Dieting Ala Mediterranean: Does it Promote Weight Loss?

Mediterranean culture, lifestyle, sights, and people are something that the whole world founds incredibly attractive, but recent studies have suggested that adopting their way of eating can improve your health and weight.

The Mediterranean diet is unlike the usual fare of Americans. It consists of lots of fruits and vegetables, very little red meat, the occasional red wine, a good amount of fish, and a few helpings of nuts. Mediterranean people don’t view fats as totally evil, but there are certain types that they consciously avoid. Most dishes are cooked using olive oil as well.

At Emory University, a short-term study revealed that the Mediterranean diet offered healthy benefits for the heart. The British Medical Journal Thorax, on the other hand, had reported findings where the Mediterranean diet could lead to selective cancer protection, lower heart risks, and longer life. They did, however, emphasize the need for further research to ascertain if the Mediterranean environment, culture and lifestyle as well as genetics could have contributed to the effects.

As for weight loss, some experts say that the Mediterranean diet is essentially a health plan rather than a weight loss program. The Mediterranean may, nevertheless, pull down your weight as it improves your health. An overweight man, for instance, may lose approximately six to eight pounds within two weeks of sticking to a Mediterranean diet while an overweight woman may lose four to six pounds in the same period. After the first two weeks, followers of the Mediterranean diet can still look forward to losing one to two more pounds on the subsequent weeks.

The Mediterranean diet can be safely followed for one and a half months, but beyond that, it’s best that you consult your doctor first.

[image from hydroxi]

Tags: Meditteranean diet, Mediterranean food, weight loss

Cayenne Pepper Diet Supplement and Weight Loss

What does a common spice got to do with weight loss? If you believe reports that it’s the newest all-natural diet supplement to help shed those extra pounds, then it’s time you get to know cayenne pepper.

The cayenne pepper diet supplement is also called the Master Cleanse Diet, due to its purported capability of flushing toxins out of the body. Combined with other ingredients, it supposedly helped Beyonce Knowles lose 20 lbs. in just two weeks.

The cayenne pepper diet supplement is made with water, maple syrup, lime or lemon juice and of course, cayenne pepper. The diet was invented by Stanley Burroughs, who wrote about it in his 1976 book, ‘The Master Cleanser’. When it first came out, this diet was supposed to detoxify the body and treat ulcers. It resurfaced as a weight loss solution in 2004, thanks to Peter Glickman’s book.

So will it really help detoxify your body and help you lose weight?
The caloric content of one glass is approximately 100 calories. If you take about six to ten glasses a day, that will come down to just 600 to 1,000 calories. Considering that an average person needs at least 2,000 calories a day, you certainly will be feeding yourself way less than your body requires.

This diet involves fasting, which means you’ll be starving a lot. You will lose fat because the body will need to feed itself. For somebody who is healthy, one or two days of not eating might not be too bad, but if it lasts longer than that, the body begins to break down the muscles for more food.

Is it for you? If you want to lose weight fast and temporarily, the cayenne pepper diet supplement will work well, provided you are well aware of the risk. But don’t bother with the detoxifying feature of this diet because your body is naturally equipped to do this without help.

via Healthy Weight Forum and Lemon Detox

[image from ckaiserca]