How to start with the Sirtfood Diet that Adele was using to lose weight?
If you want to know the answer to this question you are in the right place. We will try to explain and inform you about the new diet trend called the Sirtfood Diet.
Many celebrities are using this diet trend, because not just you can eat chocolate and drink wine, the creators claim that it is healthy too.
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What Is The Sirtfood Diet?
The authors of the book Sirtfood Diet Aidan Gogins and Glen Matten advice eating foods rich in sirtuins ( a group of seven proteins found in the body that has been shown to regulate a variety of functions, including metabolism, inflammation, and lifespan).
The eating plan is designed to activate the sirtuin genes, which can help to boost metabolism, curb appetite, and increase fat burning. Calorie restriction and resveratrol (polyphenol ) activate the SIRT-1 gene and these two principles underpin the Sirtfood approach to eating.
List of the top 20 “Sirtfoods”:
- Kale
- Red wine
- Onions
- Parsley
- Dark chocolate
- Buckwheat
- Tumeric
- Arugula
- Lovage
- Red chicory
- Capers
- Strawberries
- Soy
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Matcha green tea
- Walnuts
- Bird’s eye chili
- Medjool dates
- Blueberries
- Coffee
Find out more about what are Sirtfoods and can they help with weight loss here: Top 20 Sirtfoods | Sirtuin-Activating Foods And Benefits Of Consuming Them.
We all know that fruits, vegetables, and plant foods are good for our health because they contain vitamins and antioxidants. But we mention so little, that they contain natural chemicals that place mild stress on our cells as fasting and exercise do.
Because plants are stationary they’ve developed a highly sophisticated stress-response system and produce polyphenols that help them to adapt to the challenges of the environment. So what happens when we eat these plants?
When we eat them their polyphenols activate our stress-response pathways (our sirtuin genes ) imitating the effects of caloric restriction or exercise.
So if we want to make a definition the Sirtfoods – The foods with the most powerful sirtuin-activating effects.
The diet combines Sirtfoods and calorie restriction, both of which may trigger the body to produce higher levels of sirtuins.
The diet’s creators claim that following the Sirtfood Diet will lead to rapid weight loss, all while maintaining muscle mass and protecting you from chronic disease.
Once you have completed the diet, you are encouraged to continue including Sirtfoods and the diet’s signature green juice (recipe below in this article) into your regular diet.
How To Follow The Sirtfood Diet
The Sirtfood Diet has two phases that last a total of three weeks. After that, you can continue “sirtifying” your diet by including as many Sirtfoods as possible in your meals.
The meals are full of Sirtfoods but do include other ingredients besides just the “top 20 Sirtfoods.” Most of the ingredients and Sirtfoods are easy to find.
However, three of the signature ingredients required for these two phases – matcha green tea powder, lovage, and buckwheat – may be expensive or difficult to find.
A big part of the diet is its green juice, which you’ll need to make yourself between one and three times daily. You will need a juicer (a blender will not work) and a kitchen scale, as the ingredients are listed by weight.
Sirtfood Green Juice Recipe
- 75 grams (2.5 oz) kale
- 30 grams (1 oz) arugula (rocket)
- 5 grams parsley
- 2 celery sticks
- 1 cm (0.5 in) ginger
- half a green apple
- half a lemon
- half a teaspoon matcha green tea
Juice all ingredients except for the green tea powder and lemon together, and pour them into a glass. Juice the lemon by hand, then stir both the lemon juice and green tea powder into your juice.
Phases Of The Sirtfood Diet
Phase One
The first phase lasts seven days and involves calorie restriction and lots of green juice. It is intended to jump-start your weight loss and claimed to help you lose 7 pounds (3.2 kg) in seven days.
During the first three days of phase one, calorie intake is restricted to 1,000 calories. You drink three green juices per day plus one meal. Each day you can choose from recipes in the book, which all involve Sirtfoods as a main part of the meal.
Meal examples include miso-glazed tofu, the Sirtfood omelet, or a shrimp stir-fry with buckwheat noodles.
On days 4–7 of phase one, calorie intake is increased to 1,500. This includes two green juices per day and two more Sirtfood-rich meals.
Phase Two
Phase two lasts for two weeks. During this “maintenance” phase, you should continue to steadily lose weight. There is no specific calorie limit for this phase. Instead, you eat three meals full of Sirtfoods and one green juice per day.
After the diet
You may repeat these two phases as often as desired for further weight loss. However, you are encouraged to continue “sirtifying” your diet after completing these phases by incorporating Sirtfoods regularly into your meals.
There are a variety of Sirtfood Diet cookbooks that are full of recipes rich in Sirtfoods. You can also include Sirtfoods in your diet as a snack or in recipes you already use.
Additionally, you are encouraged to continue drinking green juice every day. In this way, the Sirtfood Diet becomes more of a lifestyle change than a one-time diet.
Meal Planner For The Sirtfood Diet
WEEK 1
Day 1 to 3 (1,000 calories per day)
- Breakfast: Sirtfood green juice
- Mid-morning: Green juice
- Lunch: Green juice
- Dinner: Choice from below, plus 15–20 g dark chocolate
Day 4 to 7 (1,500 calories per day)
Plan as above, but you drop one of the daily green juices and replace it with a second daily meal – either breakfast or lunch from the list below.
WEEKS 2 AND 3 (not calorie counted)
Each day should include:
- 3 x sirtfood main meals
- 1 sirtfood green juice
- 2 snacks, choose from a small handful of walnuts, strawberries or blueberries or an apple
Breakfasts
- Green juice (see recipe above)
- Sirtfood omelet – with bacon, parsley, chicory
- Greek yogurt – with 10g grated dark chocolate, chopped walnuts, and mixed berries
- Spiced scrambled eggs – with chili and turmeric
Lunches
- Baked cod with stir-fried greens
- Vegetable and kidney bean chili with baked potato
- Waldorf salad with red onion, celery, apples, and walnuts
- Baked chicken breast with walnut and parsley pesto and red onion salad
Dinners
- Prawn stir-fry with buckwheat noodles
- Chicken breast with tomato and chili salsa
- Salmon fillet with chicory, rocket, and celery salad
- Beef with red wine, onion rings, and herb-roasted potatoes
- Tuscan bean stew
Is The 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 Sirtfood Diet book reports 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 your calorie intake to 1,000 calories and exercising at the same time will nearly always cause weight loss.
Regardless, 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 come from water, muscle, and glycogen. As soon as your calorie intake increases, your body replenishes its glycogen stores, and the weight comes right back.
Unfortunately, this type of calorie restriction can also cause your body to lower its metabolic rate, causing you to need even fewer calories per day for energy than before.
This diet may likely 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.
On the other hand, 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.
Who Follows The Sirtfood Diet Already?
The Sirtfood Diet already has a growing number of celebrity fans, including Adele, Jodie Kidd, Lorraine Pascale, and Sir Ben Ainslie.
” People keep asking me my secret to looking great. The answer is Aiden and Glen’s Sirtfood Diet. Since following it, I feel unstoppable.”
Jodie Kidd, model and TV personality
Is It Healthy and Sustainable?
Sirtfoods are almost all healthy choices and may even result in some health benefits due to their antioxidant or anti-inflammatory properties. Yet eating just a handful of particularly healthy foods cannot meet all of your body’s nutritional needs.
The Sirtfood Diet is unnecessarily restrictive and offers no clear, unique health benefits over any other type of diet.
Furthermore, eating only 1,000 calories is typically not recommended without the supervision of a physician. Even eating 1,500 calories per day is excessively restrictive for many people.
The diet also requires drinking up to three green juices per day. Although juices can be a good source of vitamins and minerals, they are also a source of sugar and contain almost none of the healthy fiber that whole fruits and vegetables do.
What’s more, sipping on juice throughout the whole day is a bad idea for both your blood sugar and your teeth.
Not to mention, because the diet is so limited in calories and food choice, it is more than likely deficient in protein, vitamins, and minerals, especially during the first phase.
Due to the low-calorie levels and restrictive food choices, this diet may be difficult to stick to for the entire three weeks.
Add that to the high initial costs of having to purchase a juicer, the book, and certain rare and expensive ingredients, as well as the time costs of preparing specific meals and juices, and this diet becomes unfeasible and unsustainable for many people.
Final Thoughts About The Sirtfood Diet
A Sirtfood Diet is good if you want to lose weight fast and healthy. On this diet, you eat healthy food and not starving. Sirtfoods are a good source of vitamins and minerals, and their major role in this diet is that they have compounds that are activating the sirtuin genes.
If you decide to start with this diet it is good to consult with your doctor first. Maybe your organism is not prepared for this kind of eating.
Related articles:
- The Mayr Method Diet: Rebel Wilson’s Weight Loss Secret
- Top 20 Sirtfoods | Sirtuin-Activating Foods And Benefits Of Consuming Them
- The Best Diet Plans To Achieve Long-Term Weight Loss
The Sirtfood Diet – Adele’s Weight Loss Method
Sources: healthline.com marieclaire.co.uk