In conjunction with the beginning of a new year, many people are excited to follow a healthy diet, and rush to look for shortcuts to achieve their goal, without distinguishing between useful and unhelpful advice, in the maze of the huge diet industry, whose global size reached $470 billion in 2021, and it is expected to reach to 684.5 billion by 2027 (in the United States alone, about 45 million people follow a diet in a $70 billion industry).
Portion control is "at the top of the list of things doctors and nutritionists recommend restricting," says health editor Z. Krustek, pointing to "another long-held myth that drinking water before meals is enough to quell hunger, reduce overeating, and promote weight loss."
This is what made author and certified trainer Beth Squarecki warn everyone who plans to go on a diet in the new year, saying, "Do not follow all the weight loss tricks that are pouring on you, most of them cause eating disorders, and the rest are just ways to make your psyche unnecessarily miserable." This was stated in her article published on the "Lifehacker" website a few days ago.
Which makes us address 4 tricks that may be included in this warning, namely:
Smaller plates don't make us eat less
In 2014, Eric Robinson, a lecturer at the University of Liverpool, led a team of researchers to review and analyze studies that were published in 2012 and 2013 by Brian Wansink, author and researcher at Cornell University, and received wide media attention, after promoting the idea of the “placebo effect” that “the more we eat, the smaller the plate.” The smaller amount of food will look bigger in our eyes, so we eat less and then we lose weight.”
Wansink explained this with cognitive reasons, summed up in the fact that "we determine the amount of what we eat in proportion to the size of the plate, and not on the basis of our feeling of hunger."
There is no evidence that smaller plates reduce food consumption (Pixels)
But Robinson and his team point out that in addition to the fact that researchers have recently come under fire for questionable research practices, "there is no benefit to consuming calories simply from eating on smaller plates."
Nor did a second study by Robinson in 2015 find that using a smaller plate reduced the amount of food eaten by participants, as did another study in 2016 which noted "no evidence that smaller plates reduced food consumption."
A more recent study published in 2019 noted that "the effect of plate size on food consumption may be much smaller than previously thought or may not exist at all."
Beth Skwariki finally supported him by saying, "Our brains and bodies are too smart to be deceived by the size of the dish when we feel hungry. Smaller dishes will not succeed in making us eat less than we need to satisfy our hunger."
A glass of water will not deter hunger
There is common advice in diet systems that says, "If you are hungry, it is enough to drink a large glass of water to reduce the feeling of hunger," given that our bodies cannot distinguish between hunger and thirst signals at times, says Skwariki.
Although drinking water throughout the day is essential to keeping the body hydrated, drinking it within half an hour of meals "can dilute hydrochloric acid in the stomach, and therefore not help digest food," according to author and certified health coach Robin Youkilis.
In addition to that “there is no evidence to support the claim that drinking water helps combat hunger,” one of the frequently cited research papers on the topics of hunger, thirst, eating and drinking found that “your body knows the difference between food and water, so when it makes you feel the pain of hunger, it needs to food, but if he needs water, he will make you thirsty, not hungry.”
There is no evidence to support the claim that drinking water helps combat hunger (Shutterstock)
Don't eat like bodybuilders
It is not a requirement for us to lose some weight to eat strictly and discipline food consisting of oats, eggs and tuna, or from those plastic boxes packed with pre-prepared meals of chicken breasts, brown rice and broccoli, without seasonings or sauces, often as required by the bodybuilding diet. of small meals does not boost metabolism."
Beth Skwariki believes, "It is time to get rid of this stereotypical idea of healthy food, and that the best is to follow a system that includes foods that you actually enjoy, so it is okay for your food to taste good." Healthy eating does not mean deprivation at all, and meals are low in calories. And fats are "not healthy food", but they are diet recipes.
The best is to follow a system that includes foods that you actually enjoy, so it is okay for your food to taste good (Shutterstock)
Weight loss is not forever
There is a difference between going on a diet for a limited time in order to lose weight and having this system become a lifestyle, as Skwariki warns that losing weight forever will not be healthy or smart.
"If you're trying to lose weight, do it the best way you can, but once you've lost some weight, keep feeding your whole body again, and don't allow this process to continue for life," Skwarecki advises.
"Remember that losing weight may be a short-lived experience, especially if you return to your previous eating habits, and that the best diet is the one you can stick to," says certified nutritionist Catherine Zeratsky. There is a difference between "dieting" and "changing a lifestyle." life" to be healthy, taking into account the balance between nutrients and their quality, and to last a lifetime.
Better then, if the changes in our diet and lifestyle are positive insofar as they make us healthier, feel more satisfied and less stressed.