Diets in September: why keep away from shortcuts and go for sustainable modifications | Nourish with science | EUROtoday

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September arrives with the thrill of the brand new faculty yr and new beginnings. But it additionally brings loads of burden about what we should always have achieved after the guarantees of the night time of December 31, 2024, and that we’ve got not achieved.

We went from having a relaxed eating regimen, during which consuming ice cream is okay whether it is August 31, however which, after September 1, is an actual nonsense and a scarcity of accountability in direction of your well being. September comes with haste and urgency, as if it have been a world tune-up that exhibits your willpower and your capability for sacrifice. Thanks to social networks, now the needs are usually not particular person, however collective. It’s very simple to get caught up in all of the calls for of another person’s begin of the varsity yr, added to your personal.

This month the post-vacation challenges reappear—as a result of they by no means left—the glow upcategorical diets, detoxes and fasts.

I wish to provide you with a warning that the so-called “miracle diets” are at their peak: those who suggest a excessive weight reduction in a short while. They are diets which are characterised by eliminating a big group of meals, with out supervision or dietary evaluation, and never with out dangers. There are some teams of diets, specifically, which are particularly harmful for the entice of fast weight reduction.

  • Very low calorie eating regimen (DMBC) or VLCD (Very Low Calorie Diet): these diets that, simply by taking a look at them, you realize that you’re going to be terribly hungry, diets with a contribution of lower than 800 kcal. These diets are very harmful and are completely contraindicated.
  • Monodiets: those who use a meals as the idea of the eating regimen, such because the well-known “artichoke diet” or “pineapple diet.” Normally, they check with a property of the meals, in each instances that it’s a diuretic, and its consumption is proposed at every meal. They are very low-calorie diets, inflicting dietary deficiencies and an atrocious hatred of the meals in query.
  • Detox or purification: these diets based mostly on smoothies that promise a break to your physique from all these “toxins” we eat. They allude to the truth that you must decelerate and provides your physique a relaxation. As if it, naturally, didn’t have a tendency in direction of homeostasis nor did it have its personal purification mechanisms. These diets are very costly, as a result of they already promote these smoothies ready with greens and fruits—the extra unique every part, the higher—they usually suggest changing meals with them. They are usually not solely costly financially, but additionally to your well being. They contain a lack of muscle mass, which makes your metabolism extra weakened. In addition, they’ll trigger dizziness, low blood strain and dietary deficiencies.
  • Fasting or intermittent fasting: Fasting as such shouldn’t be a eating regimen, however a dietary technique. Fasting is offered as a poetic option to redeem the sins of summer time gluttony. Fasting doesn’t appear restrictive, as a result of it doesn’t get rid of or prohibit meals like different diets, however it’s a very extreme time restriction. It proposes intervals of 8, 12 or 16 hours in which you’ll be able to solely drink water, espresso or infusions, that’s, solely low-calorie drinks. So it’s a restriction, and the consumption of wholesome meals must be prioritized in intakes. If you’ve got an consuming dysfunction or a foul relationship with meals, it’s the worst factor you are able to do, since it would exacerbate unhealthy behaviors.

According to a research by MAPFRE and the Spanish Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics that was carried out on 3,150 adults, 7 out of 10 Spaniards have tried one among these diets as a weight reduction technique. 53% of these surveyed have finished one among these diets, and 70% of them with none kind {of professional} supervision. Women attempt to shed weight twice as usually as males, and we should not overlook that the aesthetic strain on us is bigger. And the loss is estimated at about 6 kilos rapidly, which, once they abandon the eating regimen, they regain with the well-known rebound impact.

In basic, these diets will make you shed weight on the expense of your muscle mass, not fats. By inflicting a sudden drop in energy, the physique turns to muscle glycogen as a supply of power. Each gram of glycogen accumulates about three grams of water, so there can be a loss primarily of water. You will see this drop on the dimensions, however your physique composition will worsen.

Low consumption induces muscle catabolism: as there may be little power accessible, the physique will use the amino acids from the muscle mass as a substrate. Glucose is manufactured via the method of gluconeogenesis, since each the mind and the liver, amongst others, want it to perform. The physique is made to outlive, so for those who do not present it with sufficient power, it would search for methods to get it. The physique understands that this restriction shouldn’t be voluntary, however relatively is a scenario of power scarcity. In response, it decreases metabolic fee and will increase fats storage effectivity. This explains the rebound impact: the burden is regained, however with a lack of muscle mass and a rise in fats. So this sort of eating regimen does a disservice to your physique.

All of those diets worsen your relationship with meals. They not solely trigger bodily harm, but additionally psychological harm. You will find yourself with concern of meals, anxiousness about meals and probably not understanding what to eat. In the worst case, they are often the set off for an consuming dysfunction.

Therefore, I like to recommend that you just cease shortcuts and deal with your physique in a respectful method, with out speeding and doing what doesn’t trigger larger harm in the long run. Health shouldn’t be rushed, it’s taken care of.

https://elpais.com/salud-y-bienestar/nutrir-con-ciencia/2025-09-05/dietas-en-septiembre-por-que-evitar-los-atajos-y-apostar-por-cambios-sostenibles.html