Should I avoid this or that food? How many kilocalories per day? What about probiotics? Should I eat gluten-free? Etc. I have compiled for you 10 questions that come up very often during my consultations at the office or with members of the Savoir Maigrir program. You are looking for solutions to lose weight, I have answers to help you succeed!
Here are 10 questions that keep coming up during my office consultations…
1. How many kilocalories per day am I entitled to?
The calorie counter applications (or kilocalories, by abuse of language, nutritionists use the same term because we rarely speak in terms of kilocalories per day, but the term has remained) are very numerous, but unfortunately still remain rather imprecise. Note also that counting calories is not everything.
Eating badly but little is sometimes equivalent in terms of caloric intake to eating larger balanced plates. We should’nt never neglect quality !
2. Are online slimming sites reliable?
After a great effervescence in which it was necessary to know how to sort, the offer is rarefied. Beyond the fact that this online monitoring allows almost daily contact (depending on the chosen site) with a nutrition professional and thesend menus, recipes… that the office consultation does not allow, we must not forget the strength of the community!
Studies show that you are 5 times more likely to succeed in your approach when you are part of a support group. This is the strength of accompaniment!
3. Does eating more protein make you lose weight faster?
Protein cures make it possible to quickly trigger weight loss. Quite simply because we eliminate a maximum of carbohydrates and lipids in parallel and therefore the total caloric intake over the day is greatly reduced, while using the satiating power of proteins.
This type of very restrictive diet has no educational virtues and the frustration gives way to many cracks and weight regains in a row. Moreover, adding protein as part of a balanced diet does not accelerate weight loss.
4. Can I manage to stabilize my weight permanently?
No stabilization does not exist not really ! Of course, after a phase of weight loss, we will gradually increase the calorie intake in order to rebalance the energy balance and be able to make room for more pleasure.
But, if you lose control and go back to your old diet, you run the risk of regaining weight. The food balance remains the basis for life and it will be necessary to know how to remain in a certain control.
5. Should I take food supplements?
Food supplements are products which, as their name suggests, are used to supplement the diet and are basically intended to respond to an imbalance. These are not drugs and as such the supplements cannot cure a pathology or a physiological disorder.
They can exist in different forms (capsules, tablets, liquid drink, ampoule, patch, etc.) and are generally made from plants, trace elements, vitamins which are subject to controls in order to have claims and targeted efficacy according to the contents of active ingredients implemented and controlled by the health authorities.
Their goal is to provide a help with a particular problem : temporary stress, sleep disorders, a state of fatigue, water retention, digestive disorders (bloating, constipation), minor circulatory disorders, etc.
Their use during a balanced diet remains optional, but remember to take the advice of your doctor if you are already undergoing medical treatment.
6. Do probiotics work for weight loss?
Studies have now proven that an improvement in intestinal flora can help reduce certain forms of obesity. Probiotics are naturally present in fermented milk products and certain fruits and vegetables, they have an action prebiotics (it stimulates the development of the flora).
Taking probiotics in the form of food supplements is interesting by monitoring the product purchased because the offer is once again very wide. It is necessary to monitor that the product contains at least 4 billion probioticsideally from different strains, per capsule for it to be effective.
We will then advise 1 to 2 capsules per day. If the effectiveness is still debated, this cure will not present no risk.
7. Should I think about an operation?
Sleeves and bypasses are the most commonly performed obesity surgeries today. Reimbursement is reserved for people suffering from severe obesity and therefore having a BMI>35.
If this solution may seem an attractive outcome, we must not forget that it is a surgical intervention. These are in no way interventions for aesthetic purposes only. In addition, after a few years, we often observe a recovery of 15 to 20% of the lost weight.
To stay healthy and avoid weight regain, this type of method must be followed by postoperative dietary measures and long-term nutritional education support.
8. Is the alkaline diet a good solution?
This program is based on an observation: the human body contains too much acidity, which causes fatigue, stress, pain, osteoporosis and weight gain. In this method, we consider that what we eat belongs either to the family of acids or to the family of bases, thus having a impact on the body’s pH measured in blood or urine.
As part of a good diet, this is balanced so that the body’s ph is neither too acidic nor too alkaline, we then speak ofacid-base balance preventing cardiovascular risks and promoting good general health.
Followers of this diet classify foods between acidifying or alkalizing, taking into account their protein content, certain minerals but also according to the nature of their metabolic waste.
No comments to make on the common sense of these healthy choices, but there’s not much to do with PH here, these are traditional recommendations, the same ones used in low calorie diets.
Apart from his name “alkaline” diet nothing special! It is also necessary to know that our body benefits from mechanisms to restore the acid-base balance, through renal excretion or even through breathing so that precisely there is no acid/base imbalance : the normal pH of blood and cellular fluids (7.35 to 7.45) is actually very stable except in certain pathological circumstances.
9. Should I eat gluten-free?
Gluten is a protein found in rye, oats, barley and especially wheat and all its derivatives (bread, pasta, biscuits, etc.). Many industrial products also contain an addition of wheat starch, or gluten directly in their recipe (see list of ingredients).
If you have a gluten intolerance, this requires great vigilance in your food choices. In this case, gluten-free products are essential for you. But if this is not the case, you have no interest in consuming them regularly, it will not make you lose weight faster!
Some people do indeed lose weight by cutting out gluten, simply because they go hand-in-hand with limiting pasta, pizza, cookies sweet or savory… most of which contain gluten. They would also have lost weight by reviewing the quality of their diet apart from the presence or absence of gluten.
Moreover, for some gluten-free productsthe composition is far from satisfactory with the use of fat in large quantities (sometimes more than 10%) including palm oil, but also sugar and many additives.
10. Should I remove lactose?
Lactose is a specific carbohydrate (sugar) found in breast milk, and all mammalian milks. As it is, it is indigestible: to be absorbed, it is degraded by an enzyme, lactase, which separates lactose into smaller molecules so that it can be absorbed by the intestine.
However, after the age of about 3 years, lactase activity may decrease by 75 90%, depending on each individual. There are children devoid of this enzyme who cannot digest it and as they age it is very common to observe an intolerance consecutive to its progressive disappearance.
Lactose is then not sufficiently degraded, which can lead to bloating, abdominal pain, diarrhea and sometimes a disturbance of transit. While some populations have been able to mutate to maintain the production of lactase essential to their diet, around 40% of the population is indisposed 30 minutes to 2 hours after drinking milk, not only digestively but also in many other ways. (rhinitis, sinusitis, eczema, migraines, concentration disorders, joint pain, frequent urination, etc.).
For some years we have been witnessing a reduction in milk consumption for these reasons. This global trend between convictions and real or supposed lactose intolerance unfortunately tends to confuse several things by inviting a reduction in dairy products in general.
Indeed, only milk and other fresh dairy products contain lactose. Matured Camembert or Comté cheeses no longer contain lactose, due to ripening, just like butter, which is devoid of it.
Finally, yogurts contain it but the presence of lactic ferments promotes the digestion of lactose. When it comes to intolerance, we must all the same remember thatit is not a disease but of an embarrassment, of a discomfort.
On the other hand, you really have to be wary of what I call dairy specialties. By this I mean creams, and everything called dairy specialty without being called yogurt, because it is not sure to have the famous lactic ferments.
I hope I have answered your main questions on how to follow a diet, I suspect that you have many more! You will find solutions on Knowing how to lose weight with the Cohen method, you can even come and visit my site, it is full of advice! Meeting on dr.jeanmichelcohen.fr !
