Month: September 2022

The idea of enhancing metabolism is completely different to what you most commonly think. Metabolism is not always a genetic thing. It’s not like once you have constipation, you’re going to have it forever. You can actually boost metabolism with dieting, which is not the hardest thing to do. 

Sometimes the biggest barrier in dieting or achieving your dream weight lies in how good your metabolism is. It’s more like a foundation thing, where a clean diet truly determines the fate of weight watchers. 

We’re always concerned with how to burn more calories or simply consume less. Also, there’s that thing gender-wise where men easily burn more calories compared to women. The same phenomenon applies even when they are static or not moving. 

Then there’s the boundary of age, where your metabolism by default slows down to a great extent after a certain age. Precisely, around the age of 40, metabolism in all genders seems to slow down and most digestive or excretory difficulties most likely seem to show up around that age.

Cutting to the chase, now you must be wondering how exactly do you enhance or boost your metabolism process just with dieting? The answer is simple, as dieting is all you need to keep it going. Plus, there are other things you can incorporate with a smart diet to get the best results. Let’s have a look at what:

Hydrate yourself

There’s nothing, absolutely nothing in this world some hydration can’t fix. The benefits of drinking enough water are pretty much known and self-explanatory in its own way. The calories you consume through your meals of the day, can’t be processed if you don’t drink water in the required amounts. 

Drinking more water, leads to more calorie burning. However, our concern here is metabolism. As we already know, the key to life is water. A rise of 25% in proper metabolism can be achieved just with proper hydration. 

Peak performance is just a few cups away, so why not just drink some by the hour? Whatever you drink is converted into necessary energy. Your body needs to expend some and only water can help you with that. It’s just that simple, the more water you drink (in recommended limit), more energy you produce and that’s equivalent to enhanced excretory functions. That in brief, is what we’re trying to achieve here. So the message is DRINK WATER FROM TIME TO TIME.   

Eat more often

As a matter of fact, if you consume a lesser number of meals with a huge time gap, you basically allow your body’s metabolism to slow down. Slashing that out, if you go for smaller meals every 3-4 hours, the metabolism process in your body is fastened up by a lot. Just by cranking your metabolism up by having snack breaks often, you can keep burning calories throughout the day.

A healthy lifestyle can not just help you stay in shape, but provide you with energy and vitality. Just make sure the meal portions are small, well-suited to your daily calorie goal in order to avoid over-consumption or overeating. 

Remember to make a note if necessary of what or how many calories you’re consuming, keeping a track of things always helps. Let’s run it again, shall we? Eat nutritious, mini-meals every now and then to stay fit or clear out even better. 

Some Coffee doesn’t hurt 

Caffeine is a known stimulant. So when it is consumed in control, it can actually do the process of metabolism in your body a lot better. An enhanced metabolism can lead to the burning of unnecessary fat or fatty acids which isn’t all that good for your health. Especially, if you consume black coffee with no added sugar or milk, the effects are maximum. 

A little sugar to suit your taste, would still have similar effects. Coffee on its own, black preparation can have maximum benefits as dairy or sugar may simply add unwanted calories or cause gas which is bad for your process of digestion as a whole. 

However, the effects of caffeine may vary, with various studies or findings to be put into proper consideration.  Also, you need to understand your body perfectly before incorporating stimulants like coffee in your diet, as caffeine is not the most flexible element in the department of compatibility. Incorporating light exercise with caffeine is mostly effective. This is because studies show that the effect of it on metabolism is comparatively more in athletes, than a person who isn’t. 

Green Tea cup 

This one is very similar to the application of coffee, but the effects aren’t as aggressive. Green tea is rich in antioxidants, which is anyway very good for your health. Plus, the lukewarm water mixed with the benefits of components in green tea help in metabolism. It’s available in various flavour variants, which individually have a lot to offer. Stuff like chamomile, jasmine, lavender, tulsi and etc have advantages of their own which can truly do wonders to your process of digestion and your overall health. The effect of oolong tea or green tea may be slight, but something is better than nothing right? And, don’t forget to consider the other things that come with it. So it’s more like a win-win situation with this one. 

Don’t forget to Stand Up 

Will the real lazy bird please stand up? Hey, standing up isn’t that bad. It’s at least better than a full on exercise, that is if we’re speaking strictly from a rest-loving person’s point of view. Anyway, sitting too much is simply quite bad for your health and it doesn’t help to boost your metabolism at all. 

In that case, all you have to do is keep a stopwatch arrangement in your mobile phone or something and stand for at least a few minutes. Take a nice walk on your balcony, if need be! It’s really not that hard. 

As per CMR or Cardiometabolic risk scores, studies show that steps per day or simply standing up has a lot of health benefits. Elements like inches on the waist, blood pressure (systolic & diastolic), triglycerides, insulin etc are heavily benefitted. Naturally, just standing up a little from time to time really does have more non-literal brownie points than you think. 

Still, we recommend you to not overdo it, just like you shouldn’t overdo anything in life. Standing just like that for too long won’t do you any good, but in fact lead to excess burning of calories which is not a-okay.

Metabolism- An insight on the process

After you finish a meal, the nutrients in your food are broken down by the enzymes in your stomach to produce energy that you need to do pretty much anything from breathing to exercise for a more toned body. This process is known as metabolism.

Then you break down the proteins into amino acids, where fats are afterwards simplified into fatty acids. Progressively the carbohydrates are later turned into simple sugars.

These readily provide energy to your body to help you move, think and act. This process of breaking down nutrients is called catabolism, or destructive metabolism.

However, the energy can also be stored as more complex proteins, carbs and fats through a process known as anabolism or constructive metabolism. This is what helped you grow up from a child to an adult, and what makes our muscles, hair, and other tissues grow!

How does it happen?

The rate and direction of metabolism is controlled by several hormones of your body’s endocrine system.

These include: 

• Thyroxine, which is secreted by the Thyroid gland, helps in determining how fast or slow the chemical reactions and processes inside your body are taking place.
• A great way to improve your thyroid function is to implement these in your diet :-

            Roasted seaweed, nuts, fish, dairy, and fresh eggs.

• Your pancreas decides whether nutrients are used as energy or to build the tissues that make up your body. For instance, after a meal, the blood is high in glucose levels. Pancreas senses this rise in glucose and produces insulin as a signal for your body to start repairing your wounds and creating new cells.
•  Foods that are good for pancreas/Insulin levels work. Say, for example, citrus fruits like lemon and orange or food high in fiber such as beans and lentils or even whole grains like oats , quinoa and barley.

 

Another very important aspect, is  how much and how often you are moving around and engaging in an active lifestyle. We recommended that you input daily walks as much as possible. Not only is it good for your health but it surely saves a lot of money.

Other activities such as playing sports, or dancing, or visiting the gym are major players in helping your metabolism boost your muscle growth and fat weight loss.

High protein diet does really promote muscle growth in your body, which leads to an increase in burning calories. Hence all of that naturally helps in weight loss, if that’s a part of your goal other than an enhanced metabolism. You should consume white meat such as chicken and fish or try plenty of pulses, soy, legumes and milk products as a part of your nutritious diet. 

In conclusion, a well planned diet and some light exercise is the key to a healthy and wealthy fulfilling life.

Diet and exercise have a considerable positive effect on our well-being. A proper diet with the correct nutritional value will ensure that your health stays at its optimum condition. Exercises and other fitness measures aid in retaining the results. The amalgamation of proper diet and exercise effectively takes care of your cardiac health, bones, muscles and mental health. 

When it comes to following a diet then, there are numerous diet plans which have gained immense popularity in recent times. Not all diet plans work with the same effectiveness for everyone. Today in this article, we will have a brief look at the Dukan Diet, its phases, effectiveness, pros and cons. So, come join us as we discuss and review the Dukan diet. 

What is Dukan Diet? 

The Dukan Diet was brought into meaning by the eminent French physician, Dr Pierre Dukan, in the 1970s.

This diet can simply be explained as an effective weight-loss eating plan which includes a high quantity of protein intake.

An individual following the Dukan Diet needs to intake fewer carbohydrates and fat, and instead, focus on high and lean protein foods. By consuming high protein foods and eliminating carbohydrates from your diet, you will feel full and hence that will help reduce appetite. 

Also, since protein digestion expends more energy, it helps in burning extra calories. 

The Dukan Diet lists 100 specific food items. Among these food items, 68 foods are listed as pure protein foods, whereas 32 food items are vegetables. 

Dukan Diet Plan: Preparation and Phases 

Unlike other popularly known diet plans, while following the Dukan diet, one doesn’t need to put a restriction on meal timing or even practise fasting. The Dukan Diet can be achieved by following four different phases. During the phases, however, certain meals are restricted to specific days. 

The Dukan Diet has been known to be an efficient and effective technique for weight loss.  

Phase I: Attack 

This is the initial stage of the Diet. During the attack phase, one is advised to consume unlimited lean protein or proteins with less saturated fat. The amount of protein intake depends on how much weight you want to lose. 

In the course of the Dukan Diet, you can eat lean meat like beef, eggs, seafood and lite milk dairy products. You can also use a small amount of olive oil for frying or light baking. Additionally, Oat bran is certainly a great option while you are following this diet as it is rich in nutrients and antioxidants. Also, you will be advised to drink at least six to eight glasses of water per day. 

The Attack phase lasts for a span of two to seven days. 

Phase II: Cruise 

The Cruise Phase is the second phase of the Dukan Diet. During this phase, you eat all that you ate in the Attack phase. In this phase, however, vegetables are added. You will be advised to go for green leafy veggies, cauliflowers, broccoli, mushrooms, cucumbers, etc. Your oat bran consumption will also increase during this phase to two tablespoons a day. 

The Cruise Phase might begin from day two of the diet or day eight after the first phase is complete. 

Phase III: Consolidation 

The third phase, i.e., the Consolidation Phase will be routinized when you will achieve your true weight, in the language of the doctors. During this phase, you will continue eating all the foods from the Attack and the Cruise phase. With all those food items, you will also add a small number of fruits, cheese, non-lean parts of meat, wine and starches. 

During the Consolidation phase, you will be advised to increase oat bran consumption to 2.5 tablespoons a day. In simpler words, the third phase of the diet allows you to consolidate your meals within 5 days of every pound that you have lost whilst following the first two phases. 

Phase IV: Stabilization 

The fourth and final phase of this diet is the Stabilization phase. As the name suggests, this phase is all about weight maintenance and lasts for an indefinite period of time. Whilst following the stabilization phase, you need to eat all the food that you ate in the Consolidation phase. You can loosen the rule once your weight reaches a stable point. 

In this phase, you will be advised to eat around 3 tablespoons of Oat bran, follow a pure protein diet every Thursday and walk or exercise for at least 20 minutes a day.

What to Eat and Not Eat 

One derives nutritional elements in the Dukan Diet from primarily protein-rich foods. There are less to almost nil carbohydrates in the diet. Protein confers one with maximum energy and it contains a very low amount of fat. Besides this, one who’s following the Dukan diet should also perform regular physical activities, mainly walking. Avoid using the elevator and instead, use the stairs. Avoid taking the bus for a shorter distance and instead, cycle. 

What Can You Eat?

Here is a list of food items that you will be advised to take while on the Dukan Diet:

• Lean meat: Red Meat (Beef, goat, lamb)
• Skinless Poultry (chicken and turkey)
• Seafood (fish, crustaceans and molluscs like oysters and clams) 
• Lite milk or Low-fat dairy products (milk, cottage cheese, yoghurt) 
• Eggs
• Oat bran 
• Lemon juice for Vitamin C 
• Leafy green vegetables (spinach, kales, cabbage, lettuce, microgreens)
• Broccoli, asparagus, sprouts, bell peppers
• Green beans 
• Carrots and beets
• Olive oil
• Artificial sweeteners 

 

Note: Whey protein is a major part of the diet which follows a strictly protein-oriented nutritional quotient. In addition to the weight loss regime and fitness, adding whey protein to your diet will efficiently help you strengthen your muscles, bones and your overall health.  

What Not To Eat 

In the Dukan Diet, all the food that you are eating during the Attack phase and the Cruise phase has low carb and less fat content. The list below mentions all those types of food you should avoid while you are following the diet, especially during the initial phases. These foods, however, can be eaten in a proportionate amount during the Consolidation phase and then the Stabilization phase. 

• High-carb food (rice, potatoes, sugar)
• Bread, pasta, wheat and flour
• High-fat meats (pork, bacon) 
• Fried foods
• Whole milk or non-skimmed milk 
• Butter and cheese
• Fruits which include mango, banana, apple, grapes, pineapple, strawberries and watermelon
• Coconut
• Avocados
• Mayonnaise and other salad dressings 

Pros of the Dukan Diet 

The Dukan Diet has been known to show excellent results in weight loss, weight stability and weight maintenance. As the diet advises one to have an unlimited amount of lean protein, one wouldn’t even feel the need to eat more to fulfil their hunger. Unlike most other diet plans, the rapid and fast weight loss while following the Dukan diet is highly motivating. 

Moreover, the Consolidation phase followed by the Stabilization phase, allows one to enjoy and celebrate meals which further encourages the person to adhere to the rules and walk towards the path of weight maintenance and control.

Cons of the Dukan Diet 

With the high amount of lean protein in this diet, there are hardly any risks or negatives that you should look forward to. However, when it comes to scientific analysis, the restricted foods in this diet might lead to inadequate nutrition.

First of all, the switch from carbohydrate burning to fat burning produces a considerable amount of ketones in the body. Ketone production might lead to dry mouth, bad breath, nausea and insomnia.

Also, in the attack phase, due to the restricted diet measures, one might quite naturally feel weak and dizzy. So, it is always recommended that you perform less strenuous activities during this phase. 

Now, most importantly, there are high chances of developing heart and kidney problems due to unlimited consumption of a high amount of protein in the diet. This is because your kidneys need to work harder to process the derivatives of protein metabolism. There is a limit on protein intake that the kidneys can handle. This can be however combatted by drinking lots of water, which is suggested in the diet. 

Due to the restriction on the consumption of whole grains, fruits and vegetables, your body will run short of anti-oxidants. This will lead to lesser detoxification and hence to greater and more severe problems including heart issues and even cancer. Furthermore, people with kidney and heart problems, gout and eating disorders, should avoid following this diet as it may lead to more severe complications. 

What Else is There to the Dukan Diet? 

We wouldn’t say that you would be venturing on an easy path towards weight loss while following this diet. If you had to measure the level of difficulty, then “medium” would be the correct rating. 

When it comes to cooking and shopping then, it is not much of a big deal. You don’t need extra spices or ingredients, and that can help you curtail the overall cost to an extent. 

On the other hand, diet restriction to solely lean proteins can sometimes seem tiresome which might demotivate the person following the diet.  

While following the Dukan diet, doctors and dieticians will advise you daily walk for 20 minutes.

To Sum It Up  

Does Dukan Diet really work? The Dukan Diet is an effective diet plan which helps with fast and stable weight loss and weight maintenance. This protein-rich diet ensures that your body receives fewer carbs and fats, and also keeps your appetite in check. 

Keeping in mind the cons, which might include heart and kidney problems, and even inadequate nutrition, one should strictly follow the rules, measures and pieces of advice that will be suggested by a professional dietician and physician. With a disciplined schedule which includes exercises and drinking lots of water, one should positively begin to see the results within a span of a few weeks. So, all the best as you go ahead with your fitness journey!