Tag Archives: Diet

A Coffee Diet-I’ve Heard It All Now

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A coffee diet! I’ve heard the lot now. The next thing you know we’ll be having something like ‘loose 10 pounds in 7 days with tea and biscuits!’ I mean, who comes up with these fat blasting ideas? Or more importantly, who buys into them? You can just imagine it in the staffroom at your workplace. Everyone fighting to get their Cornish pasty in the microwave and there’s you quietly preparing your lunch with nothing but a kettle. Okay, ribbing aside, I guess we should look at this diet in a little more detail and see what method is behind this seeming madness.

The article, which was in a slimming magazine, caught my eye for a couple of reasons. First, because I’m a lover of java, and second, I could do with losing a few pounds myslef, so I couldn’t help but read it out of curiosity if nothing else. When I got to thinking about this, I remember my mother always telling to drink a cup of black coffee in the morning as it would curb my appetite until lunch time. And she was right.

Anyway, moving on a tad, the advocates of the coffee diet propose that anyone who wants to shed a bit of weight should do the same as my mother’s suggested, although they made no reference to her personally you understand!

However, this weird weight loss approach needs to be looked into a little deeper before we all jump onto the coffee diet bandwagon mouth first. I mean, there’s such an abundance of get-thin-quick plans floating around these days, it’s best to take a couple of steps back and consider the situation. This goes for any of the new found fads and not just the coffee diet

Before embarking on any new weight loss program, it’s always wise to pay a visit to your local doctor first. A complete physical never hurt anyone and your physician will have valuable insight into the coffee diet approach, but somehow I can’t see any responsible doc giving the thumbs up to a drinks for food diet. Take the coffee diet to an authorized nutritionist and I bet the response is the same. I could be wrong though and you may find through these two visits that a coffee diet is the probably the right thing for your weight loss needs.

You know, we’re always looking for the next lazy, or should I say easy, no, perhaps effortless weight loss program, but despite it all, the old fashion way still wins every time. Can you remember the original diet? It’s simply to put less in your mouth and get more exercise. That’s it! Okay, so there are a few whistles and bells to add like the right types of food and a sensible exercise regime, but you get the idea.

Another thing worth pointing out with the coffee diet is that it’s supposedly a quick fix and not a new way of eating (or starving), so perhaps if the dieter uses it as a jump start to a more sensible eating plan, it’s not such a bad thing. It also went on to say in the article that the coffee diet is not the foundation of the program. Now this probably doesn’t make a lot of sense, so I’ll try to explain. Advocates of the coffee diet strongly urge you to eat well throughout the day. By well, they mean adopt a healthy food diet consuming small portions as part of the regime.

The coffee diet simply allows the dieter a moderate intake of coffee throughout the day time, but the coffee has to be pure. Lattes and cappuccinos and all those other fandangled coffee cups are out. Hmm! it’s sounds ok, but at the end of the day, we’re still not eating properly because the coffee diet is removing our natural appetite and I’m not totally convinced that’s a good thing.

One final point that may give you food for thought is your insulin. Caffeine can make your blood sugar unstable. The insulin in your body will not be able to process it properly and it winds up stored in the body as fat. So, if you do decide to take on the coffee diet, make sure that you don’t drink too much.

The Three Stages of the South Beach Diet

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A lot of fad diets have come and gone over the years. However, one diet that has certainly had staying power in recent decades is the South Beach Diet.

In the past, most diets revolved around lowering the amount of one’s consumption. For example, a diet may suggest that a person cut down on their consumption of fat. Other diets have also focused exclusively on the cutting down of a person’s consumption of carbohydrates. The South Beach Diet, however, attempts to help a person reach the correct balance between the consumption of both fats and carbohydrates.

The South Beach Diet is also famous for being a three-stage program. To enter the first stage, a person must attempt to end his or her cravings for restricted food. The second stage involves a reintroduction of carbohydrates into a person’s diet. Lastly, the final stage is preformed by continuing this diet for life.

Also separating the South Beach Diet from diets of the past is the fact that going hungry is not part of the program. During the first stage of the diet, you must eat plenty of food. You are in fact encouraged to eat until you are satisfied. However, you will only be able to consume certain kinds of foods. Meats that can be eaten during this first stage include fish, crab, shrimp, chicken, and turkey. You are also allowed to eat cheese, vegetables, eggs, and nuts. Salads can also be eaten if they the salad dressing has an olive oil base. You must consume three balanced meals of these foods a day.

If one completes the first stage carefully, one will naturally come into the second stage of the diet. If you stick to this diet of the above-mentioned foods, your cravings for other foods should eventually come to an end. At this point in the diet, it will be safe to reintroduce some of your favorite dishes that do contain some carbohydrates. Foods that a person who reaches stage two can eat again include rice, pasta, cereal, fruit, sweets, as well as many other things that were once restricted. However, certain foods may still be restricted. In almost all cases, the amounts of these foods that can be consumed again will also be limited to certain portion sizes.

If one makes it through stage two successfully, a person will be able to enter stage three. Stage three is simply reached after a person is able to reach their preferred weight level while staying on the controlled diet defined in stage two.

The goal of stage three is rather simple and open-ended. During this stage, you are supposed to maintain your ideal weight and continue the diet for the rest of your life. This may seem like quite a challenge. However, many people who have successfully made it to stage three find it quite easy. All you have to do is keep the habits you learned in stage one and stage two and apply them to the meals you eat every day. During stage three, you will be eating normal meals with normal sized portions. However, with a few basic rules, you can avoid falling into the trap of weight gain.