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Low Carb Diet

A low carb diet is one that restricts the amount of carbs that you eat like the ones that you find in fast foods, junk food, sweets, fruits, breads, starchy vegetables and pastas. On a diet like this, you switch out those foods for healthier ones vegetables, and lean meats.

A low carb diet can help you lose weight fast. It can also help you with other things like lowering your chances of getting diabetes. It lowers blood pressure, cholesterol and your risk of getting heart disease.

Studies have shown that following a low carb diet is better for your heart than one that is higher in carbs. How the diet works involves more than cutting back on your carbs, because most people assume that certain foods that are thought to be healthy, such as fruits, are low in carbs.

But just the opposite can be true. Bananas are higher in carbs and depending on the size of the fruit can contain twenty or more carbs per serving. Grapes also have a higher carb count than fruit such as cantaloupe or plums, which both have about seven carbs.

The diet teaches that when you’re making a food choice, choose the lower carb one. For example, between potatoes, which have around fifteen carbs or carrots, which have about seven, you’d choose the carrots.

But a better option would be to choose vegetables that grow above the ground because these generally have fewer carbs. Cauliflower has four carbs. Avocados only have two. Spinach goes lower than that and only has one carb.

That’s why it’s important that you know the carb amount of what you’re eating. The diet focuses on carbs that are not refined. Some refined carbs are food items like bread, cookies and cake.

These are also known as simple carbs. You want to choose foods that are low carb and contain natural complex carbs. These help you feel full longer and also help you lose weight.

When you cut your carb intake, it helps with your glucose control, which in turn helps maintain insulin levels which burns fat. A low carb diet focuses on fish and seafood, low carb cheese, eggs, meat, and non-starchy vegetables as the main food items.

It does limit fruits. Since your body does need fruit, you’ll have to know which ones are the lowest in carbs – like strawberries and blackberries. The amount of carb intake you’ll want to use depends on several factors, but on average, a low carb diet is 100 grams or less.

If you want to, you can go to a 50 or less low carb diet or even go ketogenic at 20 or less. To find success with a low carb diet, you should focus on eating as low carb as possible without counting calories.

You should eat until you’re not hungry. If you snack, choose something like a boiled egg or cheese cubes. The tools that you’ll need for this diet depends on your knowledge of low carbs.

Most people don’t know enough about which foods have what amount of carbs to wing it without some kind of guidance. So for that reason, you should invest in a low carb diet book or join an online monthly low carb membership program to get the help that you need.

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MIND Diet

The Mind Diet is a mixture of two diets. It uses the teachings from the DASH diet along with the Mediterranean diet to create a way of eating that can benefit the brain. The acronym means Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay.

It was created by a health professional in the field of nutrition when a study was done on the effects of aging and the brain in relation to certain nutritional foods. The study showed that when study volunteers stayed on the MIND diet, their risk of developing cognitive diseases such as Alzheimer’s was lessened by more than fifty percent.

According to the study, participants who didn’t fully follow the MIND diet and only followed part of it, still lowered their risk of getting Alzheimer’s. The findings of the diet study were backed up by prior studies that showed that people who consumed leafy green vegetables had less risk of cognitive problems developing.

The diet is not only good for helping to slow cognitive decline and improve memory, but it’s also good at helping to lower blood pressure numbers and also lower glucose levels. Following the diet is also good for the health of your heart.

How the diet works is a matter of focusing on eating foods that are known to promote good health - not just for the brain but for the entire body. The concept is one that’s easy to follow, so most dieters find this way of eating less complicated that some healthy eating plans.

You have a list of ten foods to choose from. You’ll load up on vegetables from one group and you’ll need to eat a vegetable as part of one meal at least once a day. Choose plenty of leafy green vegetables like spinach and consume these foods at least six servings per week.

You’ll need to eat something from the nut group for five servings within a week. For the fruit group, you especially want to focus on berries such as blueberries since they can reduce the effects of aging on the brain along with the conditions that often go along with aging such as dementia.

You’ll focus on eating something from the bean group three times a week and whole grains at least three times a day. You’ll want to have fish once a week while using poultry as your meat source twice a week.

The diet calls for the use of olive oil in cooking because the extra virgin form of this oil is known to reduce brain degeneration, protect memory and lowers the risk of plaques that are a mark of Alzheimer’s.

The diet also has followers drink a glass of wine every day. There are five foods that you do have to limit your consumption of - these are butter/margarine, red meat, cheeses, sweets and fried or fast food.

A way to have success with this diet is to get some of the helpful tools that go with it. You can get a MIND cookbook and you may find it helpful to get a diet journal to track your weight loss progress.

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Ornish Diet

The Ornish Diet is one that’s based on Dr. Dean Ornish’s program. This is a diet that teaches people how they create a healthy eating plan according to what they like, the nutrition their body needs and their family genes.

The program teaches that by altering the way that you live your life, you can get your body to shut off the genes that cause diseases while switching on the ones that help keep these diseases away.

Research into this diet shows that by changing the way that you live your life, you can boost the enzyme production that leads to a longer, healthy life. This diet is good for those who have pounds they want to lose, people who have been diagnosed with diabetes, or those who want to keep from getting diabetes.

It’s a good diet to follow for preventing cardiovascular disease or reversing it, improving blood pressure and cholesterol levels. But it’s also good for keep certain types of cancers at bay.

How the diet works depends on the person following the diet. It all depends on if you have to lose a little or a lot of weight, whether you just want to change your lifestyle to improve your overall health, live longer or whether you’re changing eating habits after having a heart related health scare.

On this diet, you won’t have to cut out entire food groups. You simply have to learn the best way to eat those foods that may not be good for you. If you have trouble with heart disease, you would follow the no cholesterol edict and would cut out foods that were high in saturated fats.

In the diet, the foods are grouped according to how they’ll affect your body and what good they can do for you. The better the food is for you, the lower the number it’s assigned.

Foods that promote good health are a one while foods that are considered to be more generous in fat and calories are in the last group, which is five. The goal of the person following the diet is to try to follow as closely as possible making meal plans consist of food items from the first group.

The diet shows you that you don’t have to make a food off limits, you just make better choices like plant based food versus beef. The diet also works based on your fitness level, how well you manage the stress in your life and whether you have people in your life who’ll help you along the journey.

You’ll be taught about foods. For example, while eating on this diet, the kind of carbs that you’ll be taught to eat are complex ones along with plenty of vegetables. You’ll learn about how to eat, what to eat, how to get moving, and how taking care of stress and the kind of support you get from others can help you change your lifestyle.

To be successful on this diet, you would need to know which food choices are the best ones between the groups. You would also want to exercise. Watch your mindset and don’t trick yourself into thinking that if you don’t follow the diet strictly one day it means you blew it.

Just recommit for the following day. Practice mindful eating. You’ll want to buy one of the Ornish books to help you learn the diet and you may also want to consider buying a food journal.

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SlimFast Diet

The SlimFast diet isn’t just about the shakes anymore. It used to be that you’d simply replace a meal or two with a shake and you’d lose weight as long as you added one meal on your own.

That plan has been revamped and now on the new SlimFast diet, you still stick to the original meal replacement twice a day, but you also add more food items than you previously got in the past.

The diet is founded on limiting calories and eating normal portion sizes and if you follow it correctly, you will experience steady weight loss. This diet is good for losing weight, but it’s also helpful for people who have diabetes, those with high blood pressure or high cholesterol numbers and for people who are at risk for developing heart disease.

The way that the diet works is easy to follow as long as you make sure you keep the replacement food items on hand. You’ll get fewer calories than you normally would, but you will get more choice and the diet isn’t as rigid as some plans are.

You’ll be using some of the SlimFast food times. In addition to drinking the shakes and eating the meal bars and snacks, you’ll be making one meal on your own, like with the original plan, but you’ll have to limit that meal to 500 calories.

What this means is that you’ll have the option of eating whatever you like as long as it’s not over 500 calories. Many dieters like having the choice of eating foods that they love while still losing weight.

The diet is structured so that for two meals you have to eat two SlimFast products instead of a meal. Then you’ll also be allowed to have three snacks in the SlimFast line that are 100 calories each. You’ll spread these throughout the day.

This diet also has food items that are under the SlimFast Advanced Nutrition which are higher in protein than what the first line of shakes contain, but these don’t contain the same amount of sugar that you’ll find in competing shakes.

So they end up being good for those who need more protein. The diet is limited to a 1,200 calorie count and is geared toward people who want to lose a smaller amount of weight in just a couple of months.

It can also be used to maintain weight loss. The success with this program depends on you making sure that you use the SlimFast products and that you keep your own meals healthy.

The tools that you’ll need for this diet other than the SlimFast items are ways such as a grill, to prepare vegetables, meats and fruits in ways that are as healthy and low calorie as possible so that you don’t go over your 500 calorie per meal limit when making your own dishes.

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The Flexitarian Diet

The flexitarian diet is one that’s all about options. It’s a mix in the way that you eat by combining a vegetarian eating plan with the flexibility of eating meat if you want to add that to your meals.

It’s a way of choosing to eat as healthy as a vegetarian does, but being able to give in to meat cravings or schedule meat meals whenever you want. This way of eating offers a lot of health benefits.

Choosing this diet means you’ll be eating meals that are good for your heart. Studies have shown that people who eat a flexitarian diet have less of a risk of developing cardiovascular diseases.

They also lower their risk of having a stroke as well as lower their risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The diet works in a way that’s easy to fit into any lifestyle. You have to remember one important feature about the diet - and that’s to choose plant based foods as much as possible, preferably over meat dishes.

When someone hears diet, they automatically assume that means they’re going to lose a food group or two, but that’s only something that happens in fad diets. In healthy diets like this one, you actually add items to your eating list.

You’ll eat things like tofu - which can take the place of meat and give you protein. You’ll also eat things like nuts, beans, lentils, eggs, and peas. The diet focuses on vegetables, fruits, and whole grains.

You are allowed to have diary. The eating plan is broken down by meals with recipes for each meal - including snacks. You can choose to stick strictly to the plan or you can mix different recipes.

The diet is based on a count of 3, 4, and 5 when figuring your meal calories. At breakfast, you’ll limit the calories you consume to about 300. At lunch it should be 400 and dinner should be 500.

This diet also includes two snacks a day using the calories in the diet plan. You’ll get a total of 1,500 calories and can divide those up between the meals and the snacks. You will have to keep in mind that if you’re someone who is more active or someone who exercises heavily, you’ll need to add more calories than someone who is on the diet plan but is not active.

The changes in your eating style are minimal with this diet. You’re mainly switching out meat based products for plant based ones such as having vegetable dishes where the protein in the plant takes the place of the protein that you’d normally get in the meat.

You’ll need to know flexitarian recipes and what tools you’ll need to have on hand in your kitchen to ensure your success with this diet. So for that reason, you may want to purchase flexitarian cookbooks or get an online recipe subscription. By planning ahead with things like shopping lists and recipes, you can easily create meals that are quick, nutritious and helpful - especially for those who don’t like rigid diet plans.

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TLC Diet

The TLC diet is the acronym for Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes and it consists of three basic steps to taking control of your health. These steps are done at the same time. It’s a focus on what you eat, getting in regular exercise and taking control of your weight.

The diet focuses on healthy eating and steady, long term weight loss - so it’s not a quick fix if you want to shed some pounds. The purpose of this diet is to guide you toward behavioral changes so that you have better health for life.

The program is good for people who have high cholesterol and need to get their cholesterol numbers down so that they lower their odds of developing heart disease. How it works is by limiting the amount of fat that you eat in your daily diet, especially saturated fat which is known to cause heart health issues.

You’ll find saturated fats in things like fast foods, certain fried foods, red meat and more.

When you eat foods that are high in saturated fats, it causes your cholesterol numbers to go up and that elevates your chances of having heart problems.

By following the diet and cutting back on saturated fats, you’ll end up dropping your bad cholesterol within a little over a month’s time. If you’re someone who’s already within  your weight range, then what you need to focus on are the foods that you’re eating that are impacting your numbers.

If you’re a man who doesn’t need to shed pounds, then you should have about 2,500 calories a day. However, you’ll have to factor in things like your level of activity, your age and height and your health status.

For women, you’ll need to eat around 1,800 to 2,000 calories over the course of a day depending on the same factors. If you would also like to drop some fat while you’re bringing down those cholesterol numbers, then you need to around 1,500 calories throughout the day if you’re a woman and 2000 if you’re a man.

Once you determine your calorie amount, you’ll work on lowering your saturated fat intake. You’ll need to limit things like butter and meat that’s higher in fat. Your overall goal should be to lower your cholesterol level by about ten percent by cutting back on or cutting out as much saturated fat as possible.

The main focus of your diet should consist of whole grains, lean meats, skinless poultry, fruits and vegetables, nonfat dairy and fish. The diet has a focus on eating fats that are good for you as well as increasing your fiber.

To succeed with this plan, you need to switch the food items that you normally eat that are high in saturated fats with ones that are good for your cholesterol numbers. Another factor that can determine success is to keep up with the amount of fat you’re eating.

You want to keep that number to less than seven percent. You’ll also need to become a label reader if you’re not already. Some tools that you can get to help you with this diet include items like recipes, a diet guidebook, and knowledge of what to eat that’s low in saturated fat if you do dine out at restaurants.