Detox Diets and Colon Cleanse Elite

Detox Diets like colon cleanse elite are the last craze in dieting, that’s why the number of people searching for detox diets is growing everyday.

You may have heard about toxins, detoxification, cleansing, purifying – they are all related to detox diets.

Toxins are harmful chemicals affecting your body. They are all around you (in your food, water, air) and inside you (as waste products of metabolism). Your body eliminates most toxins and the rest are stored within body fat.

These stored toxins combined with stress can affect your health in very unpleasant ways:

- weight gain - headaches - feelings of fatigue and weakness - heartburn - sore muscles and skin - joint pains

These symptoms will fade when you start detox. Well, you may feel some discomfort in the very first days, but that is a normal body reaction.

You may feel headache or sore muscles, but that is because the toxins are released faster then your body can eliminate them. These symptoms will not occur again if you detox regularly.

Detox and Weight Loss

Detoxification is the process of releasing and expelling the stored toxins through the elimination organs of your body - the intestines, liver, lungs, kidneys and skin.

Detox Diets are dietary nutritious plans that use detoxification, which helps you lose weight by cleansing out your body and improving your metabolism.

Detox and Disease Prevention

Detox Diets are recommended for improving resistance to disease, mental state, digestion, strengthens the organs involved in detox.

Detox Diets can help prevent serious diseases such as cancer, ADD, ADHD, chronic fatigue syndrome and multiple chemical sensitivities, as well as treat heart disease, fibromyalgia, autoimmune disease.

Detox Foods

Detox Diets recommend consumption of foods that are beneficial for your health and essential to weight loss - organic foods, fruits and vegetables.

You should drink purified water and cut back on processed foods, as well as give up alcohol and smoking.

You should know…

Detox Diets are quite restrictive and once you start a detox diet, you should follow it strictly. Detox Diets are safe, but you should consult your doctor before starting.

Types of Detox Diets

+ Fasting - drinking only water, juices or broths, or eating one kind of food for a certain period of time. Your body starts burning fat for energy.

+ Nutritional supplements – intake of nutritious powders, vitamins and packaged protein snacks.

+ Hydrotherapy - detoxifying through your skin pores by taking special baths.

+ Specific detox diets - last between 7 and 30 days; there are quick detox diets for one and three days, and long detox diets for 8 weeks.

Is a Hoodia A Natural Way to Lose Weight?

If you are going on a diet you might consider taking hoodia as a weight loss supplement. Some people consider it to be safer than most natural weight loss supplements on the market as it does not speed up or slow down the body in any way and there are less dangerous side effects.

In essence, hoodia can be classified as a natural appetite suppressant. It’s most dangerous side effect is too much weight loss in too short of a time. It should be used in moderation in order to be effective but it is more akin to eating food than taking a drug.

Hoodia is a good alternative to taking caffeinated diet pills or ephedrine because unlike other weight loss aids it not too stimulating. It does not rev up your heart or metabolism and cause complications like heart attacks and thyroid malfunction. Most people who take it feel strong and focused. Many people also feel more like they are in the mood for exercise once they have been invigorated by taking hoodia.

The hoodia supplements that we take here in North America are made from a vegetable that tastes a bit like a bitter small cucumber. It is often eaten as part of a tasty salad in Africa.

Hoodia is also not a diuretic like herbal Chinese weight loss teas. As natural as those Chinese teas are they still have that serious side effect of leaching your body of all of its water. The only reason that you look thinner when you take these teas is because your body sheds all of its water weight. You can lose over ten pounds of water in three days using these natural teas. This is very hard on the kidneys. Of course it is a false weight loss as well as you will only gain all of your pounds back in just a couple of days.

Hoodia also stimulates an individual but not in the same way as speed or caffeine. You don’t get addicted to it.

Even though hoodia does seem like a very safe option (so safe that in Africa it is actually classified as food and not a drug) it does have its hazards simply because it does cause you to forget to eat and drink. This can lead to a state of being very unhealthy if you consume hoodia over the long term.

People on hoodia barely notice they are on it. They feel steady and calm and like they have a great deal of stamina. If you are going to take any type of supplement it really is one of the safest if the natural weight loss supplements available.

A review of the famous fat loss 4 idiots diet

Fat loss 4 idiots is a new diet plan that claims to help or rather make you lose 9 pounds in just 11 days. Although the advised average weight loss is between 3 to 4 pounds per week this diet is an ideal approach to kick start yourself to a new you. Losing 9 pounds within 11 days would keep King Kong on track so what’s wrong with average Joe or plan Jane jumping onto the bandwagon of slim and sexy forever.

So does this diet actually work? Can you shed 9 pounds in 11 days?

Personally I believe this diet to be great! I think this one diet among several that really advertises the truth. Yes you can shed 9 pounds in just 11 days. Why am I so confident about this diet? I myself have done it.

Why does this diet work? How is it different from other diets?

This diet is based on the principle of shifting calories. This diet recognizes that our body has an amazing adjusting capacity. Our metabolism adjusts really quickly to the quantity of food we eat and hence speeds up or slows down accordingly. Our body builds a certain tolerance to certain foods and prioritizes what needs to be burned first and what can be burnt slower. Normally calories are first burned before the fat.

Most diets don’t work because they are aware of the fact that calories are burnt before fats and hence advice lower calorie intake. But what they do not realize is that our body is extremely clever. If you reduce your intake of calories even for a month, your body adjusts to it and your metabolism will not reduce too much fat.

The fat loss 4 idiots diet is not focused on the calories you consume but works on a special calorie eating system.

This diet encourages you to have not 3 but 4 meals everyday for the 11 days. It does not restrict you from many foods. It encourages you to eat a certain type of food one week and eat a different type of food the next week. It basically aims at tricking our metabolism which indeed is a quick and clever learner. If we eat different types of food every week, our body will not have room to adjust to any type. Thus our metabolism will be high and hence causing the burning of fats. Remember the higher your metabolism, the more fats will be burned. Say for example we eat about 2,500 calories and suddenly switch to 200 calories, our body may still read it as 2500 calories and thus burn fat in the bargain.

If you are overweight or obese, and you want to lose weight, give this diet a try. It is only an 11 day diet. You can also resume the diet after 3 days. And on those 3 days you can eat whatever you care to eat. This diet is fairly easy to follow. It allows you to eat fruits, vegetables, carbohydrates and proteins. Believe you me, this is a very easy diet to follow and what is more, the results actually show at the end of the diet.

Can The GI Diet Help You Lose Weight

The GI diet, based on the Glycemic Index, has recently become very popular, but the GI ranking system has been around since 1981. There have been several books published on the success of the GI diet, but is it really a diet or a lifestyle change?

The glycemic index

Dr. David Jenkins, from the University of Toronto in Canada, developed the glycemic index to measure the speed at which foods break down in the body to produce glucose. While originally intended to help diabetic patients control their glucose levels, it was soon used to help individuals trying to lose weight to control their eating habits and hunger. The key was to decrease the fast breakdown of foods into glucose. Glucose is the natural source of energy for the body. It produces a rush of energy when the food is broken down, and then when it is burned up, it leaves a feeling of hunger and fatigue.

Depending on how fast they elevate the blood sugar level after eating, foods are considered high, medium and low GI foods. Low GI foods rank less than 55 on the glycemic index scale, medium GI foods go from 55 to 70 and high GI foods rank higher than 70. High GI foods break down very quickly in the body and make you feel hungry again soon after consuming them. Low GI foods are slowly digested and absorbed so you feel fuller for a longer period of time after you eat.

High GI foods include:

• white flour products like white bread, croissants, doughnuts;
• heavily processed foods like corn chips, potato chips or pretzels;
• foods high in sugar like cookies, rice krispies, ice cream;
• high starch vegetables such as potatoes and parsnips;
• fruits high in sugar - watermelons, dates and other dried fruits.

Medium GI foods include:

• most types of pasta;
• rice;
• some fruits like mangos, apricots and raisins;
• some vegetables like baked beans.

Low GI foods include:

• most fruits and vegetables;
• legumes;
• cereals that are high in fibers but low on sugar;
• dairy products like low fat plain yogurt, whole, low fat or skimmed milk;
• whole grain breads.

The Low GI Diet

The low GI diet focuses on changing eating habits so that the majority of the foods consumed are from the low GI food group. These foods take longer to break down into glucose in the body. This does two basic things:

• Produces a more even level of glucose throughout the day to avoid those high glucose times followed by the low glucose slumps.
• Stops cravings and hunger from occurring as much.

When these two components combine, they allow the dieter to eat a balanced meal and not experience the "energy slumps". The whole grains and unprocessed foods take more time for the body to convert to glucose and keep the feeling of being full for longer. It also prevents those cravings which tend to cause overeating or consuming foods that are not on the eating plan.

However, the diet should not rely exclusively on the glycemic index as low GI foods aren't necessarily healthy. Foods should be chosen based on their overall nutritional value. The glycemic index is influenced by a sum of factors like: the nutrient content of the foods, the extent to which they are processed, the cooking method, food combination or ripeness in the case of fruits and vegetables.

Products that are high in fat have a low GI as they don't break down as easily as the ones high in carbs. That doesn't mean you should choose to eat high fat foods in order to stick to the index. As an example, whole milk is ranked lower than the fat free or low fat one.

The glycemic index doesn't rank foods that do not contain carbohydrates, like fresh meat, chicken, fish, eggs and cheese. However, it includes processed foods that include meat and diary products. For a healthy low GI diet you should choose lean or low-fat meats that have been trimmed of visible fat, skinless poultry, fish and low-fat dairy products, even though they aren't ranked.

The nutrient content is also very important. Between dates or watermelon and a bag of crisps the obvious choice is the fruit even though the watermelon is considered high GI because of the sugar content and the crips are considered low GI as they are high in fat and slow down the absorbtion process.

It is also important to remember that the glycemic index ranks invidual foods only, not whole meals. Depending on how the foods are combined, the overall GI value of the meal can change and cannot be measured accurately, but the main idea is that including low GI foods in your meal will result in lower GI value overall.

The low GI diet does not lead to rapid weight loss; rather it results in a steady and constant decrease in body weight. The individuals who use this plan find that they have more energy and therefore are more likely to exercise.

So is the low GI plan a diet or a lifestyle? Most experts agree that it is a diet plan that leads to changes and becomes a lifestyle. Eating low GI foods just makes good sense for weight control and maintenance, energy levels and healthy eating.

Raw Food Diet

The raw food diet has become very popular as many people seek to eat in a more natural, healthy way. Some people follow it in order to lose weight but many people of normal weight also switch to eating raw food for health reasons. Some consider cooked food to be unnatural.

What Is Involved?

There are many forms of raw food diet. The following are a few examples:

Raw Vegan

Any raw food except animal products. Calories come mainly from fat (nuts, avocados) and fruit.

Raw Vegan - Fruit Based

Low fat version of the raw vegan diet, often described as 80/10/10 after Doug Graham who proposed that the raw vegan diet should consist of 80% of calories from fruit, 10% from protein and 10% from fat.

Raw Vegetarian

No meat or fish, but includes raw (unpasteurized) milk, cheese, eggs etc.

Primitive Raw

Includes raw meat and fish, but with strict rules about what meat is eaten, for safety reasons. May not eat soaked and sprouted grains or legumes, if following a paleolithic style diet.

What Foods Are Not Raw?

Many people are confused about the difference between foods that are eaten cold, and raw foods. The following foods are NOT raw:

- bread and any other food that has been cooked before you bought it.

- any food that has been pasteurized (including all dairy products unless marked raw or unpasteurized, all fruit juices unless freshly squeezed from the fruit, almonds from California).

- nuts that have been heated to extract them from the shell even if marked raw (macadamia, brazil, cashew). Nuts in shells are usually raw, as are out-of-shell unroasted filberts (hazelnuts), peanuts, pine seeds and non-Californian almonds.

- sugar, molasses, maple syrup, most commercial brands of honey.

- oils unless marked extra virgin.

- nut butters and tahini except from a specialist raw food supplier.

- almost all canned and processed foods.

Dried foods are raw only if they are dried at temperatures below 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46 degrees Celsius).

Some raw foodists eat foods that have been frozen, if safe. Others do not on the grounds that freezing breaks down the food in much the same way as cooking. Defrosted frozen fruit usually looks and tastes more like cooked than raw fruit.

Why Does It Work?

In most cases, the result of switching to raw food will be a reduced calorie intake, leading to weight loss.

Most forms of the raw food diet are very high in fiber so you will feel full with fewer calories. This is not necessarily true if you include a lot of high fat raw foods in your diet (nuts, seeds, avocados, coconut). If you go raw and are not losing, try reducing your consumption to 50g (2oz) of nuts/seeds or 1/2 avocado per day.

The raw food community argues that cooked food is unnatural and harder for the body to handle, causing weight gain and disease. Whether you will lose more weight eating raw food than you would if you ate the same food cooked, is not known.

Any Negatives?

Plenty! Nevertheless, people attribute some amazing health benefits to this diet.

A 100% raw food diet is notoriously difficult to follow on social occasions. In a restaurant you can usually ask for salad and fruit, but when visiting friends and family you may have to take your own food.

Nutritional requirements can be difficult to meet. You need to eat a lot of raw green vegetables, which some people find unpalatable. However, they can be blended with fruit to make green smoothies.

The vegan diet (cooked or raw) requires supplementation of vitamin B12. Vegan diets may not be suitable for small children.

Some versions of the diet are very high in fat. This can be a negative factor depending on your medical history.

A high fruit diet may be bad for people with diabetes and candida overgrowth. A combination of high fruit and high fat is definitely to be avoided if you suffer from either one of these conditions. Whatever your medical history, take medical advice before embarking on the raw food diet.

Some foods are dangerous if eaten raw. These include kidney beans and their sprouts, and unpeeled potatoes. Other foods can be deadly if contaminated, e.g. raw meat. Unpasteurized dairy products may cause food poisoning and should not be eaten by pregnant women or others at risk.

Some vegetables, particularly the brassica family (broccoli, cabbage etc) contain natural pesticides which may be dangerous in high doses but are destroyed or altered by cooking. However, the natural pesticide in broccoli has been shown to protect against cancer in many research studies, so some people are big fans of raw broccoli and include it in their raw food diet.

After Christmas Weight-Watchers

Christmas Is Over – Weight-Watchers Return To Watching.

It is always sad when a holiday comes to an end, especially a holiday like Christmas that means so much to so many people but stay positive, - it’s only 363 days until the next one. For now the priority must be to reclaim your body and take control of your life again and that starts with your weight.

Throughout our series of weight-watcher articles we always focus on the same basic theme: If you truly want to lose weight you only have to focus on two things - eat less and move more. It really is simple.

Over Christmas we have all gained between one and five pounds (450 to 2,250 grams) and that means that to get back to pre-Christmas weight will take us between one and five weeks. It is not possible to lose weight faster than one pound (450g) per week and expect it remain lost. Therefore this article is about going back to basics of how to lose one pound each week.

One pound (450g) is equivalent to 3,500 calories, or five hundred calories each day. An adult requires a minimum of 2,000 calories each day to remain fit and healthy in the developed world we consume an average of 3,500 calories each day. This intake gives us many options for losing weight. For instance we can reduce our daily intake by 500 calories providing we do not fall below 2,000 calories each day. This will help your weight and consequently your health but will not make you fitter and more able to enjoy life.

That is why we suggest that initially you set out to reduce your daily calorie intake by 300 calories and burn off a further 200 calories through light exercise.

See our calorie burn-off chart at: http://www.recipesmania.com/calorieexerciserate.html

This way you work on both your aerobic fitness and diet at the same time and then as you become fitter you will increase your burn off rate and therefore allow for a few extra rewards in your diet. Remember it is not good practice to lose weight at a rate greater than one-pound (450g) each week or you will soon be putting all that weight back on again rendering your program worthless. The whole point of losing weight is keeping it lost, not losing it this month and watching it come back next.

Start today and you will see results within a week.

This article is copyright © David McCarthy 2005. It may be reproduced in its entirety with no additions. Any changes require written approval from the author.

The Jenny Craig Diet

The Jenny Craig diet is not so much a diet but a weight loss program that is based around special packaged food. The program operates out of weight loss centers around the world. These are run on a franchise basis - that is, the owner of the franchise is thoroughly trained in operating the program and is licensed to use the company name and sell Jenny Craig products.

What Can You Expect?

If you sign up with the Jenny Craig program you can expect to visit one of their centers to meet with a weight loss counselor. This will establish what your calorie level should be depending on your current build and the amount of weight that you want to lose. You will sign up to the program for a certain length of time or until you have reached your target weight.

You will then be advised on your nutritional program which will include the special food that you buy from them. You will return once a week to be weighed, buy more food and discuss your progress and any problems you are having.

If you do not live near a center or if you prefer not to have one on one sessions in person, you can take the counseling by phone and have the supplies delivered.

Why Does It Work?

This is a calorie controlled diet, which together with exercise should ensure weight loss if you follow it.

The weekly weighing session means that you have someone out there who knows how you are doing. You can also have phone calls with the counselors. Being accountable to someone in this way often helps people to lose weight or keep to any other resolution that they make.

Any Negatives?

Like all diets involving special food that you would not normally eat, it can be difficult to limit yourself to their meal choices and it is likely to be hard to keep the weight off afterward. On the other hand if you like not having to cook or think about what to eat, the prepared meals will suit you just fine.

The food is prepared with a fairly high sodium content and is not necessarily low on the glycemic index so it will not suit everybody. If you are insulin resistant or have high blood pressure or other special nutritional needs you may not be able to take the program. They do advise you to see your doctor before starting (as with all diet programs) and they give you an information sheet to take along.

Both the membership and the food that you need to buy can be expensive. Shipping is extra if you have the supplies delivered. You may be better off with a program that is based around regular food, such as Weight Watchers. Do find out what your costs are likely to be for food as well as counseling before signing up for the Jenny Craig diet.

Burn the Fat and Feed the Muscle Weight Loss System

The Secret of Negative Calories Food

FAT IS A SILENT KILLER! Can you beat it ?

The answer is:

!! YES!!

The fact is: obesity can cause severe health problems like high blood pressure and diabetes …

We need to take a different approach to loosing weight than we have being doing in the past. Forget old-fashioned diets that don’t really give you the long-lasting results you seek. They are very good reasons why they do not work well.

Some of the calories in the foods you eat are burned off just to digest, so the the net amount of calories is actually less than the amount contained in the food.

This process has several names: - Diarety-induced thermogenesis - Specific dynamic actiom of food - Thermic effect of food …

You may have heard of the expression, “Negative calories”, this refers to certain foods which have a thermic effect and a low colorie density.

This is almost impossible for these food to be stored as fat because most of these calories are burned off just to be digest them.

The negative calories foods have so few calories that you can burn up more calories in preparing cooking, chewing and digesting them than they impart.

The ingestion of these foods increases the metabolic rate of the body, which, in turn draws excess calories from the body’s fat deposit.

Frequently Asked Questions:Fact: Foods that actually melt down fat were discovered by nutritionist physicians during their search for healthier foods. When you add these type of foods to your normal diet, you lose weight but you also lower and normalize your cholesterol rate. This always contributes to your health. Q: How many pounds can you lose per week?A: If you are less than 20 pounds overweight, you can lose an average of 5-8 pounds in the first week, and 3-4 pounds in the subsequent weeks.If you are more than 20 pounds overweight, you will lose weight even more quickly. Some people with more than 40 pounds to lose have lost up to 12 pounds in the first week.Q: I have tried bean pod capsules, other methods, other diets, and nothing has helped me lose weight yet. Why will it be different with this?A: Because you will burn away more calories than you absorb. Everyone who has tried it has lost weight, there is no reason that it would work for everyone else and not for you! Key Benefits - No pills to take! - The weight loss plan you are going to buy, is rapid and efficient at fat burning. - The secret is that you will burn more calories than you take in. - Easy to follow instructions and appetizing tips on how you can enjoy fat-controlled meals!

More information here: Burn the fat feed the muscle review

The Ideal Fat Burning Products and Appetite Suppressant you can find online currently

It can be typical knowledge that pounds loss pills provide a myriad of health benefits for the man or women who is combating a battle vs unhealthy weight. The excess weight reduction pills that had been manufactures years ago have been not as powerful and productive and the styles which are being developed today. Thanks towards the substantial investigation done inside last several years, newer ingredients with weight loss attributes attended directly into picture for instance Proactol. These contents are usually a lot more powerful as well as far more successful when compared with those who have been renowned previously.

Recently, the market is definitely overloaded with bodyweight burning capsules, with each and every saying to deliver the most effective benefits. Nonetheless, not necessarily every one of them stand true to their particular statements. Most of them times, it really is next to nothing but really an useless guarantee. That is why, you have to be aware while picking out products that claim to become ideal fat reduction tablets.

Don't reach out for any solutions, such as excess weight loss capsules in haste. This particular may result in next to nothing but burning of really difficult earned funds. It truly is essential to do a little investigation prior to buying fat burning capsules. You absolutely need to have an understanding of exactly how these kinds of capsules operate and also if you are the suitable candidate for that. Virtually all men and women, however require to use these capsules for weight lowering, are advised not to by their doctors since these pills aren't suited to just about all. Therefore, make sure you speak to your medical professionsal in order to ensure you're the fitting customer for these capsules.

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This is by far the most important aspect to bear in mind while looking to buy the actual most beneficial weight capsules. You are able to get very first hand feedback by questioning family and friends for their thoughts and opinions. Should you achieve a dead end, consequently, you are able to always select from the web to supply you with data. Uncover out concerning the supplier that manufactures it and also the suggestions of folks who've given it an attempt. This particular need to give you a truthful plan.

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Can a Weight Loss Program Make You Fat?

There are hundreds of special diets being sold to Americans right now and many of them have the negative effect of making you fatter as opposed to slimmer. There is the blood type diet, the high protein diet, the raw food diet, the low fat diet, the low-carb diet, the low sodium diet, the high fiber diet, the low calorie diet, and the cabbage soup diet, the grapefruit diet, the South Beach diet, the Atkins diet, the Slim Fast Diet and many more. The problem is that not a single one of these diets is healthy for you in the long run and may even cause you to gain even more weight than ever.

The reason these diets are not healthy for you is that they do not reset the hypothamulus. This organ produces hormones that help control your weight. This dooms you to just get fatter and fatter. None of them cures hunger. In fact they just leave you feeling hungrier because many are based on calorie deprivation. Only a healthy lifestyle that includes exercise and full nutritious meals can help reset the hypothamulus.

Most importantly, no matter how much weight you may lose doing these programs, none of them get your body to release stubborn fat deposits.

Counting calories is the not the answer! In other countries people eat way more calories than Americans and still manage to stay slim. Depriving oneself of calories not only makes you sick but it makes you fall off the diet all together.

Throughout the world people eat lots of carbs, tons of salt, drink beer, wine, and other alcohol, eat ice cream and other deserts, have bread and still remain skinny. Nobody drinks diet sodas. Nobody eats low fat food only. They eat all they want and do not gain weight.

How are they able to do this? The answer is that the food is produced differently than in America. In America, for example, beef is injected with bovine growth hormone and loaded with antibiotics and other drugs. The beef is fed genetically modified, chemically produced grain and ground up dead animals. This is a toxic stew that you consume full of chemicals, hormones and drugs. It is not the actual beef that makes you fat. It is the additives.

The problem with beef in the U.S. is just one example of what is wrong with American diets. Eating naturally, organically and with an eye to reading the label on foods is the better part of a sensible and effective natural weight loss plan.

How to get Six Pack Abs - Rapidly and Effective

One day I woke up and asked myself how to get a six pack quick as well as almost without problems. Right after researching a couple of work outs and fitness method I found a reply of my issue. There is no way for ordinary individuals like me and you also to obtain six pack abs as quick as you desire to. Maybe celebs with a personal trainer and absolutely nothing to accomplish rather than think of their own exercise plan can perform it rapid.

But they all should work extremely hard for getting a flat stomach including a six pack. Well, soon after I opened my thoughts to this particular answer I believed okay, then it may need some time plus a whole lot of sweat to reach my goal. Hence, exactly what could I only say, I began a six pack exercises routine that I put together by myself. Just about every morning hours 30 sit ups and each night just before going to bed once more 10 situps.

I did that around 30 days every single day for getting hard six pack abs quick. But it really was not that successful. Okay, I observed a number of results but without dieting along with a better workout routine I did not saw a better way for getting fit the way in which I wanted.

Hence I planed to do some weight loss as well as going on a diet for getting rid of belly fat inside the midsection of my body. I believed it would assist me to see my washboard within the mirror as quick as possible. Not to mention you have to do some fat loss to determine your ab muscles. Consume a lot of water as well as consume fresh fruits as well as vegetable. Chicken as well as sea food to help your muscle developing in a rapidly way. You've to follow you plan to succeed that's a fact. For getting fit you could have to be perfectly self-disciplined and you've got to see the long run success when you're starting your own health and fitness routine.

To sum up I'm able to point out that the important problem is the physical exercise plan you select for getting your hard six pack rapid. You will find a great deal of exercise plans to decide on from and you have to make your lookup to find the appropriate one for you. This has assisted me to achieve my personal objective. When you want to get a six pack then go on and get it done.

Is Atkins right for you

The Atkins diet is very popular, but is it right for you? Before you start down the low carb road, you should take some time to decide whether low carb is the right way for you to lose weight. Just because it has been effective for others doesn’t mean it will be right for you. No specific diet works for everyone, and you may even find that a type of low carb diet that works better for you than another. There are many things to consider before you start the Atkins diet.

First, evaluate your past dieting history. If you’ve been trying to lose weight for a long period of time, you’ve no doubt tried a wide variety of diets. Take note of the different diets you’ve tried over the years. Write down the basics of each diet, what worked and what didn’t. Also, write down why you didn’t stay on the particular diet. Evaluate your experience with high carbohydrate diets. These types of diets include most low-fat and calorie controlled diets. How did you feel while on these types of diets? Were you hungry, obsessed with food or experiencing negative reactions? Or did you feel full of energy and generally good?

If you’ve had experience with low carb diets, write that down as well. Past the negative effects of the first week, how did eating low carb make you feel? Why did you stop using the low carb diet?

The answers to these questions will help you decide whether Atkins is right for you or not. If you’ve had good experiences with low-fat diets and bad experiences with other low carb diets, then Atkins is probably not for you. If other low-carb diets have worked but not without difficulty, then you may have been on the wrong type of low-carb diet and Atkins might work better. If you’ve had bad experiences with both types of diets, then you may have better success with a modified Atkins diet.

Your food and eating behaviors can also give you a clue to whether or not Atkins is a good choice for your weight loss efforts. Carb sensitivities are indicated by a certain set of behaviors. You may be carb sensitive if you feel like eating right after you’ve finished a meal. You will also feel strong urges to eat throughout the day. You may feel dizzy, fuzzyheaded and fatigued without getting a boost from sugar or another carbohydrate. Carb sensitivity is also shown when you feel sluggish after eating. This occurs especially after you eat a meal rich in sugars and carbohydrates. If you experience these symptoms frequently, you may have carb sensitivities. Try paying close attention to how carbohydrates affect you and if you continue to experience these symptoms, try doing a low carb diet.

Your success on the Atkins diet can also be determined by your medical and family history. If you have any pre-diabetic symptoms, or diabetes itself, a reduced carb diet like Atkins may be right for you. Significant weight gain can also be helped by the Atkins diet. Normally, the more overweight you are, the more likely you are to have high blood pressure, high triglycerides and high blood glucose.

If any member of your family has diabetes or is significantly overweight, this can also put you at risk for these conditions. Your tendency toward these conditions on a genetic level can mark a necessity for a low carbohydrate diet like Atkins. The Atkins plan has been shown to improve weight and control blood sugar issues. If these are problems in your family history, then you may want to consider the Atkins diet.

There are a lot of good reasons to try the Atkins diet. Whether you have responded well to other low carb diets in the past or you have a medical history that warrants a controlled carbohydrate diet, the Atkins diet can meet your needs.

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Advantages of SmartLipo Supplement

Losing fat is usually not a big deal when you go to the gym or spend hours on your treadmill or cardio equipments. But there are always chances that you may lose some fat here or there without losing an inch on the bigger and problematic zones or body parts. How often do you workout hoping to get a flat tummy or respectable looking thighs? Fat when sticks on to the body, has strange outcomes, such as body areas where it just won't budge off from. SmartLipo is a technology or tool of medical science which works towards removing all that stubborn fatty deposit on your body.

SmartLipo is similar to liposuction, but has greater advantages and is capable of giving smarter results or outcomes. Using a laser technique SmartLipo burns out or melts down the fat or obese body parts causing less or no side effects and distress or soreness. This new method of medical science has proved to be current revolution and is quite popular among people with heavy body sizes that just wont come down, no matter how hard they workout.

Following are some of the benefits or advantages of SmartLipo that makes it a better option than other treatments for reduction of fat from the body:

-Unlike any other treatment (such as Liposuction) SmartLipo has a quick recovery period, thus you do not have to go through those lengthy and time-consuming healing period.

-With the local anesthesia, the procedure of SmartLipo is less traumatic and less discomforting.

-The after effects of bruising or any swelling in SmartLipo is quite restricted and is there for a short period of time.

-SmartLipo also tightens or binds that lose skin on your body.

-This technique of reducing or removing fat from the body can be used to treat more than one fat loaded are on a body in one session.

-SmartLipo is also good in treating areas which were not possible to be treated for fat removal. Such as, knees, stomach and areas around it, face as well as under the armpit or forearms.

-The downtime or rest session required after the procedure of SmartLipo is minimal or very less, as compared to the downtime required by other treatment procedures, that is you can come back to your daily routine in a day or at times even on the same day.

SmartLipo has proved to be quite safe and effective method for removal or reduction of the stubborn and rigidly stuck body fat, but to utilize these benefits and the outcome of the technique you need to follow some simple instructions given by doctors. And more than anything else, you always need to remember that this technique acts as a benefit only if you keep a healthy lifestyle, disciplined eating habits and a fitness regime on an active mode.

Top 10 Diets

Here is our list of top 10 diets. Click on the title of each of these popular diets to see more details including what the diet involves, if and why it works, and what are its bad points, if any.

Atkins Diet

The well known high protein diet developed by Dr Robert C Atkins. No high carbohydrate foods.

Blood Type Diet

A diet developed by Peter D'Adamo where you select from foods that are said to be right for your blood type (A, B, AB or O).

Cabbage Soup Diet

On this 7 day diet you can eat unlimited cabbage soup, plus specified other foods at different times. Generally this diet follows food combining principles and has some days of high protein and some of high carbs. Filling up on high fiber cabbage means that you should not go hungry. Claims you can lose 10 pounds in a week.

Grapefruit Diet

This diet has been around since the 1930s when it was taken up by Hollywood stars. It is a high protein, low carbs, low calorie diet that you follow for 12-18 days. Includes half a grapefruit at every meal, claimed to contain a fat burning enzyme.

Jenny Craig Diet

Available from franchised weight loss centers where you can see a counselor and purchase the recommended pre-prepared meals. Also available at a distance with counseling by phone and foods delivered.

Raw Food Diet

Mainly promoted for its overall health benefits, with weight loss as an extra plus. There are many variations of the raw food diet including raw vegan, raw vegetarian including raw dairy, and some versions that include raw meat and fish.

Scarsdale Diet

This is a high protein, low carbohydrate, low calorie diet with grapefruit. You follow the diet plan for 2 weeks at a time. Claims you can lose up to 20 pounds in 14 days.

South Beach Diet

Developed by a cardiologist, the South Beach diet identifies good carbohydrates and fats and avoids bad carbohydrates and fats. In three phases, this is a high protein diet for fast weight loss in the first 2 weeks, adding more foods back into the diet in subsequent weeks and finishing with a maintenance plan. Encourages frequent small meals.

Subway Diet

The most faddy diet on our list, this one consists of eating all meals from the healthy food options at the Subway chain of restaurants. Invented by college student Jared Fogle who lost 245 pounds in one year on this diet.

Zone Diet

This diet is based around a plan of consuming 40% of calories from carbs, 30% from protein and 30% from fats. There is no particular calorie restriction. A long term diet that claims to balance the hormones including insulin so that the body can make best use of food, and that a 30% limit on fats prevents the body storing fat.

Always consult with your doctor before starting any weight loss program, even those on our top 10 diets list.

Atkins Diet Basics

The Atkins diet is not a new phenomenon. The diet first appeared in the late 1970s and has grown popularity in recent years in response to the low-fat diet craze. As dieters had trouble with low-fat plans, they searched for a new solution and Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution book found a new audience.

A lot of people have jumped on the Atkins bandwagon and there has been a lot of hype as a result. But what are the basic principles of the Atkins diet?

The Atkins diet is based on a theory of why we get fat. According to Dr. Atkins, the over-consumption of carbohydrates and simple sugars leads to weight gain. The way your body processes the carbohydrates you eat have more to do with your waistline than the amount of fat or calories that you consume. In his book, Atkins outlines a phenomenon called “insulin resistance.” He theorizes that many overweight people have cells that do not work correctly.

When you eat excess carbohydrates and sugar, your body notices that sugar levels are elevated. Insulin is released from the pancreas in order to store sugar as glycogen in the liver and muscle cells for extra energy later on. However, your body can only store so much glycogen at once. As soon as your body reaches its limit for glycogen storage, the excess carbohydrates are stored as fat. This happens to everyone who eats too many carbohydrates.

However, insulin resistant individuals have an even harder time of using and storing excess carbohydrates. The more insulin that your body is exposed to, the more resistant it becomes. Overtime, the pancreas releases more insulin and cells become insulin resistant. The cells are trying to protect themselves from the toxic effects of high insulin. They create less glycogen and more fat.

As a result, insulin resistant individuals gain extra weight. The carbohydrates get converted into fat instead of energy. Other side effects include fatigue, brain “fog” (the inability to focus, poor memory, loss of creativity), low blood sugar (which can leads to hypoglycemia), intestinal bloating, sleepiness, depression and increased blood sugar. There is much more than weight at stake when you are insulin resistant.

The remedy for people who are insulin resistant is a diet restricted in carbohydrates. The crux of the Atkins diet is a limitation of carbohydrates in all of its forms. The foods restricted on the Atkins plan include simple sugars (like cookies, sodas and sweets) and complex carbohydrates (like bread, rice and grains). Even carbohydrates that are considered healthy, such as oatmeal, brown rice and whole wheat bread, are restricted on the program.

The diet has you restrict your carbohydrate intake to less than 40 grams a day. This will put your body in a state of ketosis. While in ketosis, your body will burn fat as fuel. According to Dr. Atkins’ research, the ketosis state will also affect insulin production and it will prevent more fat from being formed. Your body will begin using your stored fat as an efficient form of fuel, and you’ll lose weight. Another benefit of the Atkins plan is that ketosis will end your cravings for carbohydrates. If you’ve been living on a carb-heavy diet, you may have found that you simply cannot get enough carbohydrates. With carbohydrate restriction and ketosis comes a reduction in carbohydrate cravings. People who have been on the Atkins diet for some time report that they do not crave carbohydrates as they once did.

Although the initial phases of the Atkins diet are rather strict, the program teaches you to restore balance to your diet in the long run. People who use the diet slowly reintroduce minimal amounts of carbohydrate into their eating until they find a comfortable balance between their health and carbohydrate use.

The basic principles of the Atkins diet have been adapted to many other low-carb diet plans. However, Atkins popularity still remains strong as one of the most effective low-carbohydrate solutions for those who are insulin resistant.

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The Scarsdale Diet

The Scarsdale diet was published in a book called 'The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet' by Dr Herman Tarnower of Scarsdale, NY and Samm Sinclair Baker in 1979. Its popularity benefited from a storm of publicity in 1980 when Dr Tarnower was murdered by his long time lover, the headmistress of a well known girls' boarding school.

The claim is that you can lose up to 20 pounds in 14 days.

What Does It Involve?

The Scarsdale diet plan could be described as a more nutritionally varied version of the grapefruit diet. Half a grapefruit is included every day at breakfast for the supposed 'fat burning enzyme' that it contains.

Dr Tarnower proposes a strict diet plan which you follow for 14 days. You then follow a less restrictive plan for 1-2 weeks before going back onto the diet plan for another 14 days if you need to.

Generally, it is a high protein, low carbohydrate plan but with fruit and 1-3 slices of protein-enriched bread per day. Breakfast is half a grapefruit and 1 slice of bread. Lunch may be fruit alone, or meat, fish or cheese with salad or vegetables. Dinner is meat or fish with vegetables. Bread is allowed at lunch or dinner some days.

Snacks are limited to raw carrot, celery etc. You may drink tea, coffee, diet soda and of course water. You can use ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, mustard and herbs.

No potatoes, corn, peas, beans (other than green beans) or lentils are allowed, and no pasta, rice or other grains except for bread when specified.

Why Does It Work?

This is a strictly calorie controlled diet. Most people will lose weight over the 14 days if they can stick to it.

The cyclical nature of the plan (2 weeks on, 1-2 weeks off) is said to optimize results because it prevents the metabolism adjusting to the lower calorie intake.

Any Negatives?

Most people will be very hungry on this diet and that will make it hard to stick to. Some people use appetite suppressants but these may have risks of their own. If you can keep to the plan, most of the initial weight loss will be water.

There is a heavy emphasis on lean meats with most of the calories coming from animal protein foods. It would be a difficult diet for vegetarians to follow. There is no scientific basis for the idea of a fat burning enzyme in grapefruit.

The cyclical style of the diet is also difficult for many people. There is a risk you will go completely off the diet at the end of the 14 days and regain all the weight.

It has been criticized for promoting yoyo dieting where weight is constantly gained and lost in a short time. This is generally considered bad for the health. Consult your doctor before starting on the Scarsdale diet.

The Subway Diet

The Subway Diet was invented accidentally by Jared Fogle, a student at Indiana University, who dropped from 425 pounds to 180 pounds in just one year in the 1990s. It began to be popular in 2000 after the Subway food chain discovered Jared and based an advertising campaign around his diet.

How Jared Fogle Lost 245 Pounds In One Year

Jared was in his junior year when his weight reached its all time high. Like many young men in college he ate a lot of junk food, but unlike his friends he took virtually no exercise. He was told by a doctor that he risked serious health problems if he did not lose weight. He tried various diets without much success.

Then one day he discovered a Subway restaurant near his dorm. He tried a low fat Sub and liked it, so he began eating there twice a day. He would skip breakfast, walk to Subway for lunch, eat one low fat Sub with maybe some baked potato chips and diet soda, and do the same thing in the evening for dinner.

The Subway Diet consists of doing basically what Jared did. You take 2 meals a day at Subway and eat nothing else. You can choose one Sub from the 'Eight For Six' range which contain 6 grams of fat or less, plus low fat baked potato chips or other low fat side dish. You also have to drink water and do some exercise.

Why Does It Work?

It works because it is a very low calorie diet. Jared Fogle went from eating up to an estimated 10,000 calories in a day right down to around 1000 calories a day. This is half of the amount that a normal sized person of average height needs to maintain a healthy weight, so it is a major calorie restriction.

Another reason why Jared lost his weight so fast (it works out to almost 5 pounds per week) is all the walking that he did. After he reached around 300 pounds he began walking pretty much everywhere instead of taking the bus.

Any Negatives?

Most doctors recommend losing a maximum of 2 pounds per week, so it could be argued that Jared Fogle lost weight too fast for optimum health. However he did succeed in keeping his weight down and is still at a healthy weight 10 years later. He now works for Subway promoting healthy eating.

Without going into the detailed nutritional analysis of the eight Subs that you can choose from, it is unlikely that you would get your full vitamin and mineral needs met on this diet. However, it is not as easy as people think to get the RDAs of all vitamins and minerals. Eating only 1000 calories a day it would be difficult on almost any diet. You are also likely to be very hungry between meals.

Two of the major nutritional elements lacking in the Subway diet are vitamin A and fiber. Add a large portion of orange or red vegetables such as carrots or red bell peppers to boost your intake of these elements. If you eat them raw you will benefit from their vitamin C too. Adding these as snacks will help with the hunger problem.

Of course you should consult your doctor before going on any diet, but remember that many college students, even those who are not overweight, live mainly on junk food. The Subway diet may not be the healthiest diet you could have, but it is a lot healthier than what Jared was consuming before.

Acai Berries For Weight Loss

You have probably been hearing a great deal about acai berries lately like acai berry pure or natural acai. They are being promoted as the latest and greatest weight loss miracle food.

Acai fruit are small but easily distinguishable purple and black berries that hail originally from the Amazon rainforests. They are one of the new diet super foods that are on the market and they are sold as everything from a mash to a juice or even mixed in with yogurt. You can also buy it in powdered form and pill form to help expedite the kind of elimination from your colon that can also speed up weight loss.

Acai berries are classified as super foods because aside from weight loss they offer a very wide range of health benefits. These benefits include life extension, free radical fighting and keeping your blood pressure under control. The berry is also a potent immune system booster that can help prevent you from catching colds and flus.

One of the unique things about this berry from the rainforest is that it can also help boost energy levels and stamina. This can really help when it comes to giving you enough energy to get through an exercise routine. Some individuals believe that it is actually a mood booster of some sort although technically it is classified as a food both in America and South America.

The acai berry contains very high levels of dietary fiber which can help your digestive system to become more efficient. Less crap is allowed to fester and ferment in your digestive tract and stomach.

This is important, because most people do not take on board sufficient dietary fiber in their normal diet which means that over time, a significant amount of undigested food gets left in your stomach. In fact some natural health experts claim that there can be up to 20 pounds of ‘rubbish’ in your gut that never gets shifted under normal circumstances and that you need to take some kind of natural cleanser (like acai berry) that prompts the intestinal process in order to get your bowels moving.

Hence, as you drink lots more water whilst increasing your consumption of high fiber foodstuffs such as fruit, vegetables and acai, it is quite possible that you will see a very significant weight drop in the first few days as these toxins are flushed out of your system. This could manifest as diarrhea at first but the key is to be patient. Some people suffer this side effect for just a few hours and others for quite a few days as the colon cleans itself out.

The Atkins Diet

The Atkins diet is a low carb food diet or carbohydrate diet developed by Dr Robert C Atkins in the 1970s. Dr Atkins wrote many books and did refine the diet later, but in the beginning it focused on cutting out almost all carbohydrates regardless of where they came from.

It is also known as the high protein diet, because in the absence of carbs we have to get our calories from proteins and fats. It is set up in structured phases, with the first being the most restricted, as is normal for most diets. Some people skip the first phase (the induction).

Why Does It Work

When we are eating a lot of carbs, the sugars in them require the body to produce a lot of insulin. These levels of insulin help the body to convert a lot of food into fat in the form of triglycerides. This is stored in the body, making us gain weight.

However, if there are no carbs available, the body will switch to a system called ketosis where it can create energy directly from fats. This creates ketones which suppress the appetite (we quickly feel we have eaten enough, or do not feel very hungry and use our fat reserves for energy).

In order to bring on ketosis we have to eat less than 40 grams of carbohydrate in a day. To give you an idea of how little this is, the average person on a standard Western diet consumes around 300 grams per day. 40 grams is about 2 small bananas, or 3-4 slices of bread, or less than 1 cup of cooked brown rice.

For people who like meat and dairy foods the Atkins diet can be a refreshing change from other weight loss programs. This can help motivate you to stick with the diet.

Any Negatives?

You have to get used to a whole new way of figuring out what to eat. It involves taking account of the number of grams of carbohydrate that are in everything.

The diet and also the 1000 calorie diet can be boring and many people do not get enough variety or essential nutrients while following it. This can be overcome by making an effort to include more vegetables and/or supplements, but Dr Atkins does not tend to focus on these points as much as he might.

Many Atkins dieters eat a lot of saturated fat which research has shown can contribute to heart disease and other conditions. It seems likely that some people's bodies do better on a low carb, high protein diet, but other people's do not. You should speak to your doctor before starting and have your cholesterol levels monitored regularly while you are following the Atkins diet.

The Grapefruit Diet

The grapefruit diet was popularized by movie stars as long ago as the 1930s. It is also known as the Hollywood diet and it is still followed by many people today.

What Is Involved?

It is a short term, high protein, low carbohydrate diet that you follow for 12-18 days. You must eat 3 meals a day plus 1 snack. Do not skip any meals. There is no published original version of the plan so it varies a little but this is an example menu plan:

Breakfast: 1/2 grapefruit, 2 eggs, 2 slices bacon, black coffee if wished.

Lunch: 1/2 grapefruit, large salad with dressing, unlimited meat.

Dinner: 1/2 grapefruit, unlimited salad or cooked red or green vegetables (except those on the banned list below), unlimited meat or fish.

Evening snack: 8 oz skim milk.

You can use butter and oil including frying the allowed foods if you want to. You must drink 8 x 8oz glasses of water per day. Apart from water and the breakfast time coffee, no other drinks are allowed.

The following foods are banned: starchy vegetables (potato, pumpkin, corn etc), peas, beans, nuts, seeds, grains, bread, cereals, sugar, and fruit - except grapefruit of course!

Why Does It Work?

The aim of the grapefruit diet is to get weight back to normal if you have a few pounds to lose. It accomplishes this by restricting calories for the 12-18 days of the diet plan. Despite the high fat content, most people will be eating far fewer calories than normal, so they will lose weight during this time if they stick to the plan. No high carbohydrate foods are allowed so the body will burn fat for energy in the same way as on the Atkins diet.

The original claim was that grapefruit has a weight loss effect in itself - that is, by adding half a grapefruit before each meal you would slowly lose weight even if you changed nothing else. People may say either that grapefruit contains a fat-burning enzyme or that it controls insulin levels, affecting the metabolism. This has not been proved by research so far.

Any Negatives?

Being a short term diet, it is not so useful for people who want to lose a lot of weight. It could start you off with good weight loss but when the 12-18 days are over, you will need another type of diet to move on to. At this point there is a risk you could go back to your old eating habits and put the weight right back on.

There is also a danger for people who just wanted to lose those few pounds, that they will celebrate with high carbohydrate meals when they reach the goal. Yoyo dieting could be the result. Yoyo dieting is strict dieting followed by weight gain, so the weight goes up and down very quickly. This is bad for the health.

The high saturated fat content may be dangerous for some people even in the short term. See your doctor before starting any weight loss diet such as the grapefruit diet.

The Zone Diet

The Zone diet was developed by Barry Sears and depends on getting your nutrients in certain ratios. Sears, a biochemist, claims that keeping within 'the zone' balances the hormones and helps us achieve optimum health.

What Does It Involve?

You have to eat so that you have a balance of approximately 40% calories from carbohydrates, 30% from protein and 30% from fat at each meal. Smaller, more frequent meals are advised. There is no particular limit on the calories that you eat.

Sears recommends this for a typical Zone diet meal: "Eat as much protein as the palm of your hand, as much non starchy raw vegetables as you can stand for the vitamins, enough carbohydrates to maintain mental clarity because the brain runs on glucose, and enough monounsaturated oils to keep feelings of hunger away."

Plans are provided but even a small change from them can send your ratios off, so if you want to plan your own meals you would use a nutrient tracker. These are provided at many free websites such as nutridiary.com.

Why Does It Work?

Sears says that this nutritional balance is best for the body and will help it achieve its ideal conditions including achieving and maintaining a normal weight.

Studies seem to bear this out. A TV show called Scientific American Frontiers ran a comparison of various popular diets. While this study was not managed under strict scientific research conditions, the Zone diet came out best, both in terms of weight loss and of building or maintaining muscle mass. It may be particularly good for men who tend to be more concerned than women about not losing muscle mass when they lose weight.

This diet will represent a small cut in fat intake for most people. The average American gets about 35% of calories from fat and that figure is probably higher for people who are overweight. Some people go as high as 65%. At 30%, the body will not store fat, but will use all that it takes in.

However, the Zone diet would not be described as a low fat diet. Sears criticizes low fat, high carbohydrate diets, claiming that high grain consumption is what causes people to gain weight.

The main the Zone diet would be difficult for vegetarians to follow, but Sears has published a more vegetarian friendly version called 'The Soy Zone'.

Any Negatives?

Although calories are not counted or restricted, the diet has been criticized as being just another low calorie diet in practice. For example, Sears has apparently said that the Zone diet is not a high protein diet because a person would eat only a normal amount of protein a day, around 60g for the average woman. This would give her 240 calories. If this is 30% of her daily calories, she would consume only 800 calories per day. This is extreme calorie restriction: she would require more than twice that amount to maintain her weight.

Sears has also been criticized for apparently not following his own diet. According to Dr Joel Fuhrman in 'The Eat To Live Diet', Sears has said that he himself has around 100g of protein a day. If he were in the Zone this would give him 1330 calories per day. He is a tall man and on 1330 calories a day he should be losing around 2 pounds per week (300 pounds in 3 years), but he apparently says that he has lost only 35 pounds in 3 years. Fuhrman concludes that he must be taking in around 2300 calories a day and cannot therefore be in the Zone: he must be eating a higher percentage of either carbs or fat or both.

Nevertheless there are plenty of people who are happy with their results on the Zone diet including various Hollywood stars.

The Cabbage Soup Diet

The cabbage soup diet is a short term fast weight loss diet food plan that claims you can lose 10 pounds in a week. Its origins are unknown but it seems to have come into circulation in the 1980s.

What Is Involved?

You eat unlimited cabbage soup for a week, plus certain other foods. A typical plan goes like this:

Day 1: cabbage soup and fresh raw fruit (except banana and coconut).

Day 2: cabbage soup, non-starchy vegetables and 1 baked potato.

Day 3: cabbage soup, fruit (except banana and coconut) and non-starchy vegetables.

Day 4: cabbage soup, skim milk and bananas (maximum 8).

Day 5: cabbage soup, tomatoes, beef (maximum 20 oz).

Day 6: cabbage soup, non-starchy vegetables, beef (unlimited).

Day 7: cabbage soup, unsweetened fruit juice, non-starchy vegetables, brown rice.

You can have as much of the named foods as you want, except where a portion size is specified. You can eat as often as you want. You must not use any oils, salt or anything else that is not on the list. No drinks except water.

To make cabbage soup, just boil plenty of cabbage for 10-15 minutes in enough water to cover it, remove from the heat for a few minutes and blend with a hand-held blender. On days when you are allowed other vegetables you can add onions, herbs, celery etc.

On beef days you can cook the beef in the soup if you want, or buy steak and grill it, or toss ground beef in a frying pan in a little water.

Why Does It Work?

Drastic calorie reduction for the 7 days of the diet will produce weight loss, although much of the loss is due to water.

To lose one pound of fat you have to eat 3500 fewer calories than the amount that would maintain your weight. This means that to lose one pound in a week you would have to eat 500 calories per day less than your maintenance calorie level. To lose 10 pounds of fat in a week you would have to eat 5000 calories per day less than your maintenance level. Since most people's maintenance level is a lot less than 5000 calories a day, this is impossible. That is how we know that a large weight loss in a short space of time is mainly water loss.

However, even water loss will result in you looking thinner. Water retention makes us look bloated. So if you do not go back to eating a lot of salt and processed foods, you may be able to maintain the loss.

Cabbage is a low calorie, high fiber food so it will make you feel full without weight gain. This makes it easier to stick to the diet. It is also a very nutritious food. It contains a surprising amount of protein as well as minerals and vitamins.

The diet follows food combining principles, not mixing starches with proteins or fat with fruit. This is claimed by some people to make the food easier to digest and help you get the maximum nutrition from it.

If we had no imported food we would tend to eat a lot of the same vegetables and fruits for a time while they were in season, so this may be a very natural way to eat.

Any Negatives?

The main problem, as with all short term weight lose at home diets, is that most people put the weight right back on again as soon as the diet is over. You will need to change your eating habits to keep it off, and you will need another diet plan to follow afterward if you want to lose more than 10 pounds.

You may become very tired of cabbage soup, although if you have never had it before, you will probably be surprised how good it tastes (especially when you are hungry). Changing the permitted foods each day provides some variety but not nearly as much as we are used to. Boredom is likely to be a problem.

It may be difficult to follow this diet if you need to take your lunch to work and do not have anywhere to warm your soup. You will want more than you can fit in a vacuum flask. Some days, you could eat fruit during the day instead. On other days this is not possible.

It is possible that eating huge quantities of cabbage may have some negative consequences for health. This should not be a problem in 7 days but staying on this diet any longer is not recommended. You should see your doctor before starting the cabbage soup diet or any other weight loss plan.

The South Beach Diet

The South Beach diet is a popular diet developed by a cardiologist, Arthur Agatston of Miami. It was originally intended to help his patients avoid or improve cardiovascular disease, with weight loss as a secondary aim.

What Is It?

The South Beach diet is based around the idea that there are good and bad carbohydrates and good and bad fats. It does not count calories and you are expected to eat until you are satisfied, but you are restricted on what foods you can eat. It also rates foods according to their sugar content (the glycemic index).

'Bad fats' (mainly saturated fats and trans fats) are to be avoided because of their alleged contribution to heart disease, which has been widely researched. This means cutting down on high fat meats and dairy products, replacing them with lean meats, oily fish and olive oil.

'Bad carbohydrates' are the quickly absorbed high glycemic index carbs such as sugar and refined grains (white flour, white rice etc). They are replaced with whole grains and high fiber foods, plus fruit in limited quantities.

There are three phases to the diet. Phase 1 is the most restrictive, lasting 2 weeks. Almost all carbohydrates are avoided in this first phase, including fruit. At this point the diet may seem a little like the Atkins diet but this is only for a limited 14 day period. A person might lose 8-13 pounds during these 2 weeks.

More foods are added back into the diet in phase 2. You will stay on phase 2 until you meet your weight target, hopefully losing 1-2 pounds per week during this time. Phase 3 is a maintenance plan, more flexible still, that you can use when you are at your ideal weight.

South Beach encourages dieters to eat 6 times a day (3 meals plus 3 snacks) and to eat more non-starchy vegetables.

Why Does It Work?

The first phases probably induces ketosis in the same way that the Atkins diet does. In the absence of carbohydrates the body uses its fat reserves for energy.

Beyond that, the addition of more fiber into the diet is good for us. The standard American or Western diet often does not contain even the minimum of fiber. Fiber also helps us to lose weight because it is a bulky substance that is not easily absorbed by the body. It fills us up while containing very few calories.

This means that although you are not consciously restricting calories on the South Beach diet, you are likely to reduce your calorie intake automatically, just because you will be filling your stomach with bulky, low calorie foods.

Switching to a diet containing more vegetables is likely to provide more of the essential minerals than most people have in their diets right now. This also increases satisfaction so that we will stop eating sooner. Often, people overeat partly because on a high fat diet they cannot get the nutrients they need without consuming a huge number of calories.

Also, research has shown that eating frequent, smaller meals is often better for weight loss than restricting yourself to 2 or 3 meals per day. So there are many factors which make the South Beach diet work for many people.

Any Negatives?

Although there are vegetarian options, strict vegetarians and vegans may find the first two weeks difficult, as may people who have a very active lifestyle. There is not much emphasis on exercise in this program.

Artificial sweeteners are accepted and even recommended on the diet. Some of these have health risks in themselves and using them will keep you in the habit of having sweet tasting foods, so you are likely to still crave sugar and candy.

If you have been on the standard Western diet, your food costs might increase a little because healthy food tends to cost more. Replacing junk food with fresh vegetables can increase the grocery bill. However, you will probably save on items like candy and alcohol (a little red wine is allowed in the later phases, but that is all).

It has the reputation of being a faddy, celebrity-driven diet but this may just be because of the name and the hype that it has had. Overall the South Beach diet is a good healthy weight loss plan for many people.

The Blood Type Diet

The blood type diet was developed by Peter D'Adamo in his book 'Eat Right 4 Your Blood Type'. D'Adamo is a natural health practitioner who considers that the most important factor in determining a person's ideal diet is their ABO blood type.

What Does It Involve and is it a way for quick dieting?

The diet considers that food lectins react differently with different types of blood, some creating antigens which cause a reaction as if to an allergen or invader. Therefore you are advised to consume more of some foods and avoid others according to whether you have A, AB, B or O type blood.

Group O, The Hunter: this is claimed to be the oldest blood type. A high protein diet is recommended.

Group A, The Cultivator: more vegetables, very little red meat, would suit a vegetarian diet.

Group B, The Nomad: most foods including dairy. The other blood groups are not recommended to eat dairy products.

Group AB, The Enigma: intermediate between A and B.

On top of that, there is a long list of foods that should not be eaten for each blood type because of the action of the lectins.

Does It Work?

D'Adamo claims to have around a 70% success rate in terms of improved health conditions and/or weight loss. However, these results do not come from independent research but are self-reported, e.g. people who respond to polls. There is no way of tracking all of the people who have read his books and tried the diet, so there is no analysis of their results. The diet does not seem to have had any structured clinical trials.

Where results are good, this may be because the diet happens to suit those people or it may be that simply becoming more conscious of what they eat and avoiding certain foods helps them to lose weight and regain health.

Only around 10% of the population have group B blood, so 90% of people will be in the other groups where dairy products are not recommended. If you read the packaging you will be surprised to see how many processed foods contain milk in some form, including milk solids, lactose and whey. Avoiding dairy products will automatically cut out a lot of the fat, fast food and junk food in the average person's diet, and can result in weight loss by itself.

Any Negatives?

D'Adamo has been heavily criticized for the lack of structured research to back up his ideas. Virtually all independent research suggests that there is no link between blood type and diet.

Additionally, many scientists consider that lectins in foods do not act in the way that extracted lectins might act. That is, when they are included in food they do not set off a hostile reaction with antigens or antibodies. Research has not found a link between blood type and food allergies either.

If you like a diet with a lot of rules that sets out clearly what you can and cannot eat, this may suit you, but you have to be prepared to work with the complexity of it. Some versions of the diet will not suit some people and as always you are recommended to discuss it with your doctor before starting on the blood type weigt loss diet.

List of Weight Loss Programs

Welcome to my list of weight loss programs blog,

there are hundreds of different weight loss program outthere and it is difficult to see them all. This is why I tried to make a list and information page about various weight loss programs and diets. Here can you find some of the best known weight loss programs and diet plans. The only thing you have to do is to choose the one you like ;)

Often the list of weight loss programs shows diets whcih are pretty similar. The low carb diet is also know as atkins, south beach or idiot diet. The concept is the same but the food plan and the way it is oitlined is different.

Well, you will see just by having a look at the list of weight loss programs

Jeremy