The Diet Secrets

Fiber-rich food is an important component for most diets (like the Cookie Diet).  They play an important role in gastrointestinal health and offer added immunity against a variety of ailments including diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.  Perhaps more importantly for you, fiber can aid greatly in your weight loss efforts.

There are two main types of fiber, soluble and insoluble.  Insoluble fiber is a cellulose-based substance that help promote regular bowel movement when taken with sufficient amounts of water.

Soluble fibre, on the other hand, are gum-based compounds often found in legumes, flaxseed, vegetables and whole grains.  When you consume soluble fiber, it traps nutrients such as sugar and starch, making those elements take longer before being absorbed in the blood.  As a result, you’ll feel fuller even after eating just the same amount of calories with a diet rich on soluble fiber.

If you’re looking to suppress appetite in a healthy way (apart from managing blood sugar), you can chuck the Hoodia pills out the door and go on a diet rich in soluble fiber instead.  Doctor’s recommendations are to consume at least 25 grams of fiber per day, which you can do either via supplements (fiber pills) or eating well.

Do you want to integrate high amounts of fiber to your meals?  Try these fiber-rich eating suggestions:

• Choose high-fiber bread like wheat and other whole grains for your sandwiches.
• Use bran or whole grain crumbs when using extenders for your hamburgers or as breading substitute for fried dishes.
• Prepare oatmeal and other whole grain cereals for breakfast.
• Eat between five to nine servings of fruits (apples, oranges, bananas) and vegetables (carrots, kidneybeans, chickpeas, okra) everyday.
• Use carrots, spinach and other dark greens in your salads then top it with nuts and seeds

Mariah Carey has long had a voluptuous figure but those sexy curves often came with a noticeable amount of flab.  When she came out this year, however, during the promotion of her new E=MC2 album, her shape was noticeably slimmer.  With her size 8 frame transformed into a 0/2, the media was abuzz.  What was her secret?

As it turns out, Mariah lost a total of 20 pounds with a diet and exercise program supervised by St. Barts trainer Patricia Guy.   Instead of a fad diet, she embraced a complete lifestyle change, integrating the fitness regime into every aspect of her life.

Butter, in all forms, has been removed from her diet.  In its place, her portion-controlled meals are prepared with light amounts of olive oil.  She has also eliminated snacks in-between-meals.  Her calorie consumption lies under 1500 a day,  which facilitated the weight loss.  Mariah credits 75% of her current fitness level to this diet and the remaining 25% from exercise.

In addition to the diet, she consumes over three liters of water per day. To keep cravings for unhealthy snacks at bay, she takes small pieces of her favorite comfort foods (ala the “Morsel Diet”) like fried chicken and mac-and-cheese so as to not to feel deprived.  Mariah supplements the healthy eating with a medium-impact exercise routine consisting of water exercises (swimming, water jogging, bicycling and dolphin kicks), yoga  and pilates.

If you’re finding your eating regimen regularly disrupted by an inability to resist chocolate treats, the Chocolate Diet, which uses the sweet delicacy as the main focus of the program, might prove fitting for you.

If you thought the diet is about feeding yourself chocolates all day, you’ll probably be a little disappointed.    Developed by British author Sally Ann Voak, the diet looks to train you, instead, in keeping excess weight off while occasionally indulging in chocolate favors.

The Chocolate Diet defines six categories of chocolate lovers, based upon their attachment to the sweet treat, and provides different diet programs for each.  It starts out, for all six plans, with a chocolate break, which requires you to make do without the decadent treat for the first week.  The idea is that by cutting off chocolate from your regular diet and breaking any need you’ve developed for it, you can begin to safely incorporate it into your meals and snacks.

Dieters can expect a reduced-calorie eating program of about 1,100 per day, which should facilitate considerable weight loss when followed right.  Those calories include the chocolates you will be consuming as part of the eating plan, both in the form of shakes (which you will use to replace snacks) and chocolate bars.  With such a small amount of calories, you’re naturally not going to be able to consume a whole lot of decadent treats - most likely, you’ll be settling for a small bar with about 100 calories instead of a large one that packs four or five times that.

The main strength of the Chocolate Diet is the fact that it can help curb your cravings for the decadent sweet.  Instead of depriving yourself and splurging once you break down, you treat yourself to a small taste during the course of the day.  According to Voak, dieters can expect to lose seven pounds a day during the course of the program.  I have to say that is sweet!

A growing trend among many dieters are systems that not only help you lose weight, but cleanse your body of toxins in the process.  The Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) Diet claims to be one such program.

Like many cleansing diets, the benefits of this program is highly contested.  Fans of the diet claim that the acidity of the vinegar combined with the pectin in the fruit does an immense job in promoting weight loss. Others, however, downplay apple cider vinegar’s part in the process and point out the sensible eating plan that accompanies a properly-done ACV diet.  A 2005 study of a small, controlled group, however, found that
individuals who ate food along with white vinegar tended to feel fuller compared to those who eat the same food sans the acidic compound.

There is no official ACV diet but people using it to lose weight are generally required to take between two to three teaspoonfuls of apple cider vinegar before every meal.  This is supposed to curb later cravings and make meals even in smaller portions more satisfying.

Some health experts have designed ACV-based diets, combining the consumption of the vinegar along with a controlled meal plan.  One variation, for instance, suggests a 7-day meal plan paired with regular ingestion of the vinegar to be cycled two weeks at a time.  Due to lack of documented evidence, however - whether through test subjects or scientific viability - most nutritionists relegate Apple Cider Vinegar Diet to an unwitting fad.  If you’re considering it, realize that there are more scientifically sound programs available elsewhere.