Jungle camp: Is the radical rice bean diet a real insider tip?

The jungle camp is not a garden of Eden. Those who venture there must be capable of suffering. The stay can go to the substance. This is also due to the diet, because the camp is anything but fat. The supply situation is clear. A few beans and rice must be enough, more – vegetables or even meat – is only in there if the participants prove themselves in the exams.

The result: many celebrities are properly slim down through the radical diet. In the past, some are said to have lost up to ten kilos during the almost three jungle weeks. But is that also recommended? The star asked at nutrition expert Dagmar von Cramm.

First of all: weight loss is not surprising. The jungle campers are not only exposed to physical, but also psychological exertion – they have to endure in a room full of snakes, dive in meat waste and eat cooked kangaroo. This is drawn to the nerves and eats energy. But you only get them on the plate in small rations.

The menu is one -sided, the quantities are poor. The residents have 70 grams of rice and 70 grams of beans every day. In total, this is only about 450 to 500 calories – a few carbohydrates, a few proteins and a few minerals, vitamins and fiber. The calorie requirement of adults is far higher. As high, among other things, depends on gender, size and age. According to the energy requirements for women, an average of around 2000 kilocalories are, in men it is around 2600 kilocalories at a low level of activity.

If the body gets too little energy, it goes into the savings mode, says Dagmar von Cramm: “The body temperature drops, you get tired.” Especially if the calorie intake is too low for days, it can weaken – physically and mentally. Uncounty, dizziness, headache, nausea and circulatory problems are some of the possible symptoms. These can be reinforced by a lack of salt.

An unfavorable starting position for the jungle camp participants who sometimes have to take challenging exams. And one spiral: Because the more the body does, the greater the energy requirement – and hunger.

In addition, the daily protein amount recommended for humans, with the rice bean diet-is only scarce if at all. Proteins are an important source of energy and are required as a building material for cells and for the preservation and structure of muscles. In adults from 19 to less than 65 years, the 0.8 grams per kilo is body weight. A woman with a body weight of 60 kilograms would have a daily requirement of around 48 grams, men with 80 kilograms of body weight would have to bring about 64 grams of protein every day.

“Of course, the participants will lose weight – but unfortunately initially muscle protein, only later fat,” said the nutrition expert. This is also the reason why they will “increase quickly” later. If the protein intake is deficit, the muscles are reduced first. This can be a challenge, especially for less sporty and older jungle campers. In old age, the muscle mass is less lost anyway, and an average of around one to two percent muscle mass is lost on average from the age of 50. The muscle breakdown can also be accelerated by the protein -low diet.

The basic metabolism, i.e. the minimum amount of calories that the body needs during the day, depend on the muscle mass. “If it sinks, the calorie requirement also drops,” says Dagmar von Cramm. The body adapts to the defect, if it is remedied, the famous yo-yo effect threatens.

Harry Wijnvoord once broke off the jungle experiment because the supply situation put too much for him. Michael Wendler justified his exit that he felt weak. Angelina Heger pulled out of the camp because she was “nervous and physically not good”. And Gunter Gabriel and Rolf Zacher landed directly in the hospital after the camp because they had struggled with heat and lack of food. The list can be continued.

In the end, is the rice bean diet nothing more than a tool to weaken the participants and to put them into stress through the hunger situation? After all, persistent hunger can significantly influence the psyche and make people irritable. that hunger can grow up for an anger hungry combination. Keyword: “Hangry”. This also affects the mood in the camp.

Despite the negative consequences of the jungle diet, nutrition expert Dagmar von Cramm can also gain positive things. Because while the diet would affect people with underweight, overweight people could benefit. “The jungle diet is a modified fast that can even have a positive effect over the period,” she says.

“Blood pressure, cholesterol levels and insulin sensitivity normalize. The cells react normally to blood sugar again and metabolize it with the help of insulin,” said the expert. It even believes that after a few days, some participants could not pay concentration disorders but fasting euphoria.

Notice of the editor: the star is part of RTL Germany