Supercharged Hormone Diet: What To Know

Overview

The aim:

Long-term weight loss. 

The claim:

Eating to regulate your hormones helps you lose weight and keep it off. 

The theory:

Hormonal imbalances – induced by stress and environmental toxins – make it hard to lose weight, even if you are dieting and exercising. As Natasha Turner, a naturopathic doctor and the founder of the Supercharged Hormone Diet, points out, sometimes over-exercising will actually go against your weight-loss goals by feeding into an imbalance of thyroid hormones, which regulate metabolism. Having an excess of certain hormones – such as cortisol, the hormone that spikes when you’re under stress – also feeds into an uncontrollable appetite. So, Turner’s diet starts with a two-week detoxification, designed to clear your body of excess hormones such as estrogen and cortisol. For the next two weeks, you gradually re-introduce foods into your diet to detect which ones you cannot tolerate. By the end of the four-week period, you are ready to follow the Glyci-Mediterranean Diet, which focuses on maintaining stable blood sugar levels and eating foods that are part of a low-carb Mediterranean Diet. High protein food is an important component of the Glyci-Mediterranean Diet as well, since protein stimulates growth hormones, which help you metabolize fats and burn calories quickly. Protein also keeps your blood sugar balanced. 

Balanced Diet

These diets fall within accepted ranges for the amount of protein, carbs, fat and other nutrients they provide.

Pros & Cons

• Restores hormonal health and metabolic function
• Long-lasting effects

• Starts with a rigorous two-week detox
• Somewhat pricey