Anthony Robbins Weight Loss Diet Plan

Anthony Robbins diet

Healthy weight loss diet plan

Anthony J Mahavorick better known as Anthony Robbins or Tony Robbins is a famous personal development guru, but do you know that he as written a book on healthy weight loss diet?

What is Anthony Robbins weight loss diet?

Anthony Robbins diet which is somewhat similar to Robert Young’s theory of alkalizing the body to keep fit and healthy although it distinguishes it with an entire way of life and changes of lifestyle.

The Anthony Robbins diet is a vegetarian diet approach to life. He believes that if we do not alkalize out bodies we are heading towards destruction. So he advises that we consume more alkaline vegetables and fruits and at the same time should avoid eggs and other such acidic foods to improve out fitness and health.

Therefore this diet is not just a healthy weight loss diet but is aimed at achieving fitness as well as health. When most diets make, especially the low carb diets such as Atkins diet makes us feel fatigued and sometimes even irritable, the Anthony Robbins do not.

If you have read any of his personal development books or his attract wealth seminars, you will know that Tony Robbins is a health motivated man and talks of how he plans an entire life outlook rather than simply weight loss. He teaches people how to achieve high self esteem and is full of energy.

Anthony Robbins diet teaches people to eat vegetarian foods that are rich in alkaline so the body can maintain a ph of 7.4. In his book, Tony Robbins also discussed vital breathing. He teaches correct breathing techniques so that the body can get maximum oxygen from breath. More oxygen will create a more alkaline environment in the body and this in turn help in the optimum functioning of the human body. It is only when the cells are unable to release their toxins that problems occur. So with more oxygen the cells in the body will be healthier.

In the diet, he encourages people to drink at least three liters of alkaline water and advises people to exercise regularly. This is because without regular exercises, the lungs do not get enough oxygen. The diet plan suggests that people need to do cardio exercises at least four days in a week. Cardio or aerobic exercises strengthen the heart and lungs and also draws in high oxygen intake.

Predictably, he also preaches goal setting. As the book claimed, with the Anthony Robbins diet plan, practitioners will not only gain good health and weight loss but also a happy and relaxed mind.

Is this easy weight loss diet plan healthy and workable? I will appreciate your comments on this blog if you have tried Anthony Robbins diet plan.

Easy Quit Smoking Diet

Quit smoking diet

Easy diet plan to quit smoking?

We all know that smoking is bad for our health and but all smokers know it is not easy to quit smoking. Amongst many harmful effect of smoking is that it affects your cardio vascular system making you unfit and therefore reduce the effectiveness of cardio exercises to lose weight quickly and easily. Smoking also affects your muscle growth by restricting blood circulation.

Read about quitting smoking in weight loss camp here.

Quit smoking easy diet plan

Now, scientists have found out that you may be able to quick smoking if you are put a diet which is easy to follow - healthy diet plan. A Duke University study shows that fruits, vegetables, and dairy foods make cigarettes taste terrible. In contrast, meat, coffee, and alcoholic beverages make smoking much tastier.

"The conventional wisdom is that cigarette addiction is all about the nicotine" psychologist F. Joseph McClernon, PhD of Duke University told Web MD. "However, we are learning more and more as it is also about sensory effects like the taste and the smell and the visual experience and the habitual routines of smoking. The taste effects are important."

Dr McClernon, said smokers constantly say that certain foods and beverages made their cigarettes taste much better. He began to wonder exactly which foods these were and whether are there any foods that make smoking displeasure.

Dr McClernon proceeded to ask about 200 smokers to list foods that worsened or enhanced their smoking experience. Almost 70% of the smokers said some foods made their cigarettes taste better. These foods tended to be caffeinated beverages, alcoholic beverages, and meat.

Some 45% of the smokers surveyed also said some foods made their cigarettes taste worse. These foods included fruits and vegetables, non-caffeinated beverages such as water and juice, dairy beverages, and dairy foods.

Another finding from this survey found that menthol cigarette smokers were very likely to say that their cigarettes tasted the same no matter what kind of foods, beverages or diet they consumed.

Dr Scott McIntosh, PhD, associate professor of medicine at the University of Rochester in New York and director of the greater Rochester area tobacco cessation center and Dr McClernon note that counselors tell people who quit smoking to drink lots of water and to eat carrots and celery sticks.

"The idea is to get the smoker to do something with the hands and mouth that is not smoking but it might actually be good to engage in some of these behaviors before quitting, to alter the taste," McClernon says. "We might ask clinicians to ask patients getting ready to quit to start consuming healthy dairy products and change their diets to see if they can alter their smoking behavior that way." Dr McClernon says that he is planning to do research to try to understand why drinking water and eating fruits and vegetables worsens the taste of cigarettes.

The McClernon study appears in the April issue of the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research. So will there be a easy diet plan coming up for smokers to quit smoking? Stay tuned!

Do Atkins Diet Work?

Weight loss that works

Atkins diet weight loss plan

In a recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association, it was reported that researchers from the Stanford University confirmed that subjects put under Atkins diet resulted in more weight loss over a year than other weight loss diet plans such as the Zone diet, the Ornish diet and the LEARN diet (Lifestyle, Exercise, Attitudes, Relationships and Nutrition). So Atkins weight loss diet plan do work?

Having been on the Atkins diet myself before, I already knew that Atkins weight loss diet plan do work quite sometime ago. My only apprehension is that the diet may come with some health risks because it severely limits carbohydrate consumption and calls for carbs to be replaced by meat (protein and unhealthy saturated fat) and fats.

It is not all good news yet. The study’s leader warns that the research does not mean that dieters should go on the Atkins weight loss diet plan immediately. Dr Christopher Gardner, assistant professor of medicine at the Stanford Prevention Research Center also said that this study is not a vindication of the Atkins diet.

Healthy weight loss diet plans?

The Atkins diet is a very low carbohydrate weight loss diet. The Zone diet also advocates low carb consumption. On the other hand, the Ornish diet is high in carbohydrates and the LEARN diet is fashioned after national dietary guidelines.

However, the subjects in the study failed to follow their weight loss diet plans to the letter. For instance, the Atkins subjects ate nearly triple the amount of carbs allowed in the Atkins diet plan. Therefore the message sent from the study maybe to tweak the low carb diets, according to Dr Gardner.

That could mean eschewing refined carbs such as pasta, white bread, white rice, cupcakes and drinks sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, went on Dr Gardner.

The year long study was the longest with 311 participants and the largest to compare Atkins diet to other weight loss diet plans. In the study, subjects were assigned randomly to Atkins, Zone, Ornish or LEARN weight loss diet plans. After a year, those who were on the Atkins diet lost more weight than the other three diet plans and in one particular case, a subject lost nearly triple the amount of weight.

Also, it was noted that insulin, lipid levels and blood pressure for the Atkins group were comparable or even more favorable than the other groups.

Dr Barry Sears, the father of the Zone diet remarked that the study should be taken with a pinch of salt. He said that it is bad science and good publicity. Incidentally, Dr Sears’ Zone Diet book sold more than 5 million copies worldwide.

The diet message may be confusing, said the director of the Duke Diet and Fitness Center, Dr Howard Eisenson. He said that when it comes down to a healthy weight loss diet plan for weight control, there is no easy answer.

However, I beg to differ. You can combine a healthy weight loss diet plan with a proper exercise regime and that will be the answer to your weight loss goals. I know because I have prescribed this method to hundreds of my clients and good weight loss results are consistent. Do anyone have any experience with Atkins diet? Does Atkins diet plan work? Share your experience and comments here.

Zone Diet Weight Loss Plan

Zone diet

What is Zone Diet weight loss plan?

Of late, I have been receiving many emails from my readers asking me for more information about Zone Diet after reading my posting about Zone diet home delivery.

You may like to know that stars like Demi Moore, Sandra Bullock, Sarah Jessica Parker, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston have one thing in common. They are all Zone Diet fans and include the Zone Diet in their weight loss plans to keep their famous figures.

"You will lose weight permanently, achieve peak physical performance, enhance mental productivity and delay the signs of ageing" claimed Dr Barry Sears, the creator of The Zone Diet. Is that true? Let us find out.

How does zone diet work?

The Zone Diet works on the theory that excess insulin, a hormone that regulates blood sugar levels, makes and keeps us fat. By closely regulating our blood sugar levels and therefore keeping our levels of insulin in a tight ‘zone’, the body burns fat more efficiently so that we lose can lose fat and lose weight.

To control insulin levels, you need to get the good balance of proteins, carbs and fats in our meals. Dr Sear’s Zone Diet recommends low carbohydrate, high protein diet and moderate amounts of fat in our meals to get this balance. His equation is that we should get 40 percent of calories from carbohydrate, 30 per cent from protein and 30 per cent from fat from every meal.

In other words, to be on a Zone diet means cutting out most carbohydrates such as breakfast cereals, bread, rice, potatoes, pasta, noodles, confectionaries, croissants, muffins, pastries, pies, chocolate, sweets, sugar etc. Low fat high protein foods such as skinless chicken, turkey and fish are highly recommended.

To make the Zone Diet weight loss plan easy to follow, simply divide your meal into three equal sized sections and then filling one section with low fat protein such as chicken breast and the remaining two sections with vegetables and fruit and adding a touch of olive oil or a few nuts for good fat.

Is Zone diet a healthy weight loss plan?

However, nutritionists says that the Zone diet 40:30:30 ratio is a departure from present healthy eating guidelines, which recommend 50 percent of our calories should come from carbohydrate, 15 percent from protein and 35 percent from fat.

While most nutritionists agree with the advice to eat less fat, especially saturated fats, most of them remain skeptical about the theory that weight loss is due to the regulation of insulin levels. They say that by eating fewer carbohydrate rich foods, it means a calorie reduction and that means that any weight loss that occurs is due to calorie deficit and not because of insulin regulation. This is the same argument when the nutritionists have on the Atkins diet.

As for my take, whether the weight loss occurred because of calorie reduction or insulin regulation, it is still proven that the Zone diet works for people who include it in their weight loss plan.

GI Diet, Healthy Weight Loss Diet Plan?

High GI Foods

Easy weight loss diet plan

We have covered some of the more popular healthy weight loss plans such as The Zone Diet, Nutrisystem weight loss program and the Mediterranean diet. However, I have been receiving emails by readers asking me what is a GI diet. So here it is.

Is this easy weight loss diet plan healthy?

GI diet is actually the shorter name for Glycemic Index diet. This healthy weight loss diet plan was actually the brain child of Dr David Jenkins. In 1981 while the professor of nutrition was researching how different carbohydrate rich foods affect blood sugar levels diabetic, he discovered that many starchy foods affected blood sugar levels rather dramatically, while some others had little effect. Dr Jenkins then developed a scale called the Glycemic Index, which ranked foods based on the effect they had on blood sugar levels.

The Glycemic Index or GI starts from the scale of 0 to 100 and usually uses glucose, which has a GI value of 100, as a point reference. The effect other foods have on blood sugar levels are then compared with this. Thus the Glycemic index will indicate whether a certain type of food raises blood sugar levels dramatically, moderately or is inconsequential. Foods that have only a slow and small effect on blood sugar have a low GI index value while the foods that cause a rapid and dramatic rise in blood sugar have a high GI index value.

So what has the Glycemic index got to do with healthy weight loss diet plans?

This is because foods with a low GI value release sugar slowly into the blood stream, therefore providing a steady supply of energy, leaving you feeling full longer so that you are less likely to snack in between meals. On the other hand, foods with high GI values cause a rapid and dramatic rise in blood sugar level which can make you lethargic and hungry within a short time. This will mean that you are more likely to have that snack. Further more, with the rapid rise of blood sugar level, your body is further encouraged to store body fat. When this pattern repeated daily, you will then have a very high chance to gain weight as a result of regular overeating and fat storage.

Simply put, GI diet is a diet which you have to choose your food according to the Glycaemic index scale. The diet simply encourage you to eat plenty of foods with a low GI value and avoid those with a high GI value as the former will help you to prevent wild fluctuations in blood sugar levels, helping you feel fuller for a longer period.

There are many books and websites that provide you with tables showing types of food and its values on the GI index. Many nutritionists and doctors support the GI diet and recommend it as a healthy weight loss diet plan.

Zone Diet Delivery healthy weight loss diet plan?

Zone diet delivery

Lose weight safely with Zone Diet Delivery

We talked about Nutrisystem weight loss program home delivery program to lose weight safely in the last posting. Today we are going to see another diet delivery services, The Zone Diet Delivery healthy weight loss diet plan. For those of you who are not familiar with the Zone Diet, you can read about The Zone Diet in my earlier posting. For your convenience, this is a summary of what the Zone Diet is about.

The Zone Diet delivery services vs Nutrisystem Weight Loss Program

The Zone Diet was created Doctor Barry Sear as a healthy weight loss diet plan. Most of my readers will know that I am against dieting alone as a weight loss plan because I believe that to lose weight safely and to keep the extra weight off, we need combine a healthy plan with regular exercise.The Zone Diet plan advocates protein-carbohydrate-fat balance the dieter’s meals. That is why many people think that The Zone Diet weight loss plan is much healthier than other diets such as the Atkin Diet.

Because of the popularity of this supposedly healthy weight loss diet plan, many companies and even enterprising housewives are cooking up a storm with this diet and start zone diet delivery services. This may sound like my earlier entry on Nutrisystem weight loss program meal delivery services. Well, in a sense, it is. However, there is a stark contrast between the Nutrisystem and the Zone diet delivery services in that Nutrisystem is owned by a single big American company with franchises to other businesses whereas The Zone Diet delivery services are owned by many enterprising merchants. You can read about Nutrisystem weight loss program here.

However, both programs share the same concept and that is to provide busy people the best diet to lose weight but have no time to cook for themselves meal delivery services. Although the Nutrisystem program’s meals are designed by their own nutritionists and meals are recommended to customers based on individual needs after consultation, The Zone Diet delivery services meals are designed to meet Dr Sear’s famed weight loss diet plan.

Both Nutrisystem and The Zone diet delivery services are very innovative in putting their meals together so much so that customers have many healthy weight loss diet plans to choose from and can have their favorite food without severe restrictions. So if you live in an area where you can order a Nutrisystem weight loss program or The Zone diet delivery services, then you may like to lose weight safely and deliciously. If your area do not have such services, they you may like to take up a franchise with Nutrisystem of even start your own Zone Diet Delivery service.

Nutrisystem Weight Loss Program

Nutrisystem weight loss program

Nutrisystem healthy weight loss diet plan

Have you heard of the Nutrisystem weight loss program? Is Nutrisystem weight loss program a healthy weight loss diet plan? In case you have not heard about Nutrisystem, you are about to read one of the most amazing and innovative lose weight fast diet plan.

NutriSystem is a company in America which has been helping obese Americans to lose weight healthily for more than 30 years. With its numerous comprehensive weight loss programs, NutriSystem became one of the biggest player in the weight loss industry, and became a public listed company in October of 1999 on NASDAQ.

The company provides live counseling online or if customers prefer, by telephone. There is no requirement for their customers to visit traditional brick-and-mortar weight loss centers for consultation. Customers can get in touch with a force of Nutrisystem knowledgeable and professional counselors 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Upon understanding the customer’s weight loss problems, NutriSystem will deliver its quality food and meals directly to consumer doorsteps, thus providing the customer way in which to learn better eating habits and lose weight fast and healthily.

Easy healthy nutrisystem lose weight diet plan

Customers simply log-on to NutriSystem’s website, choose a recommended healthy weight loss diet plan, place an order and have healthy weight loss meals delivered to their door steps. So convenient and easy to lose weight isn’t it? Besides providing customers with delicious health meals, NutriSystem also offers vitamins and supplements to customers. This is to make sure that their customers also receive proper nutrition while on the healthy weight loss plan.


Examples of NutriSystem weight loss program

The following are just some of the comprehensive Nutrisystem weight loss programs:-

Women’s Program – Meals are tailored to the modern women’s nutritional needs. It includes a diet meal plan that allows the customer to choose from more than 120 delicious pre-packed meals and desserts. The meals are low in glycemic index, carbohydrates and right amounts of protein and fiber for the ladies.

For Women over 60 - The NutriSystem Nourish Women's Over 60 Program is designed to help senior women lose weight easily so that they can live energetic and healthy lives. These low calories, nutritional healthy weight loss diet plan is packed with high protein, fiber and heart healthy fats which is low sodium, low in cholesterol and mush less saturated fats.

Men’s Weight Loss Program – Good news for men. You need not give up the foods you love to lose weight. This weight loss program let men eat their favorite food but in a clever and effective way. The foods are packed with the protein for men’s greater muscle mass and healthy nutrients.

The above are just some examples of Nutrisystem weight loss program. There are many more Nutrisystem healthy weight loss diet plan for you to choose from. Do you agree this weight loss program is very innovative?

Healthy Weight Loss Diet Plan New Year Resolution

Healthy weight loss diet

A healthy weight loss diet plan in your New Year Resolution

Many people make New Year resolutions just to have them broken in no time. If you are one of those who believe that resolutions are meant to be broken, then if your resolution includes a healthy weight loss diet plan, then you will not achieve your goals. Why is that so? Simply because you have lost the war even before the battle starts.

Yes, if you already believe that your resolution will be broken, it will because you will find every excuse just not to keep it. Your attempt at having a healthy weight loss diet plan will just be it, a plan without the will to execute it.

Actually, to lose weight healthily and naturally is easy. All you need to do is to have a written down plan and then follow the weight loss plan in detail and day by day as you plod on, your goals will get nearer and nearer and finally achieving them.

This call for a firm commitment and gritty discipline on your part. If you have made a healthy weight loss diet plan New Year resolution and is vowing to steadfastly put your plan into action, then read on.

Healthy weight loss diet plan

Although the title of this post is about weight loss diet plan, I need to emphasize that although you can lose weight merely by being on a healthy diet, this is not a permanent weight loss solution. You have to include weight bearing and cardiovascular exercises.

Of course you know that, but are you doing it? It is always easy to succumb to finding an easier way out, so most people will go looking for that miracle “best weight loss pills” usually to find out that they don’t work or at best, with little results and the results are never permanent.

So what can you do? Well, like I said earlier, come out with a detailed weight loss plan. State clearly what you are going to do each and every day. For example, on Monday morning 6 am, I will go for a 45 minute jog, and then have a healthy breakfast of whole grain bread with boiled eggs without and calorie laden dressings. Followed by a citrus fruit for its fiber, vitamins and minerals. Plan you other meals of the day to include healthy food that are low in high glycemic carbohydrate such as starchy food, sweet drinks etc Then commit an hour of resistant training in the gym on Monday evening and if your budget allows it, engaged a fitness personal trainer to guide you along.

Have a plan worked out for every day and then stick to it. If you don’t know how to plan, then get your personal trainer to do it for you or get my Burn Fat Tone Muscles Fast ebook for a template of a healthy weight loss diet plan. If you follow your plan rigourously, I can promise you that you will achieve the figure you want very soon. Yes, I can promise you that because I have seen excellent results from my clients when I teach them how together a healthy weight loss plan and then to execute the plan. There have never been any disappointments but always successes. So, did you include a healthy weight loss diet plan in your New Year Resolution?

Herbal Hoodia for easy natural weight loss?

Hoodia weight loss herb

What is Hoodia weight loss herb?

You have tried and read various types of natural weight loss products and healthy weight loss diet plans and is a self styled expert of anything to do with losing weight. Suddenly, out of the blue, you are reading advertisements after advertisements in the print media and the internet about a new herbal weight loss product. This natural herbal weight loss product, touted to be very effective easy weight loss product is something you have not heard about until very recently. It even has a very weird name called Hoodia weight loss herb. Just what is this Hoodia weight loss herb you must have wondered? Why is this natural herbal weight loss product becoming so popular?

Well, when consumed, the Hoodia weight loss herb or plant tricks the brain by making the stomach feel full even if you have only eaten a morsel. This herb has already been in the diet of Africa's Bushmen for thousands of years.

The origin of Hoodia natural weight loss herb

The herbal Hoodia is a very bitter tasting cactus like plant. This herbal weight loss plant can only be found in the Kalahari Desert of South Africa and nowhere else. Is it any wonder why no one knows about this easy weight loss herb until very recently?

Although the civilized world is just trying to understand Hoodia, the African bushmen in the Kalahari have been eating it for probably thousands of years. The first scientific investigation of the herb was researched at South Africa's national laboratory. What they found was when herbal Hoodia were fed to animals, all the animals lost weight naturally without any exception.

It took the South African national laboratory around 30 years to isolate and identify the specific appetite suppressing ingredient in Hoodia. When they found it, they applied for a patent and licensed it to Phytopharm, a pharmaceutical company. Phytopharm has spent more than $20 million since on research about this herbal weight loss wonder. Clinical trials were conducted on overweight volunteers and have yielded excellent results. Subjects given Hoodia weight loss herbs ended up eating about 1,000 calories a day less than those not on the Hoodia supplement.

The project hit a major snag when Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, which had teamed up with Phytopharm dropped out when making a pill out of the active ingredients seemed improbable. Phytopharm was not shaken and decided to market hoodia in its natural form, in diet shakes and bars.

If hoodia weight loss herb is indeed the easy weight loss magical herb, then this humble herbal weight loss herb may be the savior of the developed world where obesity is the main threat to many people's lives. If this herb can only be found in its natural form in the the African desert, then will there be enough Hoodia weight loss herbs to cater to the demand it will sure to create?

For further easy weight loss reading - Weight Loss Camps/spa

Low carb diet plan may be healthy afterall

The Zone Diet model

Are low carb diet plan healthy way of losing weight?

Popular low carb diet plans like the Atkin Diet, South Beach Diet and The Zone Diet were heavily criticised for their health risks. The loudest criticisms are from people who claimed that low carb diet plans are not healthy and may cause heart diseases. However, evidence has surfaced that all those railed against low carb diet plans may have been mistaken.

Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health found no evidence to associate between low carbohydrate diets and increased heart health risk, even when these low carb diets were high in saturated animal fats.

Low carb diet plan research-The Zone Diet is a healthy weight loss diet plan?

The study which was on New England Journal of Medicine included about 80,000 female nurses in the Nurses' Health Study who provided detailed information about their eating patterns once per year for more than 20 years. The nurses were not instructed not to follow any diet plan. The research found that extreme diets, which severely restrict either fats or carbs are not the best choices for cardiovascular disease prevention.

"Neither a very low fat diet or a very low carbohydrate diet proved to be ideal," said researcher researcher Thomas L. Halton, ScD, tells WebMD. He further added that "There were pros and cons to both of these diets."

Find out how you can have fun losing weight at weight loss camps

Low fat diets which are low in saturated fats, is good for the heart, Halton said. However, these diets tend to have higher refined carbohydrates like sugar and refined flour, which spike blood sugar levels.

The most protective diet against diseases risk are low-carbohydrate that was also low in saturated fats and cholesterol where vegetables were the main sources of fats and protein. This diet was associated with a 30% reduction in heart disease risk over 20 years.

Another researcher, researcher Frank Hu, MD, PhD said, "The quality of fat and carbohydrate is more important than the quantity. A heart-healthy diet should embrace healthy types of fat and carbohydrates.”

Most fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and nuts are low glycemic carbs. Refined white flour and sugar, as well as white rice and potatoes, are high glycemic carbs.Women whose diets had the highest glycemic carbs had a 90% increased risk of developing heart problems during the 20 years of follow-up, compared with women whose diet had the lowest glycemic carbs.

"This is just one study, but the findings suggest that eating a high glycemic load diet may be even more harmful than eating a diet that is high in saturated fat and cholesterol," Said Dr Halton.

Another research suggests that following a strictly low-fat diet is less protective against heart diseases than following a diet that includes fat from vegetable sources like olive and canola oil.

So is a low carb diet a healthy weight loss diet plan afterall? Read about the various types of easy weight loss diet plans here. Ever tried easy weight loss at weight loss camps/spa?

How to live longer healthy weight loss Mediterranean diet

Mediterranean Diet Food

Live longer and easy healthy weight loss with The Mediterranean Diet

It is known that people who live around the Mediterranean Sea region live longer and have less obesity related diseases than people in other parts of the world except possibly Japan. In the past, the Mediterranean climate was thought to be the reason why people live longer and are healthier there. Since then, it became clear that while the weather of the Mediterranean area is generally were pleasant and refreshing, it is the healthy diet of the people in the region that accounted for their longer lives.

The Mediterranean diet is not a designed easy weight loss diet plan like the Atkins Diet or The Zone Diet plan. It is the healthy dietary habits and food source of the people living around the Mediterranean region.

So why do people live longer and stay slim with the Mediterranean diet?

Mediterranean diet - A healthy weight loss diet plan?

High anti-oxidant in the Mediterranean Diet
Many food sources that are part of a Mediterranean diet are high in anti-oxidants. Anti-oxidants are important compounds found in certain type of food that work to neutralize the destructive nature of oxidants or free radicals that are found in the human body. Free radicals are produced when the body burns oxygen to produce energy.

The accumulation of these free radicals or oxidants in the body accelerates the ageing process. Cellular tissues such as skin and muscles wear out and lose their elasticity. Human organs function with less efficiently. Scientific studies have also shown that oxidants clog up arteries which may result in a stroke, high blood pressure and heart attack. Free radicals are also blamed for other dangerous medical conditions such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

The types of fruits and vegetables that form the Mediterranean diet include richly colored leafy green vegetables which are high in anti-oxidants and thus are anti free radicals. This retard the formation free radicals or oxidants.

Reduce Cancer Risks To Live Longer
Scientists have frequently mentioned that the Mediterranean diet effectively reduces the risks of certain types of cancers. This is because a diet that is high in fruits and vegetables has been shown to be effective in reducing a wide array of cancer risks.


Low Saturated Fat
The Mediterranean diet includes very little animal fat or saturated fat. Since there is a direct link between the consumption of animal fat and colorectal cancer and heart diseases and stroke, the risks of such diseases are reduced.

The main fat source in the food of the Mediterranean people is the olive oil. Not only that the olive oil is a healthy fat source, it had been shown to reduce the risk of breast cancer.


Reduce Heart Diseases Risks
Scientists have concluded that the Mediterranean diet has played a very important role in reducing the risk of coronary heart disease amongst the people of the countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea.


Reducing Hypertension and High Blood Pressure
There is strong evidence to suggest that eliminating certain items from a diet, like processed salts can lower the risk of hypertension and high blood pressure. There are also evidence that a diet plan which is rich in fiber and low in animal fats (like the Mediterranean diet) can help to reduce the risk of hypertension and high blood pressure.

A person who eats like the Mediterranean people will get tremendous health benefits. Not only will the person live longer, because of the moderate carbohydrate, low fat high fiber Mediterranean diet, easy natural weight loss and weight control come naturally with this very healthy diet plan. Want to go on a healthy weight loss diet plan, try the Mediterranean Diet.

Additional reading:-

Read more about easy weight loss diets here. Do you know you can lose weight on a vacation? Read how in weight loss camps/spa.

Weight loss camps - Premier weight loss spa

Hilton weight loss camp program

Choosing a good weight loss camp

Now back to my pet subject, weight loss camps. When doing a research for today’s weight loss camp entry, I did a comparison study of the various camps and found that one of the most established weight loss camp and spa is Hilton Head Health Institute.

Their trademarked H3I Healthy Lifestyle weight loss spa program is about —surprise— your lifestyle. The entire program is based on the idea that your total health is the outgrowth of how you live day by day. It underlined that your basic health is a result of the choices you make, like the food you eat, your exercise habits.

Hilton’s health and weight loss camp teaches the Healthy Lifestyle to help you make the tough choices stick and internalized in you. After some practice, you begin to lose weight and they become you’re your healthy lifestyle habits.

This is a 4 part program for the foundations of health. They teach you self-awareness about what you do to either achieve or thwart your own health.

Weight loss camp program and philosophy

Part 1 - Lifestyle Management

We can be doing a lot of things right, but without a positive outlook, our emotional self can override everything else. This program incorporates the mind/body connection essential to self-awareness and a peaceful existence.

You will learn how to respond and eliminate stress. You will explore the mind/body connection so vital in understanding the destructiveness of self-defeating thoughts and behaviors. You will also learn to identify obstacles keeping you from making peace with food. You will learn how to overcome eating binges, compulsive and emotional eating.


Part 2 - Lifestyle Education

Their certified and qualified fitness personal trainers will teach you the scientific basis of topics at the weight loss camp such as:


Nutrition Facts and Fallacies

Mind/Body Connection

Exercise Physiology

Workplace Challenges

Body Image

Binge Eating Psychology and Physiology

Food - Fads, Fiction and Fact


Part 3 - Lifetime Nutrition

Eat healthily and you’ll live healthily. However with all the conflicting reports, how does one really know what and how much to eat?

The weight loss camp recognizes the many hurdles when choosing and creating balanced, nutritious and tasty meals. They will help you design your personal healthy eating plan.


Part 4 - Lifetime Fitness

Hilton Head Health Institute weight loss camp believes that exercise is a lifelong prescription for health and longevity. On the most basic level, physical activity improves strength, flexibility and coordination. However, every major medical and health research organization concludes that exercise is indeed beneficial to each organ and system in the body.

Think about it - as little as ten minutes of walking, repeated often enough during the day, can make an important contribution to fitness, health and a sense of emotional well-being. Further, many physical and psychological diseases can be prevented or managed with regular physical activity such as, heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, colon, prostate, breast and other cancers, anxiety, depression, dementia and obesity.

Want to check into a weight loss camp vacation with excellent facilities, solid nutritionists, gourmet cooks, medical doctors and certified fitness instructor’s supervision? Consider Hilton Head weight loss camp/spa. Read more about weight loss camps here or fitness instructor certification here.Weight loss info.

How to lose weight fast emails and sms

Beach resort weight loss camps

Weight loss sms and emails - A fitness personal trainer's rant

I am a certified fitness personal trainer and many people know that. That is why my phone will recieve a few sms first thing in the morning. I will check the sms and found they are from unknown numbers. Then I look at the messages and they read "Can you help me to lose weight fast. Please reply."


Then I will go to my PC and check my mails. There, I will find at least 5-10 emails everyday which goes something this "Please help me to loose weight fast. I want to look good. Please reply quickly."


Now, readers of this blog will know that I have written weight loss and muscle building books on this subject. How do these folks expect me to reply them in a single sms or even in an email. Even if so, how do I respond to tens these mails and smses everyday?


Some of them even come across as rather rude. Demanding answers without giving anything in return and gee....some of them can be so very demanding such as when I refer them to my websites with free fitness health articles and tips, they just say that they want a direct answer instead of looking them up at my health and fitness sites. Gosh, most of my paying clients are much more courteous than some of them and they are asking for freebies at that.

Ahhhhh....now that I have got that off my chest, my rant and end here.


Ok. One reason for this blog is to provide information on health and fitness, thus healthy and natural weight loss is one of the reasons and purpose of this blog. So I will summarize in my opinion what are the best weight loss programs.

• Weight Loss Camps/Spa

  Many readers will know that I have devoted many blog entries regarding weight loss camps. Now, you may ask why weight loss camps instead of hiring a qualified personal trainer like myself?

Well, my take is that if you have set aside a yearly budget for a vacation, then go for a vacation in weight loss camps as these camps will do you heaps of good in losing weight and plus a fun filled holiday thrown in. You will learn how to lose weight permanently and yet having fun while doing so. On top of that, weight loss camps will teach you how to keep your weight down permanently. Read more about weight loss camps here.

• Hire a certified fitness personal trainer - A certified fitness personal trainer is like a mentor. He cajoles you, push you and dispenses knowledge to you during your weight loss program with him. He will design for you a healthy weight loss diet plan, show you the correct exercise techniques to get the most out of your exercises and minimise exercise related injuries. Most of all, after some time, he is your personal friend. Read more about certified fitness instructors in Singapore here.

• Read for knowledge - If you think the above two weight loss options are a little beyond your budget, you can get books and gleaned them for knowledge on how to get into your best bodyshape, lose weight healthily and tone your muscles.

• Cosmetic Weight loss surgeries - If you are really too obese to exercise, then cosmetic weight loss sugeries like liposuction, lap band gastric bypass surgery are serious and effective surgical options which you may wish to consider. Read about various weight loss surgeries here.

Other than these methods, I would consider other weight loss programs like diets, slimming pills, slimming salon visits are not long term weight loss solutions.

These are just an overview of weight loss programs you may like to consider. Hey, when you have succeeded in losing weight, you may give yourself a pat and go on real exotic vacations as a reward. You don't need to fear putting on weight again because you now know how to take those extra pounds off real fast. Ahhhh....now I can indugle :)

Ever thought of getting a fitness personal trainer qualification/certification?

Read more easy weight loss camps articles.

Weight Loss Camps For Women

Weight loss camp for ladies and girls

Happy ladies at weight loss camp


The last time, we talked about weight loss camp for young people. Then I went back and researched for niche easy weight loss camps and found one such camp which caters to women only.

Green Mountain easy weight loss camp
and spa resort for women

Green Mountain weight loss camp and spa resort was founded in 1972 when founder Thelma Wayler took over an empty dormitory at the Vermont's Green Mountain College. Back then, she was already telling women that diets simply do not work for the long term weight loss (we all know that don’t we). Instead, she teach ladies weight loss education by letting them experience for themselves what eating healthily is all about, how to move our bodies and thinking positively to lose weight successfully and permanently.

A very important concept that Thelma understood was the freedom of choice. The freedom choice based on what we want, and then accepting the responsibility for the end results those choices is the success in achieving our goals in any area of our lives and that includes weight control management.

Thelma also realized the importance of advice based on science and professional insight with sound judgment in helping people to lose weight. That is why the weight loss camp program at Green Mountain always operate under the management of a highly qualified professional team that include registered exercise physiologists, mental health professionals, dietitians, certified fitness personal trainers and medical doctors. There are also experts in human body metabolism and registered nurses/psychiatric nurses as well as professionals in the wholesome therapies like yoga and massage therapy.

Green Mountain weight loss camp cum spa resort
occupies a former ski and corporate retreat on a hill overlooking the sprawling Okemo Mountain and the Okemo Valley Golf Course in a beautiful winter and summer resort area in Vermont. The camp occupies a 26 wooded acres of land and the lodge is a low key, relaxing retreat with informal classrooms, well-equipped physical activity rooms, a spacious dining room with a luxurious living room.

This weight loss camp can accommodate up to 40 women in single, double and triple bedrooms.
Spacious and comfortable, the triple rooms feature two-tiered sleeping lofts. The emphasis here is on informal communal living rather than pampering like the hotels so that the camp can offer a more personalized experience that facilitates the development and planning of effective strategies for permanent weight loss success.

In summer, guests can play tennis and swim in the Olympic sized swimming pool. Alternatively, you can swing your clubs at the golf course. Winter can be very fun where you can go snow boarding and take part in cross-country skiing in the surrounding woods. There are also swimming classes held at a nearby resort with a heated indoor pool.

The weight loss camp provides an atmosphere in which ladies of all ages from a different background can bond through shared activities and make life long friends. During the weekend breaks, you can explore local attractions, shopping and cultural activities together with your new found friends. Take a stroll into the quaint village of Woodstock and appreciate its rustic charm

Green Mountain’s easy and healthy weight loss program teaches you about normal, healthy eating - not about calories and diets to lose weight. This is done so as to equip you with the knowledge of achieving permanent healthy weight loss.

The next time you think about going to a weight loss camp, think about coming to Green Mountain.

Author's postscript:- Kinda weird. During my research on weight loss camps, I found many camps targetting women only, but cannot find a single weight loss camp for men only. I wonder why is there such a discrimination? Perhaps I am wrong or is it a marketing strategy by these camps and spas? I will like to hear your thoughts.


Further reading :- Weight loss camps for teens and Weight loss camp/spa vacations

More Wu-Long Herbal Weight Loss Tea Facts

Wu-Long Tea - Slimming herbal weight loss tea report by Japanese Scientists

Wu-Longslimming girl

Wu-long natural herbal weight loss tea, is a staple Chinese and Japanese beverage for thousands of years. Then suddenly after a Japanese scientific journal revealed that regular consumption Wu-Long tea can help to raise metabolism for easy weight loss naturally, the slimming and weight loss industry scrambled to find out how and was agog with this information.



The Japanese journal and research that sparks off this frenzy was published in August 2003 as "Wu-long tea increases energy metabolism in Japanese females"

This report is a follow up on an earlier study involving 120 Japanese female who consumed wu-long natural herbal weight loss tea for 6 weeks had significant natural weight loss. In the 2003 study, the objective was to compare the effects of Wu-long herbal tea to green herbal tea which is also a Japanese favorite beverage and touted for its anti-oxidant and natural weight loss properties.

Research was conducted by the Tokushima University's School of Medicine in conjunction with some other japanese universities. Eleven Japanese females were the subkject of the research and they were given other teas and wu-long herbal weight loss tea to chart the differences.

Wu-long herbal natural weight loss supplement tea was documented to increase energy expenditure by as much as 10%, green tea by only 4%. This means that our body's metabolism increases substantially when wu-long tea is consumed.

Well, whether wu-long herbal tea for easy weight loss really works or not does not matter to me because it is already one of my favorite beverages. With favorable reports such as this, I may make wu-long herbal weight loss tea my favorite tea for life. I especially like to drink it cold from the can. If you want to drink it the traditional way, one popular wu-long tea brand is the Okuma Wu-Long herbal weight loss tea which you can purchase online.

Read earlier Okuma wu-long slimming easy weight loss tea entry.

Go for a weight loss vacation at Weight loss camps vacation.

Reference: :-
Wu-Long Tea Report, The Journal of Investigative Medicine, p170. Okuma's

Weight loss camps article

Okuma Wu Long tea for natural easy weight loss

Natural weight loss model

Okuma’s Wu-Long Tea herbal weight loss tea - Healthy natural weight loss

Wu-Long herbal weight loss tea or commonly called Oolong cha is a literal translation from the Chinese language meaning “Dark Dragon Tea”, is a traditional Chinese herbal tea somewhere in between green and black in oxidation. It is thought that since this is a herbal natural weight loss supplement, then it must be a healthy weight loss supplement. There are numerous legends describing the origin of Wu-Long herbal weight loss tea.

One story had it that a tea plantation boss was scared away from drying tea leaves by the appearance of a large menacing black dragon resembling snake. But when he plucked up courage and returned to his tea plantation days later, the leaves had been oxidized by the sun and produced a delightful beverage when brewed. Others say that the tea is called "wu-long" because the leaves look like little black dragons when hot water is poured on them.

The Wu-Long herbal weight loss tea is commonly served in Chinese restaurants all over the world for its healthy and excellent accompanment to dim sum and most Chinese food. I know because I love Wu-Long herbal tea, unsweetened like most Chinese tea with Chinese cuisines.

Easy weight loss with Okuma Wu-Long natural herbal weight loss tea?

In recent years, the weight loss medical world have been jolted by some claims that some Japanese scientists have found that the Wu-Long herbal tea have excellent easy weight loss ingredients and sales of the Wu-Long tea skyrocketed in the Chinese and Japanese community so much so that other nationalities are also picking up the trend of drinking Wu-Long tea regularly to maintain their weight or as part of a weight loss program.


Okuma’s website that consumption of Wu-Long herbal weight loss tea can bring easy weight loss benefits as follows :-

• Okuma’s Wu-Long herbal tea can burn 2.5 times more calories than green tea - In a study published in the Journal of Medical Investigation, scientists from Japan's University of Tokushima School of Medicine found that regular consumption of Wu-Long tea can experience over twice the calorie burning results of those who consume the same amount of other herbal weight loss tea.

• Okuma’s Wu-Long easy weight loss tea can reduce the fattening effects of carbohydrates - Eating too much carbs can encourage weight gain by increasing insulin levels in the bloodstream. A study from scientists at the Suntory Research Center in Osaka, Japan, demonstrated that drinking wu-long herbal tea 15 minutes before eating carbohydrates helps blunt the rise in insulin you normally get after eating food rich in carbs.
  

• Wu-Long herbal easy weight loss tea can reverse signs of ageing - Free radicals are damaging substances in your body produced by ultra-violet rays, chemical food additives, stress, pollution and many other factors. Free radicals is linked to many signs of aging, including wrinkles, dark spots and certain diseases, even cancers. In one 2004 study by Dr. Kenichi Yanagimoto and colleagues from the University of California, Davis, people who drank tea Wu-Long daily experienced a 50 percent reduction in free radicals within 15 days!

• Okuma’s Wu-Long herbal natural weight loss Tea can strengthen immune systems – In another 2004 study published in the scientific medical journal, Antioxidants & Redox Signaling, patients who consumed Wu-Long tea were found to have a stronger immune system and a significantly lower risk for common upper respiratory tract infection.

Do you think drinking Okuma Wu-Long easy weight loss herbal tea can help you to lose weight naturally? Well, besides, what the scientists said, I think it certainly helps your weight control if you substitute the tea with the usually sugar and cream laden beverages, don't you think so? Have you tried weight loss camps to enjoy losing weight? Read Japanese scientists' research on Wu-Long herbal easy weight loss tea here.

Vegetarian weight loss diets make me fat

Healthy weight loss program-Vegetarian diet can make you fat

Many people have this misconception that a vegetarian weight loss diets will help them to lose weight easily and adopt a vegetarian lifestyle as a weight loss program. Do you buy that?

I guess this is because they thought that a vegetarian diet have no saturated animal fat. However, unless your vegetarian meals are carefully prepared by you at home, in most situations eating out in vegetarian food stalls and restaurants will most likely make you fatter than what you are now.

Why is this so, you may ask since the vegetarian diets are mostly devoid of saturated fats? Huh? Is that so? What about cheese, butter and margarines? They come with loads of trans fat and trans fat and trans fat not only make you fat, it is also now known to be more dangerous to your health than saturated fat.

Next, because vegetarian meals usually taste more bland, more sugar, salt and artificial taste enhancers are added to make the meals more delicious. More sugar will give you insulin imbalances thus making you fat, more salt means more water retention making you look fatter and of course you know what those artificial stuff can do to your body.

Just because it labeled “vegetarian” does not make those meals healthy. Do not be fooled by those labels. If food is loaded with cheese and oil. Take vegetarian pizzas for example, the dish may be meat-free, but it is certainly high in calories and fats.

Now, to compound matters, most vegetarian food is carbohydrate rich. Not just carbohydrates but high glycemic carbohydrates, those that are quickly converted to insulin and make you retain body fat. This is because many vegetarian meals are cooked with foodstuff made from refined flour.

Next, although you can get enough protein from vegetarian meals, there must be a conscious effort to get enough protein like eating more soy protein and some nuts. Otherwise, without meat, a vegetarian meal is usually not protein rich. That being the case, you may lose muscle mass if your meals are mainly vegetarian ones. Your muscles are your natural calorie burner and therefore, the less muscle you have, the fewer calories you will burn and that means higher fat retention.

So when the next time, someone tells you he/she is going on a 'healthy' vegetarian weight loss diet, you should be able to advise them that this option may not be the best way to lose weight healthily unless they carefully prepare the meals themselves.

Any vegetarians care to comment? Care to go for a vacation to lose weight easily? Try Weight Loss Camps holidays for healthy weight loss. You can read about healthy weight loss diet plan here.

Do fast weight loss diet plan work?

Can you lose weight permanently with fast weight loss diets?

Now that we have explored the various fast weight loss diets, do you think that these weight loss diets can help you lose your unwanted body fat forever? For the purpose of this blog entry, I am going to lump weight loss diets, slimming salon treatments and weight loss pills together as "weight loss programs."


Yes, these fast and easy weight loss programs can help you lose weight but I am doubtful that they will help you lose those body fat permanently. I am sure many of you have already tried taking weight loss pills, went on fast weight loss diets or spent tons of money at slimming salons and once you stopped treatment, your weight starts to creep up on you again, didn't they? That is frustrating and an awful waste of money don't you think so?


Why is this so? Well, these fast weight loss programs are actually treating your overweight symptoms. They do not get to the root of your obesity problem and getting rid of the underlying causes of obesity. It is education that you need to know how to keep those excess weight off forever. You see, if you give a guy a fish, he has fish to eat today. If you teach him how to fish, he will have fish whenever he wants to eat fish right?


There are many types of quick weight loss pills and diet pills in the market for example. Some of these pills will curb your appetite (Hoodia), some supposedly speed up your metabolism(Phentermine) and some are supposed to prevent your body from absorbing too much oil (Xenical) from your diet or restrict absorption of carbohydrate. But they all have one thing in common. Once you are off the pills, you will put on weight again. Therefore taking quick weight loss pills or diet pills are only temporary solutions.


The same goes for slimming salons or going on a diet program. Once you stop your slimming treatments or go off the yo yo fast weight loss diets, you will probably balloon back to your former self or even worse, fatter than before you went on these so called weight loss programs.


Furthermore, even if you are able to lose weight easily, you will have very little muscle tone because you do not exercise. So when you lose weight, you will only look like a smaller pear from once when you were a bigger pear. That is not pleasing to the eye isn't it?


These fast weight loss diets and programs do not condition your body to burn unwanted fat forever. On the contrary, your body may even adapt and resist the effects of the pills and diets making you waste even more money and causing you more frustration.

Healthy weight loss diet plan

So what is the best solution for fast and permanent weight loss? Well, just do these 3 things.


•Build Muscles - The more muscle you have, the more calories your body will burn. So when extra calories are being burnt everyday, over a period of time, you would have burnt off massive amount of calories. Furthermore, you will look good with a well toned body and your posture will also improve making you look even slimmer. That means you are a natural calorie burning machine when you have more muscles.



•Develop a healthy diet plan - Eat your carbohydrates early in the day and restrict carbohydrate consumption later part of the day. This will help your body to regulate insulin level and reduce the chances of carbohydrate turning into body fat. Also avoid starchy carbohydrate and refined carbohydrate like white rice, refined flour foodstuff like cakes and pastries, white bread, pasta etc. Replace these with high fiber and slow to digest carbs like brown bread and brown rice. Carbohydrate encourages the conversion of body fat quickly if digested too fast.


•Exercise Your Cardiovascular System - Go for regular exercise and perform exercises that will make you puff, pant and sweat such as jogging, skipping or take part in ball games. These activities not only improve your heart and lung health, they also burn massive calories.When these 3 activities become part of your daily routine, you will be burning extra calories every day. That means you will not put on weight easily and will lose extra body fat forever because you know how to keep your weight down. Best of all, it is free. So why spend money on temporary solutions like quick weight loss pills, fast weight loss diets and other temporary weight loss programs?


If you want to know more about how to lose weight permanently to own an attractive and desirable body, click here "Lose ugly fat get toned body forever weight loss program". Or read about Hoodia weight loss herbs here.

Read this if you want an online personal trainer certification and qualification. How about a healthy weight loss plan?

Atkins fast weight loss diet plan

Fast weight loss diets

Do fast weight loss programs like Atkins diet plan work?

This is the third and final entry at this moment about popular fast weight loss diet plans. Today, I will touch on perhaps the most controversial fast weight loss diet plan ever, The Atkin diet.

I have personally tried this diet and the weight loss result is amazing. However, I do not recommend this fast weight loss diet plan to anyone because it has many criticisms from the medical world that the Atkin's diet fast weight loss program is unhealthy and may even kill. However, a recent research seem to dispute this. Read low carb fast weight loss diets are healthy.

Wikipedia defines Atkins fast weight loss diet plan as follows:-

"The Atkins Nutritional Approach, popularly known as the Atkins Diet or just Atkins, is a popular but controversial high-protein, high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet. It was popularized by Dr. Robert Atkins (1930-2003) in a series of books, starting with Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution in 1972. It has been astonishingly popular in recent times because of his revised book, Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution, in which he updated some of his ideas but remained faithful to the original concepts".



The Atkins Nutritional Approach, commonly called The Atkins Diet, is perhaps the most well-known low-carbohydrate diet plan. It was adopted by Dr. Robert Atkins in the 1960's from a weight loss diet plan he read in the Journal of the American Medical Association. After successfully treating thousands of obese and overweight patients, he popularized the Atkins diet in a series of books such as Dr. Atkin's Diet Revolution in 1972. He later revised the book in a new edition called New Diet Revolution which updated some new ideas but but stuck to its original concept of low carb diet.


The Atkins franchising businesses was once very successful and is considered the iconic and driving force of low carb diet phenomenon worldwide. However, when the medical world came out strongly against this diet, their businesses dwindled and franchisor company, Atkins Nutritionals of Ronkonkoma, founded by Dr. Atkins in 1989, filed for bankruptcy in July 2005.

Atkins Fast Weight Loss Diet Plan

Philosophy

Dr Atkins believed that there are two main unrecognized factors about Western eating habits. He claimed that the underlying cause of obesity is eating refined carbohydrates like sugar, flour and high-fructose syrups. He also claimed that avoidance of saturated fat is overrated as a nutritional problem. Dr. Atkins reject the food pyramid theory and instead asserted that the tremendous increase in refined carbohydrates in modern day diet is the culprit for the rise in metabolic problems.


Dr. Atkin argued that obesity is the result of hyperinsulinism, an excessive secretion of insulin which comes through eating too much carbohydrates. He theorises that this causes food cravings and unstable blood sugar levels, which can cause mood swings, depression, and sleeping problems.


So Atkin's diet is created to stabilize insulin and blood sugar levels, thus will eliminate cravings resulting in a smaller appetite which ultimately changes metabolic process by burning more body fat.









Atkins Weight Loss Diet Plan - Four Phases


Phase 1 - Induction

The induction phase (2 weeks) is the most restrictive phase of the Atkins Diet. It is aimed at getting the body to quickly enter a state of ketosis. Carbohydrate intake is limited to 20 net grams per day. That means almost total restriction of carbohydrate consumption because when eating other food, there may be creeping carbs and these will add to the 20 grams control.


The Induction Phase is usually when many people will see the most significant weight loss - reports of weight losses up to six or eight pounds (3 or 4 kg) per week are not uncommon. In my own experiment, I lost 4 kg which is almost 9 pounds in 2 weeks.



Phase 2 - Ongoing fast weight loss phase

The Ongoing Weight Loss (OWL) phase recommends a slight increase in carbohydrate consumption, but remaining at a level where weight loss is still occuring. The daily carbohydrate intake increases each week by only 5 grams. The objective of this phase is to find out where the "Critical Carbohydrate Level for Losing Weight" for each individual is. This phase will last until the subject's weight is within 10 pounds (about 4.5 kg) of the targetted weight.



Phase 3 - Pre-maintenance

In the pre-maintenance phase, carbohydrate consumption is less restrictive as you can increase your carb intake. The objective of this phase is to find the "Critical Carbohydrate Level for Maintenance", this is the maximum number of carbohydrates you can eat each day without gaining weight.



Phase 4 - Lifetime maintenance

In phase 4 when you know where your "critical carb level for maintenance", that will be the carbohydrate level for your meals to maintain your weight throughout your life time.



About Dr Atkins and criticisms of his fast weight loss diet plan

Robert Atkins died from a fatal head injury sustained in a fall on ice in 2003. Immediately, The Atkins Diet suffered from rumors and allegations that he was obese at the time of his fall and had died from a heart attack resulting from being obese. These rumours and other criticism eventually led to the bankruptcy of the Atkin's empire.


Atkin's Diet plan also raised many serious concerns in the medical and scientific community.


Amongst the many criticism, a 2001 scientific review by Obesity Research magazine concluded that low-carb dieters' initial advantage in weight loss was a result of increased water loss, and that after the initial period, low-carb diets produce similar fat loss to other diets with similar caloric intake.


Even in studies only one year long, this fast weight loss diet can fail to produce the greater weight-loss which is claimed to come from factors other than calorie-reduction such as ketosis: It was compared to dieters on the Ornish Diet, Weight Watchers, and The Zone diet for 1 year. The Atkins Diet came last in terms of weight lost at the end of the year. (Dansinger, M.L., Gleason, J. L., Griffith, J.L., et al., "One Year Effectiveness of the Atkins, Ornish, Weight Watchers, and Zone Diets in Decreasing Body Weight and Heart Disease Risk", Presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 12 November 2003 in Orlando, Florida.)


In 2004, another study found out that Atkins Dieters had significantly more diarrhea, general weakness, rashes and muscle cramps.


Critics of Atkins diet also pointed out that the initial weight loss upon starting the diet plan is common with most diets, and is due to reduction in stored glycogen and related water in muscles, not fat loss. They claim that no evidence has surfaced that any diet will cause weight loss unless it reduces food energy below the maintenance level.


On May, 2004, Jody Gorran, a 53-year-old American businessman with a family history of heart disease, filed a lawsuit against Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. and the estate of Dr. Robert Atkins, claiming that the Atkins diet plan caused him to suffer severe heart problems, making it necessary for him to undergo angioplasty operation.


Dr. Robert Eckel of the American Heart Association says that high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets put people at risk for heart disease.


The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a PETA-connected organization which is against Atkins diet, reported that in East Asian countries such as Thailand or Japan, the average person's diet consists of mainly carbohydrates such as rice and noodles, yet these ethnic groups and countries have very low obesity rate. The average Asian is also thinner and slimmer than the average Westerner.


Just like any controversies, there are supporters for Atkins fast weight loss diet plan as well as detractors. However, I will only mention the criticisms so that should you decide to embark on Atkins fast weight loss diet plan, you are well informed of its alleged downside.

More information in Lose Weight Fast.

Read about The South Beach weight loss diet plan here.

Read about The Zone Diet weight loss diet plan here.

Do you dare to go on Atkin's weight loss diet plan? Let us know. Post your comments here.

South Beach fast weight loss diet plan

Fast weight loss diet model

Best Fast Weight Loss Diet Plans - South Beach Diet, Atkin's Diet or Zone Diet?

Regular readers of my health and fitness articles and newsletters will know that I am not a big fan of any dieting program because I believe a healthy and a permanent and healthy weight loss plan must include exercising regularly.


However, despite this fact, I am receiving almost daily emails asking me about this and that fast weight loss diets and as such, I felt obliged to run a series of the more popular easy weight loss diet programs in this blog.

Many weight loss dieters are confused as to whether The South Beach Diet and The Zone Diet are the same or almost similar to Atkin's diet weight loss diet plan. It is in my opinion that The South Beach Diet lies somewhere between The Zone Diet and The Atkin's Diet. Since most people are aware of the famous or infamous (whether you are a fan or a basher of Dr Atkin) and since we have already discussed The Zone Diet plan in the last post, today, we will talk about The South Beach fast weight loss diet plan.


The South Beach Fast Weight Loss Diet Program

The South Beach fast weight loss diet plan was developed by an American cardiologist in Florida, Dr Arthur Agatston. He supports the consumption of mostly "good carbohydrates" and "good fats." Dr. Agatston developed the South Beach fast weight loss diet plan for his obese patients using scientific dietary research principles.


The South Beach diet plan is often being confused or compared to the Atkin's diet plan which was developed by the late Dr Atkin. The Atkin's Diet plan is mainly a low-carbohydrate dieting system.


Dr. Agatston believes that excessive consumption of "bad carbohydrates" ie high glycemic carbohydrates, creates an insulin resistance in the human body. This is a malfunction of the hormone insulin's ability to properly process fat and sugar. He also held the view that over consumption of "bad fats", such as saturated fat and trans fat, contributes to an increase in cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks and stroke. To prevent these two conditions, The South Beach fast weight loss diet plan minimizes the consumption of bad fats and bad carbohydrates and instead push for the replacement of these unhealthy food with good fats and good carbs.

The South Beach Weight Loss Diet Plan

The South Beach Diet plan is a 3 step process. In all 3 zones of the diet plan, Dr. Agatston recommends minimizing consumption of bad fats.

• The South Beach Diet zone 1 - During the first two weeks, weight loss dieters try to eliminate insulin resistance by avoiding high or moderately high-glycemic carbs, such as sugar, candy, white bread, potatoes, fruit, cereals, and refined grains such white rice. This is slightly in contrast with The Atkins Diet which dieters exclude all form of carbohydrate consumption. During this step, the body will lose its insulin resistance and begin to use excess body fat for energy, thus the dieter may lose between 7 to 14 pounds.
  
  
• The South Beach Diet zone 2 - During the second phase of The South Beach Diet two weeks later, whole grain foods, some starchy carbs and fruits are progressively reintroduced into the diet albeit bit by bit until the dieter reaches the desired ideal weight.

• The South Beach Diet zone 3 - In zone 3, dieters continue to increase consumption of whole grains, fruit servings and some moderate carbs. If the dieter's weight do not increase or stay at status quo, then that will be the level of carbs in his meals and henceforth to maintain his ideal weight, he will know his carbohydrate tolerance level.

If his weight increases, then he will have to cut down on the bad carbs to find his body weight vis a vis carb equillibrium. The South Beach diet weight loss program do not have the cumbersome counting of calories or limiting calories. Dr Agatston suggested that you eat until you are satisfied. Dieters are told to eat 6 meals a day: breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with small snacks between each meal to increase their up their metabolism for fat burning purpose.

My next entry "Atkin's Diet" will conclude the weight loss diets triangle. Look out for it. What do you think of The South Beach Diet Plan? Post your comments.

Read about the other weight loss diet program called The Zone Diet here.

Read about Atkin's diet fast weight loss diet plan here. Click this link if you prefer my tried and tested healthy methods of losing weight and getting well toned muscles.

Have you tried weight loss camps to enjoy losing weight?