While most diets prescribe strict calorie amounts, carb levels or fat grams to achieve a healthier and shapelier figure, one diet throws out the rulebook and puts your taste buds in charge. The Instincto Diet -- also called "anopsology" or instinctive eating -- is a type of raw-food diet that focuses on obeying your body's cues when choosing what to eat.
Description
The Instincto Diet embraces raw, unprocessed plant and animal foods while eschewing any products that have been heated or refined. According to Sunyit Diets and Dieting Explained, the Instincto Diet recommends choosing foods based on how good they smell and taste at the time of eating, theorizing that the human body will innately know what it needs when presented with an array of natural foods. Rather than setting limits on calorie consumption, the Instincto Diet advises dieters to stop eating when food begins smelling or tasting less appealing.
Acceptable Foods
The Instincto Diet allows uncooked, unseasoned fare such as fruit, vegetables, seafood, eggs and raw meat. Off limits are grains, dairy, salt, spices and any food that has been modified from its natural state -- including by cooking, chilling, freezing, heat-drying, blending, refinement or extraction. The diet's founder, Guy-Claude Burger, believes that these processing methods interfere with the body's natural signals and instincts, leading people to overeat and choose foods that are not healthful.
Benefits
Because of its emphasis on whole, unprocessed foods, the Instincto Diet is naturally free from added sugar, trans fats, artificial ingredients, excess sodium and empty calories. The diet's emphasis on fresh fruit and vegetables ensures a high intake of fiber, vitamins and minerals, which may reduce your risk of chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease and cancer, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explains. Because the Instincto Diet does not restrict calories, it may be more satiating than low-calorie plans.
Considerations
No clinical studies have examined the effectiveness of this diet for either weight loss or general health, especially long term; reports of its benefits are only anecdotal. Because of the avoidance of grains, dairy and cooked food, the Instincto Diet may be low in certain nutrients such as calcium, potentially leading to deficiencies over time. In addition, the Instincto Diet's limited food choices may make this eating style difficult to maintain in social settings.
Warning
The Instincto Diet recommends consuming raw animal products such as meat, fish, eggs and shellfish, which may harbor microorganisms known to cause food borne illness. Raw fruit and vegetables can also carry disease-causing bacteria, especially if these foods are not washed before consumption. According to MedlinePlus, pathogens such as E. coli enteritis and salmonella can contaminate raw foods and lead to abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting, fever, chills, diarrhea and headache. Consult your doctor before making any drastic changes to your diet or consuming potentially dangerous foods.
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