At the latest when temperatures rise in spring, summer vacations are planned and clothes become airier, diet issues become increasingly present.
Unsatisfied with their own body and figure, many people aim to get rid of the excess kilos that they have gained over a long period of time as quickly as possible. Whether low carb, Paleo or intermittent fasting – the range of diets that (supposedly) deliver promising results in just a few weeks is unlimited. The effectiveness is highly controversial and the negative effects that incorrect or severely deficient diets have on physical health, well-being and also the figure are becoming increasingly clear.
What many people are not aware of is that our body is our capital and without it we would not be able to stand up, would not be able to work - simply would not be able to live. He is well-disposed towards us, extremely smart, well thought out and also a “creature of habit” that needs to be “fed” regularly.
In this article we will show you why radical, one-sided diets and malnutrition make you both physically and mentally ill and usually lead to weight gain instead of weight loss.
The physical balance
With radical, sudden changes or denial of the necessary calorie intake, we throw our body completely out of its natural balance. Suddenly he is supposed to get energy from foods that he shouldn't otherwise process or that he can't do anything with because they give him the wrong kind of energy. The physical stress that both the body and mind are exposed to while dieting has a negative impact on physical balance. The constant thoughts about food during the diet, the physical stress caused by constant feelings of hunger and the conflict between what the body demands and what the “diet plan” dictates causes cortisol levels to rise drastically. The hormone cortisol in turn causes our body to store fat and as a result we tend to gain weight rather than lose weight.
The metabolism
Many people believe that a low-carbohydrate diet in particular revs up the metabolism and causes the body to burn food quickly. However, the reduction in calories ultimately leads to the body adapting and switching to energy-saving mode. All processes in the body then take place more slowly and we become more tired, less motivated and no longer feel like doing anything. As a result of this calorie deficit, the body sends out additional hormones, which cause the desire to eat, especially calorie-containing foods, to increase sharply - the body thus initiates compensatory mechanisms to maintain the natural will to live.
In order to ensure that the body can function optimally and the metabolism is stimulated, the body needs exactly what it really needs and demands. If you give the body the right amount of food, at the right time and from what it really needs - i.e. what you are hungry for - it can get optimal energy from it. The metabolism can also start to run at full speed.
Every body has its own rhythm that ensures that physical balance is maintained. If you observe this body's own rhythm when eating, the body can function properly with its metabolic processes. Studies show that people who intuitively eat what they really want and at exactly the time when their body demands it are generally slimmer and even have a more positive image of themselves and increased life energy.
When your metabolism is running at full speed, the physical processes in your cells also accelerate and you are bubbling with energy. The physical energy then ensures that the motivation for exercise and sport increases and you can go through the day with power. It is also much easier for the body to build muscle when it is optimally supplied, maintains its natural physical balance and is not in a calorie deficit.
emotions and feelings
Above all, the psychological and emotional effects of thoughts of losing weight and insufficient calorie intake, which lead to severe dissatisfaction and a bad mood, are noticeable. Due to the negative stress of increased cortisol levels due to deprivation, one tends to expand this negative focus into other areas of life. As a result, self-esteem drops, you feel bad and get caught in a negative spiral of feelings and emotions that can reinforce each other. The environment, family, friends and partners also suffer from the negative emotional state, as the bad mood and negative emotions become noticeable. In addition, negative emotions can lead to you eating significantly more for emotional reasons in order to change your emotional state and people try to calm down the negative emotions, especially with sweets, chocolate and the like.
Intuition – the key to health
The peculiarities of the human body are so numerous that it can be seen as a small miracle. Our bodies enable us to live. It organizes thousands of different processes throughout the day and does everything it can to maintain physical functions. For this it needs energy - each body individually according to its own needs and not according to a made-up diet. If you treat it carefully, appreciate it and stay in touch with it, you will know what you feel like. Whether we want to move, rest, drink something or eat something, we intuitively feel within ourselves and can decide what we need at the moment. It's no different with food. Sometimes you feel like a large, fresh salad and on other days you feel the need for a large portion of pasta due to, for example, a lot of exertion in the evening.
Basically, every body is able to decide exactly and correctly what it needs. The best example of this is children who always eat what they want, move when they feel like it, and rest and go to sleep when they feel like it.