Fasting For Fast Weight Loss!

There are a number of reasons to follow a fast diet, not the least of which is fast weight loss. This usually involves not eating any food at all, or just fasting on a specific type of food, but only for a short period of time. For instance, there are some religions that recommend fasting occasionally for the purification of the body. Others use fast diets to detoxify their bodies.

But the weight loss fast seems to be the most common fast followed by the majority of people. Fasting is usually done for only a couple of days or possibly up to a week, but this type of diet can be dangerous if it is maintained for too many consecutive days.

Most doctors do not recommend fasting to lose weight, even though you will certainly see a rapid weight loss by fasting. The problem is that this weight will most likely be gained right back as soon as the fasting diet has stopped.

When a person begins fasting, their body goes into an emergency mode, actually trying to hold to the fat it has stored up because it believes it is being starved to death, defeating the whole purpose of fasting in the first place.

A fast diet also causes the metabolism to slow down, trying to conserve energy, and a slower metabolism will result in fewer calories being burned. Believe it or not, the best way to keep the metabolism up is by eating several small meals each day.

Some fast diets call for a person to drink a specific juice or other liquid. These liquids provide the body with enough nutrients to keep it functioning properly, and typically you will experience a rapid weight loss while following these fasts.

A juice fast can last anywhere from a couple of days up to two weeks. Choosing to fast on alternate days may also provide significant weight loss, without the risk of starving the body.

Other fast diets may consist of only a specific fruit or a special soup or stew. These types of diets are designed to keep the body and metabolism at the maximum speed, but the fruit fast could be dangerous for diabetics because of the natural sugars. Therefore, if you are - or think you may be diabetic, caution must be taken and you should never undertake a diet like this until you have the green light from your physician. Stews provide plenty of nutrients, but may not have the same results as a total fasting diet.

When a person is fasting, they will almost certainly have a smaller appetite. However, when the fast is over, one's normal appetite will return and in some cases a person may even overeat after fasting for a period of time, resulting in gaining back any weight lost plus extra pounds as well.

Any kind of extreme diet, including fasting, should be discussed with a doctor. A fast diet is great for fast weight loss for a special occasion, but most fast diets do not result in a long term weight loss.

Weight Loss Shakes - Are They Healthy?

There are a lot of weight loss drinks being consumed daily by people hoping to improve their health by losing excess weight. These drinks are usually low in calories but they contain micro-nutrients like vitamins and minerals and they are typically consumed by dieters as meal replacement shakes or as liquid diets.

Drinks that are sold to improve weight reduction are typically weight loss 'shakes', and the most popular brands are SlimFast, MediFast, and the NutriSystem Diet.

These liquid diets are frequently reserved for severely obese patients and are administered with medical supervision.

They can be extremely efficient in helping such persons to lose weight but the use of weight loss drinks and additional meal replacements is usually a short term answer to weight control because these diet programs do not educate dieters on how to develop healthy eating habits.

Therefore, even though nutritional drinks designed for weight control are useful in attaining necessary calorie reduction, they are not a long term key to the growing problem of obesity.

Water remains as the best drink for watching your weight as it has no calories and it helps in preserving a vigorous metabolism. Soon after you drink as much water as you need, you should very rapidly notice a diminished appetite - perhaps from the very first day.

Weight Loss Shakes As An Appetite Suppressant

For individuals who have problems with huge appetites but need to consume less, weight loss shakes could prove to be helpful. When used as directed the shakes can reduce your appetite and help you to lose weight by eating less.

Normally, the recommendation is to have a shake for breakfast and another one for lunch, then have a healthy meal for dinner. When they are consumed in this manner each day, less food is required but you still get the nutrition that your body needs.

However, it is not recommended that you replace all your meals with these diet shakes. Your body needs certain vitamins and minerals, and though the shakes can act as an appetite suppressant for a while, they are not intended to replace food. Serious or even fatal problems can occur by the misuse of these drinks, so please use them exactly as directed.

Keep in mind that there are also other liquids you can drink and lose weight. They are all natural products and in fact, much healthier. One of them is plain old milk. Milk has a lot of calcium and it can augment weight loss by raising fat breakdown in your body’s fat cells. This does not mean you should drink a gallon of milk on a daily basis, but just adding milk to your diet in temperance may double the speed of your fat loss.

Green tea weight loss tea is also helpful, and you could potentially increase your metabolism and burn up to 40% more fat during the day by drinking 3 to 5 cups every day. Vegetable juices are another healthy drink that if consumed before meals could cause you to eat up to 135 calories less.

If you have a problem drinking these natural weight loss shakes, you can surely stick to water - drinking a couple of glasses before every meal. Because the water helps to make you feel fuller, you will naturally eat less and lose more weight.

The Blood Type Diet

Peter D'Adamo, a natural health practitioner who considers a person's blood type to be the most important factor in determining their ideal diet, developed the Blood Type Diet in his book Eat Right 4 Your Blood Type'.

How Does The Blood Type Diet Work?

Because the blood type diet considers that food lectins react differently with different types of blood - A, AB, B or O - some creating antigens which cause a reaction as if to an allergen or invader, you are advised to consume more of some foods and avoid others, according to your blood type and cellular profile, in order to lose weight.

Group 0 - The Hunter: A high protein diet of meat, fish, fruit and vegetables is recommended for what is claimed to be the oldest blood type.

Group A - The Cultivator: Suitable for a vegetarian diet as it consists of very little red meat and more vegetables, seafood, tofu, fruit, beans, and legumes.

Group B - The Nomad: Though dairy products are not recommended for the other blood groups, they are allowed for this group, along with most foods including meat, vegetables, beans, fruits, and grains.

Group AB - The Enigma: Intermediate between groups A and B, in moderation.

There are many foods that should not be eaten for each blood type because of the action of the lectins.

Does The Blood Type Diet Work?

Although Dr. D'Adamo claims to have around a 70% success rate in terms of improved health conditions and/or weight loss, these results are self-reported and do not come from independent research (people who respond to polls). There is no analysis of the results of the people who have read his books and tried the diet because there is no way of tracking all of them. There apparently have been no structured clinical trials of the diet.

In cases where people have had good results with the diet, losing weight and/or regaining health, it is possible that the diet happens to suit them, but it could also be the result of simply being more conscious of what they eat and avoiding certain foods.

Since a much larger percentage of the population have either group A, AB or O blood types (where dairy products are not recommended), just cutting out the dairy products can result in significant weight loss for the majority of people. It's surprising how many processed foods contain milk in some form, so avoiding dairy products will automatically cut out a lot of fat, fast food and junk food in the average person's diet, almost certainly resulting in weight loss.

Any Drawbacks With The Blood Type Diet?

Virtually all independent research suggests that there is no link between blood type and diet, and as a result Dr. D'Adamo has been heavily criticized for the lack of structured research to back up his ideas.

Also, many scientists consider that lectins in foods do not act in the way that extracted lectins might act. That is, when they are included in food they do not set off a hostile reaction with antigens or antibodies. Additionally, research has not found a link between blood type and food allergies.

You may be suited to the blood type diet if you like a diet with lots of rules that clearly lays out what you can and cannot eat, but it is a somewhat complex diet, and some people will not be suited to some versions of it. As always, of course, consult your doctor before going on this or any other weight loss programs.

The High Protein Low Carb Scarsdale Diet

The Scarsdale diet, which was published in a book called 'The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet' by Dr. Herman Tarnower of Scarsdale, NY and Samm Sinclair Baker in 1979, claims to be able to cause a weight loss of 20 pounds in 14 days for those who follow the diet.

This weight loss program might be best described as a more nutritionally varied version of the grapefruit diet, in that the Scarsdale diet plan includes half a grapefruit at breakfast each day for the supposed 'fat burning enzyme' that it contains.

It should be noted that there is no scientific basis for the idea of a fat burning enzyme in grapefruit.

During the first 14 days of the diet, Dr. Tarnower proposes a strict diet plan, followed by 1-2 weeks of a less restrictive plan before going back onto the more restrictive plan again for another 14 days if you need to.

The Scarsdale diet is, generally speaking, a high protein low carb diet plan, and the allowed foods while you're on the diet include fruit, vegetables, and lean sources of protein in unlimited amounts. You can also have 1-3 slices of protein-enriched bread per day.

Breakfast consists only of half a grapefruit and one slice of bread. For lunch, you may have fruit alone, or you can have meat, fish or cheese with salad or vegetables. Dinner consists of meat or fish with vegetables, and you may have bread at lunch or dinner on some days.

Tea, Coffee, Diet Soda, and water of course, are allowed on the diet, but snacks are limited to raw carrots, celery, etc, in unlimited amounts. Mustard, Ketchup, Soy Sauce, Worcestershire sauce and herbs are also allowed.

No potatoes, corn, peas, beans (other than green beans) or lentils are allowed on the diet, and no pasta, rice or other grains except for bread when specified.

Why Does The Scarsdale Diet Work?

The Scarsdale Diet is a strict calorie controlled diet and most people will lose weight over the 14 days if they can stick to it. The cyclical nature of the plan (2 weeks on, 1-2 weeks off) is said to optimize results because it prevents the metabolism from adjusting to the lower calorie intake.

Any Negatives With The Scarsdale Diet?

Most people who follow this diet will be very hungry, making it hard to stick to. Many choose to take some kind of appetite suppressant in order to get around the hunger problem, but these can carry risks of their own. If you can stick to the plan you will lose weight, but most of that initial weight loss will be water.

This would be a difficult diet for vegetarians to follow as there is a heavy emphasis on lean meats, with most of the calories coming from animal protein foods.

Many people also find the cyclical style of the diet to be difficult, and there is the risk of going completely off of it at the end of the 14 days and regaining any lost weight.

The Scarsdale Diet has been criticized for promoting yoyo dieting, which is the unhealthy habit of constantly gaining and losing weight in short periods of time. As with any other diet, it is best to consult with your physician before beginning this diet.

The Green Tea Diet

Most experts agree that supplements can significantly help to curb the appetite and decrease intake, which leads to weight loss. And while there are many weight loss programs and many supplements to choose from, Green Tea weight loss supplements are becoming a very popular choice.

Because of a standard diet that is full of too much protein, too many fats too many sugars, and not enough fruits and vegetables, obesity has become a significant problem in Western civilization.

Part of this is due to the fact that people just don't have an accurate understanding of the size of a 'serving'. For instance, a serving of meat is usually 3 ounces of lean meat, which is a small amount.

Weight loss supplements that are sold over the counter usually contain one of the three most commonly used supplements for weight loss, which are green tea, ephedra, and protein. Protein is used to increase one's protein intake and stop the use of carbohydrates, which puts the body into ketoacidosis, increasing the metabolism.

Since damage can occur to the kidneys from following increased protein diets, which are considered to be fad diets, they should not be maintained for any length of time.

Ephedra, which is a common supplement that has been proven to speed metabolism and decrease appetite, is also linked to significant side effects. Patients have been diagnosed with heart attacks and have died as a result of using this supplement.

Both caffeine and the chemical EGCG are part of the make up of the Green Tea weight loss supplements, and when the two of them react to each other, the metabolism in the body increases.

Unfortunately, there have been no long-term studies using green tea weight loss supplements to document the effectiveness and side effects, and many people have chosen to stick with the green tea 'weightloss brew' for this reason. So anytime you take supplements you should consult your doctor to ensure that the supplement won't interfere with any other medications, over the counter medications, or health issues you might have.

Green tea weight loss supplements also contain catechins, the anti-oxidants. These catechins are unfermented in green tea and in their natural state and are believed to suppress fat absorption from the diet. The anti-oxidants cause an increase in energy use in the body, thus burning more calories. The supplements stimulate the body to burn fats faster, and as a result, people who use them in studies will lose approximately 2 1/2 pounds per month.

Green tea weight loss supplements can help us to stay healthy by fighting free radicals - oxygen containing molecules that are a by-product of digestion. Free radicals can damage cells, DNA, and lead to diseases such as heart disease and cancer.

Although Green Tea supplements contain caffeine, this doesn't seem to have the negative effects found in other products. For instance, Green Tea supplements don't cause the jitters or speed up the heart rate.

The main amino acid in green tea weight loss supplements is Theanine, which is able to induce relaxation and the release of dopamine, helping to provide a feeling of well-being. Theanine minimizes the effect of caffeine, which may be the reason green tea doesn't cause the jitters and increased heart rate.

Although people who take supplements to help them lose weight have a higher success rate than those who don't, people who receive support also have a higher rate of success. Green Tea weight loss supplements are another option to help suppress the appetite and eat less while trying to lose weight, but be sure you have all the facts straight before deciding to take any kind of weight loss supplements.

The Grapefruit Fat Burning Diet

The Grapefruit Diet is a short term moderate protein, low carb, low calorie diet that you follow for 12 to 18 days at a time. Popularized by movie stars as long ago as the 1930's, it came to be known as the 'Hollywood diet' and is still considered by many to be a very popular fat burning diet today.

During the 12 to 18 days you're on the grapefruit diet, you must eat 3 low carb meals a day plus a snack. The snacks must be low carb snacks as well, and you're instructed not to skip any meals. Since no original version of the diet is known to be published anywhere, the plan can vary depending on where you get it, but this is an example of the diet menu plan:

The Grapefruit Diet Plan

Breakfast:

1/2 Grapefruit, 2 Eggs, 2 Slices Bacon, Black Coffee (optional).

Lunch:

1/2 Grapefruit, Large Salad with Dressing, Unlimited Meat.

Dinner:

1/2 Grapefruit, Unlimited Salad or Cooked Red Or Green Vegetables (except those on the banned food list below), Unlimited Meat or Fish.

Evening snack:
8 oz Skim Milk.

The allowed foods on the diet can be fried, and you can use butter and oil in their preparation. You must drink 8 glasses of water per day and coffee is allowed at breakfast time, but no other drinks are allowed.

The following foods are banned while you are following the grapefruit diet:

Starchy vegetables, including potatoes, pumpkin, corn, etc.

Peas, beans, nuts, seeds, grains, bread, cereals, sugar, and fruit (except grapefruit, of course).

How Does A Fat Burning Diet Work?

Fat burning diets are designed to get the body to burn stored fat rather than use the food you eat for energy. The grapefruit diet is a fat burner diet that is usually followed just long enough to get weight back to normal for those who only have a few pounds to lose.

This is accomplished by restricting calories for the 12 to 18 days on the plan. Most people will eat far fewer calories than normal while following this diet plan (despite the high fat content) and will lose weight the same as they would with any other low calorie weight loss product or low calorie diet - if they stick to it. No high carbohydrate foods are allowed on this low carb diet, so the body will burn stored fat for energy, the same way as with other fat burning diets such as the Atkins diet.

It has been claimed by some that grapefruit has a weight loss effect in itself - that by having half a grapefruit before each meal you would slowly lose weight even if you didn't change anything else. The grapefruit is also considered a fat burner by some who claim that it contains a fat burning enzyme - or that it controls insulin levels - thereby affecting the metabolism. However, though the grapefruit is a great source of vitamin C, none of these claims have been proven by research.

Drawbacks Of The Grapefruit Diet

If you need to lose a lot of weight you might need to look into other fat burning diets that you can follow for longer periods of time as grapefruit diets are not intended to be followed long term. You could use it to kick-start another weight loss program, but after the recommended duration you will need to move on from this program. If you don't have another plan to continue the weight loss, there is a risk that you will just go back to your old eating habits and put the weight right back on, as happens in so many short term weight loss programs.

Once you have lost the desired weight, you may be tempted to go out and celebrate by eating high carbohydrate meals, but this can lead to yoyo dieting, which is not good for your health. Yoyo dieting occurs when your weight goes up and down very quickly by strict dieting, followed by weight gain.

Because of the high saturated fat content allowed on the Grapefruit fat burning diet, this could be a dangerous plan for some people, even though it is short term. As with any other diet, you are advised to see your doctor before starting any weight loss program.

The Cabbage Soup Recipe Diet

The cabbage soup recipe diet is a short term (7 day) rapid weight loss plan that some people have claimed was responsible for them losing up to 10 pounds in one week while following it. And because you can lose weight fast on this diet, many people will undoubtedly be more motivated to stick to it for the entire 7 days. Though the diet seems to have come into circulation in the 1980's, its origins are apparently unknown.

There are many different versions of the Cabbage Soup Diet recipe floating around, largely due I suspect to people tweaking it a little to satisfy their own tastes.

But the classic recipe that follows has kept the basic ingredients intact through the years. Only the foods that are allowed on the diet, which also seem to vary a little bit, are included here.

Recipe For Cabbage Soup Diet

• 1 small head of Cabbage, chopped
  
• 4 to 5 stalks Celery
  
• 5 to 6 large Green Onions
  
• 1 large or 2 small cans Tomatoes, diced
  
• 4 to 6 Carrots, sliced
  
• 2 Green Peppers, seeded and sliced or chopped
  
• 1 - 10 oz. can or container Mushrooms, largely chopped
  
• 1 package Lipton Soup Mix (optional - use 1 to 2 additional low sodium bouillon cubes for less salt)
  
• 1 48 oz. can V8 Juice, optional
  
• 1 to 2 Beef or Chicken Bouillon Cubes (low-sodium) optional
  
• Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder, Curry, optional to taste
  

Directions For Making The Soup:

Place the green onions, green peppers, carrots, and mushrooms, into a large soup pot and begin sauteing in a small amount of cooking spray. Add the chopped cabbage to the mixture and continue to saute, adding a small amount of Curry or Cayenne Pepper at this point if you'd like to have a spicy soup. Optionally you can just cover all the vegetables with water and boil, omitting the sauteing step, but I find the soup a bit more tasty if you saute the veggies first.

Add about 12 cups of water to the vegetables, or if you like a tomato base, you can use half V8 Juice and half water. Bouillon cubes can add a lot of flavor to the soup, and if you choose to use them, that should eliminate the need for additional salt.

Bring the mixture to a boil, stir in the soup mix and boil gently for about 10 minutes. Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

The 7 Day Cabbage Soup Diet

In addition to being allowed to eat as much of the soup as you like, and at any time you like, you are encouraged to drink lots of water, preferably 8 glasses per day. You are also allowed non-caloric drinks including coffee, tea, and herbal teas. The foods you are allowed to eat in addition to the soup each day are listed below.

Day 1: You may have all the fruits you want, excluding bananas.

Day 2: Any kind of cooked or raw vegetables are allowed on day 2, with the exception of beans, corn, and dry peas. You may have a baked potato with a light pat of butter. No fruits today.

Day 3: Fruits and non-starchy vegetables, but no bananas or potato.

Day 4: Today you may have bananas (as many as eight) and skim milk (as many as 8 glasses).

Day 5: As much as 20 ounces of beef, skinless chicken, and/or fish are allowed today. You can also have up to 6 tomatoes, and you must drink 8 glasses of water, which aids in removing the uric acid that will have accumulated in your body. Eat at least one bowl of soup.

Day 6: Unlimited beef, skinless chicken, or fish, and non-starchy vegetables. Again, at least one bowl of soup today.

Day 7: Brown rice with your soup and non-starchy vegetables. Unsweetened fruit juice.

Except where portion size is specified, you can have as much of the named foods as you want. You may eat as often as you like, but you must not use any oils or anything else that is not on the list. On days that beef is allowed, you may cook the beef in the soup if you like, or you may just choose to grill a steak, or have some ground beef cooked in a little water in a frying pan.

Why Does The Cabbage Soup Diet Work?

Although much of the weight loss during the 7 days on the cabbage soup diet is water, this drastic calorie reduction will produce rapid weight loss. We know that the majority of the weight loss is water because it takes a reduction of 3500 calories to lose one pound of fat, and that is a huge calorie reduction. But even though most of the weight lost is water, you will still look thinner since water retention makes us look bloated. As long as you don't go back to a diet full of of salt and processed foods, it is possible to maintain your weight loss even after you stop the cabbage soup diet.

Because cabbage is a low calorie, high fiber food, it will make you feel full without weight gain, making it easier to stick to the diet. It is also a very nutritious food, containing a surprising amount of protein, minerals, and vitamins.

The Cabbage Soup Diet plan is structured so that starches are not eaten together with proteins and fat is not eaten together with fruit, which some claim makes the food easier to digest, therefore affording you the maximum nutrition from it.

Any Negatives With The Cabbage Soup Diet?

The main problem with the cabbage soup diet, as with all short term diets, is that most people put the weight right back on as soon as the diet is over. You must change your eating habits long term in order to keep the weight off. And remember that you can only stay on this diet for 7 days, then you must go off of it for a couple of weeks before doing it again.

Eating so much of this cabbage soup recipe can become tiresome, as you can imagine, although you may be surprised at how good it tastes if you've never tried it. Some variety is gained by changing the permitted foods each day, but boredom is likely to be a problem.

Eating large quantities of cabbage could possibly have some negative consequences on your health, but sticking to the 7 day regime shouldn't be a problem. Staying on the cabbage soup recipe diet for longer than seven days at a time is not recommended, and as usual, before starting this or any other diet, you should seek the advice of your doctor.

The South Beach Diet

Developed by cardiologist Arthur Agatston of Miami, The South Beach Diet is one of the more popular weightloss programs, originally intended to help the doctor's patients avoid or improve cardiovascular disease, with weight being a secondary aim.

What Is The South Beach Low Carb Diet?

Based on the idea that there are good and bad carbohydrates and good and bad fats, the South Beach diet does not require calorie counting and you are expected to eat until you are satisfied. However, you are restricted on what foods you can eat. Foods are also rotated according to their sugar content (the glycemic index).

'Bad fats', which are mainly saturated fats and trans fats, are to be avoided because of their alleged contribution to heart disease. This means replacing high fat meats and dairy products with lean meats, oily fish and olive oil.

'Bad carbohydrates', which are the quickly absorbed, high glycemic index carbs such as sugar and refined grains (white flour, white rice etc) are replaced with whole grains and high fiber foods - plus fruit in limited quantities.

This diet consists of three phases. South Beach Phase 1 - the Induction Phase - which lasts 2 weeks, is the most restrictive - excluding almost all carbohydrates from the diet, including such items as potatoes, rice, bread, pasta, and fruit.

Some people think this diet is a little like the Atkins diet in the beginning, but even though both diets were created by doctors, the South Beach diet tends to be the more heart-friendly version of the two. Since this first phase is the most restrictive, it is during this time that you could experience a very quick weight loss of about 8 to 13 pounds in just 2 weeks.

In the second phase, more foods are gradually added back into the diet. Phase 2 lasts until you meet your target weight, hopefully losing 1-2 pounds per week during this time. Phase 3 - the maintenance plan - is even more flexible, and is what you follow once you have reached your ideal weight, hopefully for life.

The South Beach diet encourages dieters to eat 6 times a day (3 meals, plus 3 snacks) and to eat more non-starchy vegetables.

Why Does The South Beach Diet Work?

In the first phases of the South Beach diet, you will probably go into a state of 'ketosis', much like you would on the Atkins diet. In the absence of carbohydrates, the body uses its fat reserves for energy - inducing ketosis.

After the first phase of the diet, more fiber will be added back to the diet, which is good for us. The standard American or Western diet often does not contain even the minimum of fiber. Fiber helps in our weight loss efforts because it is a bulky substance that is not easily absorbed by the body - it fills us up while containing very few calories.

So, although you are not consciously restricting calories while eating South Beach meals, you are likely to reduce your calorie intake automatically, just because you will be filling your stomach with bulky, low calorie foods.

By switching to a diet containing more vegetables, most people will likely have more of the essential minerals than they have in their diets already. Having more essential minerals in our diet also increases satisfaction so that we will stop eating sooner. Often, people overeat partly because on a high-fat diet, a huge number of calories must be consumed in order to get the nutrients they need.

Another factor that makes the South Beach diet work for many people is the fact that research has shown that eating frequent, smaller meals is often better for weight loss than restricting yourself to 2 or 3 meals per day.

Any Negatives To The South Beach Diet?

Although there are vegetarian options with this diet, strict vegetarians and vegans may find the first two weeks very difficult. The same may hold true for people who have a very active lifestyle, as there is not a lot of emphasis on exercise in this program.

Artificial sweeteners, some of which have health risks themselves, are accepted and even encouraged on the South Beach diet. But using them will keep you in the habit of having sweet tasting foods, so you are likely to still crave sugar and candy.

Switching from the standard Western diet to the South Beach diet will most likely increase your grocery bill, as healthy food tends to cost more. So replacing junk food with fresh vegetables will be more expensive, but you might save on items like candy and alcohol (a small amount of red wine is allowed in the later phases, but no more).

The South Beach diet has the reputation of being a celebrity-driven fad diet, but this is probably just the result of the name and the hype that has surrounded it. Overall this is one of the better, healthier weightloss programs that has worked for many people.

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The Raw Food Detox Diet

'Gourmet Raw Food' is a great new cuisine consisting of vegetables, fruits, seeds, nuts and sprouts that are prepared in new and interesting ways. These are often healthier, more delicious versions of cooked dishes that you are probably familiar with, and their texture, flavor and heartiness is quite surprising.

Reportedly, the risks of such issues as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and others can be reduced, and in some cases reversed, just by omitting processed grains and sugars, animal-based foods, and most of the trans-fatty acids from the diet. The body can do amazing things when your internal environment is not laden with toxicity.

Though many people turn to a raw food diet rather than some of the other weightloss programs in order to lose weight, there are many others with normal weight who follow the diet because it is a more natural and healthy way to eat. There are people who consider cooked food to be unnatural.

But, whatever your beliefs are about a diet of raw foods, following a cleansing diet such as the raw food detox diet is almost certain to alleviate symptoms you may have such as mood swings, insomnia, indigestion, sugar cravings, fatigue, and problems losing weight, among others. Eliminating toxins by detoxification purifies the whole body, and the liver in particular, which is the body's filter.


Raw foodists claim that not only is a raw food diet extremely nutrient dense - affording you many times the nutrients you get from heated foods where most of the nutrients are destroyed - but that raw food contains no toxins.

As with many other diets out there, the raw food diet has many variations, depending on who you talk to. But for the most part, raw foodists seem to agree that heating any food above 118 degrees significantly reduces the nutrients in the food.

What Foods Are NOT Raw?

Determining the difference between foods that are eaten cold, and raw food, can be confusing to some people, so here is a run down of foods that are NOT raw:

• Bread or any other food that has been cooked before you bought it.
  
• Any food that has been pasteurized (including all dairy products unless marked raw or unpasteurized, all fruit juices unless freshly squeezed from the fruit, and almonds from California).
  
• Nuts that have been heated to extract them from the shell, even if marked raw (macadamia, brazil, cashew). Nuts in shells are usually raw, as are out-of-shell unroasted filberts (hazelnuts), peanuts, pine seeds and non-Californian almonds.
  
• Sugar, molasses, maple syrup, most commercial brands of honey.
  
• Oils, unless marked extra virgin.
  
• Nut butters and tahini, except from a specialist raw food supplier.
  
• Almost all canned and processed foods.
  
• Dried foods are raw only if they are dried at temperatures below 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46 degrees Celsius).
  

Some raw foodists eat foods that have been frozen, if safe, but others do not - citing that freezing breaks down the food in much the same way as cooking. Defrosted frozen fruit usually looks and tastes more like cooked than raw fruit.

Why Does A Raw Food Diet Work?

Most forms of a raw food diet are very high in fiber which leaves you feeling full with fewer calories, and as a result you will lose weight just from the calorie reduction. However, this may not be the case if you include a lot of high fat raw food in your diet such as nuts, seeds, avocados and coconut. If, after trying raw food you find that you are not losing weight, try reducing your consumption to 2 ounces (50 g) of nuts or seeds, or 1/2 an avocado per day.

Though the raw food community will argue that cooked food is unnatural and is harder on the body, causing weight gain and disease, whether you will actually lose more weight eating raw food than you would if you ate the same food cooked, is not known.

Negatives Of Raw Food Diet Explained

There are plenty of negatives with this diet. Nevertheless, people attribute some amazing health benefits to it including weight loss and overcoming depression and chronic fatigue, among other things.

• The raw foods diet is notoriously difficult to follow 100% on social occasions. And though you can normally ask for salad and fruit in a restaurant, you will likely have to take along your own food when visiting with friends.
  
  
• It can be difficult to meet nutritional requirements on this diet, and you will need to eat a lot of raw green vegetables, which some people may find unpalatable. You can however, blend many of your vegetables with fruit to make green smoothies, rather than trying to eat them all.
  
  
• The vegan diet, whether cooked or raw, requires supplementation of vitamin B12, and it may not be suitable for small children. Some versions of the diet are very high in fat, and this can be a negative factor depending on your medical history.
  
  
• If you have diabetes or problems with candida overgrowth, a high fruit diet may not be a healthy way to lose weight. A combination of high fruit and high fat is definitely to be avoided if you suffer from either of these medical conditions.
  
  
• Some foods, including kidney beans and their sprouts, and unpeeled potatoes are actually dangerous if eaten raw. Other foods, such as raw meat, can be deadly if it is contaminated, and unpasteurized dairy products could cause food poisoning and should not be eaten by pregnant women or anyone who is at risk.
  

Some vegetables contain natural pesticides which may be dangerous in high doses, but are destroyed or altered by cooking. The brassica family of vegetables including broccoli, cabbage, etc., falls into this category. However some people are big fans of raw broccoli, including it in their raw food diet because the natural pesticide in broccoli has been shown to protect against cancer in many research studies.

Whatever your medical history, it's always a good idea to talk with your doctor before embarking on any diet, including a raw food diet. Please visit our sister site - Carolina Health Notes - for more great weight loss tips.