Tag Archives: diet

Benefits Of The Atkins Diet

Posted on by
Reply

The Atkins diet is the focus of the following comments from the American Heart Association:

“The Atkins diet puts forward the controversial belief that low fat is not the only way to proceed for a healthier lifestyle and weight control. Dr. Atkins blames carbohydrates (grains, pastas, fruits, potatoes) for weight gain. He believes that if you reduce your carbohydrate intake, you will then lose weight. Too many carbohydrates in your daily diet encourages your body to retain fat.”

When the body absorbs simple carbohydrates quickly, it causes a response of insulin which speeds the conversion of calories into fat. The Atkins plan focuses on the consumption of nutrient-dense, unprocessed foods and vita-nutrient supplementation. The plan also restricts processed and refined carbohydrates (which make up to approximately 50 per cent of people’s diets). It also encourages you to eliminate sugar from your diet as it contributes to a slower metabolism.

The Atkins diet is designed as a program on which you can keep a healthy weight for a lifetime and is highly suitable (but not restricted) to those who prefer to eat animal protein. The diet offers people who have failed on low-fat diets a healthy, effective and safe alternative. Instead of carbohydrates and sugar, dieters are allowed plenty of fat and protein.

Four phases are included on the Atkins diet, they are; 1) Induction, 2) Ongoing Weight Loss, 3) Pre-Maintenance and 4) Lifetime Maintenance.

During Phase 1 (Induction), you are supposed to restrict carbohydrate consumption to 20 grams each day, obtaining your carbohydrate primarily from salad and other non-starchy vegetables.

In Phase 2 (Ongoing Weight Loss), you then increase carbohydrate in the form of nutrient-dense and fibre-rich foods by 20 grams daily in the first week and then 30 grams daily in the next week until you gradually begin to lose weight. Then you subtract 5 grams of carbohydrate from your daily intake so that you continue on your goal of sustained weight loss.

In Phase 3, known as ‘Pre-Maintenance’, you make the transition from weight loss to weight maintenance through increasing the daily carbohydrate intake in 10 gram increments every week.

In the last phase of the Atkins plan (Lifetime Maintenance), you can select from a wide variety of food whilst controlling carbohydrate intake to ensure positive weight maintenance.

Mixed views exist on the Atkins diet, especially amongst health experts and dieticians. Many experts tend to be critical of low-carb diets but have not totally discounted the Atkins diet as an effective method of losing weight. Although they do assert that it’s too early to adopt a low-carb diet, health experts do accept that it’s worth trying. The main criticism of the Atkins diet is that it entails frequent meat consumption.

However, followers argue that the program can indeed be tailored to different preferences and metabolisms. After the first phase (known as the ‘Induction phase’) the Atkins diet plan may be modified. Despite the immense popularity of the diet, the Atkins diet plan continues to leave many people sceptical. Another criticism of the diet is that a person will be unlikely to keep the weight off over the long term. However, this claim can just as easily be applied to many low-fat or low-calorie weight loss plans, on which dieters are likely to feel hungrier.

 

John Rifkind is a contributing editor at FitnessHealthArticles.com. This article may be reproduced provided that its complete content, links and author byline are kept intact and unchanged. No additional links permitted. Hyperlinks and/or URLs must remain both human clickable and search engine spiderable.

Some Weight Watchers Recipes

Posted on by
Reply

Weight Watchers weight loss recipes, using real and everyday foods that you can find anywhere, are popular because they taste good! These offerings come from About.com:

Chicken Rice Casserole with Mozzarella

Ingredients

Two teaspoons olive oil.
Half cup chopped onion.
One clove minced garlic.
One and a half medium red bell peppers, diced.
One cup frozen corn, thawed.
One cup low-salt chicken broth.
One and a half teaspoons dried thyme.
One quarter of a teaspoon freshly ground black pepper.
Two cups cooked brown or white rice.
One quarter of a cup plus 2 tablespoons non-fat sour cream.
Two tablespoons Dijon mustard.
Eight ounces skinless, diced cooked chicken or smoked turkey.
Three ounces part skim milk mozzarella cheese, shredded.
One quarter of a cup chopped parsley.

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 1-1/2 quart casserole with nonstick cooking spray. In a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, warm the oil until hot but not until smoking. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring, until the onion begins to brown, for 3 to 5 minutes.

Add the bell peppers, corn one quarter of a cup of the broth, the thyme and black pepper, and continue cooking until the bell pepper begins to soften, for 3 to 5 minutes.
Stir in the remaining three quarters of a cup of broth, the rice, sour cream, and mustard. Add the chicken, remove from the heat, and stir until the ingredients are well combined. Stir in one-third of the mozzarella and then the parsley.

Blend the mixture to the prepared casserole. Spread the mixture evenly. Sprinkle with the remaining mozzarella and bake for twenty to twenty five minutes, or until the casserole is heated through and the cheese has melted.

Microwave Shortcuts:

In a two quart microwave safe casserole, mix the oil, onion, garlic and bell peppers. Cover and cook at high for four minutes, or until the peppers and onion begin to soften. Stir in the corn, half a cup of the broth, the thyme, black pepper, rice, sour cream, mustard, and chicken. Stir in one-third of the mozzarella and the parsley. Re-cover and cook at high for seven minutes, stirring once. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and cook at high for three minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the casserole is heated through.

Yields: 4 servings

Serving Suggestion: Slice tomatoes and sprinkle them freely with fresh basil. For dessert, serve crisp almond biscotti with freshly brewed coffee.
Each serving provides: 1/2 fat, 3 proteins, 1/2 vegetable (adjusted to new program), 1-1/2 breads, 20 optional calories.

Nutrition Information:

Values are approximate per serving: 378 calories, 28 g protein, 12 g fat, 39 g carbohydrate, 63 mg cholesterol, 557 mg sodium.

Credits – Recipe from: Ralph’s Market

John Rifkind is a contributing editor at FitnessHealthArticles.com. This article may be reproduced provided that its complete content, links and author byline are kept intact and unchanged. No additional links permitted. Hyperlinks and/or URLs must remain both human clickable and search engine spiderable.

Nutrition For Diabetics

Posted on by
Reply

Finding the right nutritional approach for those living with diabetes can be very challenging, especially with the knowledge that people who are diabetic will often have different reactions to particular types of food than other diabetics.

For the uninitiated, when someone is diabetic, they’re unable to produce or correctly use insulin in their body, which is the hormone that is responsible for transforming sugar, starches and other food into energy. That is why it’s literally a matter of life and death that a diabetic diet is properly followed.

One of the main goals for a diabetic diet is to lower your weight and keep it up. Additionally, the diet is designed to help maintain regular glucose levels in your body. Since diabetes prevents your body from processing glucose the way it should do, a diabetic diet has to, to some extent, perform that maintenance. Moreover, the hope is that a diabetic diet will also help you to keep your blood pressure under control.

The benefits and assistance to your body from the diabetic diet will depend on what type of diabetes you’re trying to treat. Each type has its own challenges and level of restrictions. The important thing to remember, though, is that studies show the effectiveness of a diabetic diet is dependent not so much on the diet itself, but on how well the patient will follow the diet.

Overall, there’s no official diabetic diet to follow and it really depends on the individual. However, there’s a fairly well-defined list of food items that you should avoid. Anything that contains lots of cheese, butter, oil or mayonnaise should be avoided when on diabetic diets. If you must taste these foods during your meal, you should order them to arrive as a side dish.

Other foods that can stray from diabetic diets include those that are prepared with sweet and sour sauce, as well as teriyaki and barbeque sauce. They contain high amounts of sugar and carbohydrates that must be avoided whilst on a diabetic diet.

A few guidelines on how a diabetic can stay healthy for many years to come:

• Count the number of calories from fat as being thirty percent less than the total number of calories eaten throughout one day.

• Include foods which are low in saturated fats and cholesterol, such as skinless poultry, fresh fruit, and vegetables.

• If possible, stay away from red meats, eggs, as well as whole-milk dairy products.

• Make sure that the dairy products in your life comes from low-fat or fat-free selections.

Ten to twenty percent of your daily calories on a diabetic diet should come from proteins in foods, such as lean meat, fish, and low-fat dairy products. The rest of your diabetic diet should consist of carbohydrates coming from whole grains, beans, as well as fresh vegetables and fruit.

 

John Rifkind is a contributing editor at FitnessHealthArticles.com. This article may be reproduced provided that its complete content, links and author byline are kept intact and unchanged. No additional links permitted. Hyperlinks and/or URLs must remain both human clickable and search engine spiderable.