Institut Bicher

THE RIGHT FOOD COMBINATIONS TO LOSE WEIGHT

By Caroline L.

Watch our video to learn how to lose weight sustainably

Lose weight sustainably
Without dieting, without working out and without starving yourself

In recent decades, diets have come and go according to what's trendy at the moment. With each new diet promising faster and more spectacular results than the one before.

The big names in the diet industry first sold you the idea that fat was the reason for your weight problems. Then they advised you to eat a high-protein diet, even if it meant cutting out carbs and sugars. There was also the famous grapefruit diet, the diet that tells you what to eat at what time, the juice diet, or the diet where you only eat foods of a certain color. And the latest trend? Fasting.

Even if you're not a nutritionist, you'll easily notice that the commonality between these different methods is to propose a diet where you exclusively eat one type of food or another. However, this is not without consequences to your health (i.e. loss of muscle mass, decrease in bone mass, weakened immune system...). Not to mention that maintaining such a diet is simply impossible for the long-term.

In recent years, you've also been taught to count every calorie, weigh food to the exact gram and take off a few pounds when weighing yourself on the scale.

Unfortunately, these harmful methods quickly become accepted ideas that are difficult to challenge. But what you can be sure of is that 200 calories of green vegetables will not be processed by your body in the same way as 200 calories of chocolate.

There's always a new method that will pop up after the latest diet craze is over, because the results are not there.

So what method can be used to both lose weight and avoid the yo-yo effect?

1/ Avoid frustration and hunger

Looking for quick results by starving yourself is the worst solution for a lasting weight loss.

There are several scientific reasons that explain this :

First of all, you risk completely altering your metabolism when your body switches into "starvation mode". This happens when your body is faced with a significant caloric deficit, and your metabolism is alarmed and will reduce your energy expenditure to the maximum. Your metabolism has a primary goal: your survival. In the end, by starving yourself, you will only lose muscle and actual weight loss is very limited. Worse than that, when you return to a normal diet, you will put on weight again because your metabolism will continue to function the way it did while you were on the diet.

Second, extreme diet control is almost impossible to achieve long-term. Your brain has what is called "control capital" at Institut Bicher. It is used to cope with different situations and different social interactions throughout the day. It is impossible to give 100% of your "control capital" to food. You also need it to deal with things like difficult situations at work, arguments with your children, or a long wait at the supermarket.

By wanting to control your food by any means, you're sure to set up a negative thought process. That's several hundred thoughts a day that will just be full of "no, I'm going to resist, I'm not eating that", "I really want to...but no", "I'm not allowed", "resist, resist...". In the end, you become obsessed with food. It becomes even harder not to succumb and you end up with unhealthy eating patterns.

2/ Adopt a healthy and balanced diet

Modern dieting has made us lose sight of the ideal composition of a meal. The ideas sold to us by corporate food giants, and sometimes even by national health agencies, can be completely false and actually harmful to your health. These messages are so ingrained in your daily life that it's almost impossible to identify or even question them.

The nutrition experts at Institut Bicher have worked tirelessly to develop recipes and menus that will lead you to a successful, lasting weight loss without frustration or hunger, all while meeting your nutritional needs.