What to eat before and after a cavitation / RF treatment, for maximum results

Can I eat after lipo cavitation / RF treatment?

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• What should I eat before/after my cellulite / skin tightening treatment?

• Why will a strict, healthy diet on cellulite treatment day can make a difference to the effectiveness of the treatment?

• What can I eat on treatment day then?

• More context on food choices on treatment day

• More context on how the healthy eating / treatment synergy works

• What to eat on the day if you are having a radiofrequency skin tightening treatment

• Check our professional consultancy in cellulite, skin tightening, ultrasound and radiofrequency

What should I eat before/after my cellulite / skin tightening treatment?

A lot of clients ask us: “What do I need to do/not do before or after my cellulite / skin tightening treatment”:

• “Can I eat after cavitation?”

• “Can I eat after RF treatment?

• “What should I eat on cellulite treatment day?”

• “What is the best food for skin tightening”

To which the answer is:

• Follow a strictly healthy diet on the day you receive a cellulite treatment, to achieve maximum results

• Do so specifically right before and right after treatment, in order to make the most of that specific treatment

• And exercise, if possible; intensely if possible and right before or right after your treatment, if possible, for maximum results

But why should you eat very healthily, and if possible, strictly on the day of your cellulite treatment?

Why will a strict, healthy diet on cellulite treatment day can make a difference to the effectiveness of the treatment?

The answer is simple.

An effective cellulite treatment aims to work on both cellulite fat reduction and skin tightening.

For the cellulite fat reduction aspect, such a treatment aims to stimulate lipolysis (i.e. fat release out of fat cells) and adipocyte apoptosis (i.e weakening of fat cells, with consequent adipocyte apoptosis).

Regarding adipocyte apoptosis:

• Protracted lipolysis over time will lead to adipocyte apoptosis

• Plus the treatment itself will stimulate adipocyte apoptosis.

Regarding lipolysis now:

• Lipolysis can be inhibited by a rich meal and the consequent secretion of insulin and FAS (fatty acid synthase) - not a good idea

• In contrast, lipolysis can be enhanced by a state of starvation and the consequent absence of insulin and FAS, and the presence of ATGL (adipose tissue triglyceride lipase), HSL (hormone sensitive lipase) and noradrenaline

If you were having a cellulite treatment on a specific day, what would you prefer?

• To eat a pizza and half a bottle of red wine and stimulate insulin and FAS and inhibit the good work (lipolysis) of your cellulite treatment, and therefore get less than maximum out of your treatment?

• Or eat salmon and broccoli and stimulate ATGL, HSL and noradrenaline and enhance the good work of your treatment - and therefore make the most of your treatment?

Exactly.

What can I eat on treatment day then?

Of course, it’s not only about salmon and broccoli.

On the day of your treatment you can have:

• Any lean protein: lean meat/poultry, any fish and seafood, tofu, eggs, a whey/vegan protein powder shake with a high protein ratio

• As many vegetables, herbs, salads and spices as you wish

• Any quantity of berry fruits

• Definitely no sugar, white starches (white bread white rice etc), pure fat (oil, butter) or alcohol

• And nothing else - no exceptions please (no “good fats” or “good carbs”)

If, for whatever reason, you cannot adhere to the above strict diet, there is another way:you can have half of the calories you normally consume, comprising any food, except sugar, oils/butter, white carbs or alcohol.

Or you can have your usual diet with normal calories (again no sugar, oils/butter, white carbs or alcohol) and exercise for 1-2 hours on the day instead, in order to steer the hormonal environment in your body towards lipolysis rather than lipogenesis.

More context on food choices on treatment day

Protein and vegetables do not inhibit lipolysis, so feel free to have lean protein (as in lean meat, poultry, fish, seafood and eggs), vegetables and salad on the day.

Please do not ask for healthy food exceptions, such as avocados (healthy fat in avocado will still inhibit lipolysis) and yoghurt (sugars and fat in yoghurt will still inhibit lipolysis). You can consume these foods on any other day other than your treatment day.

And definitely do not show up for your appointment with muffin in hand (believe me, it happens) or after a pizza and half a bottle of wine (it also happens). It doesn’t work like that and no, the treatment will NOT burn the muffin/pizza/wine calories 😂

As all high-protein vegan foods also contain fat (i.e. nuts) or carbs (i.e. pulses), vegans can eat vegetables/salads on treatment day or they can simply fast.

During your course of treatments, on days other than treatment day you do not need to have protein-only, vegetable-only meals.

You can simply follow a super-healthy diet, in order to maximise the results of your treatment.

Obviously indulging in sugar, alcohol, high-fat, high-carb or fried food, either on treatment day or throughout your course of treatments is self-defeating, as it will minimise the results of your treatment.

More context on how the healthy eating / treatment synergy works

Most cellulite treatments do not work that well, especially for hypodermal fat reduction (i.e. cellulite reduction), which is the most important aspect of cellulite.

The treatments that do are deep-acting, high-power radiofrequency and deep acting, high-power ultrasound cavitation.

These technologies work by stimulating fat release (lipolysis) from hypodermal fat cells. This is due to the destabilising effect of heat (RF) or mechanical shearing/pressure effect (ultrasound) on fat cells.

Fat release also occurs when you diet, fast or eat very strictly. This is due to the lipolytic effect of low calorie availability, which leads to noradrenaline-induced lipolysis on fat cells and to the lack of lipolysis-inhibiting insulin.

So if you combine your RF / cavitation treatment with a carb-free, fat-free (and obviously alcohol-free and sugar-free) diet on the day, you will maximise the lipolysis that occurs during and after treatment.

What to eat on the day if you are having a radiofrequency (RF) skin tightening treatment

For skin tightening, lipolysis is irrelevant, so a fat-free, carb-free diet on the day is also irrelevant.

However, a good skin tightening treatment aims to stimulate collagen contraction and collagen/elastin synthesis.

• For the collagen contraction part of the treatment, you don’t need to do much, the treatment does all the work

• However, for the collagen / synthesis part of the treatment, having a high-protein diet on the day could prove useful

This is because skin is made of protein (collagen, elastin etc) and providing skin with peptides and aminoacids from a high-protein meal is a very good idea. So:

• Have enough protein on the day: lean meat/poultry, any fish and seafood, tofu, eggs, a whey/vegan protein powder shake with a high protein ratio (about 50g of dietary protein)

• Or, better still, have the above plus a good vegan / non-vegan collagen powder shake (10-20g)

The high protein meals, whey/vegan protein powder or vegan/non-vegan collagen powder will provide key collagen building peptides and aminoacids to your cells.

This collagen powder recommendation is also valid on cellulite treatment day, not just on skin tightening treatment day.

And it is also valid on other days, throughout your course of treatments, not just on treatment days.

Check our professional consultancy in cellulite, skin tightening, ultrasound and radiofrequency

If you are a therapist or clinic owner and are interested in our professional consultancy/teaching, via Zoom or at our London practice, please contact us here.