Things You Need To Know About Sirtfood Diet

What is the Sirtfood diet?

What is the Sirtfood diet?

In 2016, the Sirtfood diet remains a hot topic and involves followers adopting a diet rich in ‘sirtfoods’. These special foods work by activating specific proteins in the body called sirtuins. Sirtuins are believed to protect cells in the body from dying when they are under stress and are thought to regulate inflammation, metabolism and the aging process. It's thought that sirtuins influence the body’s ability to burn fat and boost metabolism, resulting in a seven pound weight loss a week while maintaining muscle. However, some experts believe this is unlikely to be solely fat loss, but will instead reflect changes in glycogen stores from skeletal muscle and the liver.

How does Sirtfood Diet work?

The key to losing weight is pretty simple: Make a calorie deficit either by increasing your calorie burn through workouts or decreasing your caloric intake. But what if you could skip the dieting and instead activate a "skinny gene" without the need for intense calorie restriction?

Sirtfoods are rich in nutrients that activate a so-called "skinny gene" called sirtuin. The "skinny gene" is activated when a shortage of energy is created after you restrict calories. Sirtuins became interesting to the nutrition world in 2003 when researchers discovered that resveratrol, a compound found in red wine, had the same effect on life span as calorie restriction but it was achieved without reducing intake.

In the 2015 pilot study testing the effectiveness of sirtuins, the 39 participants lost an average of seven pounds in seven days. Those results sound impressive, but it's important to realize this is a small sample size studied over a short time. Weight-loss experts also have their doubts about the lofty promises. The claims made are very speculative and extrapolate from studies which were mostly focused on simple organisms (like yeast) at the cellular level. What happens at the cellular level does not necessarily translate to what happens in the human body at the macro level.

What can you eat on the Sirtfood Diet?

The diet program is based on a meal plan that is curated to be full of sirtfoods, but curtailed in overall calorie counts. It can help you shed seven pounds in a single week, But the book's meal plan is quite regimented: For the first three days, dieters are expected to consume just 1,000 calories each day that consist of a single meal and two green juices. Later in the first week, dieters will enjoy 1,500-calorie meal plans for four days that are mostly divided between two meals.

The majority of the program asks dieters to make meals that are high in sirtfoods and not much else. Some of the staples that the diet highlight include many different produce items, including kale, strawberries, onions, parsley, arugula, blueberries, and capers. Some grains, like buckwheat, and walnuts are praised, as are spices like turmeric. Beverages like coffee, green tea, matcha and red wine are encouraged — as is a heavy reliance on 85% dark chocolate.

So what’s the big deal about the Sirtfood Diet?

The eating plan is based on polyphenols, natural compounds found in plant foods that help to protect the cells in the body from inflammation or death through illness.A small group of polyphenols can mimic the effects of fasting and exercise by activating the body’s sirtuin genes.

Based on consuming a certain list of healthy, polyphenol-rich foods, the Sirtfood Diet promises weight and fat reduction without muscle loss.

Is Sirtfood Diet Effective?

The authors of the Sirtfood Diet make bold claims, including that the diet can super-charge weight loss, turn on your “skinny gene” and prevent diseases.

The problem is there isn’t much proof to back them.

So far, there’s no convincing evidence that the Sirtfood Diet has a more beneficial effect on weight loss than any other calorie-restricted diet. And although many of these foods have healthful properties, there have not been any long-term human studies to determine whether eating a diet rich in sirtfoods has any tangible health benefits.

Nevertheless, the results of a pilot study conducted by the authors and involving 39 participants from their fitness center. However, the results of this study appear not to have been published anywhere else.

For one week, the participants followed the diet and exercised daily. At the end of the week, participants lost an average of 7 pounds (3.2 kg) and maintained or even gained muscle mass.

Yet these results are hardly surprising. Restricting  calorie intake to 1,000 calories and exercising at the same time will nearly always cause weight loss.

This kind of quick weight loss is neither genuine nor long-lasting, and this study did not follow participants after the first week to see if they gained any of the weight back, which is typically the case.

When your body is energy deprived, it uses up its emergency energy stores, or glycogen, in addition to burning fat and muscle.

Each molecule of glycogen requires 3–4 molecules of water to be stored. When your body uses up glycogen, it gets rid of this water as well. It’s known as “water weight.”

In the first week of extreme calorie restriction, only about one-third of the weight loss comes from fat, while the other two-thirds comes from water, muscle and glycogen.

As soon as your calorie intake increases, your body replenishes its glycogen stores, and the weight comes right back. This type of calorie restriction can also cause your body to lower its metabolic rate, causing you need even fewer calories per day for energy than before.

This diet may help you lose a few pounds in the beginning, but it will likely come back as soon as the diet is over.

As far as preventing disease, three weeks is probably not long enough to have any measurable long-term impact. Adding sirtfoods to your regular diet over the long-term may very well be a good idea. But in that case, you might as well skip the diet and start doing that now.

Summary

Just like Keto,  the Sirtfood Diet often radicalizes how you normally eat by asking you to skimp on meals. While all diets often adhere to some form of a calorie-limit, It's important to consider your own lifestyle and think about what you need throughout the day. The reality is, there is nothing magical about sirtfoods in particular, being rich in polyphenols, they do have anti-inflammatory properties, but the research doesn't support them having any extra effectiveness for weight loss.

If you're dead set on giving the Sirtfood Diet a try, first experiment by incorporating more of the diet's signature staples into what you're already eating at home. Incorporating polyphenol-rich foods, including those on the sirtfood list, can be helpful in preventing or reducing inflammatory diseases like cardiovascular disease. Skip the initial restrictive steps and prescribed green juices, and instead opt for adding in antioxidant-rich foods to your eating pattern in a way you enjoy.