It’s called CICO the (relatively) new diet which promises Italian men and women a perfect silhouette for the now approaching summer. Like all diets, inevitably, this too involves sacrifices: and this can be seen by clarifying the meaning of the acronym itself. CICO, in fact, stands for “Calories In, Calories Out”, or “take fewer calories than you need” or, to be even more precise “Eat fewer calories than you burn”. According to what is specified on the pages of the scientific site DrAxe the diet does not include the elimination of any type of food. Foods are all essential and in this specific case it would not be necessary to balance the intake of proteins, fats or carbohydrates. The important thing, however, is only the calories in the dish. We therefore proceed to explain how CICO works, however inviting readers not to start a diet without being supported by specialists in the sector.
CICO is based exclusively on the calories ingested and those actually burned during the day. The concept on which the diet is based is trivial: To lose weight, you need to eat fewer calories than you burnregardless of their type and origin. In fact, a diet of this type turns out to have a much higher appeal than others, because it does not require memorizing complex rules. But there are many who dispute its validity and, even more, its safety. CICO remains the subject of heated controversy. While thousands of people report having regained their long-lost form, with minimal efforts in several cases, others point out that it promotes unhealthy and unsustainable eating patterns could expose those who decide to trust such regimes to decidedly negative risks and side effects.
Is this a safe diet?
The CICO diet has certainly helped many people lose excess weight. By reducing your calorie intake, and increasing your physical activity, you can burn calories that would otherwise be stored as fat. But the factors to be taken into consideration are, in reality, many: this is why the invitation is always to contact a professional in the sector, such as a nutritionist.
Claimed benefits
The CICO diet is defined as effective, because its main purpose is to promote weight loss. And to reduce weight, simply, you need to eat fewer calories. The principle, in fact, is that of low-calorie diets, which aim to reduce the fat that is deposited mainly on the stomach and sides, by an average of 8 percent, in any case over a long period of time, between 3 and 12 months. Considering that 1 kilogram of fat is equal to about 3,500 calories, the experts point out, it will be sufficient to reduce the caloric intake by 500 calories a day to (in theory) lose one kilo a week.
Losing weight is important for living healthy
Several studies have shown that “gradual weight loss” can reduce many risk factors. A person in shape is for obvious reasons less exposed to disease. Lowering your body weight can reduce sleep apnea, joint pain, and heart risks. A moderate calorie restriction, which still requires adequate nutrition, can ultimately protect against diabetes, inflammation, hypertension and the onset of cancer. An adequate diet, which must also be well balanced, allows – in the long run – to increase life expectancy, even by many years, and to delay the onset of pathologies linked to ageing.
For some, dieting is impossible
Anyone who has been forced to go on a diet for a thousand reasons knows how difficult it is to adapt to food restrictions. There are many people who try to regain their lost shape by starting a new diet, but in percentage terms there are few who manage to complete it successfully. Most give up because they can’t resist the temptations of food. The CICO diet, on the other hand, is psychologically simpler: it allows you to eat whatever you want as long as you don’t exceed your daily caloric intake. Foods usually (almost) “forbidden”, such as pizza, pasta, french fries and ice cream can be eaten without problems: provided that the portions eaten can then be burned with daily physical activity.
But you have to be very careful
Focusing solely on cutting calories can lead to potential problems, many of them serious. To avoid them one should make sure to include a wide variety of healthy foods in one’s diet, paying attention to micronutrients. Symptoms such as sudden fatigue, skin, hair or nail changes, irritability or bleeding gums can be signs of a nutritional deficiency. That’s why, before starting a diet, you should always consult your doctor or a dietician. Excessively cutting caloric intake can lead to a slowdown in metabolism, and therefore to blocking weight loss, nullifying all the efforts made up to that moment. A healthy, average-sized adult should consume at least 1,200 calories a day, and should never go below this threshold.
IMPORTANT
The information contained in this article is for informational purposes only. In no case should they be considered as an alternative to the qualified opinion of a doctor. Before embarking on a diet, consult your doctor or specialist.
Source
DrAxe