UK Health and Fitness Guide

Home  |  Health and Fitness Directory  |  Site Map

Diet Plans

Atkins Diet Plan

Since its first debut in 1972, millions of people have won their battle with obesity and heart disease through Dr Atkins Diet Plan. According to Dr Atkins the diet is also good for managing many health disorders including headaches, blood sugar disorders, slow or sluggish metabolism, food intolerance's, allergies, and many other health problems. Although the main reason why people turn to Atkins Diet is because it provides fast weight loss, many with high cholesterol, hypertension, diabetes and polycystic ovarian syndrome had reported that they feel more energetic than they have had in years after one week on Atkins Diet.

While medical experts were recommending low fat, high carbohydrate diets, Dr Atkins suggested people who wanted to lose weight should do the exact opposite. Dr Atkins diet philosophy
was that up to two thirds of calories could come from fat - more than double the usual recommendation - and people should eat meats and cheeses rather than breads, pastas,
and even fruits and vegetables. Instead of carbohydrate and sugar, Atkins Diet Plan highly recommends plenty of fat and protein. The diet specifically recommends animal proteins; therefore vegetarians and vegans will have a hard time following the diet.

GI Diet Plan

Many people who have diabetes have known about the Glycaemic Index (GI) for years and have used it to help control their blood sugar levels. The basic premise is that different foods take longer than others to digest and break down into glucose (the substance transported around the body in the blood stream for use by the body).

In 1981, professor of nutrition Dr David Jenkins was looking at how different carbohydrate-rich foods affected blood sugar levels in people with diabetes and discovered that, contrary to popular belief, many starchy foods affected blood sugar levels quite dramatically, while some sugary foods had little effect. From his research, he developed a scale called the Glycaemic Index, which quite simply ranked foods based on the effect they had on blood sugar levels.

Taking pure glucose, which enters the blood stream very quickly, as a reference with a GI of 100, all other foods are ranked from 1 to 100. The lower the GI, the longer it takes for the food to be digested and affect blood sugar levels.

South Beach Diet Plan

This Diet was created by Dr. Arthur Agatston, a highly respected cardiologist, to work with your body safely and effectively. This diet works in phases, the first two for a specific timeframe and the third phase for life. With this new approach, you can stop counting calories, stop weighing food portions, and stop feeling as though you are deprived from eating good-tasting and satisfying food! Actually, you will be eating three, normal-size meals but wait, that not all! You will also get two snacks each day and with meal plans that are designed to be flexible, you can enjoy a variety, based on what sounds good to you on any particular day.

What makes the South Beach Diet different is that it teaches a way of life where you rely on the right carbohydrates and fats. This new way of eating allows you to live contently without eating the bad carbohydrates and fats. In contrast, when a person eats bad carbohydrates and fats they feel hungrier, causing them to eat more, which causes weight gain. In exchange for eating right, you become healthier and can enjoy an 8 to 13 pound weight loss in just two weeks!

You can start a diet plan specific to your needs today online at WeightWatchers.com ...

Copyright © 2004 - 2006 Gympals.co.uk