The “revolutionary” sirtfood diet (not to be confused with street food!) made a splash among fans of “losing weight delicious.” Of course, because the main emphasis in it is on the fact that it turns out you can lose weight on wine and chocolate. However, wine and chocolate as dietary products are far from new, and sirtfood gained special popularity rather thanks to a powerful advertising campaign launched by its creators.
Pretty quickly, the Internet was flooded with a lot of pseudo-originals of this diet. But the fact is that the original version of the diet is sold by its creators, so the online version is more of a fake. Doctor.kz borrowed the original version from the authors themselves to figure out whether this is really a revolution in dietetics or another product intended only to enrich its creators.
Sirtfood from the point of view of the authors
The authorship of “sirtfood” belongs to two instructors-nutritionists of a private sports club in the UK. In the preface of their textbook, they state that “sirtfood is a revolutionary plan for losing weight and improving health, capable of triggering changes in the body at the cellular level that will positively affect not only health, but also life expectancy”” The authors base such a bold statement on studies of sirtuins, a group of 7 proteins recently discovered in living organisms. This group of proteins, allegedly (there is no reliable evidence yet, research on sirtuins continues) regulates various functions of the body’s vital activity, including metabolism. And the diet is based on the use of plant products that can increase the level of sirtuins.
“Sirtuin” foods
The list of the 20 best foods for sirtfood includes:
- kale cabbage
- blueberries
- onion
- dates
- pepper
- walnuts
- soy
- buckwheat
- parsley
- red wine
- lovage (spicy greens)
- olive oil
- salad chicory
- turmeric
- capers
- dark chocolate
- arugula
- japanese powdered green tea
- strawberry
- coffee
The meaning of the diet – the menu should consist only of a combination of these products, and … active fitness classes. The authors claim that this combination will lead to rapid weight loss and protect against diseases.
Sirtfood as it is
The diet consists of 2 phases, and lasts 3 weeks. The main condition is the consumption of specially prepared juice throughout the entire period. And preferably after the end of the diet, to consolidate the result.
Juice recipe (the authors insist on exact compliance with the recipe):
Ingredients:
- 75 g of kale cabbage
- 30 grams of arugula
- 5 g of parsley
- 2 sticks of celery
- 1 cm ginger
- half a green apple
- half a lemon
- half a teaspoon of matcha green tea
Method of preparation:
all ingredients, with the exception of green tea and lemon, are passed through a juicer and poured into a glass. Lemon juice is squeezed by hand. Then green tea powder is added and everything is mixed.
- The first phase of the diet lasts 7 days and includes calorie restriction and a lot of juice. During this time, weight is lost. If everything is done correctly, then on the 8th day it should take about 3 kg.
During the first 3 days, calorie intake is limited to 1000 per day. At the rate of 3 cups of juice and 1 meal.
From day 4 to day 7, calorie intake increases to 1500: 2 glasses of juice a day and 2 meals (naturally, food should consist only of sirtfood products).
The second phase lasts 2 weeks. There are no clear indications for the number of calories, just 3 meals of the right food and 1 glass of juice.
The diet cycle can be repeated as many times as you want. The authors emphasize that in the future, after completing the diet, it is necessary to include sirtfood dishes in the menu more often, drink juice and do fitness.
Actually, this diet is more like an attempt to orient the reader to a lifestyle change than a revolutionary word in dietetics.
Therefore, let’s try to turn to the facts.
Sirtfood: just the facts
Perhaps the only thing we can agree with is that the recommended products are each useful for the body in their own way. But the connection of this benefit with sirtuins is not obvious.
So far, only animal and cell culture studies have shown interesting results. For example, it was found that an increase in the level of sirtuins leads to an increase in life expectancy in yeast, worms and mice.
Some evidence, not yet thoroughly proven, suggests that sirtuins can play an important role in reducing inflammation and slowing the development of heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease. Nevertheless, sirtuins have not yet been tested on humans.
How healthy is this diet?
Absolutely not a fact. Like all diets, the sirtfood diet is restrictive, and in its process the body does not receive part of the vitamins and trace elements necessary for normal functioning. We add here the need to purchase a juicer, an original recipe book and the exoticism of some products… In this regard, it even loses to many other diets.
3 weeks is clearly not enough time for the active consumption of the above products could seriously affect the improvement of health. But it’s still worth adding these products to the diet, and without any diets.
The question of possible side effects from such a diet is mildly avoided. But in people with diabetes, calorie restriction and eating a lot of juice during the first few days can cause dangerous spikes in blood sugar levels.
What is its effectiveness?
All evidence of the effectiveness of sirtfood is based only on the words of the authors themselves. The book contains the result of an experiment in which 39 people from the visitors of their fitness center took part. For a week, the participants followed a diet, trained daily, and each, on average, lost a little more than 3 kg. Needless to say, the duration and number of participants casts doubt on the advertised effectiveness.
Any diet based on a sharp reduction in calories and an increase in physical activity will lead to exactly the same result. The problem is that after the end of such a diet and returning to the usual diet, even with the mandatory addition of “necessary” products to the menu, the weight will also return. This has long been proven and is a problem of all diets.
Considering all of the above, we make a diagnosis: sirtfood is not something really revolutionary in dietetics. Any diet will lead to similar results, so whether to buy “Sirtfood-original” or not is up to you.
