Dieting Trends

What is the Dukan Diet?

I’m surprised that there is all of the sudden so much media surrounding a diet that I literally have NEVER heard of. I like to think I keep on top of things, but apparently this fad diet has flown way under my radar – the Dukan Diet.

Why is the Dukan Diet getting so much attention now?  Well, while it has been a well known and very popular diet over in France, kind of like the French version of the Atkins or South Beach, or even the Zone Diet here in the US.  Kate Middleton, Britain’s princess to be, is reportedly on the Dukan Diet to lose weight fast for her upcoming nuptials.

Here is what I have gathered of of the Dukan Diet. Like many other diets that are said to cause quick weight loss, this diet is supposedly unsustainable because it blocks you from eating entire food groups most of the time. I’ve tried this route many times, and believe me, it’s never easy and it gets tiresome really fast.

Your body just needs variety, and most people have a really hard time eliminating entire food groups for extended periods of time. Sure, it’s easy at first, but after a while, your body almost rebels against you and craves the very thing you’re not allowed to have.

The Dukan Diet goes in weekly cycles. Some days, you are allowed to have dessert and wine, but most days your carbohydrated intake is severely limited, and fruit is pretty much just out of the question – which I have a huge problem with.   Hopefully the least this diet does is suppress hunger so you don’t realize how starving you are.

Fruit not only keeps things moving along because of its high fiber content, but it also contains countless minerals and vitamins and other nutrients which keep you looking and feeling great. Just because of it’s carb content, it should never be eliminated from your diet.

The Dukan Diet also involves drinking a lot of water. I think drinking a lot of water is always a good idea, but that is something that has always been easy for me since I always seems to be thirsty.  However, high water intake is challenging for some people. 

If you are one that feels that way, you should really try to get in the habit of drinking it all the time. It helps flush the body of toxins, and also refreshes and hydrates you, and helps keep your energy up.

The Dukan diet is divided into six different phases, much like the Atkins diet is.  It allows and disallows certain food groups during these phases.  I worry when fruits and veggies are limited, as this can really make your energy levels fall, and it can really stagnate the whole digestive process.

The Dukan Diet is named after it’s creator, a French doctor named Pierre Dukan.  The book has sold millions of copies.  I guarantee this is a fad diet. It is an unsustainable way of eating, from all I’ve read about it.

Extreme Eating Habits

I must admit, I’ve caved to some of the totally unorthodox, obsessive types of diets before, thinking that they would help me shed some ridiculous amount of weight and magically be the one magic bullet that would keep me thin forever.  Diets like the blood type diet, the zone diet, the no carb diet, and the pritikin diet are all extreme in their own rite. Why?

Because the totally forbid certain types of foods, or entire food groups. That’s just not realistic, and it almost puts a social barrier up for the person that adheres to them because of its severity and tendency to form compulsive eating habits.

I’m sure you know someone who has compulsive eating habits, and it’s a sad sight to behold, because they really shun themselves from certain situations – simply because of food.  They may not go to certain events or not enjoy certain events because they are constantly worried about putting things in their mouth that they feel will really be the downfall of their health and wellness.

These types of obsessive compulsive eating habits can take over your whole life. There are even diets that recommend you only eat at certain times of day, or that you absolutely must eat this food at this time of day.  Can you imagine planning every day of your life around your diet?  It becomes somewhat of an eating disorder when it literally involves every moment of your life having to be altered because of it.

You can see, that would definitely get to be pretty limiting. It can even be offputting for some people to be around you because it may make them feel uncomfortable, especially when the person who has the compulsive habit preaches about it or makes comments or gives looks when others are eating something they don’t approve of.

Compulsive eating habits can definitely have an element of social isolation to them, and therefore, that is why my personal philosophy is a very simple one. Everything should be allowed in moderation, and everyone should just listen to their bodies, because their bodies are pretty good at telling them what’s best for them to eat.

Eliminating entire food groups from your diet is simply not a realistic view of a lifetime diet, nor does it give you the ability to enjoy your life to its maximum. And after all, what is vibrant health and a thin body without enjoying life – NOTHING!

PETA Would Be Happy : Vegetarianism Popular in Sports

It’s funny how things shift over the years. It used to be that the “meals of champions” consisted of downing raw eggs, eating steak, chicken and veggies for every meal, and generally relying on a very high protein, and usually high animal fat diet to train and get ready for any sort of major sporting event or game.

Now, it seems that the trend is going a bit more toward vegetarianism in the world of professional and semi professional sports.  Athletes are choosing the vegetarian or vegan lifestyle now in droves, and many of them are finding that they can actually perform better and train harder than their counterparts who eat a lot of meat.

However, if you look at athletes like Michael Phelps, who ate a lot of meat and generally a lot of other calories to sustain his ridiculously long and grueling swim training sessions, this doesn’t seem to hold true.

What I actually believe is that vegetarianism and veganism can work fantastically for some people. However, others, like myself, may actually need a little meat in their diet in order to feel their best and perform at their highest levels. Some people report trying vegan diets and just never feeling full or energized, while others think that this type of diet is the best thing they’ve ever done for their bodies.

That’s because each person is built differently. One person may get a lot of fuel and a lot of benefit from animal based proteins, while others just may generally feel sicker and less energized while eating this type of diet.  We all have different chemical makeups, and they certainly can dictate what types of foods generally agree with our chemical makeup and which just don’t make the cut.

In short, there is no “one right diet” for anyone. Granted, we can pretty much rule out the fact that a fast food and junk diet is not good for ANYONE. However, that’s different than saying to rule out one food group entirely, whether it’s prepared healthfully and organically or not.

I’ve actually tried a vegan diet. While I did have better luck with my digestive problems as well as bowel issues, I just never really felt full. I felt like I had to eat once every two hours to even feel somewhat satiated, and this could definitely interfere with life and goals when you are constantly having to nosh on something.

In the end, I found that a good balance between plant based and animal protein based was ideal for me, with an emphasis on plant based foods.

Super Bowl! Don’t PIG OUT TOO MUCH!

Hey everyone, it’s Super Bowl Sunday, and you know what that means. It means fattening, tasty temptations everywhere you look. Whether it’s just you and your sweetie or family snuggling up to watch the big game, or you’re heading to a friend’s house to join in the festivities, there will certainly be yet another reason to pig out.

As if we need that, coming off the holidays and just now starting to get in the swing of being a good girl or boy again, right!?

So, just try to not to totally blow it over the top today. Because you know what that means – a potential vicious cycle of comfort food that lasts for days instead of one day or a few hours as you originally intended. Even though it doesn’t seem like that big a deal to go off for a few days, it really your bottom line – both literally and figuratively.

A recent study just proved that indulging in comfort food often starts a vicious cycle of more indulging. Not only that, but when you eat too much as well, your stomach gets stretched out again, and you are stuck dealing with trying to whittle down portions and be hungry all the time again.

Do yourself a favor – limit it to one nice big meal, and don’t do the snacking all day thing. At least you can have a little fun and indulge in some pizza or something, just don’t be eating chips and sweets the whole day.  If you need a little extra help, try taking a good appetite suppressant to naturally suppress your hunger and therefore eat less.

How Are You Going to Detox After the Holidays?

Detoxify and Renew

Well, it’s officially “after Christmas”, and many of us are left with the signs of the holiday that we don’t like so much.Extra fat and rolls on our body or perhaps just a bit of extra padding that we didn’t have before.  It’s amazing how, especially as we get older, it really doesn’t take all that long to put the weight on.

It seems like in our youth we could eat whatever we wanted and still not gain weight, as long as it was a short period of time that we were indulging. Well, that’s not as true as we get older.

Our bodies stop producing as much HGH, which is Human Growth Hormone (read here about using HGH to lose weight), and this is a major factor behind getting more fat than muscle on the body, and more easily, as we get older.

If you’re like me, you’re itching to detoxify your body from all the butter, sugar and other fats and salts that you indulged in over the holidays. Sure, it’s fun to indulge, but the important thing is that you always get back on track.

In other words, don’t let it become a longer term way of life, or else you start getting into dangerous territory.

The way I’ve chosen to detox is to use a good Hoodia gum to curb my appetite naturally so that I instantly do not need to eat as much. I don’t believe in using these supplements indefinitely, but I think they serve a wonderful purpose when you’re trying to “ween” your body off of too much food when it’s gotten used to indulging for a few weeks.

Secondly, I’m going to forsake animal fats for a week or two, whatever length of time makes my body feel lighter and not so weighed down.

I don’t think that doing this long term is for me. I just feel like eating meat is in my nature, I’m not a “natureal” vegetarian, as I just feel more satisfied after a meal with animal protein.

I personally don’t believe that some people should be vegetarians. I think everyone is built a little differently, and some people were meant to consume animal fats, and others it does not agree with.

I can see PETA wanting to strangle me over that statement, but that’s been my personal experience with vegetarianism thus far.

I’ve chosen for this to be my detox routine for after the holidays because I know that too many animal fats such as butter and meats and cheeses can really weigh down your digestive system.

If I cannot adequately cleanse my digestive system and bowels by doing this alone, I will probably then try a colon cleansing product like Bowtrol to help it along.

Now New Warnings on Small Portions?! Come On!

I swear, when I read the headline that smaller portions may actually fool you into eating more, I thought well what do you want us to do, load up our plate – which by the way has been warned against for years and years?  Either you load up your plate with more than you can probably eat, and end up eating only what you’re hungry for, or you can put a smaller portion on.

When you put smaller portions on your plate, you reduce the likelihood of over eating. However, new information shows that you may actually be tempted to eat MORE when you put small portions on your plate. What’s a gal and a guy to do who wants to watch their dang waistline then, I ask!?

Researchers are saying that foods that are labeled as small serving sizes often are perceived as exactly that, although they may not be small in reality, or the serving sizes may be tricky to figure out. So, a person can actually be eating a lot larger of a serving without even knowing it.

Sounds confusing – because it is.  They say that food labeling may actually be doing more harm than good when it comes to serving sizes, in other words. We think that what we read is always correct, and we follow this blindly, instead of paying attention to what really matters, which is when we really feel full and totally satiated in our hunger.

Now that we are such a serving size conscious society in the wake of all the criticism of super sized meals from fast food joints and popular restaurants, it seems we have shot ourselves in the foot, so to speak, by labeling the heck out of everything instead of relying on our intrinsic senses of when we are full and when we need to stop eating.

I myself like to actually put a medium size portion on my plate. I sometimes will eat so slow that there is no doubt I am satisfied after about ten minutes, but I haven’t even finished half the plate. I credit this habit with keeping my weight under control for all these years, because believe me, I do have quite an appetite on me!

It’s all about pacing yourself, so that the mind registers it is full before you’ve stuffed yourself into oblivion and are miserable for the next several hours while your belly clears out!

Curb Appetite, Burn More Calories with Hot Spices?

I talked last time about hot pepper diet pills and supplements, which use the effectiveness of certain hot pepper extracts, or more specifically, the chemicals in hot spicy peppers that not only make them taste hot, but also make them a great natural metabolism and circulation booster.  That’s right, not only do hot peppers help to boost metabolism, but they also have been shown to help boost slow circulation in those with circulation that doesn’t quite work as well as it used to.

If you think about when you bite into something that is extremely hot – as in spicy hot, not temperature, your body has an almost instant reaction to that heat. It begins to sweat and you may even start to feel your heart rate accelerate. That’s because the hotness is kicking your metabolism into high gear, and your body is actually burning more calories to help cool itself down.

Now of course, you don’t want to be eating hot stuff constantly as this could really do a number on your tummy, your mouth and of course your digestive and waste elimination process, so there are these neat little hot pepper diet pills that you can take which help to naturally boost metabolism by increasing the rate at which calories are burned, and hence, the rate at which you lose weight.

Of course, they can’t replace a healthy diet and exercise, but they certainly can complement any diet by enhancing your metabolism and making your body basically absorb and utilize less calories every day that you take them.  They also may be helpful for you to help reduce your appetite since the mere presence of hot spicy foods in your stomach tend to create more of a sense of fullness and a sense of satiety well into the next several hours of your day.

In-Home Diet Meal Delivery Booming

With today’s hectic world of work, kids, extracurricular activities, second jobs, and so on and so forth, we live in a very hectic time where instant gratification is expected, and convenience has become number one priority. This is also part of the reason our obesity epidemic has become so widespread and deeply rooted in our culture.

People don’t have the time they used to where they could cook up nutritious, healthy meals that were in the right calorie range, carb range and fat range they should be for maintaining a healthy weight, or losing weight to get to a healthy weight.  This is exactly why those that are health and weight conscious are increasingly turning to another solution for getting healthy meals on their tables, without all the preparation and planning that is required of cooking.

In home diet meal delivery plans are really booming right now. The good ones that really used good food that tastes wonderful and really results in proper weight loss and body fat shedding were previously only available to celebrities and those that lived in really health conscious, progressive areas like New York or L.A.

Now, with lightning fast shipping methods available all across the US, more and more people are turning to in-home meal delivery services that cater to people who want to keep their waistlines trim but just don’t have the time to make meals that will keep them thin while also tasting excellent and having the right balance of calories, carbs and fats that keep their body’s looking great.

The trend for these gourmet home delivery diet meals began in none other than California, where celebrities and models demanded fast, convenient healthy meals for their hectic schedules and their jobs which required them to look great in smaller sizes. That was before we had such great shipping options as we do today. Now, people everywhere are learning that they can get health meals shipped to their homes, so they don’ t have to worry about cooking meals that are exactly right for themselves.

How Many Calories Should Your Lunch Be?

This was a question that I had when I was trying to scale back a few pounds just a few months ago. I didn’t want to rely on appetite suppressants, but I wanted to instead make sure I was getting the right amount of nourishment at each meal to sustain me without going off the deep end and ruining my diet at any one meal.

Especially dinner, which is the one meal you shouldn’t eat a huge amount of calories because you don’t burn them all off in your sleep, yet this is the meal that everyone seems to really go for the gold with calorie wise because we are at home from work and relaxed, and well, quite hungry from the day.

What I’ve been doing, or trying to do, is eat a breakfast that only consists of fruit, preferably an in-season fruit like right now strawberries is my fruit of choice. I load up on it too, I eat a lot, so that I’m actually full.  Except I know that fruit digests in the system very quickly and that it won’t stick with me for long. So what I do is when the fruit wears off about an hour and a half later, I eat a hand full of raw, natural walnuts.

This actually usually tides me all the way to lunch around noon, but honestly I’m quite ready to chow down at that time, nice and hungry from my morning “fast”.  This seems to work for me. I’m not saying it would work for everyone. There are some people that believe that loading up for breakfast is the best way for them to curb their appetite throughout the day, but I’ve found I actually eat better throughout the day by doing this as a rule of thumb. I don’t always, but it usually works for me.

Since I didn’t take in that many calories for breakfast between the nuts and the strawberries or whatever other seasonal fruit I ate, I usually make my lunch fairly large. I try to consume about 550 to 600 calories, and that seems to satisfy me. It’s even better if I can squeeze in a post lunch workout after my stomach has been digesting for about two hours time.  Then, I try to limit dinner to about 400-500 calories, if possible, since I’ve also usually had a snack that’s about 150-200 calories between lunch and dinner. This seems to work for me for maintaining my healthy weight.

Calorie and Nutrition Info on Menus, Good or Bad?

I have to admit, I have mixed feelings about how a lot of restaurants, both sit down and fast food joints, are putting a lot of nutrition information in readily accessible, or impossible to miss places either on their menus or right up on their menu boards for fast food places.  Of course, I’m an American who tends to make healthier choices the majority of the time that I eat.  When I do go on a pig out spree though, I kind of feel like for me personally, ignorance is bliss.

Is this really just reinforcing the fact that nutrition info on menu items is great? After all, I just said that I wouldn’t feel bad or guilty about eating food products that I know darn well I shouldn’t be putting in my mouth if I could “plead ignorance” as to the amount of calories, fat and salt the food contains.  So, by putting this stuff in a can’t miss place, wouldn’t you in essence be forcing people to at least consider what they’re doing to their bodies?

Well, yes, and that’s kind of the whole point of the exercise. And I get that. But do you really think that this is going to make people who aren’t health conscious to begin with care about what they are putting into their bodies? Or are they going to continue to make those poor choices, even when the information is staring them right in the face, quite literally, that they are just making themselves heavier and heavier and more and more unhealthy?

This is a hard subject to debate because it touches on the freedom to choose aspect of our lives as Americans. It sort of goes hand in hand with other government agendas that have to do with our diet, like limiting the amount of salt restaurants can put in their food, or mandating that people who weigh a certain amount go on certain programs for public health insurance (yes, this has been discussed as well).

I’m not sure that I agree with it, but I do understand we need to do something.  After all, we can’t be living as unhealthily as we have been, but people should have freedom of choice to put whatever they want to in their mouth at the moment.