Metabolic cure: how to do it properly

A healthy, active metabolism is the key to successful weight loss. That is exactly why metabolic cures promise to fire up your metabolism to peak performance while cutting your food intake back to an absolute minimum. But is that really so successful? Our nutrition experts have taken a closer look at the common diets and found out: a starvation cure is not only a danger to physical and mental wellbeing, it also slows the metabolism down, and does so for up to several years! Do you want to know more? Then read on to find out what metabolic cures are really about and how you can actually train your metabolism to work WITH you, the Foodpunk way.

The reason behind a metabolic cure is usually this: to fire up the metabolism as strongly as possible and so maximise the use of the fat reserves. Because “metabolism” means nothing other than: how much material (that is, nutrients) does the body turn over, and how much does it then use for basic body functions? The higher this consumption, the higher the calorie deficit. The higher the calorie deficit, the more energy is drawn from the body fat, which is used up as a result. For comparison: on a diet of 1000 kcal a day with an active metabolism (energy requirement 2200 kcal), a good 400 kcal more body fat is used up than with a slowed metabolism (consumption 1800 kcal), which corresponds to almost 45 g less body fat a day.

Sounds totally easy, and in theory you would simply have to eat very little for a very long time and hey presto, you would lose a great deal of weight. But our body is not built along such mathematical lines after all. The problem: if we take in too little energy through our food, our body adapts its metabolism to the new circumstances and turns the energy requirement down. The consequence: less body fat is used up and weight loss stagnates. So the goal with a metabolic diet is this: to lose weight without the metabolism switching into saving mode.

Whether the hCG diet or the 21 day metabolic cure, the range of commercial metabolic cures is large. Their method: a very high calorie deficit in the shortest possible period of time. Fat and carbohydrates are off limits. To heat the metabolism up beforehand, two loading days are recommended before the strictly restrictive diet phase, days on which you really tuck in. After that there is no more than 500 to 800 kcal a day. As soon as the desired weight is reached, the calories are increased step by step. This is meant to avoid the yo-yo effect.

But hold on a moment, a very large deficit? Does that not also make the metabolism drop sharply? Quite right! And the loading days pushed in beforehand cannot change that either. The step by step increase is admittedly better than going back overnight to the same amount of calories as before, but it still cannot prevent the yo-yo effect. And not only that: the metabolism does indeed pick up a little again because of the increase in calories, but in most cases it still does not regain its full power. You eat just as you did before, but burn less. One explanation for this effect is that on badly composed diets with a high calorie deficit, muscle is lost, and muscle is exactly what burns a lot of calories. On top of that, our control boss, the hypothalamus, turns down a number of energy consuming functions in the body, among other things by way of the thyroid. A study on former participants of the show “The Biggest Loser”, in which overweight people lose up to 60 kg within a few weeks through exercise and dieting, showed that even 6 years after the show the metabolism was still clearly reduced. Only a few participants managed to keep their weight off, and then only by taking in no more than about 1400 kcal a day. How can you prevent this?

Many crash diets leave some essential things out of account: calories alone are reduced, for example, with no attention paid to macronutrients and micronutrients. That way you run the risk of not taking in enough protein, for example on a juice fasting cure, in modern parlance a “detox”. You can do that for 2 days, but not much longer. Without enough protein the muscle mass is not maintained, muscles are broken down and with them the basal metabolic rate and the calorie consumption during activity go down. There is often a serious shortage of fatty acids too, among them the omega 3 fatty acids, which are important for a number of the body’s own tissues (brain, organs). Structures are broken down, and where fewer cells have to be supplied, the body uses less energy.

Too small an amount of calories and nutrients stimulates the hunger hormones. On the one hand these stimulate cravings, on the other they also slightly slow the metabolism down. This is admittedly a temporary process (with the next good meal it is reversed), but if you eat too little permanently, then the hunger hormones also stimulate the body permanently to save energy. A lack of vitamins and minerals can lead, through various processes, to the metabolism running more slowly and using less energy. Magnesium and vitamin B are important cofactors in a number of metabolic reactions. If there is a deficiency here, the reaction cannot run at its proper speed. Less energy is used.

Other micronutrients serve as building blocks for skin and hair. If these building blocks are not delivered through food, no new tissue can be produced. Skin regeneration, hair growth and nail growth are slowed down.

On top of that, an extremely low calorie intake per day signals “stress” to the body! Cortisol is released, which can also lead to the breakdown of muscle mass, because cortisol promotes gluconeogenesis, the production of glucose from amino acids (protein). The missing energy makes itself clearly felt in your concentration and your performance. You are often tired and worn out. On top of this, psychological factors come into play as well. Starting with a bad mood and a lack of motivation, it can even go as far as depressive moods. That not only makes quality of life worse, it also means that many people do not even get through the diet phase in the first place. The hormone system gets out of balance too, because the lack of energy can bring thyroid problems and (in women) cycle disorders in its wake.

All of this is usually reversible. Deficiencies can be evened out again with the right diet, muscles can be built up again through strength training. Sometimes that takes longer, sometimes it goes more quickly. The better the metabolism is supplied, the more smoothly all processes can run. That is why it is important, when you are on a diet, to pay close attention to taking in the important macronutrients and micronutrients in sufficient amounts.

The hormone hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) is often recommended for metabolic cures. Behind it lies a pregnancy hormone which in the 1950s was promoted as a miracle diet remedy by the endocrinologist Albert T.W. Simeons. According to his study results, the hormone brought about a rapid loss of fatty tissue while muscle was maintained and performance stayed high. Just 5 years later these findings were refuted. By now there are more than 20 studies which have found no positive influence.

Today the hormone is injected as a doping agent and testosterone booster, or to induce ovulation in women. Because of its carcinogenic effect it is freely available only in the form of extremely low dose globules or drops, to which no effect can be ascribed. Whether the hormone can be absorbed through the digestive tract at all is likewise unclear. To put it the Foodpunk way: there are better roads that lead “to Rome”.

At Foodpunk the motto is: eat better, not less! Putting yourself through extreme phases of hunger again and again, only to put the weight back on after a few weeks or months, is not our thing. And you can break out of this cycle too! Get your ticket to the body you feel good in, with a ketogenic diet.

With a measured carbohydrate intake you can reprogramme your metabolism and get it used to fat as an energy source. That makes it easier for the body to break down its own fat reserves. “Fat makes you fat”: that is a statement you can safely forget (given the right composition of your food). On the contrary: fat fills you up! And it tastes good! Because fat is a natural carrier of flavour. Have you ever tried the Foodpunk pumpkin chilli or the hearty, spicy moussaka? Our community and the Foodpunk office team as well, we are all fans! The best part: on a ketogenic diet you can eat more calories and still lose weight. It’s magic! That way you only have a smaller calorie deficit and the metabolism is not thrown off track. Goodbye yo-yo effect. On this path, losing weight is healthy and lasting, and you feel really good while you do it! You will find more information on the ketogenic diet in our article “Alles über ketogene Ernährung“.

But there is even more behind the ketogenic metabolic switch à la Foodpunk than weight loss results. In our plans we rely on plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, healthy fats and foods that are as unprocessed as possible. Nutrient deficiencies? Not a chance! Instead the immune system gets a real push! Ketosis brings many benefits with it too, and in recent years it has increasingly been researched as a means of preventing illnesses such as diabetes, Alzheimer’s or high blood pressure.

Have you really got a taste for trying out a metabolic cure à la Foodpunk? Then sign up and get your individual nutrition plan!