By:Flor Serquina

The Michael Thurmond diet was formulated by a health guru of the same name. He has claimed that there are at least 500,000 individuals who have already successfully lost weight from the diet program that he created.

Theory of the Michael Thurmond Diet

Eat more yet healthy, workout less. This is the main concept of the Michael Thurmond diet. Ideal weight, lean and toned muscles and healthy body is the promise of this diet program. This can be achieved by a simple formula: nutritious foods and an exercise program.

Before a person is given a diet plan or program, his body type, current diet and physical activities are determined. It will be difficult to craft a Michael Thurmond diet program for you if proper information weren't provided.

Michael Thurmond Diet's 6-Week Make Over Program

The Michael Thurmond Diet is also known as the 6-Week Make Over Program. It is claimed that you can lose weight in as short a span as 6 weeks.

There are several advantages and disadvantages that you might consider when you plan to try this weight-loss program.

Advantages:

This is not the type of diet where you will depend on supplements or medicines to burn fats or suppress hunger. The Michael Thurmond Diet specializes in food intake and exercises. It is purely on these two that this diet revolves.

Eat More and Exercise Less

Once you have already identified your body type structure, you can now concentrate on selecting the food list to go with your diet program. You can eat more of what is required from you because you are now aware of how it will work for your body. With the proper diet, you can go on a not-so-rigorous exercise program.

Your food list under the diet consists mainly of fresh and nutritious foods like fruits, vegetables, whole meal grains and lean meat. You are also advised to stay away from nuts, processed foods, pasta and bread. You are not also allowed to take salty foods, dairy products and alcoholic drinks.

Aside from the diet, you should work on your exercise regimen. You should at least work out from 45 to 60 minutes everyday.

The Program is Short

The first six week period of the program is the most crucial part. During this period, you would know your body type, identify the diet for you and list food that you can burn down easily. It is within the six-week period also that you will know the best exercise for you.

Disadvantages:

Michael Thurmond Diet is Expensive

To be able to start the program you are required to buy the book where you will base your routine. The book together with the starter kit costs $170. It consists of several items like the start-up video, "blueprinting" kit, training videos and exercise bands. It also includes the Living Lean tape, menu planner and the 6 Days Mini Makeover.

It is Time Consuming

The first six-week period involves a lot of planning. Within these days, you will have to identify your body structure type, try out different types of menu, conceptualize and design your own menu program and craft your exercise routines. This is very time consuming for some people. For dieters who would want to see a result immediately, they lose heart after learning of the pains that they have to go through to achieve a result.

Diet Excludes Dairy Products

Calcium is the mineral that keeps bones strong. If you lose this in your diet, you might suffer from osteoporosis later on. With a Michael Thurmond diet, you will get your calcium needs from other sources, and it might not be to your liking. If it were such the case, you are in a lot of trouble since this diet program disallows use of supplements.

Do You Have the Will?

The Michael Thurmond diet is program is not for the faint of heart. It requires dedication and commitment. If you have these qualities and you think you are up to the challenge of getting into this diet program, this is for you. On the other hand, if you think you don't have the discipline to fulfill all the requirements of the program, you're probably better off looking elsewhere.

About the Author:
Visit The-Good-Diet.com to learn more about the Michael Thurmond diet and other diet food programs.

If you ask ten people their opinion of the most effective way to burn fat, you could very well receive ten different answers. If you think of all the different exercises that could possibly burn fat, you come up with: running, walking, dancing, swimming and even sex! The best routine to burn the most fat in the quickest period of time is weightlifting.

Perhaps you think of weightlifting and immediately an image of Arnold Schwarzenegger comes to mind, or some other big and bulky figure with no neck. The fact of the matter is if you are serious about burning fat, you must include wightlifting in your daily exercise routine.

If you diet without weightlifting you stand a greater chance of losing muscle. There are many reasons why you do not want to lose muscle, but one that coincides with this article is that muscle loss decreases your resting metabolic rate, subsequently your body will burn fewer calories.

You may not want to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger but being a weightlifter will turn you into a fat burning machine. You don't have to look like Arnold to burn fat and feel great. Lifting weights does not mean you will look like a body builder. Trust me, there is much more going into those bodies than you will ever know, no need to worry about at this point.

How long should you lift weights? The answer is simple. All of your life. It takes 21 days to create a habit. Lift weights for three straight weeks and watch the fat begin to burn off your body like snow off a hot windshield.

You should lift wieghts for at least 45 minutes to an hour. Do not train more than two straight days. Be sure to change the amount of weight you are lifting as well as the number of repetitions. As the old adgae states, don't place your eggs in one basket. Weightlifting is not the only exercise to burn fat.

You must combine your wightlifting with proper diet, cardio and sleep. Stay away from the fat burn pills and other lotions & potions. A good diet combines with exercise and weightlifting will burn more fat than you ever imagined.

Illegal Fat Burning Ebook Will Change Your Life.

We have all heard to cut alcohol out of your diet when you are attempting to lose weight. Alcohol is empty calories if you look at from the calorie perspective. There are good qualities to alcohol assuming that the consumption is moderate and not associated with any addiction. Different alcohols or spirits can be a part of a good weight loss or healthy diet. The best may be the Bacardi and Diet Coke.

First we have to look at alcohol being consumed in moderation. The liver can remove 2 glasses of beer or wine, and one mixed drink per day. Sorry, you are unable to save them up to have 10 on the weekend. On the LIVE Nutrition Plan one light beer, glass of wine, or distilled spirit is one fat exchange. The average person will have 3-4 fat exchanges throughout the day. Remember what we said about your liver, using all of your fat for alcohol would not be a good idea for the health of your liver.

Alcohol has many stress relieving properties. Alcohol is a depressant which means that it will support your ability to relax. Drinking alcohol in moderation, less than two a day, has been demonstrated to lower stress so that you live longer than people who drink no alcohol. Just remember two or less.

Light Beer on a Diet

Light beer seems to be the obvious choice when on a diet. The average lite beer is less than 100 calories with some of the new ultra beers having even less. If you can keep your consumption of these beers to two or under a day this is a good choice. The problem with lite beer is the quantity that most people can drink. Many people can consume multiple light beers with ease. Though each beer has few calories they start to add up having if you have 4-6 on a night.

Microbrews on a Diet

Wow, I get to drink dark beer on a diet? Aren't dark beers more calories? The answer is yes dark beers are more calories; the good thing is it is easier to drink just one. The average person who could drinks 5 light beers will probably only be able to drink one dark beer, and the total calories. You total calories from one dark beer will be less than the 5 light beer calorie total.

Diet Wine

Wine in moderation has been known to lower the risk of heart disease. It doesn't seem to be wine specifically, but the stress relieving properties of alcohol, as long as they are consumed in moderation. Wine works the same as light beer, less than 100 calories per glass and one fat exchange on the LIVE diet plan.

Bacardi and Diet Coke

One Bacardi and Diet Coke has 66 calories. Two of these mixed drinks are only a few more calories than one beer. Two Bacardi and diet Cokes are a lot less caloric than many beers on the market. This isn't Bacardi specific, most distilled spirits and diet soda are going to be around the same number of calories. Remember that even though they have less calories, your liver doesn't care when it comes to the amount of alcohol. Moderation of 2 or less is still best. Bacardi and Diet Coke is simply the most popular, which I found out while in Puerto Rico touring the Bacardi Distillery.

Hair loss has been observed and studied for ages, and some interesting discoveries were made in ancient times. It was noticed that eunuchs:

* those males without genitals-never went bald.
* men who were castrated as a result of accidents in battle also never went bald.

This was the first sign that testosterone had something to do with hair loss. It has also been found that the more recessive the hair gene, the chances you have of becoming bald.

Androgens Testosterone and Adrenaline.

What exactly are androgens' Androgens are sex hormones mainly produced by males. The main male androgen is testosterone. Androgens are produced by your adrenal glands - testosterone and adrenaline - which protect your body in stressful situations and give you the power to respond to dangerous situations.

When you are under constant stress, you have adrenals that are overactive. Under this stress, you are are producing both testosterone and adrenaline. The excess testosterone, you create can be a cause in your hair loss. Also if you constantly over eat fatty foods and red meat, this will cause an overactive adrenal gland.

Hair Loss and Prostate Gland.

There is a definite connection between Male Pattern Baldness (MPB) and the prostate gland. The prostate gland is actually a cluster of small glands in males surrounding the urethra, located just below the bladder. There is not a lot known about all the functions of the prostate, except that it serves to squeeze seminal fluid into and through the urethra during ejaculation.

Prostate problems can cause serious problems with urination if it becomes enlarged, and sometimes the prostate becomes cancerous. Non-cancerous enlargement of the prostate is called benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).

DHT is responsible for the division of cells in the prostate, and is normally expelled by the prostate. However, when the prostate fails to expel the DHT, it builds up and causes enlargement. It has been confirmed that typical North American and northern European diets lend to the perpetuation of BPH and prostate cancer, whereas these are uncommon phenomena in other lands and was even uncommon here in the past.

This is significant since the overproduction of DHT is responsible for BPH and prostate cancer, and is also responsible for MPB or androgenetic alopecia.

The findings in research for BPH cures have usually simultaneously produced benefits in hair growth.

So to minimize the genetic tendency for hair loss be aware of excess stress in your life and work on reducing it. Learn what kind of diet is necessary to keep your prostate healthy.

Two additional facts about hair loss are.

* If you are blond-haired, you have a greater tendency toward hair loss than darker-haired people. But if you are Caucasian, then you have a greater tendency toward hair loss than non-Caucasian people.

* Beyond the genetic tendency of certain people for hair loss, diet seems to play a factor in hair loss. This is good to know, since this is one additional you can make changes to you to your lifestyle.

Author: Empowered Doctor

A diet high in sugar and starch may make the eyes more vulnerable to age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the most common cause of vision loss in the US.

A new study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition tracked dietary information from over 4,000 participants aged 55-80 or 8,0000 eyes which, as some participants developed AMD in one eye and not the other, is how they were tracked. The participants completed dietary surveys and had their eyes checked for AMD. The surveys listed over 90 foods, and asked how often they were eaten. The researchers were particularly interested in foods that had a high glycimic index, like sugar and white flour.

The researchers found 600 eyes which did have advanced AMD. Those participants who had a diet high on the glycimic index were most likely to have at least one eye with AMD. This held to be true even when the researchers factored in age, gender, and other risk factors.

The study doesn't show diet to be a sole cause of AMD, and it doesn't track participants over time, so it's unknown what changes in diet would produce. However it adds further encouragement to have a diet high in fiber and whole gains, and lower in sugars and bleached flour.

Source: http://www.articlesbase.com

Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com

About the Author:
Max Hill, a practitioner for 20 years, writer on colon cleansing (get 6 free health reports here), has helped develop quality herbal products for colon cleansing.

by: Darrell Miller

It is important to take your vitamins regularly because the beneficial effect of vitamins on your body builds up over a period time, and is not a short-term ‘fix’. However, prior to examining the benefits of regular vitamin intake, let’s have a look at why they are an essential part of our nutritional requirements.

Many people know that vitamins are necessary without understanding what they really are. Vitamins are organic compounds that are essential for regulating the way that the body works. Some of the functions that could not take place effectively without them are reproduction, cell division, digestion, blood clotting, energy production, etc, etc.

The chemical processes of life cannot take place without the presence of vitamins to help them. Some of these are very complex organic chemicals, which is why they are given letters rather than names. Vitamins cannot be produced within the body, and have to be taken in through eating foods in which they occur naturally, or through supplementation.

If you do not maintain a properly balanced diet, then you will not take in the full range of vitamins required by a healthy body. There are at least 13 known vitamins, and every one is essential for a healthy life and to produce the energy needed by some sections of society. The physically challenged, for example, required more energy than normal in order to move around in a wheelchair or to use crutches.

The elderly, whose diets can sometimes be relatively poor, require a balanced vitamin intake to be able to withstand the rigors of advancing years, and everybody needs vitamins simply to remain alive and enjoy a longer life. Without them our life processes slow down, and our bodies are subject to a range of illnesses and conditions. Although vitamins do not provide energy, they allow the body to process foods and create energy.

Pregnant women need a balanced vitamin intake for a healthy fetus and all women of child-bearing age should have a good intake of folic acid . People who drink a lot, especially alcohol, should also take a supplement since they will tend to wash out the water soluble vitamins. Most people fail to maintain a diet that is balanced in respect of its vitamin intake which is why supplementation is so important.

However, it is not good enough just to take vitamin supplements now and again: that does not have the required effect of maintaining a constant satisfactory level within the body. A REGULAR vitamin intake is necessary for the full benefit of supplements to be obtained. Vitamins are not like medicines, to be taken only when you are ill. They must be taken constantly, either in natural food or as supplements.

Modern food processing techniques, including over-cooking, can destroy or deplete some of the natural vitamin content of many foodstuffs. Vitamin C, for example, is leached out of vegetables by boiling water and destroyed by the heat of cooking. Regular supplementing of your diet with vitamins is becoming increasingly necessary to ensure that your intake of these essential substances is constantly maintained at a satisfactory level.

If you need to know more about vitamins and what supplements are available, then you should carry out some online research. Websites such as vitanetonline can give you more information and make some suggestions as to how to begin taking supplements. Generally, however, a good way to start ensuring that you are maintaining the correct vitamin level is to begin with a multivitamin supplement.

This will keep your vitamin intake at a good level while you have time to study your diet, and then decide what specific supplementation is necessary. For example, if you eat a lot of fruit and vegetables but no dairy products, you might need no more than a Vitamin B12 supplement that is available naturally only from meats, fish and dairy products. Some vitamins are water soluble, and not stored by the body. They have to be ingested every day, so if the correct foods are not eaten daily then supplements will be necessary.

The water soluble vitamins are Vitamin C and the B complex vitamins. However, while a regular intake of these is required, that might not be true of the fat soluble vitamins that are stored in the body and used when required. While a sufficient supply of these is recommended, an excess is not. That is why carefully formulated multivitamin supplements are preferred to individual vitamins if you are unsure about what you need or have not been recommended a specific supplement by a physician or dietician.

Because vitamins are ‘used’ by the body, they have to be replaced on a regular basis. In olden days, sailors were given limes to provide the vitamin C that prevented scurvy. This was effective, but once they ran out of limes the scurvy returned. This is true of vitamins today. You must take them regularly in order to replace them as they are used and depleted.

Properly formulated multivitamin supplements take the average life of vitamins in the body into consideration. They allow for the fact that the water soluble vitamins are washed out of the body but that fat soluble ones are stored until required. Their benefit is that you do not have to worry about taking individual supplements at varying periods of time, but simply take the recommended dose at the recommended times.

If you fail to take your supplements regularly, the chemical processes within your body will slow down. You might start to feel ill effects, or you might not be aware of the fact that your metabolism is slowing since the condition could affect your brain cells. Vitamin deficiencies take many forms and are not always noticeable. Long term deficiencies sometimes only become apparent as one ages.

However, in the 21st century it is unlikely that anybody eating a reasonable diet would suffer significantly, though nutritional experts maintain that all adults can benefit from a regular top-up of vitamin supplements. Especially those who live on a diet of burgers and chili dogs! For you it is particularly important to take your vitamins regularly!

About the Author:

Vitamins are essential to life, and more information on them can be found on the website http://vitanetonline.com where advice is available on a wide range of supplements.

by: Rika Susan

You are staring at your umpteenth bland plate of salad or bowl of cabbage soup, while hubby and the kids tuck greedily into steaming, mouth-watering dinners. Does this sound familiar? How about the frustration of seeing the pounds you have just lost, reappearing overnight accompanied by a bunch of unwelcome friends? What if you could discover how to lose 100 pounds in one year and keep it off forever, without once taking a peek at a diet book or popping a weight loss pill? These 9 tips are all you need for a running start.

1. Learning The Right Moves

Every extra bit of activity helps you to lose weight and revs up your metabolism. Get going now! You don't necessarily need an expensive gym membership, an elliptical cross trainer or a stair climber. Why not try a dancing, yoga or pilates class? Or what about a swimming session, a brisk walk or a fun bicycle ride? Any activity is acceptable. Just choose something you will enjoy doing, otherwise you will soon be coming up with excuses to skip it. Exercise for half an hour daily, five times a week and you will be burning roughly 98,800 calories extra every year (around 380 calories per day). The calories burned will vary according to your body weight, the workout you opt for, and the level of intensity. This vital step will make up to 28 pounds disappear over a period of a year.

2. Stop Sneaking Sugar

Are you dumping teaspoon after teaspoon of sugar into your beverages without thinking? By reducing your sugar intake by one teaspoon in three cups of tea or coffee per day, you will save 75 calories daily. This adds up to 27,375 calories every year, or around 8 pounds of body weight. Your taste buds will soon adjust. In fact, within a week or two, you will begin to detest overly sweet tea and coffee.

3. Hop From Whole Milk To Skim Milk

While on the subject of tea and coffee: Did you know that whole milk has a fat content of 4%, whereas skim milk comes with less than 0.5% fat? This reduces one cup of skim milk's calorie count to 86, compared to whole milk's 149 calories. Switching to a cup of skim milk a day will reduce your calorie intake with 60 per day. In one year, this is a further 22,000 unnecessary calories. This translates into 6 pounds weight-wise.

4. Feast On Fat-Free Tubs Rather Than Full-Fat Yogurt

Why not exchange the 6 ounces of full-fat yogurt for 6 ounces of the fat-free variation? This will take away another 100 calories every single day, without a noticeable change in taste. Taken over a year, the count is a whopping 36,500 calories. There goes yet another 10 pounds of flab.

5. Minimize The Mayonnaise

You don't have to cut this delicacy out completely. Just be somewhat less generous with it. If you can reduce your daily intake by 1 tablespoon, you will bank another 90 calories a day, or an astonishing 32,800 calories per year. Who's game for dropping another 9 pounds of body weight? All this while you still indulge in your regular, healthy recipes.

6. Turn Wine Into Water

Say no to 4 fluid ounces or roughly 120 milliliters of wine a day, and you will reduce your diet and nutrition plan's calories by 100 a day. Tot these up and you reach 36,500 calories per year. That is another fairly easy to maintain 10 pounds in one year. Learn to sip water instead.

7. Say No To Sugar-Laden Soda

While on the subject of beverages, you may want to take a look at those cans of sweetened soda guzzled down without a thought. A single 12 ounce (355ml) serving daily comes at a yearly calorie cost of 65,700! Breaking this habit will take care of 18 pounds of flab and fat. In fact, these numbers are likely to be even better, as many servings these days are more in the 20 ounce or 42 ounce region. Measure out 250 cups of sugar, and you will see what you or your kids gulp down in a year. Is that a scary thought, or what?

In addition to the weight you will lose, your digestive system is likely to function more efficiently. You will also have a less acidic body, making your insides less of a breeding ground for ailments. Your wellbeing will improve drastically once your body's PH gets into a more normal range. You will also support your dentist less regularly. Don't worry, you won't die of thirst. How about drinking some ordinary water, fresh veggie juice, or one of the refreshing, unsweetened iced teas on the market? You body will see this as much needed health news.

8. Have A Spread With Low-Sugar Jam

Another simple to implement change is to swop your twice-a-day two teaspoons of sweetened jam or preserves for one of the tasty low-sugar alternatives. This trims another 64 calories a day, or 23,360 calories yearly. Do you choose a jam jar body, or 7 pounds less in the flab department?

9. Opt For Popcorn Pleasure

Every time you crunch through one small bag (1 ounce or 28 grams) of potato chips, you add 150 calories, with loads of fat and no fibre. In contrast, 1 cup of air popped Sour Cream & Chives popcorn is fibre-rich and fat-free and weighs in at only 50 calories. This is another massive saving of 100 calories. If this swop happens just 3 times a week, you have taken off 15,600 calories in a year, or 4,5 pounds.

None of these changes are huge, but the results can be life-changing. Best of all, they can be sustained without hardship. By taking a look at what you eat, you should be able to dream up at least another 10 tips to cut calories. By doing so, you will be creating your own easy-to-manage weight loss diet plan. You will also be setting a sensible example for your kids, demonstrating that the diet-treadmill isn't the one they should be trying out.

So, stop doing the diet. Just do the math. Implement a few smart, sensible choices and you will have a workable, long-term weight loss plan.

About the Author:

Best-Juicing.com: Get the FREE Fat-Burning Secrets Series, and read the Juicing For Weight Loss article also by Rika Susan.

by: Deborah Prosser

Nearly everyone is concerned about too much fat in his or her diet. We are constantly hearing about the link between fat and heart disease and other life threatening diseases such as diabetes. But how much do we really know about fats and the effects of fat on our health. Did you know that you actually need fat to metabolize fat? This is why low-fat diets do not always result in weight loss. Therefore, should we add fat when we are preparing healthy meals or leave fat out? It all depends on the type of fat and how we use it. We need our meals to be a good source of health food and vitamins. Here is the skinny on fats and what you need to know when preparing healthy dinner recipes.

There are three basic types of fat: saturated, unsaturated and trans fats. Generally, we should get about 20-30% of our daily calories from fat and only 10% of that should come from saturated fats.

Saturated fats come from animal or diary products and are the least healthy choices to include in your diet. The reason for this is they increase the levels of triglycerides in your bloodstream, which is what causes blockage in the arteries over time. The general rule to remember is the redder the meat the higher the saturated fat content will be, hence the higher the triglycerides in the bloodstream. When eating beef or pork be sure to choose the leanest cuts and remove any visible fat before cooking. It’s always best to include more chicken, with the skin removed and fish in your diet because these are lower in fat. When buying yogurt, or other dairy products choose 1% or 2% fat or those made with skim milk.

Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats come from certain nuts, fish and oils such as olive, canola and flaxseed oil. These fats are known to actually reduce triglycerides by producing good cholesterol referred to as HDL. Polyunsaturated oils are also found in beans and soy products. These are important health foods for vitamins and nutrients because they contain omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids. These oils are important for maintaining healthy blood and helping to prevent the development of plaque. The best oil products to use when serving salads is a first cold pressed virgin olive oil because it contains the freshest of nutrients. Regular olive oil (not cold pressed) can be used when cooking at heats less than 600 degree F. Other alternative choices when baking or frying are shortening or vegetable oils.

Trans fats (or hydrogenated) are the worst fats of all because they increase triglyceride levels and hence bad cholesterol (LDL). Trans fats are commonly found in commercially produced foods and vegetable oils, hydrogenated margarines and spreads. Products are now being developed and easier to find with No Trans Fats written on the packaging. Try and reduce the amount of processed foods in your diet and you’ll avoid most of this type of harmful fat.

A health food diet will always include the essential vitamins and nutrients. At your next dinner start out with a fresh salad using an olive oil based dressing. Then a serving of fish, chicken or lean red meat along with some whole grain breads or pastas and steamed vegetables. Finish up your meal with a light dairy product or low-fat ice cream or yogurt topped with fresh fruit. Remember, we need fat to metabolize fat and by choosing the good fats in olive oils, fish, chicken and nuts we can help our bodies slim down and prevent diseases all at the same time.

source:www.articlecity.com

by Judy Wellsworth

High fiber vegetables can be found almost anywhere, from supermarkets to corner stores. They are not very popular because of the amount of faddy foods on the market but fresh vegetables cannot be beaten for fiber content. They taste great and are easy to prepare, as well as generally being cheap and 100% natural!

High fiber vegetables can obviously provide fiber, but they can also provide a lot of the other nutrients that our bodies need on a daily basis to help it to function correctly. They are packed full of the vitamins and minerals that can boost our immune system and make us feel and look healthier, both inside and out. High fiber vegetables also aid the digestive systems to do its job and can be eaten raw or cooked, giving them a versatility that few other foodstuffs actually have! With high fiber vegetables, you do not have to supplements your fiber intake. Eating your five a day will ensure that you get enough fiber to help maintain your system without the hassle of extra portions or expensive food supplements.

The Types Of High Fiber Vegetables!

Most vegetables are in fact high fiber vegetables. Very few have low fiber content. However, overcooking them actually serves to break down the fiber within the vegetable and this winds up giving you less than you actually need in order for your digestive system to function correctly. Raw vegetables have the highest fiber content of all but employing cooking techniques such as blanching and brief steaming can help to seal the high fiber content in the vegetable and this can actually help you to maintain a high fiber diet.

High fiber vegetables can add a new dimension to your diet. If you want to look after your body then they are the way to go. They are easy to incorporate into a diet and taste great, so isn't it about time that you started looking at high fiber vegetables as a source of goodness?

About the Author

You can also find more info on Highest Fiber Foods and Low Fat High Fiber Diet. i-highfiberdiet.com is a comprehensive resource to know about Fiber Foods and Vegetable Diets.

by Nitin Chhoda

Diets dont work, because they are not a way of living. In fact, the word 'diet' should be replaced with 'nutrition', which is a healthy way of eating.

All diets are temporary, passing fads. A healthy nutrition plan is something you can live with day after day. It's an approach to eating which involves healthy food, and occasional cheating.

If you don't cheat once in a while, you will end up cheating all the time. Therefore, cheating is a part of a healthy diet! Let's take a close look at several features of 'diet plans' and play the devils advocate. The drawbacks of a 'strict diet' to lose weight are:

(a) Diets require that you eat a certain way, with typical restrictions. Unless a diet is well-planned, it may emphasize too much of one nutrient at the expense of another . For example, a high protein diet is, as the name suggests, high in protein and fat. By default, this means that it's hard to get a satisfactory supply of complex carbohydrates and essential vitamins and minerals with such a diet. Although some updated diet plans attempt to correct this imbalance with healthy choices, the million dollar question is:- Can you stick with that plan for the rest of your life? Research has shown that individuals who go on a strict diet tend to give up at some point. If they revert back to old (generally unhealthy) eating habits, they not only gain the weight back, but put on some more weight! This leads to a vicious 'yo-yo' affect in which he/she goes on yet another diet, and fails to lose weight. The only think one ends up losing is hope, motivation and knowledge about the right foods/habits to get on the right track.

Moral of the story - a healthy nutrition plan has no restrictions and allows you to eat a little of everything.

(b) Many diets require some degree of starvation. Starving is a surefire way to slow down your metabolism and gain weight in the long run! If you don't eat enough, your metabolism shuts down so your body gets used to eating little calories. Your body develops a tendency to store fat, instead of lose it.

Moral of the story - a healthy nutirition plan does not involve starvation and also allows you to cheat occasionally!

(c) A diet can be an ordeal to sustain for many people. It can affect your social life (you can't eat what your friends are eating), your state of mind and even your health. Any food restriction in diets (and if you find a best diet to lose weight, you can bet it involves some type of restriction) can be harmful because the body does not obtain a sufficient variety of nutrients. Also, if you give up on the diet, you not only regain the weight, but tend to 'binge' on the foods you missed and may even become worse in your eating habits!

A healthy eating plan is not hard to sustain, because it is a way of life.

The best way to find a diet that works for you is to experiment. Enjoy the foods you like in moderation. Only indulge if you really have to, and reduce the instances of 'cheating'. I have. Try and get a diet plan and use it as a benchmark for what you can, and cannot eat. Read food labels and try and shop as healthy as you can.

In summary, the best diet to lose weight is healthy, something you can live with, and from which you can deviate once in a while. Good luck!

About the Author

Did you like this article? To learn about exercise, weight loss and equipment, visit http://www.best-weight-loss-programs.net/ and http://www.guide-to-exercise-equipment.com/