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How To Improve the Atkins Diet

The Atkins diet has been around for many years. Millions of people have tried it, and many are still using it in some form. Most people who go on this program successfully lose a significant amount of weight, and do so rather quickly. This is because the person consumes virtually no carbohydrates, thereby forcing the body to burn existing, stored fat.

There are, however, several major drawbacks to the diet including constipation, the lack of some essential nutrients, and an excess intake of dietary fat due to the high protein content of the program.

That said, we have now found a way to actually improve the Atkins diet, allowing you to lose even more weight while still following its food program.

How is that possible? Quite simply by addressing the three major concerns of the program that health specialists have been raising.

The first concern is the lack of fiber in the program. Typically, while on the Atkins diet, you have to add fiber. This requires a lot of water, and can sometimes cause bloating issues.

The second concern is the high dietary fat intake called for, a large part of which consists of saturated and trans fats. These are the unhealthiest fats you can eat, and they can lead to high levels of LDL cholesterol and high triglyceride levels.

These two concerns can now be handled by adding one dietary product to your Atkins plan.

There is a new corn fiber that was discovered by two scientists at Wayne State University which does not require very much water consumption. Therefore, this product will add the beneficial fiber to the diet without the bloating. This new corn fiber has another feature that is so unique it has been patented. Each gram (one pill) absorbs 81 calories of dietary fat from your diet! You read that right…81 calories of pure fat are absorbed with each pill. Together, the fat and the fiber make their way through the colon and out of the body. The product is sold under the name Mirafit FBCx. I am not sure what stores around the country are carrying this right now, but the U.S. distributor is Enerex USA, and they will have that information. You can also find more detailed information about Mirafit on the Mirafit website.

With Mirafit absorbing 500 to 600 fat calories a day out of your diet, this really helps to minimize how much fat is actually getting into your system. But guess what else this does? Since you are already burning fat because you do not have carbohydrates with your (Atkins) diet, Mirafit actually restricts the additional 500-600 calories without taking away the satisfaction of eating the foods. It essentially puts you on a more calorie controlled diet.

This can result in an extra five or six pounds of weight loss per month, on top of the weight loss that is generated by the Atkins diet. Consider the science here. If you are maintaining your weight, and then deduct 500 to 600 calories a day from your diet in the form of fat, you will lose about one to one and a half pounds extra per week. Now that is how to improve the Atkins diet!

The last thing that needs to be addressed in improving Atkins is the lack of some essential nutrients that result from initially eliminating all fruits and vegetables from your diet. The solution is the most nutrient-dense greens product available, GREENS Rx Berry by Enerex.

This product is made on the plateau in Utah where the soil and water are as pure as you will find. The company Herbal Integrity sells it online (along with all of the products mentioned here), but there are dealers for this product around the U.S. Do not accept substitutes. There is nothing equal to this product. Just a tablespoon a day will add an entire day’s worth of greens and fruits to your diet. It is at least six times as powerful as the “Juice Plus” products so many are tricked into buying for the same price. GREENS Rx also includes the human strain of probiotics to replenish your good bacteria. This is the strain used in 30,000 hospitals and clinics around the world. It is very powerful.

Although I personally wish everyone would just make better food choices, the Atkins diet can be highly effective. I do not recommend you stay on it long term; digesting all that protein is difficult on your system. But you will definitely lose weight quickly. Once you get to your desired weight, transition from Atkins to a more balanced diet. However, you can continue taking Mirafit, using it as needed to help you maintain your weight, and to help with the occasional “fat food splurges” we all have.

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How to manage Bland Diet

What is a bland diet? It is a diet specially set to treat certain gastrointestinal or stomach problems such as heartburns, ulcers and gas.

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An answer to a question, what is a bland diet, is that it is a simple treatment for people suffering from any one or more gastrointestinal disorders such as chronic gastritis, ulcer, esophagitis and dyspepsia.

Bland diet is a dietary regimen for people suffering from stomach disorders. Hence, it is quite understood that ingredients of a bland diet are soft food items, which are easy to digest with a capacity to keep the acidity to low levels. Questions about diet may be asked to your physicians and he/she can suggest the diet or recommend a dietician to do it.

Diet medical questions may include the queries about the food stuffs to eat and food stuffs to avoid during the time while a person experien ces any gastrointestinal disorders. However, before a dietician could decide the bland diet for a person, he/she needs to seek answers to several medical questions related to the person such as any food allergies or irritations associated with any food items and emotions medical questions of people.

Bland Diet:

The diet prescribed as a bland diet will include food items that are easy to digest and low in fiber and acid contents. Even giving up alcohol and smoking is advised while patient is on bland diet. Also a patient is advised to have 4 to 6 light meals after regular interval to avoid heavy and large meals.

Chewing food properly and eating slowly helps in the digestion of the food. Adequate sleep, avoiding smoking and controlling anxiety are supportive treatments for the standard treatment of the problem.

Allowed Food Items:

• Dairy Products
Milk, cheese, yogurt with low-fats and other dairy products are easily digested and hence, can be included as a part of bland diet. However, there is no restriction on ice-creams and one may consume even ice creams during bland diet, but it should not have any product such as nuts that are not allowed in bland diet.

• Fresh Fruits and Vegetables
Fresh vegetables and fruits are allowed to a bland dieter. However, while carrot, squash, green peas are good to eat in a bland diet, broccoli, onions and green peeper should be avoided as it forms gas. In fruits, oranges, grapefruits, and bananas are allowed.

• Proteins
Protein requirement of the body, while on a bland diet should be met with soy products and meat. Fried chicken and greasy hamburgers are not allowed to be consumed, while grilled and baked chicken is allowed.
Low-fat peanut butter and eggs are also efficient to meet the body’s protein requirement in a bland diet.

• Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are contained in whole grain breads, pasta, oatmeal, corn flakes, white rice and sweet potatoes. All these food items are allowed.

Bland diet is designed for treating certain medical circumstances such as gastrointestinal problems. Hence, to answer what is a bland diet, we can say that this is a diet that aims at improving the digestion with the help of a timed-routine diet and soft to digest food items. Once the problem is controlled patients can return to their normal diet.

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A Quick Look at Some of Today’s Most Effective Diets

The idiot-proof diet is all about calorie shifting. That is, in this diet, you shift your food intake throughout the day instead of eating just 3 meals a day. The diet is popular because it’s actually very easy to follow and there are hardly any restrictions when it comes to the types of food you can eat.

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The Idiot-Proof Diet

The idiot-proof diet is all about calorie shifting. That is, in this diet, you shift your food intake throughout the day instead of eating just 3 meals a day. The diet is popular because it’s actually very easy to follow and there are hardly any restrictions when it comes to the types of food you can eat.

The ‘calorie shifting’ model takes place because you eat every two and half hours. The theory is that because your body is consuming calories (energy) constantly throughout the day, it’s always in ‘burning calories’ mode instead of the ‘saving calories’ mode.

When you sign up for the diet, you get access to a diet handbook, an 11-day diet-plan and a diet calculator. You get to pick what foods you like to eat so don’t think that you’ll be tarving in this diet!

NutriSystem

The NutriSystem way of dieting is all about proper meal planning. People love this diet because it takes away the burden of trying to figure out what to eat during their dieting phase. You see, a lot of people actually get confused as to what they can eat when they want to lose weight. That’s not really surprising because there’s so much information out there and for every yay sayer, there is a nay sayer so it’s really tough to know what to eat.

However, with NurtiSystem, they do all the meal planning and portion controlling for you. You just need to sign up to any of their diet programs (e.g., Women’s Program, Men’s Program, Vegetarian Program, etc.) and order a multi-day (usually for 28 days) diet program.

After you choose your diet program, a menu is presented to you and you simply choose what you want to eat. The meals are then delivered to your doorstep at various intervals during your diet program.

The South Beach Diet

The South Beach Diet is popular because the name alone conjures bikini-clad bodies! Add to that the fact that it was founded by a cardiologist, Dr. Arthur Agatston, then you have a sort of ‘doctor recommended, doctor approved’ seal on the diet as well.

At first glance, the South Beach Diet looks a lot like the Atkins Diet in the sense that it restricts carbohydrates during the initial phase of the program (there are 3 phases). The first phase (14 days) encourages ‘normal eating’ in the sense that you can pretty much eat whatever you want but you must NOT eat bread, rice, potatoes, pasta, or baked goods. Fruit is also not allowed. No sugar. No alcohol.

The second phase allows you to SLOWLY introduce these items back into your diet but at lesser levels that you consumed them before of course. The third phase is more about general maintenance.

Weight Watchers

Probably one of the longest running diet programs out there is Weight Watchers. It believes in the overall approach where food, exercise, behavior and support are addressed.

Weight Watchers is known for advocating a point system for foods. Using this system, one calculates the calorie intake of the foods he or she eats. The number of points you can have in a day varies depending on your weight. The beauty of the program is that there are no gut-wrenching food restrictions so you never feel deprived of anything. However, the point system teaches you how to balance your meals so that even if you indulge on one food item, you don’t go overboard and consume too much in a day.

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