Low Carb Diets: Do You Know What They Are?
This is
probably the best diet to start with it will kick start your body into fat
burning.
How?
- By increasing your
protein intake and controlling your carbohydrates in a measured
manner forces your body to burn fat.
Here are
some some low carb meal plan ideas,they don't have to be dull and
tasteless
Breakfast:
Eggs,Fried
Bacon and small Cherry Tomatoes
Launch:
Lamb skewers
with coleslaw
Dinner:
A nice
chicken salad
Any time
snack:
Cheese
& Tomato dip with celery
The Benefits:
How will
you when you are on this diet? You will notice
- steady weight loss .
- Reduced cravings slow
modifying your apatite.
- Which will improved control.
- Higher energy levels.
The
beauty of this diet is it can be customized to your own medical or dietary
requirements, for instance diabetes,under active thyroid,low blood sugar or low
glycemic levels the low carb diet can be altered to suite you.Eat foods
that you do like and leave the ones you don't.
Details
of this can be found in food that burns fat book which outlines all need to
know about getting maxium benefits from this diet with plenty of meal planning
ideas.You can download it free here.
What is the Gi Diet?:
The (Gi)
Glycemic index diet is nutritionally balanced and includes slow-releasing
carbohydrates, helping you to feel fuller for longer. Say goodbye to cravings
and hello to a new lease of life, with tasty delicious meals and improved
energy levels.
Here is
an example you may like to use for your day.
Quick
Breakfast Idea:
A Bowel
of cereal with nuts
or those
who love a cooked breakfast and beans on toast with your cereal.
Launch:
Tomato
and lentil soup
Dinner:
Mediterranean
fish pie or chicken and cashew nut stir fry.
Snack:
Onion and
yogurt dip
Mediterranean diet
For those
people who want a filling and tasty alternative to stodge.A Satisfying well
balanced diet that doctors have know for years is probably amongst the worlds
most healthiest diets there is.It is well documented that people who live in
the Mediterranean region have a tendency to live a lot happier and longer lives
than the most.Due to the high fruit,nuts,olives,vegetables and fish found in
their diets.This all adds up to low cholesterol levels and coronary disease.
Here is
an example you may like to use for your day.
Quick
Breakfast Idea:
Greek
yogurt with nuts,fruit and toast
Launch:
Hummus
and cheese pitta
Dinner:
Salmon
and herb pasta.
Snack:
Rainbow
Fruit Salad
Vegetarian,Total
wellbeing,Gluten free,Healthy heart,High fiber are all the things you need to
incorporate or talk into consideration for a well balanced diet.All these
aspects from meal planning,recipes, exercise workout regimes for all levels are
covered and are yours free.For instant download for you to read through at your
leisure.
Vegetarian diet, Total wellbeing diet, Gluten free diet, Healthy heart diet, High fibre diet all have major benefits the pro's and con's. Which must be carefully assess before you considered, incorporating them into your diet. All these aspects from meal planning, recipes, and exercise workout regimes for all levels are covered and are yours free. For instant download for you to read. Should you wish to make a more informed decision
The Atkins Diet.
Everyone knows someone who has shed a couple pounds on the Atkins Diet. When you read a typical day in the life of an Atkins dieter, it’s easy to see how this fad diet caught on. How about eating an omelet and bacon for breakfast, a tossed salad topped with a spicy burger and cheese for lunch, and a juicy steak with onions, mushrooms, asparagus and salad with bacon bits for dinner?
The Basic Idea:
Carbohydrates are the devil! If you cut your refined sugar, white rice, white flour, white bread, white potatoes and white pasta down to 20 grams a day, the pounds will come off rapidly. Gradually, over time, you may increase carb consumption to 40 grams.
Pros:
The trade-off is that you can eat all the fat and protein you want on this diet! Carnivores, rejoice! Weight loss tends to happen quickly and there are many “convenience” options like energy bars and prepackaged foods to choose from.
Cons:
If you’re a carb-a-holic, this diet is pure Hell. Also, there is a potential for bone loss due to the low-dairy requirements and people with liver or kidney problems will have trouble processing the high amounts of protein in this diet. Common symptoms of low carb consumption include: constipation, muscle cramps, weakness, fatigue and diarrhea.
The Bottom Line:
Be wary of any diet that advocates cutting out an entire food group. As Robert H. Eckel MD of the University of Colorado’s Health Sciences Center puts it, “Our worries over the Atkins diet go way past the question of whether it is effective for losing weight or even for keeping weight off. We worry that the diet promotes heart disease, stroke and cancer.”
The Cabbage Soup Diet
Even if you don’t like cabbage, the idea of sticking to a one-week diet to lose up to 11 pounds is desirable for many people who are feeling bloated and plump. This radical fad is a dream-come-true for anyone who genuinely enjoys cabbage.
The Basic Idea:
You make up a huge batch of cabbage soup, comprised of green onions, green peppers, tomatoes, celery, cabbage, dry onion soup mix, bouillon and seasonings. You can eat unlimited amounts of this cabbage soup. On the first day, you can have as much fruit as you like, except for bananas. On other days, you can have fruit, vegetables, milk and brown rice to varying degrees.
Pros:
The diet is cheap, easy and is considered a “quick fix” if you’re really in a pinch to drop radical pounds before a big events. You’re also able to break from a fatty, fried, sugary, refined diet.
Cons:
Dieters on the Cabbage Soup plan report headaches, bloating, weakness and flatulence due to inadequate nutrition. This restrictive diet is akin to those celebrity liquid-only fads that were popular during the 1980s.
The Bottom Line:
This weight loss plan is simply not sustainable. Even if you were able to lose so much weight, it will be mostly water and you’ll find that it comes right back. The soup itself is also very high in sodium, so it is not recommended for people with heart conditions.
The Mediterranean Diet
Dean Ornish is the founder of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, California. In his book, Eat More, Weight Less, he advocates a high fiber, low-fat vegetarian diet for overall better health and weight loss.
The Basic Idea:
Foods like beans, legumes, fruits, grains and vegetables can be eaten whenever you’re hungry and until you’re full. Non-fat dairy like yogurts, milk, egg whites and cheese can be eaten occasionally and in moderation. He recommends avoiding all full-fat dairy, sugar, syrups, honey, alcohol, nuts, olives, salad dressings, meat, oils, alcohol and fried foods. Eat many small meals and exercise 30 minutes per day or 60 minutes three days a week. Stress should be managed through meditation, massage and yoga.
Pros:
There is no calorie counting needed to lose weight this way. This is one of the few diets that includes exercise and stress management as an important component of a healthy lifestyle.
Cons:
Ornish doesn’t distinguish good fats from bad fats, which we now know is an important component of heart health. Also, critics argue that Westerners find the program too rigid and have trouble adhering to a strict low-fat diet.
The Bottom Line:
Neal Barnard, MD, president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, says the diet “reverses heart disease, cuts the risk of cancer, makes diabetes and hypertension more manageable, and sometimes even makes them go away.” However, most heart specialists will recommend adding a little bit of olive oil, nuts and fish to your diet.
The Reduced Calorie Diet
“Fat makes you fat.” Once upon a time, that’s what we thought, so people read their food labels for fat grams. It was later discovered that calories were really the deciding factor for weight gain. Typically, high fat and high calories are linked, but we know now that there are “good fats” and “bad fats.” The Reduced Calorie Diet isn’t as structured as most other programs, but it certainly advocates a healthy way to lose and maintain weight.
The Basic Idea:
The body uses 2,000 calories a day just to keep the body going. So, if you eat less than 2,000 calories per day – say 1,200 for women or 1,500 for men – your body will be forced to dip into its fat reserves, thereby helping you lose a healthy 1-2 pounds per week.
Pros:
Your diet can still be healthy, nutrient-dense, varied and fulfilling with a 1,200 – 1,500 calorie diet. You’ll be eating foods like whole wheat English muffins with peanut butter boneless skinless chicken breast with brown rice, or 20 almonds and an apple for a snack. Cholesterol levels and hunger cravings drop, while memory and energy improves. You can use a website like Spark People or My Daily Plate to help you calculate calories.
Cons:
Pregnant and breast feeding women should not restrict their calories. Also, obese individuals may need more calories to prevent nutrient deficiency and starvation. This approach asks you to count calories, which some people don’t like doing. It can also be challenging to estimate caloric intake precisely. This type of diet doesn’t come in a freezer section box, a blender, or a tidily wrapped bar, so it’s not as beginner-friendly as some of the more structured diets.
The Bottom Line:
This can be a radical lifestyle change for people who aren’t used to portion control. Mila Kunis, who was training for her role in the 2011 film Black Swan explained, “I was on a five meal-a-day diet of 1,200 calories. I could eat anything that fit into the palm of my hand. That’s it. It was hell but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”
The Sonoma Diet
The Sonoma Diet is based on the cuisine of Sonoma, California’s wine country, which can be considered an Asian, Latin American and Mediterranean fusion. The diet focuses on the incorporation of 10 nutrient-dense “Power foods” that include: almonds, bell peppers, blueberries, olive oil, tomatoes, strawberries, spinach, whole grains, broccoli and grapes.
The Basic Idea:
The Sonoma Diet emphasizes lifestyle and actually taking the time to enjoy food. In addition to the 10 staple “power foods,” you’ll enjoy lean protein and – of course – wine. There are three waves that gradually move you away from bad eating habits into a weight loss phase and to a maintenance phase.
Pros:
You won’t be counting calories or micromanaging your food selections. You’ll be allowed to enjoy occasional indulgences and desserts on this eating plan and you’ll find that the flavorful dishes are easy to prepare and very fulfilling. You’ll eat dinners like tomato and asparagus pizza or a Sonoma plum and rosemary pork roast. Dieters will learn about moderation.
Cons:
There is a lot of cooking involved in The Sonoma Diet, so you may find it hard to stick with if you’re particularly harried. It might also be unrealistic to expect people to purge their cabinets of all refined sugars and prepackaged snacks if there are other non-dieters living in the home.
The Bottom Line:
Rather than restrict entire food groups on a very restrictive diet or obsessively count calories, you’ll learn to eye-ball portion sizes and cook healthy, enjoyable recipes. “The Sonoma Diet is about enjoying foods so it’s easy to stay motivated and stick with it,” says author Connie Gutterson, who is a registered dietician and culinary expert.
The South Beach Diet
Bariatric surgeons often tout the South Beach Diet as a sensible, relatively easy-to-follow guide for obese people to modify their existing diets and begin to make better choices. This diet emphasizes protein, rather than carbohydrates, to help dieters lose an average of 13.6 pounds in three months while also lowering their cholesterol.
The Basic Idea:
Like Atkins, you’ll go through three different phases to gradually add more carbohydrates back into your diet. Yet, South Beach diverges from Atkins by allowing carbs that are low on the Glycemic Index – like whole grains, for example.
Pros:
By learning about the Glycemic Index, you can really revolutionize the way you choose your foods. You learn to say “no” to waffles, watermelon, pretzels, doughnuts and potatoes – and “yes” to yogurt, nuts, all-bran and sweet potatoes. You switch to eating more lean protein like chicken or salmon, rather than red meat. You learn to pair every carb with a protein to keep cravings under control too. You’ll find a considerable support system of recipes, books and convenience food like with Atkins.
Cons:
During Phase 1, dieters lose a rapid amount of water weight and electrolytes get thrown off balance. Electrolytes in your body include calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium. Symptoms of electrolyte imbalance may include muscle spasms, weakness, convulsions, blood pressure changes, confusion, fatigue and malabsorption. Also, the frozen South Beach dinners are very high in sodium, which isn’t good for people managing heart disease or diabetes.
The Bottom Line:
“What we’re starting to see for the future of diets is coming from more understanding of functional foods and nutrient value,” explains Dr. Arthur Agatston, the author of The South Beach Diet. He adds that people have walked around starving for the last 30 years because they’re eating all white bread, potatoes and sugar. He says, “If you’re eating nutritiously, the calories pretty much take care of themselves.” It may be a good start, but you need to be careful you are getting the proper amount of vitamins and nutrients.
The Three-Day Diet
Diet centers promoted the Three-Day Diet during the mid-eighties when everyone was looking for a “quick fix” and a structured program that left little room for decision making. People didn’t want to bust their rears at the gym and they didn’t want to look at labels. They just wanted something easy to follow down to the letter that produced quick results.
The Basic Idea:
Dieters could lose 10 pounds in three days by eating the following:
By some mysterious “magic,” the foods would all interact in a way that caused the fat to melt off your body – all the while, you get to eat hot dogs, hardboiled eggs, peanut butter and vanilla ice cream.
Pros:
The food plan is very specific, which some people like. The portions are all clearly delineated and it’s a short-term plan that does not require exercise.
Cons:
The strict 1,000-calorie diet makes many people feel as though they are starving and also makes people gain weight even quicker when they revert back to a normal diet again. Besides, most of the “weight loss” is actually water, rather than fat.
The Bottom Line:
Cindy Moore, former director of nutrition therapy at the Cleveland Clinic says the diet is “not nutritionally sound” and adds that “the only reason it causes weight loss is because it is so low in calories, not because of any food combinations or metabolic reactions.” A diet so restrictive sets people up for overeating, cravings and failure. According to Moore, “Hands down, the 3 Day Diet is not conducive to changing habits or encouraging a healthier lifestyle, which are fundamental to weight control.”
The Thrive Diet
Carnivores shudder at the thought of swearing off meat in favor of vegetables, but it’s hard to find many fat vegans. Dieticians are hesitant to recommend any type of diet that cuts out an entire food group, although you can still find your daily recommended allotment of protein in foods like beans, soy/tofu and peanut butter. A typical breakfast might include wild rice yam pancakes with agave fruit, an energy bar snack, cucumber pesto salad with tomato basil dressing for lunch, a smoothie snack, an almond flaxseed burger with mixed greens and sweet pepper hemp pesto for dinner and zucchini chips for a late night snack.
The Basic Idea:
This plan calls for 45 percent of your food to be fibrous vegetables like zucchini and cucumbers; 20 percent from seeds, beans and wild rice; 20 percent from apples and berries; 10 percent from cashews, avocados and oils; and 5 percent from whole grains and starch vegetables. Every day you’ll have a big green salad, whole-food smoothie and raw energy bar.
Pros:
You will become more fit if you exercise often, as the guidelines suggest. You’ll rid your body of commonly ingested toxins and begin to adopt a healthier way of thinking and eating. You will enjoy a reduced cancer risk by limiting processed foods and red meat, while upping your fruit, nut and vegetable intake.
Cons:
All your food is raw or cooked at very low temperatures. You can’t have any processed foods, so you’ll need to genuinely enjoy cooking (and have time for it!) Cramping and gas are par-for-the-course with such a fiber-filled diet. Active athletes may need higher protein levels than this diet recommends.
The Bottom Line:
“The best part of this diet is the push to eat more nutrient-dense fruits, vegetables, and legumes,” says Janet Brill, PhD, RD, the author of Cholesterol Down. “But the secret to good health and longevity lies not in a detox raw-food fad diet but in learning how to practice daily stress management techniques, eating a nutritious, calorie-controlled diet, and coupling those lifestyle additions with daily exercise.”
The Zone Diet
One of the more complex diets out there is The Zone Diet. While calculating the ratio of fat, protein and carbohydrates may not sound ideal for most people, it did help the world’s heaviest man Manuel Uribe — a 1,235 pound man – drop 200 pounds in 6 months and ultimately lose 592 pounds.
The Basic Idea:
You’re aiming for a ratio of 40% Carbohydrates, 30% Protein and 30% Fat. Dr. Barry Sears advises, “Eat as much protein as the palm of your hand, as much non-starchy raw vegetables as you can stand for the vitamins, enough carbohydrates to maintain mental clarity because the brain runs on glucose, and enough monounsaturated oils to keep feelings of hunger away.”
Pros:
You’re trading in fatty steaks and greasy bacon for chicken and tilapia. You’re eating more green vegetables and fruit, rather than rice and potatoes. You are learning how to control your portions, without having to count calories. You can still enjoy complex carbs.
Cons:
Critics argue that Dr. Sears’ claims about how his diet “influences hormones” for better fat loss and muscle growth are flimsy at best. They also argue that it is unhealthy to boost protein intake past the normal 15 to 20 percent because the kidneys become overtaxed. For the average person, this diet is difficult to fit into one’s lifestyle, it can be expensive, and it is time consuming to do all the calculations.
The Bottom Line:
This diet works for people who are allergic to grains, wheat or yeast since it involves restriction in these areas. It has also worked for the exceedingly obese who need a game plan that is structured, yet not insanely restrictive. That being said, most people would not be able to adhere to this program for the long haul.
