May’s Healthy Living

Which diet plans will work for you?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, statistics show a significant increase in obesity in the United States since 1990 and the number continues to grow today.

Below are some of the most popular diets to maintain weight loss and tips at the end to help you get healthy.

Low Carbohydrate Diets: The Atkins and the Zone are considered two of the most popular diets that function on very low carbohydrates and high protein intake.  The idea is that by eliminating carbohydrates from your diet, Atkins says your body will begin burning fat for energy.  The Zone diet includes meals that contains 40 percent carbohydrates, 30 percent fat and 30 percent protein.   The carbohydrates in this diet must be unrefined such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and potatoes.

South Beach Diet: The South Beach is also another very popular diet that focus on eating good carbohydrates versus bad carbohydrates and on controlling insulin.  Good carbohydrates have a minimal impact on your blood sugar levels without causing them to spike or drop too drastically and full of vitamins, minerals and fiber.  For when blood sugar levels fluctuate, that's when you end up feeling hungry, shaky and causes you to gorge on empty calorie snacks.  Bad carbohydrates are full of sugar and white flour, which send blood sugar levels jump upwards. With bad carbs, you feel full at first but resulting in more hunger shortly after because your blood sugar levels fall lower than where they were before.

•   Note: According to the diet recommended by Nutrition and Your Health: Dietary Guidelines for Americans (fifth edition, 2000), more than 60 percent of our foods should be in the form of complex carbohydrates. Lots of salads, fresh or lightly cooked vegetables, and raw fruits are primary in this approach. Whole-grain cereals and breads, brown rice and other whole grains, beans, nuts, and seeds - these foods will adequately supply necessary fiber as well as fuel reserves.

Mediterranean Diet: The Mediterranean Diet urges you to eat the way southern Europeans do. Olive oil is the diet's main source of fat.  The principal aspects of this diet include high olive oil consumption, high consumption of vegetables and unrefined cereals, fruits, moderate consumption of dairy products  such as cheese and yogurt, moderate to high consumption of fish, low consumption of meat and meat products, and moderate wine consumption.

Low Calorie Diets
Two of the most popular low calorie diets include Weight Watcher and Jenny Craig. These diets operates on restricting the portion sizes of meals to reduce the total amount of calories you consume daily. The thought is that eliminating calories while maintaining or increasing your expenditure of calories through physical activity prompts your body to burn calories stored in the form of fat.

Tips for making any diet plan work for you:
•    Before you start any diet, always check with your doctor first to make sure you don’t have any limitations or restrictions. 
•    Be committed.  Choose a diet plan that you know you can do and can commit to doing for at least a month.  Be real with yourself. 
•    EXERCISE. No matter which diet plan you choose, to achieve long term you must incorporate some sort of exercise.  The guideline is to exercise at least 30 minutes most days of the week including both cardio activities and weight training. 
•    Your daily diet should be a balance of carbohydrate and protein.
•    Do it for with a friend.  This could help you to stay motivated and achieve your goal.
•    Have fun and keep a positive attitude.