There are a lot of different factors when it comes to your weight, and people have tried exploiting these many variations to lose weight for years. One theory that has gained a lot of attraction recently is that hormones can completely change how much you weigh and store fat. We’ve seen quite a few diets that have focused on controlling your hormones, but the most popular among them has been the Supercharged Hormone Diet.
The diet in question was created by Dr. Natasha Turner, who promises that you will be able to change how your hormones affect your weight in just 30 days. The promise also says that you will lose weight much faster than you would on other diets. Just how true are those claims, though, and how does it work? We glance inside the Supercharged Hormone Diet to see how effective it can be for your weight loss plan.
Behind the Supercharged Hormone Diet
Turner released her book in 2015 that says it will make you feel younger, boost your metabolism and cause you to lose weight. To figure out which method of dieting is best for you, Turner asks that you take a questionnaire that’s called the Best Body Assignment. From there, you receive what’s known as a Hormonal Health Profile that shows what imbalances are causing you to store extra body fat.
Once you have that figured out, you’re asked to speak with your doctor and have blood tests taken to see if there might be any lingering problems that are causing you to not lose weight. Finally, you get an eating plan that’s designed to attack your problems, allowing you to finally slip down a few pounds and pants sizes. Turner says that she realized that her weight problems might be related to hormones, as she gained 25 pounds despite eating right and exercising.
Turner’s theory here is that hormonal imbalances will cause you to have unnecessary bloating and the inability to burn belly fat no matter how hard you workout. So how do you get your hormones back in check through eating? Turner has five steps that she claims will reset your hormones.
The Reset Steps
While there hasn’t been a lot of independent studies that go into hormonal balances when it comes to these tricks that Turner has laid out, she does say that it’s from personal experience. Here are the five steps to reset your hormones.
Step One – The first step is to add an extra meal (if you are eating three per day). This doesn’t mean to add to the amount of calories that you are already eating, as that will simply cause you to gain more weight. Instead, spread out your calories around four smaller meals per day as your insulin levels will remain balanced instead of rising and falling quickly. Spreading out your eating for four hours or so per day will do the trick.
Step Two – Next, you’re going to focus on doing something that might seem a little crazy, and that’s eating starchy carbs late in the day (after 4pm). So why later in the day, and during your last meal? Aren’t we supposed to be avoiding starch to lose weight? Turner says that eating starch later will allow you to stay away from cravings, and will help you sleep during the night while you digest.
Step Three – You might not like the taste of tomato juice, but you’ll have to get used to it for a little while if you want to lose weight on Turner’s plan. Drinking a small glass of tomato juice after your last meal of the day will allow your body to digest the day’s meals better due to its highly acidic content. There are varying reports about how much acid can aid in weight loss, but Turner seems to be a proponent.
Step Four – Fruit tends to be a big part of any weight loss plan, though Turner says you should be concentrating on one specific fruit, and that’s the blueberry. Blueberry carry adiponectin, which can aid in weight loss and stabilize your insulin. Since Turner’s theory follows one of many that promotes insulin control, this seems to be a natural step in the process.
Step Five – The final step in the hormonal reset process is likely one that’s going to turn a lot of people away. Turner says that once per week, you should have a day where you don’t eat anything, and instead focus on drinking four liters of water or tea. Intermittent fasting has been the topic of much debate in the weight management world, but Turner says that it will help you boost your growth hormone development. For those that still want to eat, she says you can have one egg or a handful of almonds, but that’s it.
What to Know About the Supercharged Hormone Diet
So now that you know what the steps are for the hormonal reset portion of the diet, what’s next? The five steps that we laid out are supposed to last for the first two weeks, and you should be avoiding all meat during this time, as well as pretty much any dairy and non-blueberry fruit or vegetable. The second phase is determining how hormone type and how to eat accordingly.
The three hormone types are Insulin and Cortisol Imbalance, Serotonin and Dopamine Imbalance and finally Low Growth Hormone.
Depending on which category you fall into, you will be focusing on a certain type of exercise and nutrition plan. For example, if you have insulin and cortisol imbalance, you will be asked to participate in yoga while eating more basil and drinking more green tea. Those that need to improve their serotonin and dopamine levels should be concentrating on meditating, drinking coffee and eating foods like nuts and brown rice. For the final group, you should be taking melatonin supplements and eating walnuts while drinking cherry juice.
For all three of the categories, there are certain foods that you should be staying away from. This includes refined grains, processed foods, artificial sweeteners and nitrates. After getting accustomed to that phase, you will finally be able to move onto the third and final phase, which is increasing your physical activity. Eventually, you will reach your goal weight if things go well, but will still continue to perform phases two and three for as long as you want to maintain weight.
Summing it Up
There are certainly some pros and cons when it comes to the Supercharged Hormone Diet. While there are a lot of healthy habits that Turner says you should be doing such as exercising and focusing on whole foods, the theories behind why they work might not be all that accurate. The biggest negatives are the promises of losing 12 pounds in just the first two weeks, and a weight loss of two pounds per week afterward. While those are certainly attainable if you have enough weight to lose, it is a broad stroke to paint.
There is also the promotion of supplements, which can be a good thing for your weight loss. You should be making sure that you are getting the proper amount of vitamins and other nutrients, and every healthy diet has them. However, this is one of those diets that tries to sell you the supplements directly, which can be pretty expensive. A 60 day supply of the supplements offered through Turner’s official site will run you at least $180.
It’s hard to lend too much trust into programs that say that they have all the answers, that everything you knew before was wrong and that there are supplements that will help you lose a tremendous amount of weight in a short amount of time. Since this plan also says that you don’t need to count calories at all while promoting an entire day each week without eating, it’s one of those “seems too good to be true” plans.
Experts have said that the Supercharged Hormone Diet is not teaching people how to eat properly for the entirety of their lives, and is simply a quick weight loss solution through fasting and taking expensive supplements. This is not an easy diet to follow, which is probably why you will lose so much weight in the first period where you are not eating much at all.
All in all, it would be hard to say that this is a great plan if you are looking for a long term solution to your weight problem and have seemingly tried everything else. Diets that have thought outside of the box of calorie counting while tapping into your psyche like the Personality Type Diet have a better overall health value, and will help you more long term. As for this diet, it’s good for dropping some quick water weight, but expect a lot of the weight lost on this plan to come back pretty quickly.