Hibernation Diet: Lose Weight While You Sleep

Most women have been on diets at some point in their lives. It’s common to meet up with a friend and start talking about the newest diet craze or miracle pill which promises to get rid of unwanted fats and result to a healthier you. In today’s society where the sizes are getting smaller and we’re getting more and more bombarded with visuals of how a woman ought to look like, it’s quite understandable to get frustrated when you try out a diet and not get the desired results. Good thing, then, that we are living in a day and age where information is disseminated on a wider scope, at a faster pace. This is certainly a plus for all of us who are searching for what works. After all, there is always a new take on ways we can achieve that healthier state — and one of those ways just happens to be the Hibernation Diet. In a nutshell, it utilizes the health benefits of honey (one to two spoonfuls per night), while relying on your liver to get your metabolism up and running while you sleep.

What happens when one of the top dieting principles we are familiar with gets challenged? For the longest time, we’ve heard people swear by the After Six Diet (one does not eat anything three hours before bedtime) and having intensive workouts as frequently as possible. And here’s another one: the classic Calorie Count Diet (which is, put simply, taking note of the calories of every food and beverage you consume and making sure that you do not exceed a targeted daily total calorie intake), a diet that goes by the principle of cutting back on the goods and is also more effective when coupled with exercise. Oftentimes, we hear of women who start losing weight then hit a plateau (weight doesn’t budge even though the regimen is being followed religiously) after some time.

Some health experts would say that the regimen and routine still have to be followed, even modified, when one hits a plateau and routine still have to be followed, even modified, when one hits a plateau — and that is all well and good. However, more often than not, there is an element in the whole scheme of dieting that gets neglected: sleep. This is something that the Hibernation Diet promptly addresses. Sure, the standard dieting procedure would have you sleeping a normal eight hours per night, but there isn’t really much stress on why sleep is all that important. Perhaps getting a better understanding of what happens will make you see why a diet without proper sleep would boomerang on you:

Studies have shown that there is a link between good sleep and weight loss. There are two specific hormones affected every time we do not get enough sleep: ghrelin (which is responsible for our feelings of hunger) and leptin (which is responsible for telling our brain when it’s time to stop eating). When we are sleep-deprived, our ghrelin levels will increase at about the same time that our leptin levels will (you guessed it!) decrease. Taking into consideration that we burn fats and our body repairs itself while we sleep, you can now see how not getting enough ZZZs leads to the double-trouble of sabotaging our diets while asleep and awake. Not only do you wake up cranky and, oddly, still tired — you also seem to be unable to control your appetite. And I’ve heard enough tales of woe from girlfriends of how they always seem to want high-sugar and junk food when they didn’t get enough sleep to know that the word “cravings” goes into new levels when one is sleep-deprived.

The Hibernation Diet focuses first on the need to get a good night’s rest, then zeroes in on honey’s capability to “fuel” our liver. The therapeutic properties of honey, as well as the fructose and glucose it contains, are said to be able to speed up metabolism and balance blood sugar levels which, in turn, aids in “letting your recovery hormones get on with burning fat stores.”

Here are some of the questions asked to determine if you are a candidate for the Hibernation Diet:

• Do you wake regularly during the night?
• Do you have night sweats?
• Do you experience acid reflux during the night?
• Do you get up to go to the bathroom during the night?
• Do you feel nauseous in the early morning?
• Do you wake up exhausted?
• Do you have a dry throat in the morning?
• Do you get night cramps?
• Do you feel weak in the early morning?

If you answered in the affirmative to any of these questions, then it’s about time you start scrutinizing your shut-eye routine.

The Hibernation Diet’s creator, a British pharmacist and a sports nutritionist, emphasize that just because they are disputing the no-food-before-sleep rule, this does not give you license to binge and gorge on food. They still advocate healthy nutrition (meaning less junk, more good food choices) while giving your body “the right fuel to work with.” This could mean that the Hibernation Diet, coupled with a sensible calorie-count diet, could work to your advantage, especially if your chosen calories come from healthy food such as whole wheat products and grains, fruits, vegetables, fish, and meat in reasonable portion sizes. After all, we are not talking about honey as a miracle cure, but something to aid your body while it is at rest.

And while you take in that delicious honey, here’s what you have to take out of the equation: Excuses for not Exercising! The Hibernation Diet‘s creators recommend two to three bursts of resistance training each week. You won’t even need to sign up for a fancy gym membership or buy expensive equipment for this; light hand weights will do. If you are into Yoga or Pilates, some of these also have resistance exercises incorporated into the routine. Buy a DVD if you can’t afford the classes. You will notice that nothing really rigorous or strenuous is recommended, but there is much emphasis on being consistent with your exercises.

Those two to three spoonfuls of honey can be taken in mixed with a glass of milk or tea, as a smoothie, or even in its raw form — it’s your choice. As with every instance of embarking on a new diet/change of routine, best to consult with your physician to ensure that you will not encounter any adverse effects to the changes you with to implement. If you’re on a calorie-count diet, just take note of the calorie content of the honey (to be found on the bottle/jar) and incorporate it in your daily allotted calories. Though the ones available in grocery stores are also good, try visiting the organic stores to ensure that you are getting pure, raw honey. It wouldn’t be too difficult to follow this diet; and when you think about it — honey and sleep, now, that is a sweet deal.