Weight Loss Articles - The Slim Fast Diet

February 12th, 2007 webmaster

Some diets advise dieters to eat large quantities of vegetables, others try to make people eat a single food for a whole day. The Slim Fast Diet has the shake. It sounds pretty much like what the folks at Herbalife are pushing, although it may be the other way around. Diets are a dime a dozen these days and it’s hard to keep track of who came with which idea and when. So let’s discuss instead the basic features of this diet and the usual pros and cons. This is one of the diets that people seem either to love or hate, as some claim that it works wonders, while others speak of it as a rip-off.

The basic idea is to replace two daily meals with Slim Fast shakes, accompanied by two pieces of fruit and a nutrition bar, and to have a sensible dinner at the end of the day. A sensible dinner means that you are allowed to eat whatever you want, as long as you keep the portions average. At least this is the theory. In practice you will soon find out that dinner is the only time you can get some actual nutritious food, aside from the vitamins and minerals-laden shakes, which means that your food options are limited to those that can keep you on your feet and thinking clearly.

Aside from the shakes, dieters have to drink between 6 and 8 glasses of water per day in order to help the weight loss process along. Dieters should also exercise during this diet, but I’m not so sure that a 1,200 calories a day intake can support a program of exercises. On the other hand, the added exercises should help you shed weight faster and spend less time on the diet. Some people complained of having to buy all those shakes and bars, but I’d say that trading two regular meals for two shakes tends to balance out the costs.

Actually, it seems that the biggest problem dieters face is the fact that every one is on his own. There is no outside structure, there is no support. Just a box of shakes and your own common sense. This is a good thing for some because it helps build self-reliance and teach people to gain control of their own eating process not just during the diet, but for the rest of their lives. Nevertheless, many fail without outside support and this may be a big issue with this diet.

Posted in Weight Loss Articles | No Comments »


Similar posts:

Weight Loss Article - The No Carbs after 5PM Diet

February 11th, 2007 webmaster

Carbohydrates seem to be one of the banes of our existence. Sure they take away the nasty feeling of hunger that makes us reach out for foods that we should not eat, but they’re still on the list of most wanted culprits in many cases of big bellies and fat thighs. Small wonder that many diets focus directly on cutting off the access to carbohydrates. These are called low-carbs diets and are among the most successful diets around when the principle is applied correctly. So let’s discuss another low-carbs diet and how good is it for your health.

The “No Carbs after 5 PM” diet, also known as the Carbs Curfew diet among the aficionados, is based on the idea that you don’t have to try all that hard to lose weight. Simply cutting off all carbohydrates after 5 PM is supposed to be enough for weight loss purposes. Not eating any carbohydrates after 5 PM serves to lower the overall intake of calories for the day, while eating more protein than usual helps make you feel full in a healthy way. this is a simple eating plan that can be understood by anybody in no time. No complex formulae here.

The eating plan is spread across 28 days and lets the user exercise his or her choices regarding the breakfast, lunch and Carb Curfew Meal every day. Snacks are restricted to fruits and vegetables and there’s one mandatory pint (that’s about half a liter) of skimmed or semi-skimmed milk to be had every day. The eating plan comes with an exercise plan designed to help the weight loss process with long walks and exercising of the abdominal muscles. There are a lot of food recipes to choose from, which makes it all the easier to stick to the program.

This diet has nice potential. People who have trouble sticking to harsher low-carbs diets will appreciate the fact that the breakfast and lunch can be as rich in carbs as the users like. Not to mention that they don’t have to spend time counting every last unit of carbs or proteins, they don’t have to bother with blood sugar levels, glycemic index values or circadian rhythms. As long as you can remember that carbs are not allowed after 5 PM, you’re bound to succeed. On the negative side, however, it doesn’t take a lot of dieting experience to see that this diet may be slower than others. Also there is no minimum weight lost promise, so be careful when setting your target weight.

Posted in Weight Loss Articles | No Comments »


Similar posts:

Weight Loss Article - The Mayo Clinic Diet

February 10th, 2007 webmaster

Welcome to the Mayo Clinic Diet that doesn’t come from the Mayo Clinic. This diet is a strange idea that has been floating around for a long time, despite the fact that it is not endorsed by the Mayo Clinic. Once again dieters are face to face with the misleading idea that somehow grapefruit burns fat, which leaves the dieter free to indulge in high fat food like ham and eggs for breakfast and meat, vegetables and salad dressing for lunch and dinner. This is not a diet, but a dream come true! Or, at least, it would be a dream if it actually worked.

Right from the start this diet sounds too good to be true. Any kind of meat and any amount of it at every lunch and dinner? With any amount of vegetables? And salad dressing on top? So where does the weight loss part come in? This must be every fast food lover’s dream. Unfortunately, half of grapefruit and half a glass of grapefruit juice cannot burn away fat in any circumstances, much less when the dieter is busy feasting on meat and vegetables. While it’s true that this diet bans complex carbohydrates in order to help weight loss it is worth remembering that these complex carbs are the main energy source for the body.

Even if the idea that grapefruit burns fat just like that was proved correct, this diet is still too unbalanced to be a sound long-term eating plan. Fried foods and fat foods are associated with increased risks of heart diseases and cancer, which is not a good tradeoff for lower body weight. Eating large portions of food on a regular basis is also not a very good idea and it certainly does not square with a strict diet.

Basically, this seems to be one of those diets that count on using the names of famous institutions or famous people in order to push silly ideas. What’s worse is that some people are desperate enough to actually believe in this type of eating plan, especially since they are attracted to the idea of a diet rich in meat. This diet is unbalanced from the nutritional point of view and encourages overeating. Avoid it and choose a better eating plan instead; one that doesn’t sound as good, but which will help you lose weight.

Posted in Weight Loss Articles | No Comments »


Similar posts: