Diet Directory: Digest these Diet Tips

Weight management is about long-term work with success that will last a lifetime. Some people try to lose weight quickly by ‘crash’ dieting or other extreme measures, which results in them gaining it all back and even more because they haven’t changed their eating habits. The best weight management strategies are those that you can maintain.

The Atkins Diet:

The Atkins diet has captured the taste buds of everyone from A-List celebs such as Jennifer Aniston and Renee Zellweger to everyday women us. The peak of both women and men trying this diet was in 2003, when more than 3 million Brits were estimated to have tried the Atkins diet in an effort to shape up and slim down.

The concept behind this controversial diet is relatively simple; it is based on high protein and low-carb intake. Your body is forced into burning its fat stores to provide you with energy; as you burn more calories when your body burns fat compared with carbohydrate; you will lose weight more quickly.

The Atkins of ‘Fatkins’ diet as it has been nicknamed has four phases, the first of which being the induction, which gives your body the biggest shock as you are only allowed 20g of carbs. The second stage is ongoing weight loss, which means you can increase your carb intake by 5g. Pre-maintenance is the third stage which sees an increase of 10% of carb consumption, with the forth and last phase being Lifetime maintenance, where dieters should have the knowledge and will power to focus on eating unprocessed foods in order to keep off the pounds.

The Macrobiotic Diet:

This diet comes from the Greek roots meaning ‘long life’; as such the theory behind this type of diet is that simplicity is the key to optimal health. People who choose the Macrobiotic diet are seeking a healthy way of eating that integrates physical, spiritual and planetary health.

The Macrobiotic diet is a low-fat, high fibre diet similar to the Atkins diet, but is a predominantly vegetarian diet. The methodology emphasises whole grains and vegetables, also rich in phytoestrogens from soy products.

This type of diet is popular because it is seen as very eco-friendly as locally sourced foods will have a low carbon footprint. It also has the potential to strengthen your immune system, protect against certain diseases and of course help you lose weight, though this is not the sole purpose of the diet.

The Slim Fast Diet:

Still one of the most popular diets, which centres around the use of slim fast food products being used as meal substitutes. The product range has expanded as the demand has increased, meaning there isn’t only slim fast milkshakes, but also smoothies, soups and various snack bars.

This is the perfect diet for you if you live a hectic lifestyle as you don’t have to worry about portion sizes or calorie intake as it is already worked out for you. You will cut your time you spend in the kitchen down as you only need to prepare one meal a day as slim fast meals are ready meals - so you can spend more time doing activities you enjoy.

Remember when dieting that drastic changes are harder to stick to than small changes, so try reducing the size of your portions your eat and giving up regular sugary fizzy drinks for a week as a first step. Once you have that under way you can start gradually introducing healthier foods and exercise into your life - resulting in a much healthier happy you.