The Sirtfood diet is one of the diets that has gained more popularity in recent years. This type of eating has become the choice of several European celebrities – like Adele, and is still a hot topic among their followers.
The creators of the Sirtfood diet insist that it is not a fad, but claim that it can be taken as a lifestyle and is the secret to achieving fat loss and preventing disease.
However, health experts warn that this diet may not live up to healthy expectations and could even be a bad idea.
Read on to find out what the Sirtfood diet consists of, how it is done, and its possible results. What are the benefits according to nutritionists?
What is the Sirtfood diet?
The Sirtfood diet is an eating plan developed in 2016 by two famous UK gym nutritionists.
This diet is based on a group of foods that contain a high content of plant compounds capable of stimulating sirtuin production (SIRT).
Sirtuins are a group of seven proteins that have been shown to regulate a variety of functions in the body, including protecting cells when under stress, stimulating metabolism, and reducing inflammation. (1,2)
In addition, the creators of the diet claim that sirtulins could regulate the aging process, and activate the “skinny gene” and therefore improve fat loss.
How to do the Sirtfood diet?
In practice, the Sirtfood diet is done in two phases that last a total of 3 weeks.
The first phase lasts 7 days and involves a high calorie restriction and lots of green juice. The goal is to activate sirtuins and promote weight loss and is claimed to help you lose 7 pounds (3.2 Kg) in 7 days.
During the first 3 days of phase one, your calorie intake is limited to 1000 calories. You drink three green juices a day plus a meal. Each day you can choose from the recipes in the book, which include all Sirt foods as the main part of the meal.
On days 4 to 7 of phase one, calorie intake increases to 1500 Kcal. This includes two green juices a day and two more meals. Examples of foods include the sirtfood omelette, sauteed shrimp with buckwheat, turkey with cabbage and capers, among others.
A large part of the diet is its green juice, which you will need to prepare one to three times a day. In addition, the consumption of non-typical foods is allowed in other regimes such as dark chocolate and red wine.
Once you have completed phase 1 and 2, it is recommended that you continue to include sirt foods in the day and the characteristic green juice of the diet.
SirtFood Food
Most SirtFood foods are easy to find and affordable. However, some characteristic ingredients required for the first two phases (capers, matcha green tea powder, chicory ) can be expensive.
Here’s a list of the top 20 SirtFoods:
- Kale
- Blueberries
- Capers
- Citrus
- Arugula
- Buckwheat
- Dark chocolate (85% cocoa)
- Medjool dates
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Green tea
- Kale
- Parsley
- Red onions
- Red wine
- Turmeric
- Walnuts
- Chicory
Possible benefits of eating like Adele
Adding sirt foods to your diet can be a very good idea.
While there is no serious research yet that has studied the long-term benefits of the SirtFood diet, the results of increasing sirtuins in animals are promising. (1,2,3).
Based on these studies, it could be said that increasing sirtrullin levels could have these benefits:
- Less inflammation
- Lose weight and prevent obesity
- Increase life expectancy
- Reduce the risk of osteoporosis and arthritis
- Protect against diseases such as diabetes, cancer and Alzheimer’s
SirtFood diet results
“I know I look very, very different from the last time you saw me, but actually due to all the COVID restrictions and travel bans, I had to travel light and only carry half of myself, and this is half. that I chose ”. (3) This is how the British singer Adele began her appeal to the public, appearing for the first time in several months on the air on a television program at the end of October 2020.
Although the singer does not give a specific figure, most of the media write that he has lost around 20 kilograms, achieved through the Sirtfood system, instantly dubbed the “Adele diet.”
Now, what do nutritionists say? Here are the results presented according to its creators compared to the opinions of two professional nutritionists.
Results according to its creators
The book Sirtfood Diet reports the results of a pilot study conducted by the authors, involving 39 people who attend the same gym.
For 1 week, the participants followed the diet and exercised daily. At the end of the week, the participants lost an average of 3.3 kg and maintained or even gained muscle mass.
These results are not surprising. Restricting your calorie intake to 1,000 calories a day and exercising at the same time will almost always lead to weight loss.
In short, 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.
The problem is that there is not much evidence to support these claims.
Results according to nutritionists
Although many of the foods in the SirtFood diet have healthy properties, serious human studies have yet to be done to determine if it has the same health benefits mentioned by its creators.
Also, while the SirtFood diet may have good immediate results, as of yet, there is no strong evidence on what the results are in the medium and long term.
According to nutritionists, although it could have some advantages, this type of rapid weight loss is not the healthiest, when your body has an extreme lack of energy, it uses its emergency energy reserves, in addition to burning fat and muscle.
The advantages according to Lola Smith: “from the point of view of nutritional density, foods that contain high levels of sirtuins also provide good levels of nutrients that are generally related to better health” This, together with calorie restriction, it will give results. ” (3)
The cons: “Maintaining this in the long term can be very difficult and requires changes and restrictions in life that may not all be positive.”
“We certainly will not recommend the Sirtfood diet in my clinics or as a medical treatment for weight loss,” says Sophie. “While we can encourage some of the healthy foods, strict diets and the replacement of meals with juices often lead to difficulties in people’s relationship with food and can cause us to lose sight of when losing weight is too much.”
In short, this diet is likely to help you lose a few pounds at first, but the results are likely to return as soon as you finish the diet. When it comes to disease prevention, 3 weeks is probably not long enough to have a measurable long-term impact.
Although many of its foods are healthy, the SirtFood diet is very limited in calories and options; so it is very likely that it is deficient in proteins, vitamins and minerals, especially during the first phase.
ABSTRACT
The Sirtfood diet contains many healthy foods but it is not completely balanced. Some patterns like reducing calories to the maximum can bring more complications than benefits.
The Sirtfood diet is unnecessarily restrictive in calories and macronutrients, particularly in the first and second phases.
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 the same energy as before.
As for its benefits, they are not yet clear although 3 weeks is likely too short a period to have a long-term impact on your health.
While adding Sirt foods to your diet is not a bad idea and may even offer some health benefits, the diet itself is nothing more tha.
