Choosing the right diet

When you start your weight loss program, sooner or later ther is a problem of diet. What to eat? What not to eat? How much to eat? These are questions that you have to find the answer to. The first step to take is to make yourself familiar with a few diet programs, to see what they consist in. Then you should consult your phisician who will tell you which of these diet program is the best for you. You shouldn't change your eating habits too dramatically at once. To show you at least a hint where to look and what to look for, here are the most popular diet programs recently.

First, let's have a look at the so called Atkins Diet, developed by Dr. Robert C. Atkins and published in a book. The main concept in the Atkins diet is that we need first of all concentrate on carbohydrates we eat and reduce their amount in our food. There is no or very little calorie counting, lots of good eating and saying good-bye to junk food, processed food. sodas, and other stuff rich in sugar. Instead, you will eat much more food rich in proteins. The theory behind this diet is that, deprived of carbohydrates, your body will enter the ketosis phase. During ketosis, your body burns body fat for fuel instead of using food in your diet. This, in turn, will stop insulin production, which will in turn prevent from more fat being stored. The Atkins diet consists of four stages, during which you will not only loose weight, but also create new eating habits.

Another very popular diet is the Montignac diet. This one is based on the so called glycemic index, The glycemic index measures carbohydrates for their pure sugar/starch content in order to determine how they affect glycemia (blood sugar levels) after meals. Generally speaking, you have to avoid carbohydrates with high glycemic index and eat those wiht low glycemic index. There are exceptions, however, for example carrots which have high glycemic index, but the content of carbohydrates in them is so low that you can treat it insignificant. Again, we might say that Montignac Method is not a diet in a traditional sense, since you can eat really much and still lose weight.It's again more about changing your eating habits. The main idea is a free and balanced way of eating by knowledgeably choosing food which contributes to reducing insulin, the weight gaining hormone.

The third diet in this company is the so called "South Beach Diet". Here again, food contents are divided into "bad carbohydrates" vs. "good carbohydrates", and "bad fats"vs. "good fats". The program is divided into three phases, where food eliminated in phase one are gradually returned into the menu, but in smaller amounts than before. Phase I lasts two weeks, followed by phase II, during which you gain your target weight, and phase III is the maintenance phase, i.e. you keep your desired weight. As in Atkins diet and the Montignac Method, you don't count the calories, as this is totally irrelevant.

The above three methods are just examples of the directions you can follow. In any case, however, you should make yourself familiar with other programs, too, and then consult your doctor to help you to choose the best program. Remember, however, that even the best program is nothing as long as it remains only a program in a form of a book, a booklet on your shelf or an e-book on your hard disk. It is now your turn to take action!