genes shape nutritional behavior is too one-sided. Many factors, such as the learning of certain patterns of behavior, the impact of the social environment and physiological mechanisms influence our diet. In addition, the diet varied greatly in the Stone Age, so that can not be spoken of "the" Stone Age nutrition.
Insulin food combining
The goal of insulin diet diets is a weight loss by the lowest possible insulin secretion. Usually, three meals a day are taken, containing either carbohydrates or proteins. In the evening, low-carbohydrate foods are consumed to reduce nighttime insulin secretion. From a nutritional point of view there is no reason to separate carbohydrates and proteins because the body can digest both at the same time. There is also no evidence that a small amount of insulin at night promotes weight loss permanently.
Basenfasten
In the case of base fasting, only foods that are considered basic may be eaten. Important foods such as cereals and dairy products are recommended in too small quantities as they are considered "excess acid". A hyperacidity caused by the diet, however, is not to be feared in healthy people. Various buffer systems of our body regulate the acid-base concentration in the blood and keep it constant. To take additional "base-enhancing" supplements is unnecessary.
In the past, fasting was commonly used in connection with religion, but today the focus is more on health issues. (Image: Johanna Mühlbauer / fotolia.com) HCG diet
Human chorionic gonatropin (HCG) is a hormone that is produced during pregnancy. The HCG diet consists of a diet with less than 500 kcal per day and the intake of HCG in the form of drops, lozenges or tablets. HCG is supposed to break down the belly fat. However, scientific evidence is missing. In addition, such a diet can negatively affect the hormone balance. Due to low energy and nutrient intake, side effects such as tiredness, weakness, loss of performance and circulatory disorders can occur. (sb, dge)