There is little doubt that the typical western diet is far from being healthy with its reliance on manufactured and processed foods, often high in sugar and salt content. The fact that so much food is fried, often with unhealthy oils just adds to the problem.
When we come to consider weight loss diets, that is, specialised plans to focus on certain types of foodstuffs over others, there is an incredible array of different ideas and options available these days and it is difficult to know which is the best approach.
source:gar.com
I would suggest that logically a weight loss diet plan should include what are known to be healthy foodstuffs, avoid unhealthy ones, and to avoid extremes because such diet plans are going to be impossible to keep up. I’m thinking here of such plans as the cabbage soup diet for example! Some might put the Atkins in that category, but properly followed it does not totally exclude carbohydrates of all kinds as some people think.
Let’s just look at a brief overview of some of the best known weight loss plans at the present time ...
1. The Weight Watchers diet
This has been around for many years now and a lot of people have successfully reduced their weight this way. Weight Watchers is a commercial enterprise and a large community and is based on sound nutrition principles coupled with network support. Members attend regular meetings for reciprocal support and education about the foods they should or shouldn’t be eating. The emphasis is on eating more protein plus fresh fruit and vegetables using a points system to encourage compliance. There is a cost to this system but this may well increase motivation, along with of course, the encouragement received from other members and the organisers. For many people this approach has proved successful.
2.The Atkins diet
This more recent weight loss diet received a lot of publicity when it first came out, and also stirred up considerable controversy, possibly mainly due to some confusion and lack of understanding. It can seem rather complicated since it is divided up into four phases with specific rules and criteria for each. The underlying principle is to control the body’s insulin levels by restricting carbohydrates; heavily in the first phase but then allowing some, of lower GI type, to be reintroduced later on. It seems logical that if little or no refined carbohydrate is ingested then blood glucose levels will be more easily kept low, and, in such cases it’s necessary for the body to liberate fat from its stores and use that to convert to glucose for energy. This it does using a different metabolic pathway from the usual one, known as ketosis.
3. The Zone diet
This is fairly popular for weight loss but requires a certain amount of effort. It involves staying “in the zone” which refers to balancing your diet so that you ingest 30% protein, 30% fat and 40% carbohydrates, and this proportion applies to every meal.
The Zone diet encourages you to eat more unrefined carbohydrates that have a low GI level -in other words are more slowly converted to glucose so they do not challenge the insulin system so much. You are also allowed “good fats” which means mono-unsaturated oils such as olive oil and you avoid polyunsaturated oils and certainly all transfats. Calories are taken into account with this diet so do not expect large portion sizes! Because of the restriction in calorie uptake this diet should work if you can keep it up but that is not easy for many…
Part of the deal with this diet is also to increase regular moderate exercise with a minimum of thirty minutes a day.
4. The Ketogenic diet
The Keto diet is similar to Atkins in that it involves a big reduction in carbohydrate intake in order to burn fats for energy instead. On this diet you can eat healthy fats such as olive oil and those found in fish, plus nuts and avocados and the like. The idea is to produce in the body the state of ketosis whereby ketones are produced as waste and can be measured in the urine with coloured sticks to monitor efficiency of the process.
This diet is not suitable for people with diabetes type one. For most others it may well provide some good results although there is limited research evidence as yet.
5. Vegetarian diet
Some people turn to a vegetarian diet because of the ethical issue about eating animals but certainly a complete vegetarian diet is often associated with a leaner body since it is simply more difficult to pile on the calories.
There are several different categories of vegetarianism depending on whether you stick strictly to just plant food or will also eat eggs, fish, dairy or honey. Most vegetarians will eat these types of foods, avoiding only those which are directly animal based.
The consensus of opinion seems to be that this is a generally healthy diet and if adhered to might allow you to gradually lose some excess weight. Some though have expressed concern that without any meat there could be a lack of iron, some vitamins, and protein.
6. Vegan diet
The Vegan diet is not strictly just for weight loss but is a philosophy which abhors the ingestion of any animal foodstuffs including even eggs or dairy products. These people can be referred to as wholemeal Vegans ...
There are even more extreme versions of the Vegan way which restrict foods to raw only or at least those cooked at a low temperature. This type of diet certainly restricts calorie intake considerably because it bans so many of the normal foods most of us would buy at the supermarket.
If you adhere to a Vegan diet you are certainly likely to lose excess weight over a period of time but of course, for most people such a restrictive diet is simply not sustainable. It means no meat virtually ever!
7. South Beach diet
The South Beach Diet is sometimes referred to as a modified low-carbohydrate diet. It encourages plenty of protein plus healthy fats. It aims for nutrient dense high fibre foods to be sought out. The allowed carbohydrates should be low glycaemic index type so that they slowly digested and absorbed and don’t therefore cause a sudden upsurge in blood glucose levels sice this is reckoned to be bad for the body’s insulin system. Constant challenging of the insulin system can ecvventually lead to insulin resistance and type two diabetes. For many people the South Beach diet represents the more acceptable type of low carbohydrate diet and may be a good all round healthy diet which can help with weight loss over time.
8. Raw food diet
The raw food diet involves consuming foods and drinks that are not only plant derived, but which are also organic, natural and in no way processed, consumed raw. Needless to say this kind of diet is virtually unacceptable for most of us and can’t be taken seriously.
9. Mediterranean diet
The Mediterranean diet is again not strictly a weight loss diet as such but is the result of the observation that people in that part of the world are often generally healthier.
The emphasis is on lots of fresh fruit, beans, nuts, whole grains, plus fresh fish, some red meat,eggs, and some dairy products. The emphasis here is on fresh and natural foods and avoiding processed types of product. Olive oil is a good type of fat and is widely used in Mediterranean cuisine. The Mediterranean diet is widely regarded as a healthy diet for man and if followed throughout life together with regular exercise could be expected to help keep your weight down.
In conclusion then I would say that there is no quick fix when it comes to trying to lose excess weight and commercial products and plans promising this are downright misleading. It is possible to lose weight by sticking to a carefully controlled diet of healthy food in smaller portions than you might be used to, so as to create and maintain a calorie deficit. You should then lose weight gradually over time with the realisation that there may be plateaus along the way. It takes time to reshape a body that has gotten gradually out of shape over the years so it’s imperative to stay committed and not deviate or give up..Good luck!
source: pxher