Weight Loser Blog

The Okinawa diet is a nutrient-rich, low calorie diet from the indiginous people of the Ryūkyū Islands. In addition, a commercially promoted weight-loss diet (which bears the same name) has also been made based on this standard diet of the Islanders.

The No Grain Diet is a book and diet plan developed by osteopathic physician Joseph Mercola. He claims that over consumption of grains and sugars is the cause of many degenerative diseases, such as diabetes and cancer as well as obesity. Recently, he is calling this diet the “Total Health Program” including a 3-stage “Nutrition Plan”.

The No-Grain Diet emphasizes organic vegetables with limited fruits, quality meats, eggs and oils such as virgin coconut oil and virgin olive oil. It discourages the eating of any grain-products, sugars, most fish, most polyunsaturated oils and processed foods.

The diet goes against the recommendations of most mainstream nutritionists and dieticians; for example, the American Dietetic Association recommends fish and polyunsaturated oils as part of a healthy diet.

Negative calorie food is used to refer to foods that require more energy to digest than they provide nutritionally. No food can literally have negative calories in the sense of not releasing energy when digested. However, some foods provide very few calories, and the body may use up more energy to digest them than it gains. The result is a net calorie deficit.

Low nutrient, high cellulose foods like celery are generally agreed to consume slightly more energy to digest than they provide nutritionally. These foods may be consumed within a weight-loss diet to potentially relieve the feeling of hunger without contributing to total caloric intake. Limiting a diet to only these foods would result in malnutrition.

Some say that many vegetables and fruits promoted as “negative calorie” contain more calories than are consumed in digestion, but they may have a low amount of calories relative to the amount of satiation they provide.

Natural foods are foods that are minimally processed. Natural foods do not include ingredients such as refined sugars, refined flours, milled grains, hydrogenated oils, sweeteners, food colors, or flavorings.

Sucanat, stevia, raw honey, agave syrup and maple syrup are sweeteners often used in place of white sugar in a natural foods diet. Sea salt is also preferred over table salt.

Proponents of natural foods diets argue that refined ingredients promote obesity, diabetes, cancer, and heart disease.

The Montignac diet is a weight-loss diet that was popular in the 1990s, mainly in Europe. It was invented by Frenchman Michel Montignac, an international executive for the pharmaceutical industry, who, like his father, suffered from excess weight during his youth. His method is aimed at people wishing to lose weight efficiently and lastingly, reduce risks of heart failure, prevent diabetes.

Carbohydrate-rich foods are classified according to glycemic index (GI), a ranking system for carbohydrates based on their effect on blood glucose levels after meals. High-GI carbohydrates are considered “bad” (with the exception of those foodstuffs like carrots that, even though they have high GIs, have a quite low carbohydrate content and should not significantly affect blood sugar levels).

“Bad carbohydrates”, such as those in sweets, potatoes, rice, and white bread, may not be taken together with fats, especially during Phase 1 of the Method. According to Montignac’s theory, these combinations will lead to the fats in the food being stored as body fat. Some kinds of pasta, such as “al dente” durum wheat spaghetti, some varieties of rice, such as long-grain Basmati, whole grains and foods rich in fiber, have a not so high GI.

Besides, the quality of fat foods depends on the nature of their fatty acids: polyunsaturated omega 3 acids (fish fat) as well as monounsaturated fatty acids (olive oil) are the best choice, while saturated fatty acids (butter, fat meats) are to be limited. Fried foods and cooked butter should be avoided.

The Montignac Method is divided into two phases.

Phase I: the weight-losing phase. This phase consists chiefly of eating the appropriate carbs, namely those with glycemic index ranked at 35 or lower (pure glucose is 100). A higher protein intake, such as 1.3-1,5 grams per kg of body weight, especially from fish and legumes, can help weight-lose, but people with kidney disease should ask their doctor.

Phase II: stabilization and prevention phase. “We can even enhance our ability to choose -says Montignac on his web site- by applying a new concept, the glycemic outcome (synthesis between glycemic index and pure carbohydrate content) and the blood sugar levels which result from the meals. Under these conditions, we can eat whatever carbohydrate we want, even those with high glycemic indexes”.

In his books, Montignac also provides a good number of tasty but satiating French and Mediterranean style recipes. The pleasure of food and satiety are key concepts in the Method, as they help dieters to stick to the rules in the long run and not eat too much! Montignac also recommends that dieters should never miss a meal, and have between-meals snacks if that helps to eat less at meals.

Montignac’s theory is disputed by nutrition experts, who claim that any calorie intake that exceeds the amount that the body needs will be converted into body fat. The scientific literature refutes the hypotheses of Montignac regarding the metabolic effects of carbohydrates and fatty acids. Critics also point out that the Glycemic Index is not easy to use, as it depends on the exact variety of the food, how it was cooked, combinations with other foods in the same meal, and so on. Despite these scientific doubts, there are other serious scientific studies which endorse this method. Montignac sold 15 million books about his diet, and his method has been made famous by the celebrities who adopted it, including Gerard Depardieu, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and others

The Master Cleanse, also known as the Lemon Cleanse and the Maple Syrup Diet, was created by Stanley Burroughs in 1941. Proponents believe it is a detoxification program that aids in the removal of harmful toxins from within the body. Stanley Burroughs, the creator of the diet, was convicted of murder, which was later overturned, after a patient died while following his advice and doing the diet for thirty days, while rejecting chemotherapy. Burrough’s murder conviction was overturned, but his convictions for falsely practicing medicine and unlawfully selling products used in the Master cleanse, claiming they cured cancer, were upheld. There is neither peer-reviewed nor scientific evidence to support the idea that it brings any health benefits. Some people that have completed the Master Cleanse say it had positive health effects, however this could be attributed to the placebo effect. People also use the cleanse to lose weight, although that is not the aim of the cleanse.

A Macrobiotic diet (or Macrobiotics) is a dietary regimen that involves eating grains as a staple food supplemented with other foodstuffs such as vegetables and beans, and avoiding the use of highly processed or refined foods. Macrobiotics also address the manner of eating, by recommending against overeating, and requiring that food be chewed thoroughly before swallowing.

A low-protein diet is a diet in which people reduce their intake of protein. A low-protein diet is often prescribed to people with kidney or liver disease.

A low-protein diet would include foods such as vegetables, starches such as bread, cereals, and pasta. For even less protein the best food would be fruits, fats and sugars. Foods to avoid would be any animal byproduct such as meats, eggs, fish, poultry, milk, yogurt, cheese, and even peanut butter.

Low-carbohydrate diets or low-carb diets are dietary programs that restrict carbohydrate consumption usually for weight control. Foods high in digestible carbohydrates are limited or replaced with foods containing a higher percentage of proteins and fats.

The precise definition of low-carbohydrate diets varies greatly. The term is most commonly used to refer to ketogenic diets, i.e. diets that restrict carbohydrate intake sufficiently to cause ketosis like the Atkins diet, but some sources consider less restrictive variants to be low-carbohydrate as well.[4]

Apart from obesity low-carbohydrate diets are often discussed as treatments for some other conditions, most notably diabetes and epilepsy, although these treatments still remain controversial and lack widespread support.

Raw foodism is a lifestyle promoting the consumption of uncooked, unprocessed, and often organic foods as a large percentage of the diet. Depending on the type of lifestyle and results desired, raw food diets may include a selectıon of raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds (including sprouted whole grains), eggs, fish, meat, and unpasteurized dairy products (such as raw milk, cheese and yogurt). A raw foodist is a person who consumes primarily raw food, or all raw food, depending on how strict the diet is. Raw foodists typically believe that the greater the percentage of raw food in the diet, the greater the health benefits.

Members of the raw food community claim that raw food encourages weight loss and prevents and/or heals many forms of sickness and many chronic diseases. Critics of this nutritional approach argue that archaeological and anthropological evidence as well as medical research suggest that cooking is obligatory for humans

A lacto-vegetarian diet is a vegetarian diet which includes dairy products such as milk, cheese, yogurt, butter, cream, and kefir but excludes eggs. The origin of “lacto” is the Latin word for milk, [lac, lactis]. Within Indian cultures this diet is often what is meant by the term “vegetarian.”

Lacto-vegetarians choose to consume dairy products, but abstain from specifically eating eggs. Cheeses which include animal rennet and yoghurts which contain gelatin are also avoided. This diet may be adopted by vegetarians wishing to lower their cholesterol levels, in view of the high amount of cholesterol contained in egg yolks, or to protest cruelty in the poultry industry. On ethical grounds, some people may oppose the slaughter of unwanted male chicks or risking the consumption of an unhatched animal.

Lacto-vegetarian diets are popular with many followers of Eastern religious traditions such as Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism. Such diets have been popularized internationally beginning the 1960s by the Hare Krishna movement.

The greatest proportion of vegetarians such as those in India or those in the classical Mediterranean lands such as the Pythagoreans are or were lacto-vegetarian.

Kashrut (also kashruth or kashrus, כַּשְרוּת) refers to Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha (Jewish law) is termed kosher in English, from the Hebrew term kashér, meaning “fit” (in this context, fit for consumption by Jews according to traditional Jewish law). Orthodox Jews may not consume non-kosher food (but there are no restrictions for non-dietary use, for example, injection of insulin of porcine origin).

Food that is not in accord with Jewish law is called treif, (Yiddish: טרייף or treyf, derived from Hebrew: טְרֵפָה‎ trēfáh). In the technical sense, treif means “torn” and refers to meat which comes from an animal containing a defect that renders it unfit for slaughter. An animal that died through means other than ritual slaughter (or by a botched slaughter) is called a neveila which literally means “an unclean thing”.[citation needed]

Many of the basic laws of kashrut are derived from the Torah’s Books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, with their details set down in the oral law (the Mishnah and the Talmud) and codified by the Shulchan Aruch and later rabbinical authorities. The Torah does not explicitly state the reason for most kashrut laws, and many varied reasons have been offered for these laws, ranging from philosophical and ritualistic, to practical and hygienic.

By extension, the word kosher means legitimate, acceptable, permissible, genuine or authentic, in a broader sense.

Islam has a related but different system, named halal, and both systems have a comparable system of ritual slaughter (shechita in Judaism and Ḏabīḥah in Islam).

Junk food is food that is unhealthy and/or has little or no nutritional value. The term is believed to have been coined by Michael Jacobson, director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, in 1972.[1] The term has since come into common usage.

Junk food contains high levels of refined sugar, white flour, trans fat and polyunsaturated fat, salt, and numerous food additives such as monosodium glutamate and tartrazine; at the same time, it is lacking in proteins, vitamins and fiber, among other healthy attributes. It is popular with suppliers because it is relatively cheap to manufacture, has a long shelf life and may not require refrigeration. It is popular with American consumers, as well as other consumers from all over the world because it is easy to purchase, requires little or no preparation, is convenient to consume and has lots of flavor. Consumption of junk food in America has been associated with obesity, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and dental cavities. There is also concern about the targeting of marketing to children.

Joel Fuhrman is an American family medicine physician and author. He maintains a medical practice in Flemington, New Jersey, and specializes in treating some major illnesses through nutrition and changes in diet. He is also a former member of the United States World Figure Skating Team.

Jenny Craig (born Genevieve Guidroz in 1932 in Berwick, Louisiana) is an American weight loss guru and founder of Jenny Craig, Inc.

Raised in New Orleans, Genevieve Guidroz married Australian Sidney H. Craig. Although neither had formal training in nutrition or exercise, Mrs Craig developed a weight loss regimen, after working for Nutrisystem for some time, that led to her creating a weight-loss company in the mid-1980s with her husband. Their company was one of the pioneers in transforming weight loss into a booming industry. In 1983, she started her first commercial weight loss program in Australia. The success of their program inspired the couple to expand to the huge American market in 1985 where they established headquarters in La Jolla, California, and eventually added weight loss centers in Canada, Puerto Rico and New Zealand.

The couple sold the majority of their interests in Jenny Craig, Inc., in 2002 to ACI Capital, a New York-based private investment firm, and MidOcean Partners, a New York and London-based private investment firm.