Can “Spring Fasting” help you lose weight healthily?

Recently, there have been a lot of "spring weight loss strategies" on social platforms, and "spring fasting" has quickly captured the hearts of young people. At the just-concluded National People's Congress, Lei Haichao, director of the National Health Commission, said that the three-year "Weight Management Year" action will continue to be promoted to popularize a healthy lifestyle. Medical and health institutions will be guided to set up weight clinics to provide a good professional consultation environment and platform for residents who are troubled by weight problems.

The popularity of folk remedies for quick weight loss remains high, and the government is now calling on you to lose weight scientifically. How should you "talk" about this "date" with weight loss in spring?

"If you don't lose weight in spring, you will regret it in summer." Although this sentence is a bit sarcastic, it does have scientific basis. Xu Zhipeng, deputy chief physician of the Department of Gastroenterology at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, said that the temperature rises in spring, and the human body's metabolic rate increases by about 10% compared with winter, and fat burning efficiency is higher. "If you use the right method at the right time, losing weight will be twice as effective with half the effort."

Is the “spring fasting” that claims to be able to “restart the metabolic system” the right method?

"Spring fasting" is a weight loss method that combines seasonal characteristics with intermittent fasting. Some people only drink fruit and vegetable juice for three consecutive days, while others go hungry for 16 hours a day, and the numbers on the scale are indeed decreasing.

"The human body is not a device that can be formatted at will. The metabolic restart advocated by 'spring fasting' is more like a brute force attack on the life system." Xu Zhipeng reminded that a sudden reduction in food intake will increase the decomposition of protein, increase the burden on liver and kidney functions, and easily induce symptoms of gastrointestinal dysfunction, and even cause ketoacidosis in severe cases.

What is even more heartbreaking is that most of the weight lost during "Spring Fasting" is water and muscle, while fat remains as stable as a rock. "Long-term fasting will also put the body into 'famine mode', and the decrease in basal metabolic rate will lead to malnutrition, metabolic disorders, decreased immunity and other problems. Once a normal diet is resumed, the weight may rebound violently." Xu Zhipeng said.

From a nutritional point of view, losing weight is not as simple as starving yourself.

The "Dietary Guidelines for Adult Obesity" issued by the National Health Commission has long made a conclusion on scientific weight loss: daily calorie intake cannot be lower than 1200 calories, otherwise it would be "taking money from one pocket to pay for another."

"Losing weight is not just about eating less or not eating, it's more important to eat well." Wang Xufeng, president of the Capital Health Nutrition and Gourmet Society, said that if you want to lose weight healthily, you need to arrange your meals properly, eat less high-fat, high-sugar, and high-salt foods, and exercise for more than 30 minutes a day. Aerobic exercise combined with strength training promotes fat burning and improves basal metabolism. In addition, maintaining a good sleep and a positive attitude are also crucial to healthy weight loss.

What does it mean to be a good eater? Wang Xufeng recommends eating more high-fiber and high-protein foods. "Foods rich in dietary fiber, such as spring bamboo shoots, celery, apples, tomatoes, and whole grains, can not only bring a sense of fullness, but also help adjust the intestinal flora, reduce intestinal toxins, and are good for weight loss; high-protein foods such as fish, poultry, lean meat, eggs, milk, and soybeans can not only provide the protein needed for daily life, but also prompt the body to burn extra calories during the digestion and absorption process, which also helps to lose weight."

Losing weight in spring should not be a simple battle between "hunger" and "thinness". After all, the ultimate goal of losing weight is not to become a "paper man", but to become a better self in the warm sunshine of spring.

(Popular Science Times reporter Chen Jie)