WHAT DIET PLANS WORK TO LOSE
WEIGHT FAST
When you’re as passionate about nutrition and diet plans that work to lose weight as I am, you just never stop reading and researching. I can’t possibly already know it all right? (even if sometimes I like to think so.)
One of my favorite weekly activities is visiting the local book store and perusing the aisles of the diet and exercise section.
If you ever want to confuse yourself on purpose this would be a great place to start.
One book tells you that a diet of all vegetables is the only ticket to health…umm, boring, no thanks.
Another one tells you to eat lard and cheese and lots of it…umm, my stomach hurts just thinking about it.
And yet another tells you to only eat only on the odd numbered days of the week and skip every other Sunday…ok, I made that one up.
Here’s my point. There are a lot of very wonderful, very informative and very useful nutrition and diet menu to lose weight fast and available to you today, the problem is in sifting through the really horrible stuff to finally get to the really great stuff.
I truly believe there is no “one size fits all”, or in this case, one nutrition plan for weight loss, program for everybody. Some of us will succeed using certain programs while for others, it’s just not the best way for them.
I have no problem telling people that The Diet Solution Program is just one way to approach a healthy way of living. It’s what has worked for me and thousands of other people. But that surely does not eliminate the fact that many thousands of other people have had success with several other programs. We just always have to keep an open mind and arm ourselves with the facts.
Here are my thoughts on just a couple of the good, bad and the ugly nutrition programs that are popular on the market today:
Vegetarian Diet
Going “meatless” has been very popular for some time now. Some follow this way of life for religious and spiritual reasons but many others choose to go meat free because the current state of our cattle, poultry and even fish farming practices have become quite scary and dangerous.
I couldn’t agree more. The way conventional farmers are raising cows is saddening. Injecting them with antibiotics and hormones just to get the most out of them is making them sick and then in turn making us sick. That is why I highly recommend always seeking out naturally raised, antibiotic and hormone free meats and poultry (preferably organic).
But back to the vegetarian diet. I don’t disagree with their diet of choice, but I do disagree many times with the foods they choose for their meal plans to lose weight. Many vegetarians become extremely dependent on soy products and processed and packaged vegetarian foods that are filled with chemicals and preservatives. If you’ve read Chapter 9 in your Diet Solution Manual, you know how dangerous this type of soy can be on your health and an overabundance of it in any diet can cause weight gain, fatigue and even serious thyroid problems.
If vegetarian diet is your choice, choose beans and lentils, cottage cheese, yogurt and eggs (if you eat them) as your protein choices. You can still follow the Diet Solution mentality of “keeping it au natural” without having to include any meat and animal products or any of these processed soy products.
The Raw Food Diet to Lose Weight
Eating raw foods is one of the latest crazes. There are even specialty restaurants in states like California and New York that serve complete raw meals for those who are “raw foodies” (A bloody steak over salad greens?) Hmmm…interesting.
I do completely agree with the raw food mentality in many respects. Once you cook a food you do change and sometimes, even de-nature its natural sources of enzymes and nutrients. For example, many vegetables are much more nutritious when eaten raw (most of them actually), but that would greatly limit the variety of foods and recipes we could put together each day in our diet plan to lose weight fast.
How about raw meat? Believe it or not there are many who will dive into a raw, juicy piece of meat without even flinching. This can be a bit of a dangerous practice if you are not sure exactly where your meat came from and how it was raised. My theory here still stands that if you are going to consume animal products, they must be as natural as possible (whether you decide to cook them or not).
How about the veggies? The best approach here, if you are not ready to join your local raw food club is to make sure you have a minimum of one raw component in every single one of your meal plans. For example, include a fruit with breakfast, add carrot sticks or sliced raw peppers to your snacks, slice some tomatoes and cucumbers and include in your lunch and dinner. Doing that alone will greatly increase the enzyme and nutrient value to your daily intake and will help your body’s digestive process.
Take a good look at the food you are eating all day and strive for a minimum of 3-4 raw food items daily. I have seen this one simple step really help many people who were previously having trouble with their digestion and elimination.
These first 2 are just the tip of the iceberg. I could go on and on about the array of nutrition plan for weight loss we all have to choose from. And I will next week. Leave me a comment on my blog and let me know which programs you would like to hear about. I warn you, the answers to some of them may not all be positive, but you want the truth right?
Have a wonderful and healthy weekend!
