Dorota Sawicka

DIETARY HANDBOOK

WITHOUT THE YO-YO EFFECT

© Copyright by Dorota Sawicka, 2024

Cover graphic: AI

ISBN e-book: 978-83-971254-6-9

All rights reserved.

Reproduction, distribution in part or in whole

without the permission of the publisher prohibited.

Edition I 2024

INTRODUCTION

If you are wondering how to lose weight permanently, there is a tip for that. First, you need to change your eating habits permanently. However, as you can easily guess, this is not the only thing losing weight is about. You also need to combine it with physical activity. The word 'diet' comes from the Greek and means a sensible lifestyle combining healthy eating with exercise.

There are many diets that start out on top and then recede into the background because another one comes along. All these diets have one thing in common - they are 'lauded' as ideal, and previous ways of losing weight become useless and unnecessary methods. This is how carbohydrates, for example, have been approached, once as a cause of excess weight, and at other times as an ingredient for a slimmer figure. It was very similar with a nutrient such as fat. The enemies of fat - mainly sports people - said it was fattening, while its opponents, as the name suggests, were of a different opinion. They propounded the thesis that fat adds energy.

The guidelines against the very common - in fact increasingly common - overweight do not consider the different metabolism of the human being. Not every person's metabolism is the same. It depends on the individual. Different people have different nutritional requirements.

You probably bought this book for the same reason as many other people - you don't like your figure. You have probably been on many different diets, all of which were followed by a yo-yo effect. The kilos came back in greater numbers than before the weight-loss diet.

By eating less and less to achieve rapid weight loss, you are moving away from your dream goal. This is not the way to go.

In my book, I will provide you with varied recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as well as for snacks between meals. Recipes that will leave you feeling full while improving your figure, health, and well-being.

These recipes are not based on theory and science. Several overweight people have already started to benefit from my diet during its creation. With the help of the diet combined with physical activity, they managed to lose up to 1 kilogram in a week.

In this book, I present some helpful tips and advice to make losing weight no longer stressful and difficult for you - as it used to be. I show you how to deal with bouts of ravenous hunger or anger over inconsistency in your diet.

WHERE MODERN EATING HABITS COME FROM

If you would like to better understand what has changed in the way we eat over the last 10-20 years and why these changes are leading to increasing obesity and related diseases, it is best to start at the very beginning.

You will probably find it hard to believe, but the eating and physical activity habits of people in primitive times have unfortunately influenced what they should look like in modern people.

People lived in small tribes for thousands of years. Every day they hunted the game that grazed in the grasslands. In this way, they provided themselves with good fats (which nowadays are no longer provided by artificially fed poultry and cattle) and lean meat. In addition, they harvested whole fruit and vegetables. Through daily gathering and hunting, they had - whether they wanted to or not - a great deal of physical activity, which consumed a great deal of energy. As you can easily conclude - physical activity was part of their daily life.

They were most fond of certain fatty, salty and sweet foods, whose nutritional properties helped them to survive. The fact that they liked fatty meat prompted them to hunt fat game, whose meat - obviously - was more filling than that of lean, small animals and was a good source of protein. Animal fat helped them store energy and sustain certain bodily functions and structures, including, for example, the nervous system. The sweet foods available at the time were mainly fruit and vegetables. They picked berries, which were and still are a rich source of vitamins, other nutrients, and fibre. On the other hand, the salt in salty foods was already then needed for cell function and to help maintain adequate blood volume in the body, just as it is today.

The fact that our ancestors had a strong appetite for fatty, sweet, and salty foods prompted them to eat the foods they needed to stay healthy. If we think about it a little longer, we will conclude that the liking for salty, sweet, or fatty foods is still high - even in our modern times.

It is easy to conclude that choosing fast food is not just a consequence of a fast-paced life. Our taste buds, which helped primitive humans to survive in a natural environment, now prompt us to choose harmful foods in an already unhealthy environment.

The yo-yo effect can also be better understood through the lives of primitive people. In the prevailing periods of starvation and supplying the body with very few calories, survival was aided by a sudden drop in weight, which was caused by a slowing down of the metabolism. Even then, primitive people were able to function with far fewer calories consumed, which increased the possibility of survival. Today, a similar phenomenon is occurring. When we unexpectedly lose weight because of self-imposed restrictions or for external reasons, not only the amount of fat but also muscle mass in our body decreases. There is less metabolism in fat than in muscle. Because there is a higher metabolism in muscle than in fat, even under resting conditions we need fewer calories to live. For primitive people, this meant a better chance of survival. In modern times, people who are on diets that cause large weight loss in a short space of time also have a slowed metabolism. Unfortunately for us, for many of us this means the beginning of the yo-yo effect. Fewer calories are needed to maintain a lower body weight, so it becomes increasingly difficult to continue losing weight when you have a big appetite, and this leads to regaining previously lost weight, sometimes even more. This is why many drastic diets called "miracle diets" do not have lasting effects. Quite the opposite is true.

For a diet to be effective, we need to provide our bodies with good fats, good carbohydrates, lean sources of protein and plenty of fibre. We must remember to make the right choices.

THE CORE OF FAT BURNING

NUTRIENTS THAT HELP BURN FAT

Certain ingredients in food make the fat from food travel into the cells to be converted into energy. They lead to the burning of fat as well as the transport of nutrients.

There are many components that allow the body to burn fat quite quickly. These include enzymes, vitamins, proteins, or hormones that are involved in this process. However, the interaction of several factors is often necessary. For example - without vitamin C, the body is unable to produce fat-reducing hormones. This vitamin does not only work against infections and colds. It has a broad action. It is one of the ingredients that best breaks down fat. If we eat a fair amount of fruit and vegetables, we will provide the body with enough of this vitamin.

Carnitine and choline - transport substances

The best-known fat-burning substance is L-carnitine, which, by regulating metabolism, prevents large amounts of fat from being deposited in the blood. This is quite important for muscle cells, which become weak through too much fat. Choline, vitamin C and L-carnitine transfer fat to the combustion cells and convert it into energy. The body produces small amounts of L-carnitine, so it must be supplied in foods such as meat or dairy products, for example.

The protective coating of all nerve and brain cells includes choline, which belongs to the B vitamins. An insufficient amount of it breaks down cholesterol, which quite severely restricts the free flow of fat-burning substances into the fat cells. Soya products, egg yolks, meat and cauliflower contain the most choline.

Preventing fat accumulation - methionine and linoleic acid

An essential sulphur-containing amino acid for humans is methionine. It produces adrenaline and is also a component of carnitine. Overweight can often be caused by a deficiency of methionine, which, together with other components - such as vitamin B6, choline, folic acid, and B vitamins - keeps fat from entering the cells for too long. A good dose of methionine is contained in foods such as fish, poultry, eggs, lentils, cheese, liver, and yoghurt.

A fatty acid contained in vegetable oils that improves the condition of the intestinal mucosa is linoleic acid. The intestinal mucosa, if healthy and of sufficient thickness, can retain a considerable amount of fat during the digestive process. This fat is almost immediately converted into energy by the body. Linoleic acid contributes to the reduction of fats. Its second role is to lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels in the blood. A product rich in linoleic acid is mainly flaxseed.

Taurine helps with weight loss.

This is an amino acid made up of cysteine and methionine. Too little taurine means a deficiency of methionine. Thanks to taurine, the pituitary gland produces the right number of hormones such as growth hormone, which helps to eliminate fat.

The more taurine the pituitary gland receives, the better it works. Our body consumes the most taurine at night when the pituitary gland is most active.

Too little taurine in women can contribute to their being overweight. This is because one of the female hormones, oestrogen, can reduce the production of this substance by the liver, which can significantly prolong metabolism and may (but not necessarily!) lead to overweight. Therefore, women who are starting to become overweight should eat more products that have taurine in them. Liver, mussels, oysters, crabs, and red meat, for example, contain a high amount of taurine.

The hunger hormone leptin

Leptin influences the individual feeling of satiety. It is produced by fat cells. If the body has many fat cells, it also produces a lot of leptins, which gives signs that there is less need for food. However, if fat reserves have been used up, for example by eating very little food for a long period of time, leptin switches the body to a survival programme, which is characterized by greater feelings of hunger, a reduction in the production of hormones secreted by the brain transplant and a suppression of the sex drive.

METABOLISM-CONTROLLING HORMONES

Our body needs energy to function properly. Food components are converted into the substances and energy required by the body in the metabolic process. This metabolism takes place during digestion as well as during eating. The brain controls the secretion of certain hormones, each of which has a different action for this process to take place properly. They all stimulate the action of enzymes and carry information. A distinction is made between hormones that break down fat and those that deposit fat.

Insulin

Carbohydrates are initially deposited in fat cells during metabolism. Sometime later, fat molecules and amino acids are produced. To facilitate the absorption of the food, the pancreas, by releasing insulin, instructs the enzymes to break down the fat molecules into tiny particles. These particles enter the hips and abdomen at a rapid rate. The fat cells even wait for the transport of the new raw material, which very easily and for a long time settles in our organism. Most often, this happens when we do not supply our body with wholesome food.

Fat is not deposited because we supply our bodies with high-fat or high-protein products, but because we absorb foods that contain a lot of sugar. Blood sugar levels then also rise. This stimulates the body to produce insulin. Lean people in particular need insulin to regulate their blood sugar levels. When they eat foods rich in carbohydrates, their body starts to produce insulin, which lowers sugar levels.

Fat-burning hormones

For the body to convert fat into energy, it releases growth hormone from fat cells. This process starts just after falling asleep and continues throughout the night. When the amount of sugar falls below a given level, energy is provided by glycogen produced by the pancreas. To produce the necessary energy, the body uses a large amount of fat from the fat cells.

Adrenaline and cortisol, which support glucagon, are particularly greedy for fat. They could destroy it in a day. In a more moderate way, the breakdown of fat is regulated by hormones that are secreted by the thyroid gland rather than those produced by the pancreas. The thyroid gland needs an adequate amount of iodine to function properly. Therefore, iodised salt should be used in the preparation of food. Also important for the thyroid is an amino acid called tyrosine, which can be found in products such as cheese or soya.

Magnesium from whole grain products

Almost every reaction taking place in the cells of our body is influenced by enzymes. They burn fat and normalise digestive processes. A component of enzymes that stimulates the nervous system is magnesium. It speeds up the metabolism in the cells. A large amount of magnesium is found in legumes, whole-grain products, and nuts.

EASY WEIGHT LOSS

Whether you follow a separation diet, eat only eggs, dairy and healthy carbohydrates (such as potatoes) and avoid sweets, for example, then when you go back to your old eating habits - your weight goes up again. Therefore, you go on a diet again, and so on and so forth.... This is the so-called yo-yo effect. If you really want to lose weight and maintain a slim figure, it is worth following these rules:

1) Make sure your food composition is balanced. It is important how much you eat and that, above all, your food does not provide too much concentrated energy in the form of sugar, fat, or flour. The daily menu should include plenty of fibre from fruit and vegetables.

2) Ensure that the calorie balance is also balanced. If you eat more food than you need, the weight goes up. It doesn't matter whether you eat fattening calories from fat, protein, alcohol, or carbohydrates. If you are a physically active person, you can of course eat more and enjoy it more without remorse. If you are inconsistent in your physical activity, the weight may start to rise.

3) There is no clear answer to the question of how many meals a day you should eat. It depends whether we are talking about young children and adolescents, people who are highly stressed by mental work, adults of normal weight, overweight people, or athletes. Everyone should see for themselves what number of meals is right for them. The most important thing is not to starve yourself all day, to eat a huge portion in the evening or, on the contrary, not to snack all day. These two methods are not recommended for anyone.

The diet must suit everyone. The idea, of course, is that it should correspond to your metabolism and physical activity. Not everyone stores energy equally and not everyone can consume it as efficiently and easily. The best thing to do on a diet is to stick to a healthy balance applicable to all areas of life.

My diet is a modified low-carbohydrate and low-fat diet, with no unilateral orientation towards either of them. These are two very popular diets around the world. Looking at both, at first glance you can tell they have two different assumptions. The low-carbohydrate diet assumes the correct choice of carbohydrates, especially those with a low glycaemic index, which shows how much a given food raises blood sugar and how intense the production of insulin leads the human body to consume this sugar. Unfortunately, a large amount of insulin leads to a feeling of hunger. This is why it makes sense to choose healthy carbohydrates - this way you can avoid a bout of ravenous hunger.

It doesn't matter whether you are on a low-carbohydrate or low-fat diet - on both, you need to keep your calorie intake and physical activity levels balanced. That is, as you can easily guess, if someone moves a lot and is consistent about it, they don't need to particularly restrict either fats or carbohydrates.

READ MORE TO WEIGH LESS

There is no single, consistent view among scientists about the effect of fat consumption on the development of excess weight. Some believe that lack of exercise is a greater contributor to overweight than fat consumption, while others believe that it is primarily the large amount of fat contained in food that is fattening. They explain this by the fact that fat has more than twice as many calories as carbohydrates. The body can store it very efficiently, with virtually no energy loss.

Dishes containing very high amounts of fat, as is well known, are much tastier than fat-free ones, but result in a less full feeling compared to carbohydrates.

Eating fat carefully

It is nonsensical from a health point of view both to constantly supply the body with calories from fats and to eliminate them from the diet altogether. You should be eating the right fats that support health, such as omega-3 fatty acids (found in oily marine fish), for example, rather than the unhealthy fats that are thought to cause disease and obesity.

The basis for a successful diet is to reduce fat intake and in favour of fibre-rich food from carbohydrate-rich foods in the form of fruit, vegetables, legumes, or whole grains. Consequently, my diet focuses on combining healthy fats and careful consumption of carbohydrates with the most favourable glycaemic index. This can improve the quality of any individual menu. The food is very high in minerals, vitamins, and various plant substances.

If there is a lot of fruit and vegetables in your diet, you reflexively eat less fats and do not have to limit them drastically, as in a typical low-fat diet, where you can eat a lot of carbohydrates and it does not matter whether these are carbohydrates contained in sweets or sugar in sweet drinks.

What are fats?

All fats may seem the same. They are chemical compounds made up of three fatty acids. The difference between them is which acids the fat is made up of:

1) Saturated fatty acids the body can produce on its own, in addition they are supplied to it from food. The harder and more concentrated the food, the more saturated fatty acids it contains. These are found, for example, in cheese, cold cuts and meat.

2) The texture of food containing unsaturated fatty acids is soft, sometimes even oily. There are two types of these fatty acids: monounsaturated or polyunsaturated. Polyunsaturated fatty acids include omega-3 fatty acids contained in fatty fish such as salmon or mackerel. The body uses them to form substances that protect the blood vessels and heart. Canola oil has both monounsaturated and polyunsaturated acids.

When planning our daily diet, it is important to remember that our body accumulates fat, especially when we eat too much high-calorie and fatty food.

What about carbohydrates?

One of the most important groups of nutrients in food - in terms of quantity - are carbohydrates. Among the best known are sugar and starch. These carbohydrates provide the largest part of the energy needed daily for the proper functioning of the mind and nerves, as well as for the body and muscles. At least half of the calories in your daily food should come from carbohydrates. As an indigestible carbohydrate, fibre does not provide energy. However, it is needed to maintain the ability to function and stay healthy.

For anyone who doesn't get much exercise at work or in their leisure time, and for anyone who wants to lose weight and maintain a slim figure, I recommend carbohydrate-containing foods that contain minerals, fibre and vitamins - these will mainly be legumes, vegetables, fruit and whole grain products.

Less should be eaten of products that are high in starch and low in fibre, i.e. potatoes, white flour products or sweets. These products are the poorest in minerals and vitamins. In addition, you can eat a lot of them and not feel satiated.

If you want to be full of fewer calories consumed, you should pay attention to the correct source of carbohydrates in your food. This is mainly fruit, vegetables, whole grain products. This is a very good and healthy food containing beneficial nutrients and the correct glycemic index.

Fibre

Fibre is primarily responsible for whether we feel hungry or full. Soluble fibre from fruit, vegetables and whole-grain oats keeps the cholesterol in our bodies at the right level; it suppresses the feeling of hunger for a long time and, above all, helps to lower blood sugar levels after a meal. Foods rich in fibre contain few calories. All this is good for the figure. There is a lot of good, beneficial bacteria living in our intestines that break down fibre into substances that are good for our health.

Different types of fibre have different effects on the metabolism, so it is important to eat a wide variety of foods. Legumes, fruit, vegetables, and whole grains are among the most beneficial. Five portions of fruit and whole-grain products should be consumed every day.

Carbohydrates to make the weight go down

For us to gain weight from carbohydrates, i.e. for our body to convert too much of the carbohydrate we eat into fat, we need around 450-500 grams of carbohydrates per day. Almost no one can eat that much. This compares to, for example, a kilo of bread or jellybeans.

When the body creates fatty acids from carbohydrates, it loses a great deal of energy. This is about 30 per cent of the energy supplied with carbohydrates. Energy restrictions when eating during and after the diet should focus on the fat from the food. To avoid feeling hungry while on the diet, choose good carbohydrates with a low glycaemic index.

Fat and alcohol are a dangerously fattening combination

Alcohol inhibits the burning of fat. Besides, if our body is supplied with energy from a variety of sources - such as alcohol, carbohydrates, or fat - it prefers the easy-to-burn carbohydrates or alcohol and leaves fat for last.

Alcohol always facilitates digestion, but not fat burning. A fried sausage sipped with alcohol will turn into fat very easily. People who are very overweight are prescribed drugs that partially inhibit the digestion of fat. These lead to part of the fat travelling through the intestine undigested and being excreted rather than being deposited in the body.

Stabilized energy balance

With all this, it is important to remember the principle of energy balance. The energy balance is only good if the number of calories taken in corresponds exactly to the number of calories burnt. When there is a positive energy balance, energy is stored and weight increases. This can be caused by an excess of calories from both carbohydrates and fats. The theory that counting calories in a low-fat or low-carbohydrate diet is unnecessary is not entirely true. Especially when it comes to those of us who lead sedentary lifestyles and get very little exercise. And they are the ones who most often reach for sweets or white flour products, for example, without thinking, so they should not be surprised by the results. After satisfying a bout of ravenous hunger and adding up all the calories consumed, the total calorie intake for the entire day will be the same.

With an excess of energy, the carbohydrate supply is usually also high. The result is that the fats in the food are not burnt. If the calorie requirement is already met by easy-to-burn carbohydrates, then fat from food or from the body's stores is no longer needed as an energy source. The body then unfortunately only deposits it.

The conclusion is one: both carbohydrates and fat affect weight and, what may follow, also overweight.

Carbohydrates and insulin

In people who are overweight, the effectiveness of insulin gradually decreases day by day. If they have supplied their body with too much fat and carbohydrates from food for a long time, the body still must produce a lot of insulin to manage them. As a result of constantly high insulin levels, the cells eventually become insensitive to the hormone. This is insulin resistance, otherwise known as reduced insulin sensitivity. The hormone is no longer able to fully develop its action, with the result that glucose is no longer assimilated in the body's cells. Fatty acids in the blood, the levels of which are often elevated in overweight people, block the transport of sugar into the cells, so that metabolism continues to deteriorate.

The dangers of unrestricted carbohydrate intake are the result of an increasing disruption of insulin secretion in overweight people. It is not true that low-carbohydrate food alone is sufficient. It is just as important to reduce fat intake as it is to select it, and to consistently choose carbohydrates oriented towards blood sugar regulation and the associated insulin response. Only losing weight restores the balance of inappropriate insulin metabolism. Consistent, regular physical activity increases - without the influence of insulin - glucose consumption in muscle cells and raises the insulin sensitivity of cell membranes. This means that blood sugar can be processed by the cells very efficiently.

Healthy and filling

Monounsaturated fatty acids and carbohydrates with a low glycaemic index have an impact on cholesterol and blood sugar levels. Therefore, it is recommended to reduce the amount of carbohydrates with a high glycaemic index in the diet and increase the proportion of monounsaturated fatty acids.

As a result, the proportion of monounsaturated fatty acids will increase to 15-20%, while the proportion of carbohydrates will decrease to around 50% of the food consumed. This influences the insulin response and protects against cardiovascular and heart disease.

GLYCAEMIC INDEX

Nowadays, a person eats around 6-8 different products a day. These products are mainly from the carbohydrate group. We eat too many cakes, potatoes, white bread, and other sugar-based foods. The human body yearns for homeostasis. Due to a nutritional imbalance, we often experience problems such as mood swings, fatigue, or a greater need for sugar.

Diets help us to counteract the effects of excess carbohydrates, but can cause other symptoms, such as unpleasant breath or digestive problems. They can also put a strain on the kidneys, so the conclusion is that they are not good for the body at all. It has been confirmed by scientists that the only diet that keeps the body in balance is one based on the glycaemic index.

The body obtains glucose from the starches and carbohydrates found in the food we eat. After the food is digested in the stomach, the sugars are broken down in the liver.

The resulting glucose is sent to the body's cells and muscles, where it is either stored for later, or burned while running, walking, or even thinking. This happens with literally any food. The difference lies in the speed of this process. The glycaemic index is a measure of this speed. Products with a low glycaemic index convert more slowly into glucose than those with a high glycaemic index.

A simple GI-based diet assumes that certain products trigger a faster increase in insulin production than others. By choosing products with a low GI, you can prevent weight gain and keep your body's insulin levels in balance.

Of course, you need to see which products to choose. There are 6 basic elements that determine a product's GI level:

Fat content,

The starch content.

The type of sugar contained in the product,

The percentage of acidity of the product

The amount of fibre

Carbohydrate content.

Carbohydrates can be divided according to their glycaemic index values. With a low glycaemic index, blood sugar levels rise moderately, the insulin response is not rapid. This is a plus for everyone who wants to feel full, fit and have a slim figure. For example, it is worth eating spaghetti or other hard wheat pasta cooked al dente. Products that should also be included in the diet are legumes, berries or apples, vegetables and coarse-grained whole-grain products, whole-grain rye bread or pumpernickel, and grainy oatmeal.

Foods with a high glycaemic index and high amounts of carbohydrates contribute most to the rise in blood sugar levels and the release of large amounts of insulin, which interferes with fat burning. Such foods include, but are not limited to, sweetened lemonades, boiled potatoes, or white flour products.