TLC Diet
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.
