Diets-the good, the bad, & the truth.

Happy tuesday everyone! I hope everyones day started off on the right foot and are enjoying today. I actually have a day off today where I have nothing to do-no work, no volunteering-just a day to relax, blog, workout, and tan on this beautiful, sunny day! My boyfriend is currently out of town, giving me more free time to do this (blog) and to try out all these new recipes I've been finding. These recipes will surely be posted as I try them for you guys :)

Ok. So. Have you ever thought about how many different diet plans there are out in the world? Like, there are a lot. Trust me, I looked it up! Some diets were for health issues (i.e Chrohn's disease, IBS) and many other diets were for dietary reasons and changes (i.e weight loss). I probably spent a good 2-3 hours reading through the index of all the diets, finding the most interesting, the most popular, and the weirdest diets. There are definitely a handful I found that I would never recommend, due to extreme restrictions of food. Healthy? No! I did want to share with you the pros and cons of several of the most widely know diet plans out there. I am in no way suggesting that these are the only good diet plans and what not. I am simply giving you information. These are not my opinions on such diets. Please use this information to your benefit and for yourself-however that may be.

Fruitarian Diet

• A fruitarian is a subgroup of a vegan, but goes even further by eliminating all parts of vegetables (plants and trees) except the fruit part of the plants.
• They eat only the culinary fruit and botanical fruit. As in apples, pears, nuts, seeds, tomatoes and other plant fruit. Nuts provide a great source of protein and grains and pasta are suggested for consumption for a balanced diet.
• This diet is extremely hard to follow due to extreme restrictions. Long term negative health effects of this type of diet can be: vitamin B12 deficiency, which is essential for normal nervous system functioning; chronic alcoholism, chrohns disease, fish tape worm, and pernicious anemia.

Flat-Belly Diet

• This diet focuses on losing visceral fat-its more dangerous to your health and much harder to lose. It also focuses on the consumption of monounsaturated fatty acids at every meal because MUFA's help with fat burning.
• Oils, nuts and seeds, olives, and dark chocolate are recommended. See my post "Flat Belly Foods" for more foods! This diet resembles that of the Mediterranean diet, which will be explored next.
• Exercise is recommended, but not necessary. WHAT?!
• Overall: Some of these claims are bit dramatic, but their is evidence backing up the need for MUFA's in your diet and their healthy effects.

The Mediterranean Diet

• This diet is all about consuming lots of fruits and vegetables, olive oil, fish, breads, and other grains. This diet contains only small amounts of fish and poultry and red meat is rarely eaten.
• This diet is also about enjoy the food you eat! :)
• Pros: improved cardiovascular health, focus on fresh foods, backed by solid research, portion control.
• Cons: doesn't necessarily improve weight, doesn't address other health issues, dairy is a large part of the diet.

The Raw Food Diet

• 75% of food consumed on this diet should be raw. Raw food is recommended because it contains more enzymes that are usually lost while cooked.
• This diet is generally made up of fruit, vegetables, seeds, nuts, sprouted grains, and dried fruit. Some add fish and poultry to their diet, but many are strict vegans.
• I didn't find any pros and cons.

The Special K Diet

• This diet is said to consume 2 servings of special k cereal, a third meal being nutritionally balanced, and snacks including fruits, veggies, and/or special k bars.
• Pros: no calorie counting, easy to follow, effective for 75% of people.
• Cons: lack of variation, not based on whole grains and not a good source of fiber, hunger is a likely problem.

The Paleo Diet

• This diet is to eat like a caveman. That being said you shouldn't eat processed foods, sugar, salt, grains, legumes, dairy products, coffee and alcohol because these were not available to cavemen.
• Pros: high intakes of protein, emphasis of fruits and vegetables, intake of essential fatty acids, no counting calories.
• Cons: highly restrictive, may be socially disruptive, diet is based on some speculation.

The Atkins Diet

• The original plan went through four phases of eliminating carbohydrates from the diet. The new plan places an emphasis on eating more healthy, and nutritionally dense whole foods.
• Pros: quick results can be experienced, may have experienced success.
• Cons: high fat diet.

There you go, a sampling of several popular diets out there. If there is anything all of these diets have in common, its the consumption of fruits and vegetables. Fruits and veggies are very important to your diet-they provide fiber, keep you full, provide vitamins and minerals, and are simply delicious! Again, these are not my opinions on these diets, but facts. Please click here for where I found this information and for even more information on these diets and much more.

Happy eating, happy exercising, happy living!