The Sirtfood Diet Plan

What is the Sirtfood diet and can it help you lose weight?

Matter of fact, what the fuck is a “sirtfood”?

Well, continue reading to learn that and more!

Background:

Aidan Goggins and Glen Matten, both of whom hold degrees in nutritional medicine and the former a degree in pharmaceutical studies, conceived the Sirtfood diet and outlined the details of it in an eponymous book in 2016. Since then, it’s been met with celebrity approval from the likes of Adele, Pippa Middleton, and Conor McGregor, which is always a good sign of a diet’s validity.

Overview:

Silent information regulators, or sirtuins, are a group of seven proteins within the body that are associated with a variety of functions on the cellular level once activated. As an illustration, the sirtuin that experts know the most about is SIRT1. Once activated by way of calorie restriction and exercise, it tells the body to switch from burning immediate glucose for energy to using stored fat instead. It’s with this research pointing to that protein’s involvement in the mechanics of weight loss, as well as it and other sirtuins playing a hand in such processes as inflammation and aging, that the Sirtfood diet enters the picture as a biphasic, three-week program comprised of foods that are said to prompt the gene expression of sirtuins to help trigger weight loss, suppress appetite, build muscle, reduce inflammation, improve memory, slow down aging, prevent chronic disease, blah blah blah.

As for the specific phases of the diet, the first lasts for one week, of which only 1000 calories are allowed on the first three days before the intake is increased to 1500 calories for the rest of the week. The prescribed calories for those three days must come from three green juices made with the instructed ingredients and one meal rich in sirtfoods, or foods that activate a sirtuin response, while the calories for the remainder of the week are to come from two green juices and two meals composed of sirtuin activators. The next phase of the diet runs for two weeks and has no calorie requirements. The only stipulation is to consume one green juice and three sirtuin-activating meals per day. Upon completion of the two phases over the course of three weeks, if one’s weight loss goal isn’t reached, dieters are advised to repeat the program for as many times as necessary but not before allowing at least a month to go by before starting anew with the first phase. Once weight loss is achieved, the principles of the diet can be applied long-term to make the diet more of a lifestyle change than a one-time thing but no real guidance is offered on exactly how to do that.

What To Eat:

The ingredients for the green juice that makes up a large part of the Sirtfood diet are kale, arugula, lovage, green apples, ginger, lemon, and matcha powder. Those items can also be consumed separately on the diet, as well as other foods that are listed in the book among the 20 top sirtfoods, examples of which include buckwheat, capers, celery, chilies, dark chocolate (85% cocoa), coffee, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, green tea, Medjool dates, parsley, red endive, red onion, red wine, soy, strawberries, turmeric, and walnuts. Foods that can be eaten in addition to those high in sirtuin activators include a host of other items from various food groups, such as blackberries, goji berries, and kumquats, asparagus, green beans, and leafy greens like spinach, chard, and collards in place of kale and arugula, and quinoa, popcorn, and peanuts, as well as poultry, oily fish, and lean cuts of meat but in small quantities and preferably pasture-raised or grass-fed.

What Not To Eat:

The Sirtfood diet doesn’t ban foods outright but certain ones are advised against consuming frequently and in large amounts. That advice pertains to foods and beverages containing refined flours and added sugars, such as chips, crackers, soda, juices, candy, pastries, and other processed foods. What’s also discouraged are foods high in carbs, like pasta and potatoes, and fat, like butter and fatty cuts of meat, such as filet mignon.

Results:

The burgeoning research on sirtuins has found them to become activated under conditions of metabolic stress, such as when calorie restriction and physical activity occur, as demonstrated above with the mention of SIRT1. Another cause for activation is a strong change in temperature, such as going from a hot clime to extreme cold. But sirtuins becoming activated by food to yield the benefits advertised by the creators of the Sirtfood diet?

To Goggins and Matten’s credit, some of their claims about sirtuin food activation are supported by research. However, that research is the kind that’s largely been conducted on mice, yeast, and human stem cells. Being the case that research done on mice, yeast, and human stem cells doesn’t always translate to producing the same effects in things that are not mice, yeast, or human stem cells, the proof that certain foods can activate certain sirtuin responses in full-blown humans is little to none. Further adding to the difficulty in the extrapolation of studies from test tubes and animals to humans is that the levels of compounds given to the former are much greater than would be found in food consumed by the latter.¹

Seeing that the Sirtfood diet can’t be supported by science, at least not at the moment, then what are its results owed to? That is, if there are any results to be had. That, my friend, is an easy question to answer! Until proven otherwise, any weight loss enjoyed on the diet can be attributed to the extremely low calorie intake of 1000 calories during the first three days of the diet before the intake is increased to 1500 calories for the rest of the week. That comes to about 50 percent less than what an average person is likely to consume before undergoing the diet. From the way I see things, that recommendation then amounts to a calorie restriction, which is something that’s already been proven by science to prompt weight loss, which just so happens to be via activation of SIRT1! And any other benefits?, you ask. Well, until proven otherwise, whatever lowered disease risk, increased energy levels, improved insulin sensitivity, blah blah blah, that may come as a result of the Sirtfood diet would be what’s expected to come with weight loss and the consumption of nutritious foods, of which the diet is comprised of and thus contains any number of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other nutrients whose pathways and mechanisms for how they exert their effects are known and documented and don’t have much, if anything, to do with sirtuins.

Safety:

When consuming the 1000 calories that are recommended during the first phase of the Sirtfood diet, users may experience headaches, lightheadedness, fatigue, nausea, and extreme hunger. Aside from those symptoms that may come as a result of the body adapting to the lack of calories for its energy needs, the diet shouldn’t present any serious danger to most individuals. The operative term there is “most”, however.

The people who the low calorie intake might be unsafe for are children, pregnant or breastfeeding women, and individuals over the age of 75 years old. Another group who should exercise caution are diabetics, as the low calorie intake might negatively affect blood sugar levels. Also, because leafy green vegetables that make up a large part of the diet are excellent sources of vitamin K, those on warfarin or other blood thinners should forgo the diet so the nutrient doesn’t counteract their medication.

Other:

To make the green juice, be ready to shell out some decent money for a good juicer — NOT A BLENDER, NUTRIBULLET, FOOD PROCESSOR, ETC!!! — that can withstand the daily use and extract the maximum amount of juice and nutrients so there’s less waste. Also, with all the green juice that’s required for regular consumption as part of the diet, the beverage may expose you to lead because of matcha, one of the juice’s main ingredients. As is the case with almost any agricultural product today, tea leaves absorb contaminants from the soil.² When tea leaves are steeped, as much as 90 percent of the lead remains in the brewed bag, which is discarded and thus not ingested to pose a problem. With matcha, however, the product is made by grinding tea leaves into a fine powder, meaning that the leaves of the plant are consumed without filtration. As such, matcha has been found to contain as much as 30 times more lead than a cup of traditional green tea. Scary, huh? Well, the way to avoid the potential danger of lead poisoning is to stay far, FAR AWAY from the cheap matcha blends sourced in China, the country where the levels of lead were found to be astronomical. Instead, spend a few extra dollars on a quality powder that’s lab tested and is from Japan, as that country has the strictest regulations of any country when it comes to the amount of lead that’s permissible in matcha powder because the government seems to have the crazy notion that the health of its citizens should be protected more than companies having a right to profit off of jeopardizing it. Yeah, fucking crazy!

Glossary: calories, diet, dietary fat, exercise, fat, glucose, goal, muscle

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Monster Longe

Monster Longe is a personal trainer in San Diego. He has been lifting weights for +25 years and training clients in the gym and online for about half of that time. When not working with clients or making content that's easy to read, understand, and apply to everyday life, he enjoys long walks and leaving buildings crushed and entire city blocks decimated in his wake.