BEAUTY KLINIC

Crash weight loss plans and fad diets are an unreasonable alternative to permanent healthy eating habits, according to the American Heart Association.

What is a fad diet? It’s a well marketed diet with some outrageous scheme to lose weight in an impossible manner, often by eating nothing but one food like a cabbage.

Quick-weight-loss diets generally put far too much emphasis on one particular food or type of food. They don′t include a variety of foods or a healthy balance, a violation of the first principle of good nutrition, eat a balanced diet that includes a variety of foods. If you are able to stay on such a diet for more than a few weeks, you may develop nutritional deficiencies, because no one type of food has all the elements a human being needs for good health. The Cabbage Soup Diet is a good example. This so-called fat-burning soup is eaten mostly with fruits and vegetables. The diet supposedly helps heart patients lose 10-17 pounds in seven days prior to surgery. Even if the weight loss claim were true, all the damage due to a lack of a host of important nutrients would far outweigh (pun intended) the benefits of losing the weight. Pixies, elves and fairies, or even cabbages, can′t provide magical weight loss. Moderation and consuming all the major food groups is the best bet.

These crazy diets also ignore a second important principle of good nutrition which is that eating should be enjoyable.. These diets are so monotonous and bland that it’s almost impossible to stay on them for long periods. Imagine eating cabbage soup, nothing but cabbage soup, for even a few days much less for a whole week. By mid week crawling bugs would look good. They’d carry you away in a straight jacket on Sunday.

Boredom isn′t the only reason fad diets aren′t good ones. Most don′t talk about exercise, such as aerobics for 30 minutes a day every day. Physical activity helps maintain weight loss, while physical inactivity is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke. When a diet includes no need for a workout, run the other way.

Quick weight loss is possible. But if a program sounds too good to be true, it is.

Many people have heard of the Atkins diet, the short name for Atkins nutritional approach. Dr. Robert Atkins invented this low-carb diet. He put on a lot of pounds while he attended medical school. He read about this diet in the medical journal. He built on that diet and eventually made it popular.

Dr. Atkins came up with new ideas, his Atkins diet, about the nature of weight gain. He disagreed that saturated fats were the problem. Carbohydrates, found in potatoes, and breads, were the real problem. Atkins held that our obsession with fat actually worsened the problem. Carbohydrates are used to make up for the lack of fat in low fat foods. That meant people on a diet often ate foods that were worse than they normally ate.

This all changes in the Atkins diet. By cutting out carbohydrates people would burn stored body fats. That’s the goal of weight loss. It’s not just a matter of eating less. Dr. Atkins held that your diet could actually help you burn calories. In fact Atkins cited a study that claimed the body would burn an extra 950 calories on his diet. But later reviews of his studies found that his claims were false.

The Atkins diet also could help people with type 2 diabetes.. As opposed to type 1 diabetes, type 2 is often closely associated with diet and people who weigh too much. Therefore, by means of losing weight a person on the Atkins diet would be addressing their type 2 diabetes. In addition the Atkins diet also addresses the measure of taking in fewer carbohydrates which is part of managing type 2 diabetes, so that Dr. Atkins suggested people on his diet would no longer need to monitor their blood sugar or take insulin. But that’s counter to the prevailing medical theories regarding type 2 diabetes which, although recommending that lowered intake of carbohydrates and weight loss help manage diabetes, ascribe no causal relationship between carbohydrates and type 2 diabetes.

What are the specific rules of the Atkins diet? It consists of four steps or phases which are induction, ongoing weight loss, pre-maintenance and lifetime maintenance. Here are more details of Induction which is the most crucial of the phases.

The first phase of the Atkins diet, Induction, is like the boot camp for the diet. It lasts for about two weeks. Carbohydrates are nearly removed entirely from the diet, only 15-20 grams can be consumed each day. The lack of carbohydrates will prompt the body to convert fat into fatty acids for fuel - a process known as ketosis. During this phase weight loss can reach as much as 10 pounds per week.

The other Atkins diet phases are generally used for determining the levels of carbohydrates ideal for losing weight and for maintaining a standard weight - not gaining weight. Dr. Atkins himself died of complications of increased fat intake in his diet, which is something to keep in mind when choosing this diet.

For a diabetic a diabetic diet is very important to managing their condition, and in some cases even working towards reversing it. If you′re a diabetic then it’s wise to cut the amount of fats and carbohydrates you consume.

Both types of diabetes can benefit from the diabetic diet. Type I, called juvenile diabetes, is often diagnosed in children while type II usually starts in adulthood and is more common. With type I diabetes the body produces overly low levels of insulin, while with type II the problem is with cells that don′t absorb insulin. A diabetic diet addresses both types, but type II can actually be avoided or reversed with the proper diet.

In general the diabetic diet is geared towards attaining ideal body weight for controlling and managing diabetes. There is a simple formula for calculating the estimated ideal bodyweight for any person. In women add five pounds to 100 for every inch above five feet, and subtract five pounds from 100 for every inch under five feet. For example a 5′2″ woman would ideally weigh 110 pounds. Men add 6 pounds to 106 for every inch over 5 feet tall. A 5′11″ man would ideally weigh 172 pounds.

The ideal formula for a diabetic diet varies, but there are some common basics. For a person with type I diabetes diet should be approximately 35 calories per kilogram of body weight per day, that’s 16 calories per pound of body weight per day. That means a 160 pound man should eat about 2500 calories per day. Type II people should lose weight by eating as little as 1500 calories daily, then refer to the type I formula to maintain ideal weight.

In a general a diabetic diet carbohydrate intake should be about 50% of the daily caloric intake. Some argue that less carbohydrates are better, but there are advantages to cutting down the fat. Sometimes this can be offset by substituting mono unsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats in the place of saturated fats.

Many people are on the South Beach diet and therefore are always on the lookout for South Beach diet recipes. A low carbohydrate diet can still be tasty. From American to Italian, from German to Mexican, the South Beach diet recipes take on many forms. Here are just a few of the delicious meals that can be found on the South Beach diet.

The first of the South Beach diet recipes to examine is chicken Marcela. It includes chicken breasts, and other ingredients such as parsley, olive oil, mushrooms, and onion. Brown the chicken in the olive oil. After softening the onions and mushrooms cook for about two minutes in the wine. Add some broth as liquid is needed. The vegetables and sauce go over the chicken. The calories and carbs will surprise you - 336 calories, and 3 g of carbohydrates

Some South Beach diet recipes take us to the Far East. It’s time for some chicken salad from Thailand. It’s a combination of chicken with various vegetables and spicy Thailand sauce. It’s very simple to make - mix together the salad ingredients, mix together dressing ingredients, then toss them together. It makes four servings and has 8 g of carbohydrates in 297 total calories. It really looks delicious.

How about south of the border with South Beach at recipes? Oddly, fajitas can include soy sauce according to one Mexican cook. The ingredients are an onion, chili powder, wine juice, bell peppers, soy sauce and two pounds of skirt steak or chicken cut into strips.

Let the meat marinate in the liquid ingredients for at least an hour. Cook the meat until brown and the vegetables to taste. This serves five, has 4.5 g of carbohydrates in a total of 307 calories per serving.

With South Beach diet recipes like these, you may as well not even be on a diet.

I’d like to offer you a glimpse inside the Bob Greene Best Life diet plan. It seems to me that this might be helpful for you to make a decision to get involved, since that costs money at the very least. Not to mention time and energy. Here are the basics.

Cost. Right around $50 will cover the basic costs including the book with recipes, the journal, and a stay on the program book (also available on CDs). The cost of your food will decrease because fresh food is normally cheaper than processed food. You also have an option of joining Bob Greene diet program for a weekly fee that gives you access to experts and other dieters.

How Long is the Diet? As with any plan, Bob Greene’s diet depends on your commitment. The first 2 phases are set up to go for 4 weeks each. The middle phase is the reach your goal stage and may last longer depending on the weight loss you desire. The final phase is your new improved changed lifestyle.

Exercise. This is a huge focus on this plan. You start by deciding where you are activity-wise and increasing it a bit at a time until you eventually reach the optimum range that will keep your calories burning. This is important because it keeps on you on the success track and doesn’t blow out your body.

How much time is involved? There is the need to prepare food that may take longer than already eating processed food. And to ensure success you must carve out each day time for exercise.

Restaurant Meals. Bob Greene’s plan knows that eating out is part of our way of life and so he focuses on how to choose food that makes this social ritual easier. He even has a book that will help you find health-minded foods from certain restaurants.

Alcoholic Beverages. First phase not an option. Other two phases is okay within reason.

Forever Dieting? The beauty of Bob Greene’s diet plan is that he understands that it is not being lazy that got us where we are. But there a multitude of influences in this world that shape and mold us to become what we are. Some are, good some aren’t. In looking at these areas honestly, we can start making a change that will last and is not just a bandaid.

Can this diet plan work for you? Only you can answer that. Anyone or anything else will not give you the jumpstart that you need to have inside to make this the start of your last diet.