Is it a good idea to start a diet between Christmas and New Years?

A few days before the next New Year’s Eve, some decide to go on a diet after often very rich holiday meals. Videos are popping up on the Internet on this subject, and everyone has their own tips. “Me, I skip meals. Finally, I take for example a yogurt with a meal”, explains a passerby. “We reduce the calories a bit, we eat more salads”, assures his side a father.

However, a diet that is too severe can have the opposite consequences to the desired effect. This is what Alexandra Retion, dietitian, affirms. “If you are doing a fast, therefore a period of severe restrictions, the risk is that your body needs energy to function and therefore it will start to store more. Suddenly, if you store more, you risk to gain weight. This is the mistake not to make “, she warns in the TF1 20H report at the top of this article.

However, she recommends certain foods to favor for “help you eliminate access”. “Watercress, celery, clementines, lime, they all contain a significant amount of vitamin C. So it’s very interesting for strengthening liver function”, advises Alexandra Retion. Fruits and vegetables also help to rehydrate.

To lose weight, some also highlight the consumption of fat-burning products. Even if around a hundred references can be found in pharmacies, their effectiveness is not always proven, as pharmacist Michaël Gommez-Vaez explains. “All these products are not magic wands, that would be known! It is accompanied by a balanced diet, playing sports …”, he warns.

Rather than attempting to lose pounds in a very short period of time, this professional recommends instead taking a course of probiotics. “The transit has been accelerated by the excess, by the fatty food. The probiotics will make it possible to reseed this intestinal flora which has suffered with good bacteria and that you have a good functioning and to recover well”, details Michaël Gommez-Vaez.

Others prefer to use natural products. In an herbalist shop visited by the TF1 team, for three generations, the same infusion is recommended between the holidays. “You have to know that the plants work in synergy. So the interest is to put them together to deploy the active ingredients. We will find, for example, the meadowsweet, the ash tree, the vine. red, green tea, rosemary, to have a complete slimming action “, assures herbalist Victoria Renaud.

However, scientists, like Robert Barouki, warn. “Believe that you can do all the excess you want and then take a herbal tea, a lemon juice, fast for 24 hours … and that, all of a sudden, all the toxins will disappear, that’s an illusion. The only way to avoid excess is to eat a balanced diet “, finally warns the doctor and biochemist at Inserm.