“Whoever wants to lose weight has to start doing physical exercise, but it is important to see it as something global throughout the year”
We all have more or less clear which foods are healthy and which are not, but although we know the theory, practice is something else. A good part of society finds it difficult, and a lot, to refrain from eating unhealthy food and they enter into an endless vicious circle. They go on a diet to lose weight, they stop because they have anxiety, they try again… and the wheel never stops. These situations end up being stressful and can lead to serious health problems. Now that summer is here, it is common for people to worry about their figure again, but it must be clear that fast diets are not an option, as they only work momentarily. Uxía Rodríguez, dietician-nutritionist and secretary of the Official Association of Dietitians-Nutritionists of Galicia (CODINUGAL) demolishes internet trends and encourages people to seek professional advice.
With summer just around the corner, many people decide to shed pounds and want to do it fast. Intermittent fasting is very fashionable, what is it and what do you think of it as a professional?Intermittent fasting is based on having dinner at a relatively early hour and not having breakfast, directly eating. Then you fast for about 14 hours, and in the rest you eat. There are variants but it would be more or less that. Studies have been done comparing intermittent dieters with others who followed a healthy diet and the results when it comes to losing weight in a healthy way are similar. In other words, there are people who find it better to concentrate their meals in a few hours and others who, if they fast, get anxious and in the end the cure is worse than the disease because they end up eating more for not having had breakfast. It depends a lot on the person. So you have to individualize.Diets that avoid carbohydrates such as Keto are still on the rise. Do you think it’s a mistake to lower your consumption?It must be clarified that we usually consume too many carbohydrates. When we think of a pasta dish, we think of a well-filled one, but we should see pasta as a kind of garnish. I always say that it has to occupy a quarter of the plate and normally it never happens. So reducing them is good, but with this type of diet in which very little is consumed, there is a risk of not providing enough glucose to the body, which is our source of energy, and it can be dangerous. When you get below a minimum you enter a state of ketoacidosis and this prolonged in time can be harmful to the body. That is why when doing this type of diet you have to know why and do it with a nutritionist who knows how to analyze it and control that carbohydrates are not consumed below the minimum.At what level does the internet affect when it comes to generating myths about the feeding?It affects a lot and for bad. Myths are very common, such as that fruit at night feels bad or that you cannot eat vegetables for dinner either, and that means that if you do not take them, which would be healthy because you have to include them in lunch and dinner, you opt for another type of products that are not as nutritious and that will make it difficult for you to be at a healthy weight.
What do you think of diets in which food is replaced by shakes or pills, and which, apart from that, are very expensive?It would be necessary to analyze each individual case, but in general I do not recommend them. What we nutritionists do is food education. In other words, if you are overweight we are going to lose it but we are also going to learn to eat well. With pills or shakes you do not learn to eat and when you reach your target weight level, you will eat again as before. And there are studies that show that you not only recover the lost kilos, but also gain more. The problem is that they are also products that you can buy in supermarkets or parapharmacies, so they are very accessible. Then the rebound effect occurs because when you drop very suddenly your body favors the opposite to happen: you gain weight quickly.Is it possible to lose many kilos in just a couple of months? Can it be achieved without health risks?In general, no, it has to be something gradual so that your body gets used to it. It is not healthy to lose weight with fast diets because the rebound effect is guaranteed. If we talk about being overweight, there may be cases of losing 10 kilos in a month, but in general it is not convenient. Making an exaggerated restriction for two or three months in the summer will make you lose weight, but also muscle.And of course, good eating guidelines should be accompanied by physical exercise…Of course, whoever wants to lose weight has to start doing physical exercise. But it is important to see it as something global throughout the year, not now for two months to take great care of yourself and then wait for April of the following year to start with this. It is advisable to maintain a healthy eating style throughout the year and add physical exercise. This should not be done only in a few specific months.Many people say that they do not have willpower and are not able to control themselves when eating. Are there any tactics to avoid going into a binge?Yes, setting realistic and concrete goals. There are people who start eating, for example, cooked fish and chicken every day and that is such a sudden change that it will not be able to be sustained over time. The ideal is to gradually adapt healthy eating to your lifestyle so that the change is not so sudden.We all know that sugar and fat are bad for you… but I suppose indulging once in a while isn’t so bad either. Where is the limit?If one day you have a craving for anything, take it, no problem. If we are already talking about anxiety at such a level that every day you need to eat sweets, that when you finish work and relax you feel like eating unhealthy products, then you have to work on it. An intervention with psychology is necessary to address this anxiety. Nutritionists work together with psychologists to do what is called psychonutrition. Stress, anxiety, are often primed with food.Is there a healthy number of meals a day?That depends on each case. There are people who eat three times a day and do well, but others may arrive at lunch or dinner very hungry and in these cases it is advisable to have something to eat at mid-morning or a snack to avoid a binge.And a quantity of water?They do not have to drink the two liters that they have always told us, it can be a liter and a half a day, and within this amount would be the water that fruits and vegetables provide us. A puree also has added water. I take this opportunity to emphasize the importance of consuming legumes because several studies insist on increasing the amount of vegetable protein we eat and decreasing the amount of meat per week. And, of course, you have to consume fruits and vegetables.Are there any restrictions regarding coffee and tea?They can be consumed but not in excess to avoid going overboard with caffeine and theine. Two or three cups a day are fine, depending on the case. In pregnant or breastfeeding women, a maximum of two daily is advisable. You have to differentiate tea from infusions, which can be taken as many as you want to reach the recommended amount of water.Lastly. Is it vital to go to a nutritionist to adapt the diet to your needs in case you want to eat better?It would be recommended because it is common for us to find more factors that hinder weight loss. At our clinic, in A Coruña, sometimes people come to us who don’t understand why they don’t lose weight. There are factors that sometimes contribute to this and we can help to achieve that healthy weight loss, which is maintained over time, and which is not seasonal, only now for summer.