The Diet Secrets

Reality is a word that gets tossed around a lot.  It carries a deep meaning, after all, and probably resonates with a lot of people.  It’s also a word that may carry some significance to unsuccessful dieters who find the demands of typical diets a little too difficult to digest, pun intended.

The Reality Diet is an eating system that’s largely free from the trappings of many diet programs.  It’s neither low on carbs nor low on fat and doesn’t make unusual demands on those looking to lose weight.

The Diet

High fiber is the order of the day for the Reality Diet.  Fiber keeps you full much longer, removing hunger pangs throughout the day.  The book teaches dieters how to identify food choices rich in fiber, such as wheat and grains, along with how to integrate them into your meals.

According to the author, Dr. Steven Schnur, calorie counting and other trappings involved in fad diets make them difficult for ordinary individuals to employ.  While many can do them for a week or two, the pressures of reality kick in eventually, and they just give up on the diet and return to their old habits.

The Reality Diet looks to remedy this by being easy to follow and allowing for concessions.  Meals are very forgiving and allow enough “good stuff” to keep you from developing cravings.  Weight loss is facilitated by portion control and a focus on filling low-calorie food choices.

The System

Beyond meals, the book includes tips on how to eat healthy when dining out, along with other situations that might make losing weight more difficult. Dr. Schnur also cautions against diet programs that doesn’t include an exercise routine.  Exercise is the easiest way to raise your metabolism so there’s no excuse not to engage in it.  In his book, Dr. Schnur recommends aerobic exercises designed to raise heart rate and burn fat.

To be thin for life is pretty much every dieter’s dream.  Unfortunately, most people only have it as a fantasy and nothing more.Ann Fletcher’s book, Thin For Life, claims its possible.  This time, we check her tome to see how she proposes to do it.

Instead of a simple book outlining a diet, Thin For Life features Ann Fletcher’s 6-week weight control system, a 10-point weight loss guide and notes from 200 successful dieters (she calls them “diet masters”) to truly bring the lessons to the fore.  Combining nutrition science with motivation and practical, real-life advice, this book just might live up to its name…or not.

As we all know, having a good diet guide is one thing but implementing it is another matter entirely.  Free from gimmicks, however, this book might just be the kick that you need to finally get your weight loss goals in order.

The six-week diet plan in the book is sound and very well done.  In fact, it’s one diet that can probably work for beginner and intermediate dieters alike.  Based on the Food Guide Pyramid, dieters will be trained in healthy eating by incorporating one aspect of the pyramid into their meals every week.  It also includes recipes as well as often-brilliant advice about ways to lessen calories in the food you eat.

What really makes it shine for me, though, are the featured advice from many successful dieters who have used the six-week program, as well as other diet systems, to achieve their goals.  Motivational and inspiring, you will likely see bits and pieces of yourself among the persons interviewed.

Promising results in nine days, the Fat Smash Diet is both one of the most popular and most controversial diets around.  It gained its share of fame and notoriety after it was featured in the VH1 show Celebrity Fit Club, where fading celebrity contestants competed with each other to lose weight.

Contrary to initial impressions, the diet is neither a quick fix nor does it make undue promises.  Instead, it is a lifestyle system that steers you towards making proper food choices for maximum health.  Like most good diets, it focuses on picking nutrient-rich,  low calorie foods that are filling, which help both keep hunger pangs away while keeping you healthy.

While Smith promises results in nine days, the actual system is a 90-day program.  It doesn’t mean you won’t see changes in nine days, though.

Phase I

The diet starts with a 9-day detox period designed to clean your body of impurities as well as break existing bad habits that are keeping you fat.  You eat four to five meals a day, with your meals consisting of either raw, grilled or steamed food choices.  They will be very limited choices, though, so look forward to a pretty difficult adjustment period.

Phase 2

The second phase consists of building a new foundation for healthier eating and lasts for three weeks.  The main feature of this phase is the introduction of a little more variety in food choices, such as lean meat, seafood and cheese.

Phase 3

The third phase lasts a full month and sees the introduction of carbs like pasta and bread into the diet.  Servings will also be slightly larger although it still needs to be tightly-controlled.

Phase 4

The last phase of the diet, called the Temple, is intended to be the diet that you bring with you for the rest of your life.  Included in your intake will be regular calorie sources like beer, pizza and potatoes.  Along with the food, you’ll need to implement principles that will keep you fit for the coming years, like exercise, portion control and eating more frequently.

Doing The Fat Smash

If you’d like to do the Fat Smash Diet, you can join the Celebrity Fit Club website (paid membership required).  Your subscription includes access to all the information and tools you need to complete the diet as well as continue it over the coming years.

The 5-Factor Fitness is a high-profile diet book from renowned trainer Harley Pasternak.  Known as the official trainer to stars like Halle Barry, Orlando Bloom and Eva Mendes, he condenses his years of experience into this book, which aims to retool dieters into the proper ways of achieving and maintaining a healthy body.

Dieting Is Hard

The book works on the premise that people leave diets and revert to their unhealthy lifestyles due to the unrealistic restrictions most diets require.  With stringent requirements on fat, carbs and other common food choices, keeping up a diet while trying to balance your social and work life can turn into a complicated exercise in diplomacy and self-restraint.  As a result, most dieters look forward to ending the diet and resuming their normal lives instead of staying healthy.

An Easier Way

Pasternak offers an easier way on 5-Factor Fitness, with a fitness regime that takes only 25 minutes a day and a diet plan that entails frequent meals to help you maintain a consistent blood sugar level.  The eventual goal is to have a diet and exercise plan that you can fit into your day without causing strain to any other part of your life.

The diet consists of small but healthy meal choices that focus on high fiber food choices, complex carbs, lean protein, good fats and whole grains.Recipes featured in the book are all easy to make, with most requiring no more than a 5-minute prep time.

Where the book really sets itself apart are the sections on how to maintain your diet even in difficult situations.  Everything from how to choose meals when dining out to emotional eating situations to enjoying yourself during parties get discussed, with sensible advice on the exact things you need to do to keep your diet in order.

All in all, 5-Factor Fitness offers a sensible diet and exercise program, along with very useful advice that you can use even when you decide to follow a different diet or fitness regime.