Along came the Sirtfood Diet, and the rest was so-called history. Needless to say, if you haven’t heard of Adele’s miracle diet this year, you have probably been living under a rock. It has been making headlines across the world after two celebrity nutritionists from the UK claimed that this diet can help activate your “skinny genes” and regulate functions such as metabolism, inflammation and lifespan.
What Is the Sirtfood Diet?
So, what IS the Sirtfood Diet and what do dietitians have to say about it?
Our own Director of Dietetics, Peta Cullis, recently spoke to pharmaceutical profession e-magazine, Retail Pharmacy Assistants to give her insight into the facts surrounding the trend. According to Peta, the Sirtfood diet “is a diet that’s aimed at including foods that are naturally high in Sirtuins, which are [chemicals] essentially found in the polyphenols”. This means those commonly excluded favourites such as coffee, wine and dark chocolate are included, making this diet and lifestyle pattern vastly different from your everyday weight-loss plans.
What Do You Need to Know?
While the Sirtfood Diet website does claim it is more than just a one-off diet, Peta explained that the restrictive nature of it does mean that participants are likely to see weight loss anywhere up to 10kgs in the first few weeks. That being said, the same restrictive nature means that the diet can be considered unsafe for several populations. From a dietitian’s perspective, Peta says that she would be concerned about the Sirtfood Diet for people on blood-thinning medication, pregnant or people with diabetes. As well as children and elderly people over the age of 75. Likewise, it is probable that someone with IBS or existing gut issues may experience negative side effects from the Sirtfood Diet.
The Sirtfood Diet may not be for everyone but it’s not all bad. Sirtfoods do include many positives for those who can tolerate them without adversely impacting a pre-existing condition. Green vegetables, dark fruits and olive oil are rarely debated as “good, healthy” foods. The inclusion of those often restricted, “hedonistic” foods is obviously a big plus to whilst this diet has gained some traction.
More on the Sirtfood Diet
More-or-less, if you are considering the Sirtfood Diet, our recommendation is to ensure that your GP is aware that you are restricting your food intake. If you are after more in-depth advice on whether this diet would be good for you, click this link speak to one of our incredible dietitians right away.
To read the full article from Retail Pharmacy Assistants, click here.
