Did you too gain weight during the lockdown? No need to fret, today we’re going to tell you about the dieting trends in 2021 and whether you should try them.
1- INTERMITTENT FASTING: Timed Eating To Reduce Insulin Spikes. Maybe You Are Doing It Already?
In an episode of The current life with Faisal Qureshi, Faisal mentions how he eats his very 1st meal, very late in the day. In other words, the reason for his fantastic weight loss is not just heavy-duty exercising, but also IF. A super-thin colleague of mine, recently let slip, that the very first meal he has in the day is lunch.
Breakfast, is a meal, IF followers, often skip or delay, whether they are doing the 16:8 variation (eating within 8 hour window and fasting for 16 hours), 5:2 (do normal eating 5 days and calorie restriction for 2 days), one meal a day or a 24 hour fast. But why does IF work?
The IF followers claim that it leads to autophagy aka “self-eating”. Johns Hopkins neuroscientist Mark Mattson, Ph.D., in Intermittent Fasting: What is it, and how does it work? states that after hours without food, the body exhausts its sugar stores and starts burning fat. Amen to that!!
The fasting in Ramadan could very well be considered IF . But what about the deep-fried and carb-loaded, besan heavy “Pakoras”??
IF Benefits fat and weight loss, reduce insulin resistance, repair cells, good for heart, live longer
IF Possible Side effects may impact hormones, women may want to limit to 14-15 hours as per Dr. google. Do your own research!
2- KETO: Low-carb, Moderate protein, Higher-fat
Induce Ketogenesis and lose excess body fat, improve type 2 diabetes or metabolic syndrome. No more roti, chawal, aloo ki sabzi, bakery kay items, sugary fruits for you! You can however gorge on Kebabs, fish fry, veggies (other than potatoes), dairy. Still want to do Keto?
What exactly is Keto? The Ketogenic Diet: A Detailed Beginner’s Guide to Keto states that Keto is a very low carb, high fat diet that shares many similarities with the Atkins and low carb diets. Keto diet kicks off the “Ketosis” which is the body burning fat for energy vs the carbs. Got fat anyone? Plenty, my friend….
Keto Benefits can help with sugar & insulin levels and with Heart disease, Cancer. Alzheimer’s disease, Epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, Polycystic ovary syndrome)., Brain injuries.
Keto Side Effects Reported keto flu symptoms include diarrhea, constipation, and vomiting (39Trusted Source).
Keto Recipes or Keto Meal Plan – choose whatever works for you!
3- KETO + IF: The True Weight Loss Magic
KETO is about what you eat, the healthy fats versus carbs. IF is more about how many times you are eating and thereby causing your insulin spikes, never allowing your body to dig into your fat reserves. What fat reserves???? Um, any thoughts about that “pooch” on your belly….
You combine IF & Keto, throw in exercise and voila, you are on your way to curbing insulin resistance, hormonal imbalance and start losing weight. You may have to try a few different variations to figure out what modality will work for you. But at the end of the day, both Keto and IF share a common goal of getting your body kick-started on “Ketosis”, “Autophagy” and reversing insulin resistance. As Dr Eric Berg states, get healthy to lose weight and not the other way around!!
4- The Bean Diet: Clean the house!
Beans are packed with protein, B vitamins, fiber, magnesium, potassium. With so many benefits, you wonder why more people are not getting on the bean train? Ever heard of the Karen Hurd Bean Diet/Protocol? As per Karen Hurd diet, the bean protocol can heal everything from acne to cancer, as it did for her 18 month old daughter when even the doctors had given up!
Worried about, ahem, the flatulence part? Well, as per Karen H., it is just a signal that your body needs cleaning and nothing better to help your body turn on the “garbage disposal” than soluble fiber aka beans!! Not a huge fan of beans? You can try Physillium husk or Ispighool ke bhoosi for that “cleaning effect”. You can also try the 7 day bean diet as explained in the Womens’ world
5. Paleo or the Auto Immune Protocol (AIP) : Fix leaky gut, remove Inflammation, improve immune system
If you thought Paleo was restrictive, you would definitely not find AIP attractive. But both diets have tons of similarities as per Dr. Axe in AIP-diet vs Paleo and you can even combine the two as in the image above.
At the end of the day, both Paleo and AIP diets attempt to make you grain (or gluten) free, dairy free, soy free, potato free, taste free…wait, what? The taste free part was my take on it. After no rice, no roti, no doodh pitti, I did not consider life worth living. But after years of having given up on these very desi albeit highly inflammatory foods, I am ok and have lost weight too.
In essence, both Paleo and AIP are anti-inflammatory diets and can help revert many inflammation related conditions including auto immune conditions associated with food allergies, for e.g. thyroid related conditions. Why so important to get rid of inflammation? Because Chronic inflammation can even be the pre-curser to heart disease, cancer, diabetes etc.
Paleo Benefits More weight loss, improved glucose tolerance & blood pressure control
Paleo Side effects From UPMC, you don’t eat any grains or dairy which can be good for health and energy so not really a side effect.
AIP Benefits Can heal leaky gut which can be a pre cursor to many diseases as per Dr. Axe
AIP Side Effects Low Blood Sugar, New Food Allergies
SUMMARY
Mix n Match any of the diets listed above and forget the trends – Create a food plan that works best for you, using pointers from the above diets such as…
Know Where You Stand – Get a blood test to check your fasting glucose, AIC and find if you are insulin resistant or at risk for diabetes
Control Insulin spikes – Eat only 2 or 3 times in a day, no snacking in between and preferably a very late or no breakfast
Go Gluten-free And Control Inflammation- Remove roti, wheat, cake rusks as Gluten-free alternatives are available
Remove Dairy Products – Include almond or coconut milk-based dairy alternatives
Turn On Your Body’s Self Cleaning – Start consuming more beans and Physillium Husk / Isphoghol ke bhoosi, try lemon water and apple cider vinegar
Get moving – Start with an 11-minute walk every day and go up from there
Consult your doctor, your common sense and Dr. Google when in doubt and always listen to your body!
Lubna Zia is Director, Portfolio and RPA at a large multimedia company in New York. She loves writing, baking, coaching, gardening and along with her husband, travelling around the world. She has also edited a travelogue on Dubai, by Sher Azam available @ Amazon, by the name of “DUBAI, No Problem : Maafi Mushkil“. She has grown up watching Pakistani dramas and that’s why she is here @ FUCHSIA!
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