Sirtfood Diet - The basics and beginnings
So what is the Sirtfood Diet and where did it come from?
Apparently it has been around for a few years where it was more popular in the UK than elsewhere. Nutritionists Aidan Goggins and Glen Matten published their book, The Sirtfood Diet. in 2016. It picked up steam and perked ears when Adele famously lost a whole lotta weight reportedly using the Sirtfood diet. And not just that but what sealed the deal for me (besides just being a fun new diet to try. Yes, I said fun, diets are fun for me) was that Adele's trainer, Pete Geracimo, believes losing weight should be 80% diet, 10% exercise and 10% rest. I modify it slightly for my needs and ability to 80% diet and 20% rest which means I am eating and sleeping to lose weight. I am very good at both those things!
Ok so that's the where and the what is pretty similar to the idea of the Keto diet except instead of creating ketones you are creating sirtuines. Sirtuins are a family of seven proteins that regulate your health on a cellular level. Their primary function was only discovered in the 1990's so there is more studying to be done to determine all the health benefits and functions they can provide. We do know that sirtuins play key role during cell response to a variety of stresses, such as oxidative or genotoxic stress and are crucial for cell metabolism. To over simplify it, they help you metabolize better and faster and help you live longer.
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| Now it is all so clear, right? Photo from this article |
I have read many scientific articles about the process and benefits of the sirt proteins and this is one of my favorite studies. It is published by The National Center for Biotechnology Information and it literally calls sirtuins the fountain of youth. It reads, "These benefits include protection against cancer, cardiovascular diseases, insulin resistance, and cognitive problems." and "several clinic trials have shown encouraging results for resveratrol: reduced oxidative stress and inflammation; improved cardiovascular function; enhanced cognitive function; inhibition of cancerous growth; decreased insulin resistance in diabetic patients; and improved metabolic profiles for obese and aged individuals." Resveratrol being the enzyme that triggers the sirtuins. Which brings me to this diet...
Now we kind of know what sirtuins are, we need to get our body to produce them. It has been found that there are certain foods that are rich in polyphenol-antioxident reversatrols which can boost the body's sirtuins ten-fold over other methods of production. The diet categorizes 20 specific foods as being the best in producing sirtuins in the body. There are then other more minor producers. It is claimed that if you eat foods rich in these 20 foods you can metabolize fat and be all around healthier. To quote the sirtfood.net website,
"By eating a diet rich in the top 20 Sirtfoods you can mimic the effects of fasting and exercise and achieve a healthier body"
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| The top 20 sirtfoods from sirtfooddiet.net
There is the Sirtfood diet in summary. There are lots of websites and probably even more scientific papers on the subject if you want to delve deeper into it. But if you don't want to, just trust that I did and summarized it for you here. Feel free to ask me any further questions you have or if you want anything clarified. I may have not in the mainstream workforce for many years but I do have a master's degree in science and I was a chemist for the majority of my career as well as a college professor so hopefully I can read through the science jargon and regurgitate it to you in easier to understand format.
Meals, Phases and Plans
You now know the idea behind how it works, now all you need to know is what to do. The basic principle is to eat a lot of foods from the top 20 list. But for whatever reason they want you to begin with a juice fast. So for the first three days you drink three quarter liter glasses of the Sirtfood Juice and then one sirt-approved meal. Then the next four days you get two juices and two meals. After that is the second phase which is 21 days of one juice and three sirtfood meals a day. This is not only supposed to make you lose weight but to also feel and be healthier. I have to say that the Keto diet did all that for me but there is always room for new ideas and new ways of looking at food. Below I will consolidate the phases with my specific plans. I will also put up the juice recipe because that is a critical part of starting the diet.
Phase I - One week of restricted calories
Restricted to 1000 calories/day
Day 1 - Three green juices per day and one Sirtfood meal, 20g of 85% Lindt Dark Chocolate
Day 2 - Three green juices per day and one Sirtfood meal, 20g of 85% Lindt Dark Chocolate
Day 3 - Three green juices per day and one Sirtfood meal, 20g of 85% Lindt Dark Chocolate
Restricted to 1500 calories/day
Day 4 - Two green juices per day and two Sirtfood meals, 20g of 85% Lindt Dark Chocolate
Day 5 - Two green juices per day and two Sirtfood meals, 20g of 85% Lindt Dark Chocolate
Day 6 - Two green juices per day and two Sirtfood meals, 20g of 85% Lindt Dark Chocolate
Day 7 - Two green juices per day and two Sirtfood meals, 20g of 85% Lindt Dark Chocolate
Phase II - Three weeks of clean eating meals high in Sirtfoods
(they say two weeks but I like rounding it out to a month)
Day 8-30 - One green juice and three Sirtfood meals, 20g of 85% Lindt Dark Chocolate, 1 glass red wine*.
What if you don't like red wine?
*Red wine tip:
The red wine should be a rather dry wine (meaning not too sugary like you might get in a cheap jug or boxed wine) so you aren't loading up on sugar and calories. If you do not like red wine, try a fruity wine like zinfandel, merlot or sangiovese and put it in the refrigerator. Chilling red wine can cut some of the flavor and make it more palatable. If you still don't like it or if you do not want alcohol you are fine if you skip the wine all together.
This week I will be starting Phase I and will document exactly what I am eating and drinking and how it goes.
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