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