There has been a lot of talk lately on social media and especially on Reddit about a promising diet that goes by the name of CICO.
A Reddit user mentions features: "For years I believed that to lose weight you should exercise intensively and eat only fish, broccoli and spinach but in the end I was wrong ". Another user writes: "CICO has an effect,whatever you eat. Junk food, healthy food, cheap food ». If you are impressed by such statements, learn that CICO is nothing more than another fad diet.
What is the CICO diet?
The acronym CICO means "calories in, calories out ”and the basic idea behind the diet is not new at all, since it is just a calorie diet based on the idea that to lose weight you just need to get fewer calories from your diet than you spend on your daily activities..
Proponents of this diet claim that it does not matter what you eat, as long as you burn the calories you take in to create the so-called "energy deficit".
Why do not nutritionists approve it
This approach is extremely simplistic and does not take into account calorie quality, a parameter very important not only in weight loss but also in health in general.
“We know the quality of the calories we consume, as well as macronutrient balance and meal planning, are factors that affect metabolism, the feeling of hunger but also how the body uses the calories "explains the dietitian Cynthia Sas. "For example, 300 calories from a cake made from processed white flour and sugar does not affect the body in the same way as 300 calories we will get from a bowl of oats with almonds and blueberries. "CICO is an outdated way of thinking," adds the expert.
also, We must not forget that our dietary choices affect every aspect of our health and life. "If one eats only poor quality meals, even if it does not get a lot of calories from them, will adversely affect the skin, his mood and gastrointestinal function "points out the dietitian Don Jackson Blatner.
Mira Ilyich, clinical dietitian at the Cleveland Clinic, Emphasizes that certain macronutrients are essential for vital processes such as tissue regeneration and muscle growth. "If you do muscle strengthening exercises or other forms of exercise you damage your body if you do not take into account the quality of the food you consume".
End, answering the reasonable question of whether one can lose weight with the CICO diet, Ilic answers: "Of course, it's possible. But if I would recommend it to my patients; Definitely no! Slimming is more than just a mathematical equation. ".
