This is how we do it...

As a rule, diets don't really fail, but people fail to stick with a diet. Every day there’s a new miracle plan to help you “blast your fat” or “change your metabolism”. Extreme diets can work in many cases, but they really do need to be monitored by a health care professional. Quite often when we try these on our own, we ignore the fact that many of these diets, unsupervised, can wreak havoc on our health.
It’s kind of tricky when someone asks me to recommend any one diet program since I kind of pick and choose from a number of different plans. I pretty much try to follow the food pyramid and eat 5-6 small meals daily. Weight Watchers was always a favorite and it was how I first lost weight and kept it off, but over the years I’ve found other programs that fit well with my lifestyle. After so many years of watching my foods, I can pretty much eyeball a portion size and my kids tell me I’ve memorized the nutritional facts on every food I eat on a regular basis. Really. They used to take away cereal boxes and see if I could tell them the carb, fiber, sodium, and protein listings. 90% of the time I was right. For many though, it’s overwhelming trying to sort out different eating plans, so IDEA Health and Fitness has come up with13 Standards for Analyzing Diet Programs to help you evaluate a plan before you begin. (This is a long article, so look for the list and explanation within the article)
http://www.ideafit.com/fitness-library/analyzing-popular-diets
Sooooo…. there are basically three programs/books I use on a regular basis. They meet most of the standards and they work with my lifestyle. So rather than rate all the programs out there, I’ll go over the ones I know and like.
I’ve written about the Eating for Life plan by Bill Phillips in the past and you can get information about the plan at www.bodyforlife.com. Second is Weight Watchers. It’s pretty much what set the diet program craze in motion and it continues to be a front runner. The program is based in scientific study and really addresses the dieter’s lifestyle. The latest program, called “Momentum”, combines the previous point system with a focus on foods that provide “satiety” (or fullness). Along with teaching about portion size, it teaches more about healthful food choices (making every point count nutritionally) that work with individual lifestyles. The principles of the program: eating smarter, moving more, developing better habits, and getting support, are further enhanced by their meeting and online support (recipes, meal trackers, calorie and point calculators, restaurant guides, etc.) when you join at www.weightwatchers.com/Index.aspx. You can also find point values for many restaurant dishes at http://www.dwlz.com/.
Along with Eating For Life and Weight Watchers, the plan I love right now is the Eat Clean Diet by Tosca Reno. I discovered references to the plan while reading my favorite fitness magazine, Oxygen. Ms. Reno explains her initial weight loss and the strategies she gleaned from fitness competitors and body builders. The focus is on fresh foods in appropriate portion sizes. You won’t find a bunch of frozen meals or packaged foods and it does take some preparation, but it’s worth the time. The “Eat Clean” principles include drinking 2-3 liters of water, eating 5-6 meals daily (every 3-4 hours) and combining lean protein and complex carbohydrates at each meal. It focuses on consuming “healthy” fats and avoiding processed foods and those with preservatives and trans fats. In addition to the original book, there is also an Eat Clean cookbook and Eat Clean diet books for kids and for men.
Her books give you tools for shopping, planning and cooking as well as guides for what to order and avoid at restaurants. Although exercise is a VERY important component of the plan, she stresses that 80% of weight loss is based on your nutrition; WHAT you each and HOW MUCH you eat (I’ll vouch for that). Her web site (www.eatcleandiet.com) provides some limited info. My friend Maureen Wielansky, who blogs at www.makingitallfit.com has written tips for shopping and meal planning on this diet.
Also, both Weight Watchers and Clean Eating magazines are filled with recipes and information that follow the diet plan as well. I’ve been using them for the past 6 months with great results in my household. I also love an eating web site called Hungry Girl, but I’ll talk about that in a future post.
So, if you’re contemplating trying a new diet plan, use the guidelines provided by IDEA Fitness to help you evaluate it. In the meantime, I’m sticking with what works for me!!!
Have you had success (or disasters) with a particular diet plan? If so, e-mail me at hkraus52@gmail.com and tell me all about it. I’ll include your comments in a future posting.