Weight Loss Article - The Zone Diet

February 18th, 2007 webmaster

The celebrity diet par excellence. It’s trendy to be in the Zone and it’s nice to be in the company of stars, to go through what they have gone. The Zone is also a nice sounding name, good for all kinds of marketing purposes. One of the things that have made this diet a success among celebrities is the fact that a lot of diet food delivery companies have included Zone foods in their menus. Those who can afford this kind of expenses are probably glad that they don’t have to go through the whole shopping and cooking experience.

The Zone Diet is built around the classic mix of low-far foods, such as chicken and fish, low-fat cheese, small amounts of fruits and vegetables and some olive oil. The Zone itself is a fancy term for achieving a state of hormonal balance (especially in insulin and glucagon) that allows the body to expend the energy intake in an efficient manner and to avoid storing calories as fat. Therefore, dieters are encouraged to eat a lot of non-starchy raw vegetables, a small amount of protein, a smaller amount of carbohydrates and enough monosaturated oils to keep the feeling of hunger away.

The good side of the diet is the restriction of refined carbohydrates, which are low in nutrition, and the focus on low-starch vegetables and fruits. Nevertheless, the American Heart Association does not recommend the Zone Diet because of the lack of essential nutrients, high-protein content and the general lack of information about its long-term effects. Since the diet is quite low on the daily intake of calories, it does not seem to be designed for the long term, but rather as a quick fix. Exercising is pretty much out of the question with such a low amount of calories.

Another problem that dieters are bound to face, except for those who pay for food deliveries, is that meals have to be calculated to include the exact amount of fat, protein and carbohydrates required by the diet. This is not always easy for the average dieter and it has every chance of becoming a bigger problem over extended periods of time. Also, dieters have traditionally found it hard to stay on a diet that is very low in carbohydrates because the feeling of hunger is almost always present.

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Weight Loss Article - The X-Factor Diet

February 17th, 2007 webmaster

Well, it seems that people who cannot come up with an original idea, can at least think of a trendy name containing the eye-catching and product selling letter “X” and maybe even a reference to the popular X-Files series. I know that the X-Files series is now ancient history, but so are the glory days of the Atkins diet and of many other low carbs diets. However, this doesn’t mean that low-carbs diets have stopped working. You just have to be very careful when choosing one, because you might end up depriving yourself of vital minerals or vitamins.

So, what else is it to this X-Factor Diet beside the rather out of place use of the letter X? Well, not much. The same old idea that cutting off the carbs will help bring blood sugar levels under control and reduce the amount of insulin released into the cardiovascular system. This will, of course, prompt the body to start burning up the energy stored as fat in order to make up for the difference in energy levels. By controlling insulin levels, the user can prevent or even treat the condition known as Syndrome X (hence the book title) or insulin resistance, which diminishes the effect of insulin on fat and promotes obesity.

The diet features two programs to choose from, depending on how much fat you’re planning to shed, but both of them are basically the same low-carbs, high-protein diet. The biggest difference between the X-Factor and Atkins is the fact that X-Factor avoids the fried foods and butter promoted by Atkins and focuses instead on healthier fats obtained from lean meat, chicken, eggs and fish. Bread, pasta, wholegrains, rice, beans and most fruit and vegetables are out. However, the Insulin Balance eating plan allows a bit more vegetables and fruits than the Ketogenics plan.

Following the stricter plan women can expect to shed between 4 and 12 pounds in the first two weeks, followed by 1 to 2 pounds later on. Men are likely to lose between 8 and 16 pounds during the first phase of the diet. Overall, this diet is a little better than the Atkins diet, but still not very healthy for users. Healthy eating requires you to split the intake of calories between carbs (50 percent), fat (35 percent) and protein (15 percent). A diet that replaces carbs with proteins is likely to mean trouble later on, especially since no studies have managed to prove that low-carbs diets are better than low-calorie diets.

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Weight Loss Article - The Ultimate New York Body Plan

February 16th, 2007 webmaster

This one is more of a power diet, in the sense that you can only pull it off with a lot of willpower. The short-term results are bound to be spectacular, but as always, there is no guarantee about the long-term ones. Some diets are very strict on which foods are allowed and which are not, while others focus on achieving a balance between dieting and exercise. The Ultimate New York Body Plan is an attempt to push both the dieting and exercising to the limit. Calorie consumption is kept at a minimum, while fat burning is maximized through a lengthy program of exercises.

The two-week plan is built around losing some 1,500 – 2,000 calories per day. There are five meals per day which consist of egg white omelettes, lean meat (fish, chicken and turkey), vegetables and salad. Believe it or not, these are the only foods you are allowed to eat under this diet. No alcohol, no bread, no rice, no dairy products, no fruits. It’s a tough program and recommended only to those who are sure they can stick to this gruelling experience. The meal plan is supplemented by two protein shakes per day, which is helping your general health, but not your craving for food.

And if the strict dieting is not enough, you are also going to enjoy 45 minutes of cardio-vascular exercise and 45 minutes of cardio-sculpting exercise. That’s apt to be a bit rough on those not used to such intense workout. Some people can barely motivate themselves to work out half an hour per day, which is why this diet is rather ambitious to set the mandatory time limit at an hour and a half. I’m not sure that many people are able to stick to this, but I guess that if you really like this diet, then you can soldier on for two weeks.

As you can see this diet is not for the faint of heart and definitely not for the casual dieter. It takes a lot of willpower to refrain from quitting on the third day or so. People who haven’t exercised in years and have quite some weight to loose should not attempt the 90-minute work out, because it’s simply too much all of a sudden for them. Also, this diet is more of a quick fix because the weight lost during the two weeks will come right back as soon as you’re back on regular food.

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