What Is The Burn Diet And Why Is It Promising To Make You Lose 5lbs In Five Days?

Is The Burn Diet Healthy Or Harmful?
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The Burn diet, created by nutritionist Haylie Pomroy, focuses on the digestive system, which in itself isn't a bad thing as the health of your gut massively impacts your immune system.

According to The Daily Mail: "Modern stresses and a poor diet can cause bad gut bacteria to overwhelm the good bacteria and slow or even stop the production of the enzymes that digest food.

"If your digestive system isn’t working properly, toxins (such as the chemical byproducts of processed foods) can build up in the gut. And the body’s favourite way of getting toxins out of the system is to store them in fat cells — usually around the abdomen."

Using a mixture of herbs and spices, the idea is to break down fat in the body quickly, and use the food combinations to do the work for you.

Treats are in the form of fruit, breakfast is a smoothie and tea that encourages you to ahem, use the toilet. Lunch tends to be something light such as lentil chill while dinner could be beef and broccoli. Soups double up as a snack and there is a lot of water to drink.

With promises such as losing 5lbs in five days, it can seem tempting.

So what do our experts think?

Priya Tew, a dietitian who has a two-week eating plan and is a spokesperson for the BDA says: "It is easy to see how people will lose weight on this diet. It is very low in calories and fat, as well as being low in carbohydrates. Although this diet will lead to weight loss, like any fad diet it is not sustainable and the weight will not stay off. We know that this type of restrictive diet leads to weight rebounding and people can end up higher in weight than they initially were.

"The diet is also not well-balanced. The lack of carbohydrates is likely to lead to lower energy levels and may affect mood. Following a more sensible, healthy eating approach over a longer time frame along with getting more active is recommended."

The Food Doctor nutritionist Alice Mackintosh believes that sorting digestive issues out can be a great thing, but it may not be such a good weight loss solution.

"There is no doubt that getting digestive issues sorted can help support weight loss but this rarely happens overnight – especially if you want long term results. The cause of digestive problems varies enormously between person to person and can be incredibly complex. Though it may well help manage symptoms in some way, just taking a concoction of herbs is unlikely to really get to the heart of the issue."

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