Petr Havlicek about the new menu for 30 days: How much and what to eat? What are the biggest mistakes we make?

Is there really a diet that won’t hurt?

If one continues to treat it like a diet, one will always suffer. But if a person understands that something else needs to be done in life and that he does it for himself, then this will never hurt. It only hurts what I do with resistance.

Are you saying that if we want to lose weight, we must change our entire lifestyle?

If you don’t change it, you will still end up on the starting line, which will only move further away from the finish line.

Are you talking about the yo-yo effect?

Exactly. And not only will the line shift, the person will get even worse each time, because failures, of course, will also affect willpower, which will be broken by the effects of the yo-yo.

When does a person really want to start changing something?

When he is not feeling well, he has no energy or his mood deteriorates because he is not coping with things the way he would like, he is also mentally unhealthy. A person should always pay attention when he sees that his life is not going the way he imagined and feels that something is not right.

So this is not just a problem for overweight people?

Even a thin person does not have to feel good, but on the contrary, someone who is a little overweight does not have to feel stupid, nowhere is it written that it is a danger to health or that thinness is a guarantee of good health.

This year you are preparing a thirty day Shine meal plan, but what should a person do after they expire?

Of course, he must continue to follow it. But be careful, this menu designed by me should only be inspiring, not dogmatic. It is about establishing the principle of nutrition, so that there are no constant undertakings. Just so that a person knows how it might look, so that later in any situation he could consult. It is also necessary to learn to listen to the body and perceive that when I am hungry, I need to eat more, and when, on the contrary, I am not hungry, I do not need to eat food at any cost.

What is the main principle of your menu for this year?

Quality food as always. And so that this does not harm economically, we will include the main, and not some exotic products.

This time, too, will you build on vegetables, legumes, lean meat…?

That’s right, this year there is a lot about the plant component, but more or less everything will be there. This time it’s all about the complete basics and more involvement of your own invention in cooking. But I don’t want it to be complicated and sit in the kitchen for hours.

Today’s time of price growth does not quite reflect the fact that it will be cheap to lose weight, fruits and vegetables have risen in price …

I don’t think everything is expensive, we don’t need bananas, avocados and the like in our diet. Fruits and vegetables are the most nutritious foods. Also, don’t skimp on quality. It is necessary to think in the long term, because when we eat poor quality food, it will understandably affect our health over time. Our gut microbiome is also important as it influences health, weight as well as the psyche. We need to feed him the right foods, fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains – variety is key here.

Is it true that two or three meals a day are enough for us?

That’s right, they stay, and at least a twelve-hour fasting window.

How big should the dishes be?

This is individual for everyone, just on merit. The more I do, the more work I have, the more I deserve to eat.

Many people still follow the five-meal philosophy, so what are they wrong?

That is the question. This is not the happiest principle for me. In my experience, ninety-nine percent of people told me they felt significantly better after they stopped snacking. It is important to understand that there is no universal diet, that it is just a matter of my lifestyle and understanding that the more I limit myself and the less I move, the lower the metabolic rate and the more difficult it will be to lose weight. You need to respect your own biorhythm and listen to your body.

But be careful, this is not the case, when the body says it wants chocolate, I gorge myself on it. We need to understand what my body is pointing me to. That is, that I’m tired, I don’t have enough emotions, or that I just didn’t cope with something and the body lacks something, but it’s definitely not about giving him that very chocolate.

So what should I give him at this moment?

Maybe I just need hugs and hugs. It’s also possible that I didn’t get enough sleep or moved too much, didn’t eat enough, and just don’t have enough energy. You need to know the situation and understand it. But those cravings that come out of nowhere are mostly emotional hungers, and they have more to do with mental discomfort than physical. The difference between them is that emotional hunger now comes suddenly to something specific, while natural physiological hunger comes slowly and gradually.

Is it even possible to satisfy such emotional hunger with food?

No, no, no, it’s impossible. The only thing I can do at this moment is to divert the thought, to change the emotion. Maybe go for a run or do some business and not worry.

Can you lose weight even without exercise?

Even by mistake. If someone promises to lose weight without moving, it is tantamount to emptying the body, and also that it will get worse and worse in the future, because I will really start to reduce the metabolic turnover. As soon as we reduce consumption, we start to lose weight, but only for a certain period of time, the body adapts to this discomfort, and then stops, and the weight gains weight again. I need an energy deficit, but only a moderate one, rather I need to increase the metabolic turnover, i.e. increase intake, and improve the use of fat as an energy source. Which I’m not very good at just reducing my power consumption.

What movement is best for a person?

There are a lot of opinions, and it also depends on age, physical fitness and health. But it seems that one of the best movements is weight training, that is, strength training. But this is only one part, the other is ordinary movement. This is where the stumbling block comes in, because we all live our lives sitting on our asses all day and then go to the gym three times a week thinking something will change. But almost nothing will change. I just need to move throughout the day, prolonged continuous sitting is detrimental to health and weight.

That’s why all these smartwatches are telling us to get up and move. Prolonged sitting increases the risk of being overweight, obese, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, or certain types of cancer. So it’s just not possible without regular movement.

Is there any way I can reward myself for eating healthy? Maybe take a piece of that chocolate bar?

Yes, of course, but I need to know if I can do it, if I can take just one, two, three, four dice and put them back in. At this point, I’m perfectly fine. But if I’m an addict and end up eating whole chocolate, I’m afraid abstinence is necessary. Sugar is a proven drug.

Can it be replaced with something? Do you like fruit?

Fruits are clearly included in our menu, but, of course, not without restrictions. But I highly doubt it will drive out my sweet tooth. As I said above, you need to think about what is causing this craving and focus on eliminating the causes.

How important is the drinking regime and how much and what should you drink?

Water, water, water, sometimes tea, all without sugar, sweeteners, colors, thickeners and preservatives.

Can you sweeten tea with honey?

Sometimes we can eat it, it is the most valuable sweetener that exists. Modern science is already beginning to perceive honey a little differently, that it is not just sugar in its best form, but that natural sweeteners, such as honey or maple syrup, contain a lot of active substances and rare sugars that cannot be found anywhere else. But again, everything in moderation, the basis of the drinking regime is just pure water. There is no single reason to drink something flavored.

What if someone prefers bubbles?

I probably wouldn’t see much of a problem here, unless the person is suffering from some specific disease, such as reflux. In the same way, we can flavor the water with mint, lemon balm, add a few pieces of fruit to give it a flavor.

Is it true that the more we drink, the better?

Be sure not to fool around and not pour hectoliters of water into yourself. The key indicator is the color of urine, there is no general rule for fluid intake. The more I move and the drier the environment, the more water I need. A heavy person needs more than a light one, there are so many aspects that they would take up one A4 page. Therefore, I recommend to see how it looks in the toilet. If our urine is almost colorless, then everything is in order. If it’s darker, he tells me to drink.

There is stool in this bowl and also urine, what can that tell me?

What should human feces look like? As the intestines are compact, not consisting of various lentils and not like porridge. If it slips, splatters, and doesn’t stain the toilet, it’s practically healthy stool. Even in the past, urine and feces were one of the indicators of whether a person is healthy or not.

How important is sleep for weight loss?

Those who do not understand its importance will be out of luck for life in this regard. Sleep clearly affects weight because lack of sleep alters the hormonal signaling of satiety and hunger. It also alters the feel-good hormones so you wake up tired, cranky and with an increased appetite. And further – we already know almost three hundred genes that are credited with influencing the appearance of overweight and obesity, and lack of sleep “turns on” these genes.

And the World Health Organization has even classified shift work as a potential carcinogen. These people not only carry a much greater health burden, but are also at risk of being overweight and obese. People who work shifts or don’t sleep need to start realizing that this may be one of the reasons why, although they do a lot of things well, they fail to lose weight.

So what is the ideal time to sleep?

The fixed rate is seven to eight hours. But the quality of sleep also depends, it’s not just the duration. I can lie in bed for nine hours, but at the moment when I do not have enough quality sleep, all the phases of sleep do not alternate, the problem still arises. And be careful, the other extreme is too much sleep, which has the same negative health effects as not getting enough.

What do you think of “guaranteed” ways to lose weight like shakes, boxes, diet powders and the like?

This is a business built on a beautiful cover and a story, and nothing else. Fortunately, for many people, this is very uncomfortable, so they still can not stand long-term use.

Therefore, it is simply important to change the way of life. How do you need to coordinate this in your head in order to finally do it?

The diets that we have just talked about are created for people who are unable to change their thinking and their philosophy of life. If I don’t know why I’m doing it, then it’s completely pointless. There is a real need to change the perception, and hence the attitude towards oneself. And to understand that a diet is stupid because it is a punishment, I just need to tell myself that I will now eat well and give my body everything it needs to function normally. And it’s not that I’m still going to destroy it and demand whips and supervision and punish myself for running away.

Is it generally possible for people who have been struggling with excess weight for a long time to cope with it on their own, or would you recommend them to contact a specialist?

In most cases, a person actually moves in a vicious circle according to the same principle, although he has different options. So the result is still the same. And such a person may then need an expert to explain to him what needs to be done differently.

Download this practical refrigerator poster to help you save money! See how to sweat the goodies you ate.