Archive for August, 2009

Understanding southbeach diets

There are literally so many types of diets available today. Such diets come in the form of meal replacements or controlling the proportions in your meals. More or less what comes to our mind is low calorie, low carbohydrate or low fat diets. Fact is many diets are revolved around these but are modified to perform better. The southbeach diets are one of the many which has become an accepted form of diet that was made for weight loss.

The southbeach diets were originated by a medical doctor, Arthur Agatston. He practiced cardiology that focused on disease prevention. He developed the diet for his patients who had great success and improvement in their health conditions. So what`s next? He promoted it to the public. Since it is a good weight loss diet, it catches on pretty quick. Of course there will be those who will find it hard to follow the concept and there will be those to oppose the idea.

Southbeach diets are part of a calorie restrictive and portion controlled diet. The main purpose is not to be on low carbohydrate or low fat. The concept is to
understand what is good and bad for you, as in good or bad fats or carbohydrate.Even though you might end up having to be on the bad part of the diet, as in give in to temptation you can still lower the bad parts of it to mean your weight loss goals. Fact is you can still make the diet work for you, if you understand it.

Southbeach diets require individuals to see their food intake restricted to lean meat, seafood, eggs, low fat dairy products, nuts, vegetables artificial sweeteners and a couple of carbohydrates of the low glycemic variety. There are three phases in this diet. The first phase can be a hard one. It requires you to avoid a wide variety of food, and it will last for two weeks. If you survive the first phase the second one will be a breeze. Phase 3 is similar to phase 2, but it has fewer restrictions.

In southbeach diets it is not wise to start and stop in phases 2 and 3. It will be waste as you pull through and fight all those temptations. There will be the stressful sensation to eat more when you are in phase 1. Unfortunately, this is where many drop out. Trick is to do and forget and move on. If you are unable to keep yourself under control about food even after you have eaten than this diet is not going to be the one for you.

southbeach diets

southbeach diets

Enhanced by Zemanta

Making your daily food pyramid

When we were in schools, we had talks based on diet that was visually displayed as a daily food pyramid. Of course, at that age most of us do not even understand the benefits. We sort for the tasty burgers and fries with soft drinks. As we get older, that is when we understand about health. That is the usual case isn`t it. Even though we have the food pyramid chart as a guide, we would rather look at easy diets that work.

So why talk about daily food pyramid? Most of us are only exposed to one particular type of food pyramid chart. In fact, there are many charts created to suite someone`s diet. For example, if you are diagnosed with diabetes than you might have a problem with recipes and types of foods to buy and eat. You would quickly seek dietitians or doctors to recommend appropriate foods. Next issue will be following the advice. This can be a problem if you have a busy lifestyle. Keeping notes is difficult as well. You will tend be too restricted by this. What we want is to be free to make decisions.

There are many forms of pyramid that are created for certain diets like Mediterranean diet, Asian diet, California diet and many more. This just goes to show that you can actually design your very own daily food pyramid. Now you can place the foods that you should consume less at the very top of the pyramid. The foods that you can consume more can be at the very bottom. So it comes down to a gradient. Food that is less required and food that is much needed from top to down. Not very complicated at all, but it is better to make it a bit more complex.

Firstly, you should make a list of broad food types. Using your list make a sketch of the pyramid and start to make the layout separating the food types. As you go down the pyramid you should notice that you are eating all sorts of food. For example, if you are diabetic than you should have sweet foods at the top. Still you do consume sweets at a very moderate amount. This ensures you still get your energy and also reduces temptation. Your daily food pyramid should be well organized and also detailed. Detail as in also show the amount of serving for each type. Ask your physician or dietitians for guidance on this.

So now you have your daily food pyramid, so what`s next? Quite simply you make it look nice and appealing. Try to place it somewhere you would see it every day. This will constantly remind you and also help to keep you intact with your health goals. Make a food pyramid and be your own food pharaoh.

Enhanced by Zemanta

Learning about diets by blood type

Blood is so important to us. It is obvious without it we are goners. Did you know that by knowing your blood type you can actually make yourself healthier? Imagine that if you had some health problems that are actually caused by you eating the wrong type of food for your blood type. Maybe you can actually avoid facing such problems if you took up diets by blood type.

Though many advantages of such diets by blood type were just claims, there are people who are confirmed that their digestion and diabetes was in better control. The medical science behind this diet concept is the fact that all foods have lectins, or proteins that can interact with antibodies in blood. Lectins are sugar-binding proteins. Meaning viruses or bacteria can get itself attached to your blood cells by using lectins, causing harm to your body.

So what has that got to do with blood type?. After tests conducted, it was concluded that lectins in various types of foods react differently with different blood types. When a particular type of food`s lectin reacts with a specific blood type, the lectins cause the blood to become sticky. When blood becomes sticky, it can cause health problems related to liver, obesity, digestion, even kidney problems and many more. Many foods have been tested to come with various diets by blood type.

Even though the science behind it backs up the claim and many diets by blood type followers have reported of health improvements, there are always side effects. As we age we get older and some of us have hereditary health related issues. Our blood type will not change, but our body does as we age. This type of diet aids but it is not a real healthy system to be bound by.

It may sound as if I am going against the diets by blood type. The real issue is that such a diet cannot be done everyone. Even if chosen to follow, one should be aware of their health problems before considering. It may also be useful if you do meal replacement in one of the meals for such a diet to ensure it does not affect your lifestyle. Such a diet is still not widely accepted by everyone yet till more research is done extensively.

It is also wise not to buy any forms of supplements that promote diets by blood type. Remember your blood is very important to you. It can be a problem if in future you overdose yourself and see some implications. Still it is worth to try the diet out if you learn the food types for your blood type and see whether there is any improvement in health.

Enhanced by Zemanta

Want to have a fruit diet weight loss

When it comes to weight loss, the common goal is to lose weight as soon as possible. Most of us would choose to on a crash diet or something that promises weight loss within a week. Tempting to do it but will it really helps when you do not progress through your weight loss properly. For many years, liquid diets, fruit diets and calorie counting based diets have been vastly promoted for losing those extra pounds. Fruit diet weight loss is one of the popular as it much easier to prepare to do.

Fruit diet weight loss has been used by many people with success. At the same time, many of them also put their weight back. Simply said it isn’t going to help you if it is too going to be all fruit for all the meals. Same goes for liquid diet and other forms of diet that you want to use for weight loss under a week. Fruits can be good but it has to be consumed with a limit each day.

One of the best ways that I know of to lose weight effectively and at the same time make sure you are healthy is to actually do meal replacements. Fruit diet weight loss is best down with replacing your choice of meals. Of course, there is also a situation where you have to decide which meals to replace. At this point, you can create a many reasons for why any of your meals can`t be replaced.

Firstly, plan your fruit diet weight loss program. As in what type of fruits you want to eat and what types you think will fit into your budget. We all know for the majority breakfast is the most important meal of the day. So what will you do? Will you choose to forgo the bacon or the whole-meal bread for fruits?. I guess not, breakfast is not only the most important meal but also the sort off morale boosting meal. If you do not have a good breakfast it might get difficult for you till lunch. So what about lunch? Can it be done? Will you have the energy? Of course you can and yes it will give the energy. Then dinner comes, when it is at night time it is safe to assume that there is not much activity. Here, you can replace your meal easily unless your family is involved.

It wouldn`t be nice for you to just eat fruits while your loved one eat that lovely fried chicken. Temptation is sure to set in. What I do is simply replacing my dishes for myself. When there is a fried chicken on the table. I would only in moderate amounts or maybe just for taste and move on to eating fruits. Such replacements will let you have a progressive fruit diet weight loss. Temptation is just a distraction; keep your mind in control.

Enhanced by Zemanta


Related Blogs

Starting your mediterranean diet meal plan

Majority of us have a busy lifestyle and we want to have meals on the go. This can be a problem if we want to have a healthy body. A lot of foods that can be prepared fast usually contain chemicals and unwanted fats that can cause illness on the long run. It is a crucial choice to make in one’s lifestyle. The question comes down to how well you want to live.

The Mediterranean diet meal plan is based on high consumption of natural, unprocessed foods such as vegetables and fruits. The most important thing about such a diet is that it is can be pretty changed to suit to your taste. If you want to lose weight or if you are a diabetic it is actually possible to make the dishes to your taste. If you want to combine this diet with other forms, it is not recommended.

The reason why the Mediterranean diet meal plan is so interchangeable is because of the food that makes it up. That does not mean there is not proportion to the meals. Yup, the diet has a frequency going according to monthly, weekly and daily food type consumption. It may sound complicated but actually it makes it easier for you to prepare.

Most of us sure like to eat red meat. The good thing is, it fits into the Mediterranean diet meal plan. There is a setback, you should or if you are into weight loss consume red meat no more than a few times. The amount you should eat can be from once or twice a week in moderate amounts.

For weekly based edibles it does get better for you to do up a Mediterranean diet meal plan. For the taste of sweetness it is best to substitute to sweet fresh fruit. Eggs are a good source of protein but it is best consumed just 4 per week. Poultry and fish can be eaten a few times week provided you take the skin of the poultry and choose white meat for lower fat intake.

On a daily basis eat things like cheese and yogurt with beans, legumes, nuts. You can also include whole grain foods like bread, pasta and rice. The most important food type to include is fruits and vegetables. When you want to snack or you are getting that hunger feeling, eat fruits. With that make sure you drink 6 to 8 glasses of water every day. But the best part you can drink wine but in moderation. It is safe to drink about 10 ounces of wine per day.

Along with all these you have to work out. The diet will be much more effective this way. There are many ways for you to prepare your Mediterranean diet meal plan. The food is the only restriction and you can adjust to your craving. So start as early as possible to begin a good and healthy life.

Enhanced by Zemanta