There are many healthy eating programmes that will help us reach our weight loss goal, but how do we decide which will give the best results? Which are more effective, faster or easier, and how do we choose?
Below are a few of the most well-known healthy eating diets, with examples of their beneficial and detrimental factors:
Low Fat Diets
There are numerous popular low-fat diets for us to choose from, Weight Watchers being one of the more well-known ones. The Weight Watchers diet plan has many options within their overall programme which enable us to easily balance our diet. Provision is made to reduce our fat and calorie intake, without the pressure of actually counting calories and by utilising many tools. They employ a Points system which categorizes common every day foods, enabling us to easily calculate exactly how many Points we are allowed to eat per day. Using this system, it is so simple to keep a record of how many points our snacks, meals and beverages contain, which help prevent us from overeating.
A major benefit of a low-fat diet such as Weight Watchers is that no food is restricted. We can virtually eat anything that we choose, providing that we have calculated them into our daily Points allowance. The main problem with this flexibility is the temptation to eat far too much unhealthy foods, simply because we can slot them in with our daily Points allocation. For optimum results, it is much better to stick to healthier foods, saving any excess Points to enable us to enjoy special treats perhaps once or twice a week.
Another advantage of a Weight Watchers plan is availability. There are many local meetings which take place everywhere. If we are restricted by time or cannot attend a meeting, it is also possible to follow the plan on-line. The meetings and on-line membership provide unlimited support and supply us with tips, recipes and constructive assistance when needed.
Mediterranean Diet
The Mediterranean diet is most renowned for the heart healthy benefits. This plan is a simple effective way to lose weight and improve our health and general wellbeing. The basic foods which make up this diet are both delicious and nutritious. It consists of lots of fresh fish such as salmon, mackerel and sea bass, along with lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, olive oil and moderate quantities of pasta and bread.
The Mediterranean diet option is not a low-fat plan, but the fats consumed are healthy rather than unhealthy, and are advantageous to our health and wellbeing. There is an unlimited variety of nutritious and delicious foods allowed on this diet, making it easy to follow and it can be maintained long-term, unlike some other diet plans available.
Low Carbohydrate Diet
The Atkins Diet is probably the best known example of a low carbohydrate diet. This plan involves a major reduction of carbohydrates such as pasta, rice, bread, flour, fruit and sugar. The main components of the diet include meat, cheese and other dairy products, with small quantities of fresh green vegetables. The high fat content of this diet has attracted much criticism over the years.
A low carbohydrate diet can prove extremely restrictive, as we may have to sacrifice many of the favourite foods that we enjoy. This deprivation often leads to difficulty maintaining this diet for any long period of time.
There are other alternative low carbohydrate diets, one example is the South Beach Diet. This diet permits a higher intake of carbohydrates, but the main focus is on more complex carbohydrates rather than simple ones. This means that we focus on high fibre whole grains rather, than refined white flour goods. Lean protein, heart healthy fats, fresh fruit and vegetables complete the diet package, creating many similarities to the Mediterranean diet.
When we look at all the various diet options we need to consider which will be the best choice for us. None of us are the same, and we all have different tastes and requirements from our chosen diet. An ideal choice would be the plan which incorporates the type of foods we most enjoy and which enables us to eat some of these foods as regularly as possible.
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