The 3 rules that increase your success with any diet ✅
Plus how to reduce your cancer risk with 3 easy interventions...
Happy Monday 🌞 to you as we come out of what we hope was a joyous Easter celebration 🐰 If you’re as disgusted as we are by the amount of chocolate Easter eggs 🪺 you’ve ingested then don’t worry, you’re not alone.
Let’s leave that worrying thought behind and delve into this week’s newsletter…
3 RULES TO ANY SUCCESSFUL DIET
We read a really good article by Professor Giles Yeo describing his 3 rules to a successful diet that we just had to share 📖
If you don’t know who this don is then let us explain.
Professor Giles Yeo is a world renowned British 🇬🇧 geneticist and an expert in the field of obesity research. He is a Principal Research Associate at the University of Cambridge's Metabolic Research Laboratories and a Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge. Yeo earned his Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics from the University of Cambridge and has since conducted extensive research on the genetic factors influencing food intake, body weight, and obesity 🔥
So let’s just say he knows what he’s talking about.
In his article he writes that there are 3 simple rules to follow to ensure the success of a diet ✅
They are:
Calorie restriction
High in protein
High in fibre
CALORIE RESTRICTION
Professor Yeo writes how naturally, some diets 🥗 focus on limiting calorie intake using a method called portion control—consuming slightly less of everything—which can be effective but challenging to maintain ⚖️
The difficulty from this arises when you’re told to reduce your portions sizes by a certain amount. For example,
“if the original recipe called for one or two eggs, how do you reduce that by 20 per cent? So that means you have to serve yourself less, but that would leave 20 per cent of the unfinished meal in the pot, tempting you all night!”
This is why meal replacement shakes 🧋 have gained popularity. By preparing and consuming an 800-calorie shake, you have a nutritionally complete, short-term solution. However, many find it difficult to stick with these shakes over time.
Frankly they’re boring 🥱 to consume flavour-wise. Plus as a liquid they’re less satiating than whole foods. They might be helpful for initial weight loss, but alternative methods are necessary for long-term success.
Intermittent fasting and time-restricted eating (TRE) are also common strategies. The 5:2 diet, for example, involves eating normally for five days but restricting calories to 500-600 on two days. TRE proposes restricting your daily food consumption window to a 6- to 8-hour window. Both approaches can create a calorie deficit for many individuals.
As you can see, the common denominator in this is the presence of a caloric deficit. Simply put, burning more calories than you are consuming.
However it’s not just the quantity of calories you consume, but the quality of them too that matters.
HIGH IN PROTEIN
The importance of protein intake should not be underplayed. It serves a crucially important roles in our bodies: muscle synthesis and repair, cell signalling, biochemical reactions and structural support amongst many others 🤩
This is because among the 3 macronutrients—carbohydrates, fats, and proteins—protein is the most chemically complex 🤯
As Professor Yeo writes, fats and carbs consist solely of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms in various configurations, making their metabolism and storage energetically efficient. However protein also contains nitrogen, requires more work from our body to utilise and cannot be stored in its own form.
“In fact, for every 100 calories of protein that we consume, we are only ever able to use 70 calories, with the other 30 calories needed to handle the protein. Thus, protein has a caloric availability of 70 per cent. All the protein calorie counts we see today are 30 per cent out!”
Diets high in protein have good success because it takes longer to digest and metabolise it.
You’re more satiated, making you feel fuller for longer.
HIGH IN FIBRE
Western diets are criminally low in fibre 📉 We’ve known this for some time but yet this issue continues.
Fibre is a form of carbohydrate that we humans cannot digest ❌ However it still has many benefits and can even provide valuable nutrients for the gut bacteria in our digestive systems.
When consumed, it slows down the rate of digestion 🔻 This reduces the amount of calories absorbed and also causes the release of nutrients to be paced over a longer period of time. Again, helping you to feel fuller for longer.
So here’s how you can increase your fibre intake:
Switch fruit juices for the actual fruit 🍉
Eat more fruits vegetables, oats, beans, pulses and legumes 🥗
You can read the full article here.
3 HABITS TO REDUCE YOUR CANCER RISK
Dr Adam released a fantastic video this week on TikTok teaching you how 3 simple interventions have been scientifically proven to reduce your cancer risk 🤔
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As we wrap up this week's newsletter, we hope the insights and tips shared have inspired you to embrace a healthier, more balanced lifestyle 🧘🏾♂️
Stay tuned for next week's issue, where we'll explore even more exciting topics and provide you with the tools to continue your wellness journey 📚
In the meantime, don't forget to share your progress, ask questions, or connect with fellow readers in our community forum. Here's to a week filled with energy, positivity, and progress towards your health and wellness goals.
Until next time, take care!
Dr Haris Mumtaz