Sep 6, 2019 | Disease Prevention Diets, Vegetarian/Vegan Diets
The Engine 2 Diet is a weight loss and cholesterol reducing strategy developed by Rip Esselstyn. Esselstyn is a former firefighter from Texas and published his diet in a book called “The Engine 2 Diet: The Texas Firefighter’s 28-Day Save-Your-Life Plan that Lowers Cholesterol and Burns Away the Pounds.”
What is The Engine 2 Diet?
This is a plant-based diet which, according to its creator, is primarily focused on eliminating junk foods from an everyday diet.
The Engine 2 Diet refers to junk food as processed and refined foods as well as meat and dairy. Instead, the follower will consume only nutritious foods consisting of whole, plant-based options. The book encourages dieters to learn how to live, eat and cook in a way that is healthy overall.
Two 28-Day Plans
There are two 28 day diet plans that comprise the Engine 2 Diet. The first plan is called The Fire Cadet. That option is a more gradual approach to adopting this lifestyle. The second plan is called The Firefighter, which is far more extreme.
Dieters can choose one or the other of those two plans based on what they feel is most appropriate for their needs and expectations. At the same time, both the Fire Cadet and the Firefighter plan have identical goals. Their purpose is to take four weeks in order to eliminate junk, meat and dairy from a person’s diet. Instead, followers eat only vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, seeds and legumes.
The Fire Cadet Plan
The Fire Cadet Plan is broken down into four weeks.
- During the first week, the dieter must eliminate all refined foods, processed foods and dairy from their diets (keeping in mind that this is the more gradual and moderate plan).
- In week two, all meat, poultry, fish and eggs are eliminated. During week three, any extracted oils (such as conola, olive and coconut) are eliminated.
- During week four, additional vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, seeds and legumes are added to the diet.
This is clearly a restrictive diet, particularly at the beginning. Though it does progressively allow for additional food types to be consumed over time as the dieter moves through the four weeks, it certainly doesn’t mean that the dieter will be returning to a more traditional way of eating by the last week.
Firefighter Plan
On the other hand, the more intense Firefighter plan (that’s right, the Fire Cadet was the gentler of the two) dives right in at week four and continues that lifestyle for four weeks.
Therefore, right from the start, dieters will need to eliminate all animal based products as well as refined and processed foods and extracted oils. These are replaced with the fruits and veggies, legumes, whole grains, seeds and nuts.
The main difference between this plan and the Fire Cadet Plan is that there is a gradual progression in the first plan. This one plunges head-first into the restrictions that will be maintained over the complete 28 days.
Additional Restrictions
Moreover, the author also recommends that anyone following the diet should stop drinking any alcohol for at least the four weeks during which they are introducing themselves to the diet. This is true regardless of which plan you start with.
Engine 2 Diet Resources
To make things easier to understand, the Engine 2 Diet book provides a full list of what can and cannot be consumed at any given time throughout the 28 days. Many people who have followed this diet have found that this additional resource is an important investment into the diet.
The reason is that it can be difficult to know what is and is not allowed when it comes to the specifics. Even if full categories of the rules are understood, there are certain foods that can seem to be in a gray area and the dieter may need clarification.
Workout Plan
Beyond the eating strategy, the Engine 2 Diet also offers dieters an exercise plan. The plan is broken down into the four weeks so that the dieter can know what he or she should be doing as a workout at any given point throughout the 28 days.
Final Thoughts
Overall, this is considered to be a vegetarian or vegan diet, but only over the short-term, making it somewhat of a fad diet as opposed to one that is necessarily geared toward the longer-term.
Aug 15, 2019 | Low Fat Diets
The SlimFast Diet is a plan that has withstood the test of time. It has been around for decades. That said, it should be noted that while the diet does still exist, it has evolved over time so that it doesn’t necessarily look the same as it did when it was first launched in 1977. The SlimFast Diet was originally created by the Thompson Medical Company, which was founded in the 1940s. In 2000, it was purchased by Unilever which sold it to Kainos Capital in 2014.
What is the SlimFast Diet?
This diet is based on the use of meal replacement products including shakes, smoothies, and bars, among other branded items such as 100-calorie snacks. The premise is that it allows the dieter to replace his or her usual meals and snacks with pre-packaged foods that will automatically control caloric intake.
This diet is sometimes known as the 3-2-1 Plan, as the dieters who follow it are permitted 3 snacks, 2 meal replacements and one low calorie meal per day. Of all those snacks and meals, only the “1” is made of actual whole foods. The rest are required to be SlimFast products.
How to Supply Yourself to Follow this Diet
The official SlimFast website lists meal replacements in the form of four different shake flavors (creamy milk chocolate, strawberries and cream, rich chocolate royale, cappuccino delight, and French vanilla), three smoothies (creamy chocolate, vanilla cream, and mixed berry yogurt), two bars (chocolaty crispy cookie dough and chocolaty peanut butter pie), and two cookies (peanut butter chocolate chip and double chocolate chip).
On the other hand, there are also SlimFast brand snacks from which to choose. There are two of them listed on the official website. They include mesquite BBQ baked chips, sour cream and onion baked chips.
These products are all that can be consumed for the three snacks and two meal replacements that must be eaten per day. For the remaining meal, the SlimFast website offers a number of different recipes that can be followed in order to stay within the small calorie limit. On the whole , the recommendation is to make sure half the plate is filled with veggies, one quarter contains a lean protein and the remaining should consist of a whole grain.
Why Do Some Dieters Choose the SlimFast Diet?
Dieters who are looking for a quick and easy way to control calories without much counting or food prep might find SlimFast convenient as everything is already prepared aside from one meal per day. This type of structure is quite straightforward and doesn’t leave much room for confusion. When followed as directed, many people are more than likely to lose weight by using this strategy. Overall, the reviews regarding the taste of the SlimFast products have been quite positive and the products are sold both online as well as at several large retail chains.
Drawbacks of This Type of Dieting
On the other hand, as convenient as this type of dieting may be, following this type of strategy doesn’t teach the dieter how to build the right habits for keeping the weight off over time. After all, if eating is at the core of why a dieter has gained the weight in the first place, then replacing his or her meals with bars and shakes will only help over the short term.
Once the weight is lost, it is unlikely that the dieter will want to keep eating shakes and bars instead of meals. Unfortunately, as the diet does not teach the individual how to eat in a way that supports weight control, the result can be that he or she regains the pounds in a relatively short period of time.
Another drawback to the SlimFast Diet is that the products aren’t cheap. Therefore, following this diet for any length of time can become quite costly when compared to a standard grocery bill. This is another reason that this is often considered a short-term or fad diet instead of something dieters can keep up over the long term.
It’s very important to speak with your doctor before starting a meal replacement eating strategy such as the SlimFast Diet. This can help you to make sure you won’t be harming your nutrition or bringing on unwanted side effects that could risk your results or even your health.
Aug 2, 2019 | Mixed/Balanced Diets
The 5:2 Fasting Plan is a type of very low calorie weight loss strategy typically considered to be a fad diet. That said, despite the fact that this strategy has been around for a while, the recent popularity of IF has spiked the number of people following it. There are many people who use this technique and swear by its effectiveness.
At the same time, many dietitians caution that the majority of people who try to use diets like the 5:2 Fasting Plan will not be able to keep it up over time. Indeed, there will be some success stories. However, most people cannot adhere to this type of diet long-term.
What is the 5:2 Fasting Plan?
It is based on an intermittent fasting (IF) strategy. The basis of the way this plan works is for a dieter to eat normally for five days out of the week. That said, the remaining two days of the week are considered to be “fasting” days, in which the caloric intake is significantly slashed. Therefore, the 5:2 ratio stands for 5 days of normal eating and 2 days of fasting.
What is Fasting?
The fasting days typically require you to eat only about a quarter of the number of calories you would usually eat in a day. For example, if your typical daily calorie intake is around 2,000, then your fasting days would require you to eat no more than 500 calories, an extremely low caloric consumption.
Does Fasting Work?
Medical studies have been increasingly supporting the use of fasting to help to achieve effective weight loss. This includes strategies similar to the 5:2 Fasting Plan. When compared to many forms of calorie controlled diets, this style can help to keep up a continual rate of weight reduction.
At the same time, those research studies have also found that people following diets involving intermittent fasting are less likely to develop certain medical conditions such as type 2 diabetes and certain forms of obesity related cancers.
Beyond weight loss, those who believe in this type of dieting also say that it helps to boost longevity, heightens brain function, provides Alzheimer’s disease protection and guards against other types of dementia. However, it should be pointed out that as much as supporters of the 5:2 Fasting Plan may believe in these benefits, there is little to no research to support those claims.
How is the 5:2 Fasting Plan Different?
To be fair to the 5:2 Fasting Plan, the research conducted on fasting have not involved this specific strategy. Indeed, it was conducted on similar fasting efforts. That said, they have not been this precise plan, so its unique properties could conceivably make a difference.
Among the known advantages of the 5:2 Fasting Plan is that it will indeed lead to fat loss when followed properly. It offers a certain amount of flexibility as the dieter can choose whichever two non-consecutive fasting days, they would like to observe each week.
This means that dieters can shift fasting days around certain occasions such as social engagements so that they don’t have to bow out of eating a meal when they’ve been invited to dinner just because it happened to fall on a fasting day. Moreover, because only 2 days per week are for fasting and the rest remain normal, many people find it’s easier to stick to this diet than to ones that require daily calorie control.
This is important, as most fasting plans are rigid. This is among their top problems. It isn’t that intermittent fasting doesn’t work if followed precisely. It is that many people misinterpret it or find that they cannot realistically fit it into their lives. Practice is much different than the way it works on paper. The 5:2 Fasting Plan was created to try to work around that challenge.
The Long-Term Problem
Unfortunately, the number of people who are likely to stick to this diet until they reach their goal, and then keep the weight off once it’s gone is not terribly high. It requires a great deal of self-control and self-discipline. While non-fasting days do allow for normal eating, it is still important not to overeat as this will only negate all the benefits accumulated during the days when calorie intake is severely restricted.
Many people find that as long as things are going well and they feel motivated, it’s simple to stick to the 5:2 Fasting Plan. However, as soon as anything becomes complicated in life – stressful events, illness, travel, special occasions and others – it becomes impossible to keep up with the IF. An effective long-term diet requires you to be able to keep it up the majority of days regardless of what’s going on in your life. This is why most doctors recommend a healthy lifestyle as opposed to a strict, regimented program.
Furthermore, many people who fast suffer unpleasant side effects from their low calorie intake. This can include lightheadedness, weakness, dizziness and fainting, among others. Irritability, anxiety and poor concentration are also common side effects of this type of dieting.
This diet isn’t necessarily safe or appropriate for all dieters. Be sure to check with your doctor before trying this or any other diet that involves fasting.
Jul 5, 2019 | Disease Prevention Diets, Low Fat Diets
The TLC diet stands for Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes. It is a type of eating strategy created to help people to be able to effectively reduce their cholesterol levels. The claim is that by keeping up this diet over the long term, you will be able to lower your bad cholesterol (LDL) in a meaningful way. In fact, it states that if you follow it to the letter for six weeks, you are likely to reduce your LDL cholesterol by between 8 and 10 percent.
Who Created the TLC Diet?
The TLC diet was first created by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)’s National Cholesterol Education Program. It is also endorsed by the American Heart Association as being a heart-healthy way to eat in order to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
The main component of this diet is to significantly reduce fat intake, particularly in the case of saturated fat. Saturated fats are the type of dietary fat found in heavy meats, fried foods and full-fat dairy products such as whole milk. Eating more than just a tiny amount of saturated fat has been associated with elevated cholesterol levels. When LDL cholesterol levels are too high, it increases the risk of heart disease, heart attack and stroke.
What Do You Do on This Diet?
The TLC diet typically requires a follower to have to greatly reduce their saturated fat intake while boosting their fiber intake and limiting the amount of dietary cholesterol they consume. According to top medical organizations (mentioned earlier), this can make a considerable difference in reducing high cholesterol levels, even without having to resort to the use of prescription medications in some cases.
In order to follow the TLC diet properly, the first thing you will need to do is find out how many calories you should be eating every day. A doctor or dietician can often provide that advice. From there, it’s important to learn about the types of foods you should be eating and how you should be preparing them in order to enjoy your meals and still stay within your daily calorie range.
How Many Calories Will You Eat?
Most women will need around 1,800 calories depending on age, activity level, weight, height and other factors. Women trying to lose weight may need as few as 1,200 calories. On the other hand, men will need around 2,500 calories based on the same factors, but will need only 1,600 when weight loss is the goal.
The types of foods you will typically eat on the TLC diet include skinless poultry, very small amounts of reduced fat cheese and dairy, very little to no processed or cured meats, lots of veggies, lots of fruits, whole grains and very little – if any – processed foods.
Two Key Guidelines
As the main focus of the TLC diet is to be healthy and keep cholesterol levels where they should be, the foods you eat are low in both saturated fat and natural cholesterol. That said, this is not a low-fat diet. Instead, it also requires dieters to eat an appropriate amount of good fats. These good fats include monounsaturated fats.
Also included among the types of foods you’ll focus on eating with this diet include those high in fiber. Research has shown that diets high in fiber help to promote better heart health and support healthy cholesterol levels.
Overall, there are two key guidelines that TLC diet followers will need to stick to each day. This includes:
- Eating less than 7 percent of your total daily calories in the form of saturated fat.
- Eating less than 200 milligrams of dietary cholesterol.
It’s a good idea to speak with a doctor before starting the TLC diet, particularly if the goal is cholesterol control. If you are taking medication to lower your cholesterol levels, don’t stop taking it just because you are following this diet, unless you have been directed to do so by your doctor.
Are There Banned Foods?
There are no specific foods that must be consumed in order to follow the TLC diet, but many people find that they need to change what they purchase at the grocery store. Depending on the choices that are made, this could mean that you pay more or less once you get to the checkout counter.
While this diet was designed for cholesterol reduction and heart health, some people do lose weight by following it due to the improvements to their overall nutrition.
Jun 29, 2019 | Natural Diets
The Paleo Diet – also known as the Paleolithic Diet, the Stone Age Diet, the Caveman Diet or the Hunter-Gatherer Diet – was created to provide a lifestyle strategy to overcome illness associated with the way we live our modern lives.
Who Created the Paleo Diet?
That said, since it was first created, it has become better known as a highly popular weight loss plan. It is based on a method that restricts or even eliminates certain food types and individual foods. It has been followed by certain top celebrities from Matthew McConaughey to Megan Fox and Ray Mears.
Still, just because a diet is popular, it doesn’t mean that it is necessarily effective or that it is appropriate for everyone even if it can be effective.
Therefore, it’s always a good idea to take a closer look at any diet, including this one, and to speak with your doctor before making any major changes to what you eat or how you prepare it.
What is the Paleolithic Diet?
To follow the Paleo Diet, you will need to start focusing on foods that may have been the top choices of our Paleolithic ancestors around a thousand years ago. According to the creators of this diet, this was a time before agriculture. Therefore, our ancestors from that time ate essentially anything they could hunt or gather.
Some of the foods they ate included:
- Meat,
- Fish,
- Fruit,
- Vegetables,
- Nuts, and
- Roots.
On the other hand, the foods you will not be consuming on the Paleo Diet include:
- Grains,
- Legumes,
- Dairy,
- Processed oils,
- Refined sugar, and
- Salt
The reason those foods aren’t permitted on the Paleo Diet is because the creators of the diet believed that those became available only after agriculture became a part of the average human life.
Watching Your Macros
In terms of macronutrient balance, Paleo encourages a low carbohydrate and high protein eating strategy. It does not have any specific recommendation for calorie counting and makes no mention regarding the type of exercise that should be followed.
In terms of its macronutrient balance, Paleolithic dieting can reflect many other lower carb and high protein diets. What makes it unique is the justification for balancing the macros this way. The claim is that the foods are selected because they are what the body evolved to process first. It’s what the body naturally digests the best as opposed to being forced to cope with it.
Paleo Controversy
As popular as this diet may be, it is also quite controversial. The idea behind it is that by choosing the options our ancestors ate, we are more likely to opt for foods that the body is actually prepared to properly digest and use. The hunter-gatherer body could digest precisely what Paleolithic people could find on the land around them. That didn’t include chips, fries or cakes.
The claim is that by living this way, we can become more fit and healthy and can reduce the risk of degenerative disease, certain cancers, arthritis and heart disease. The belief is that many of those conditions came about as a result of more modern lifestyles following the development of agriculture. Moreover, the idea is that if a Paleolithic person died young, it wasn’t because of disease – particularly chronic illness – but was rather because of having to live in a harsh environment where accidents were commonplace.
Furthermore, in recent years, a large and growing body of evidence has shown that the Palaeolithic people did not eat in the way the creators of this diet claimed. Instead, they did eat grains. Substantial evidence revealed that oats and many more grains were a regular part of our ancestors’ diets.
Caveman Diet Drawbacks
That said, this more “natural” way of living does have certain drawbacks, such as being low on soluble fiber consumption and can risk an inadequate intake of antioxidant vitamins (such as A, E and C), phytochemicals, monosaturated fats and omega-3 fatty acids, and many other low-glycemic index carbohydrates. Weight can indeed be lost on this diet, but it remains rare for a dieter to keep it up over the very long term, leading to potential nutrition, metabolism and weight issues.
