Mediterranean Diet

 

I had someone ask me to talk about this particular diet because they know someone who recommended it to them and they wanted  me to share this on my blog in hopes I would inform people of this “unknown” diet.  Now from what they were told, this particular diet isn’t a very popular one but this person knows of a couple of people who are taking part in it and have achieved great results from it and she was thinking about wanting to try this but wasn’t really sure how well it would work with her lifestyle.  She said she did research, but came up with not as much information as she would have liked and from what she was told about it, it seemed fairly straightforward but she wanted me to state my opinion of this diet; one because she knows I don’t like diets and 2 because she is anxious to hear if I would recommend it.  Now since I have no one I know who has tried this diet and I have not done much research about this diet beforehand, I feel the need to come clean and say this was one diet I knew nothing about so I had to do my own research today.  I will also mention that from what I have found it seems fairly decent and really some of it seems silly because why make something like this a diet when it should already be apart of your healthy lifestyle, but because I am not bias until the very end, I will list some pros and cons of this diet and then share my opinion.  I will ask if someone knows more about this diet, please do share with me so I can relay the information back to others because I don’t want to misguide anyone and I want to make sure all my mistakes are corrected.  The Mediterranean diet: Consist of eating primarily plant based foods, whole grains, nuts and legumes. They replace butter with healthy fats (i.e olive oil); the use of herbs and spices instead of salt and limiting red meat to no more than a few times a month.

Pros

  • Promotes heart healthy foods
  • Promotes physical activity on a regular
  • Covers all the major food groups
  • Most people can keep up with this diet short and long term
 

Cons:

  • Possibly more expensive 
  • takes more time to cook fresh food
  • Not designed for weight loss
  • Does not include a lot of dairy, so you should keep up on calcium intake 
  • Watching your red wine intake (this is part of the diet to have red wine, but don’t go overboard)
  • Watching the amount of fats you consume because even though you are eating “healthy” fats, you should make sure you are eating them in moderation

With all this being said, I am not upset about this diet at all. I find that it actually makes sense to me and even though I do not like diets, I feel as though this serves a good purpose.  For the first time, I can actually agree that this particular diet could be a long term diet if someone was to do it, and the emphasis it puts on physical activity makes me happy.  Although this diet is for weight loss, does not mean one couldn’t lose weight, it just means the goal isn’t about losing weight; the goal is to have good eating habits and make a living taking care of your nutrition.  Like I said prior, this shouldn’t even be a diet or fad, this should be a lifestyle because it should be something most people would want to do anyways.  I realize the red meats have to be reduced, which isn’t necessarily all bad, I am sure for those of us who like our hamburger and steaks could find ways to still eat them more than what this diet calls for and still manage this diet as long as everything is well balanced. The cons are simply part of being an adult pretty much, I mean we all know cooking takes a bit of time and that shouldn’t come as a surprise, for those of you who don’t cook this is a good chance to spruce up on those skills and want to learn for no other reason then it is healthier to cook at home then order out.  The amount of red wine you drink should be a “no-brainer” just like any other alcoholic beverage, things should be taken in moderation and if you don’t know your limits it is probably best to stay away from it for your safety in my opinion.  The expense, that could be a pro or con depending on how many people who feed, how well you do grocery shopping and if you choose to eat a variety of different foods (which I hope you do) and how often you need to shop. The amount of fats you consume, this can be tweaked if you know what oils to use, when you use them and how to substitute different oils for different meals, it could be a con for those who may not know what oils should be used and when.. something new for people to learn.  

I am lactose intolerant so not having much dairy won’t make me cry but I do like some products and again this is something you should tweak as well because to totally eliminate dairy wouldn’t be the smartest unless you know what you are doing or take supplements for it and eating too much dairy isn’t good for you either, so again this all belongs to moderation.  This diet practically cuts dairy out almost but doesn’t take it away, so technically if someone wanted to they could just better manage their dairy intake and find other ways to get their calcium.  Overall, I don’t hate this diet, I just hate that this has to be called a diet because honestly, if we eliminated this being called a diet, then it would be just be an everyday thing.  I love how it can be done for the long term because many diets fail in that category, I think this diet should be a goal for the majority of Americans. I would recommend it if I was one to recommend diets and I am happy someone brought this to my attention so I could share this with all of you! 

 

FitnessBlogger, xoxo

Shay-lon 

Nutrisystem

Nutrisystem 1

The Nutrisystem diet, this is going to be one of the last diets I talk about specifically in my blog, although I won’t lie.. I probably have 2 or 3 more I want to talk about specifically since just recently I had someone contact me asking me to share a couple more they heard about.  The reason I want to talk about this particular diet is because again this is another commercialized diet that promises weight loss and “inexpensive” meals.  On t.v this diet has people giving their testimonies and comparing their bodies before and after.  I have never tried this diet, nor have I ever been excited to want to try it because again I don’t like diets and I don’t like things that sound too good to be true.  You won’t forget this by the time I am done repeating “I don’t like diets” & I am dying to share why, hopefully I’ll unleash my secret within the next couple of days.  In my opinion the Nutrisystem diet reminds me somewhat like Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig’s diet and that doesn’t say much other than the possibly of expenses, rapid weight loss and long term consequences that aren’t very beneficial. BUT, because I am not going to be bias and I enjoy teaching everyone the ins and outs of these diets, I want to help you decide for yourself whether this is the “right” diet plan for you and give people an understanding of what these diets can do for you and what they fail to do.  I’ll add that the information I share is always facts, but things change and I try to research the information before sharing these facts so I can give you the updates in cases these diets have changed recently, but always, always, always do your own research as well because everyone’s body is different and everyone has a different lifestyle.  This means, what I tell you about this particular diet may sound amazing or it may sound horrific but the only way you will know it if works for you, is to do your own digging and make your own list of goals: short term and long term & decide if they match up with the diet. 

Down below I will share with all of you the pros and cons of the Nutrisystem diet, then I will share my overall opinion and hopefully I will have all of you share your testimonies, opinions, and concerns in the comments or by personally contacting me.

Pros

  • Supposedly lets its clients know what they need to do in order to lose weight
  • Feats up to 150 or more meals and snacks
  • Everything can be customizable
  • provides balanced nutrition
  • promotes exercise
  • Convenient
  • vegetarian and diabetic friendly
  • promotes weight loss at a healthy rate
  • clients have access to registered dieticians and weight loss councelors

Cons:

  • Meals may leave you feeling hungry
  • cost may be expensive
  • limited flexibility for eating off plan (i.e fast food, restaurants)
  • promotes more of a t.v dinner way of eating
  • Meals are not meant for family, each meal feeds up to one individual
  • Not a long term diet plan, once you lose the weight, the client needs to continue on their own and learn to eat the same way they did while on the diet. 

Basically this diet has some of the same promises as the other diets, but the difference is this diet includes to helps those that are vegetarians and diabetics and this is important because none of the other diets I spoke about thus far had this perk.  This brings me to my next point, this is something to consider whenever you try diets or want to diet, is what conditions do you have and do they need to be taken care of in order to do this diet.  For example someone with hypertension should eat foods with minimal to low amounts of sodium and if they start a diet plan this is one of the many things they need to make sure won’t cause issues to their health & this goes the same for anyone who might have health conditions that change their eating habits/lifestyle. Your health comes first, not the weight loss, your health is key. You can want to lose weight but in order to lose weight you need to make sure that whatever diet you choose to start that it won’t damage your health in anyway.  Truth is, this particular diet didn’t sound so horrible until I realized once again this diet is made to be long term and what this comes down to is everyone is on their own after the program.  When we leave our clients to think for themselves after a meal plan such as this one, we have a problem because the majority of them will go back to bad habits and a very few amount will continue on the right path toward maintaining their health.  Diets like these tend to lend a helping hand only until one reaches the end and then you have to have disciple and teach yourself how to properly choose healthier foods and make it apart of your life for the long term, otherwise this diet won’t do much good. In my opinion, this diet offers some awesome pros but I believe the cons are enough to make anyone rethink if this diet is really worth the cost in the long term and I don’t think this diet is worth it.. when I look at the overall scope of things.  I don’t shut this one down entirely because it has some very good qualities but I am not going to raise my hand and say “YES! this is the one!, this is a diet I would recommend” either because I honestly wouldn’t recommend it.. 

So with this being said, Nutrisystem may be the step in the right direction but it isn’t the winner.  Thanks for reading, hopefully reading my blogs by now have came easier and you can understand my sense of humor along with my realism because as we continue down this road I will continue to deliver more excitement and continue to learn and teach! I want to be the best personal trainer I can be and I want to help people stay healthy, happy and fit! Please don’t hesitate to get a hold of me through social media or my email. 

 

FitnessBlogger xoxo

 

Shay-lon

The South beach diet

 

For some of you whom enjoyed my blog about the low carb diet, I have decided to give you another diet that works the same way practically, but based on a “modified” low-carbohydrate diet.  This diet consist of being lower in carbohydrates and higher in protein and healthy fats.  Although, not many people I know have actually been on this diet, and it seems to be phasing out a bit, I wanted to bring light to this diet because while grocery shopping I noticed how they still have tons of their products inside stores so it must be doing something right?  You might be wondering what the picture up to about “phases” and thinking to yourself “what does this mean” well, no worries.. I plan on sharing all this information with you so that you are more educated on this particular diet and the way it works.  

Below I will have the pros and cons of this diet and again share my opinion towards the end and give you an overall gist to what I believe to be a good or bad thing about this diet and hopefully as always I would want to hear from you guys on how you feel about this diet.  

Pros

  • This diet is said to be a “healthy” diet because it promoted reversing heart disease and helping with weight loss
  • It recommends consumption of foods that contain heart healthy unsaturated fats
  • it encourages complex carbohydrates
  • based on eating low GI foods 
  • rich in vegetables, fruits, lean proteins and whole grains
  • Cravings might disappear because of the restriction of refined or highly processed foods
  • Weight loss is said to be fast
  • It is easy to follow and does not imply counting calories
  • You won’t get hungry because dieters are encouraged to eat regular portion sizes

Cons

  • Not a lot of information or data is on the South beach diet
  • Phase 1 is the most restrictive and holds some inconveniences: Ketosis might occur because of the lack of carbs, the lack of fruits results in reduced vitamins and minerals, cutting out the carbohydrates during this phase could potentially mean no fiber, nutrients and iron
  • The rapid weight loss is not recommendable
  • The south beach diet is said to be expensive
  • the recipes are complex and very time demanding
  • Requires a great deal of willpower for those that are used to carbohydrate rich foods
  • Supplements are recommended because there is a high chance of not getting enough vitamins or minerals
  • the absence of promoting exercise
  • The lack of options for those who cannot eat or don’t eat diary products

Now with things constantly changing, some of this may not be updated news and some of it may be somewhat still true to til this day but all of this is fact. I want to throw something else out there, that the foods you can buy in the frozen section at a grocery store is about the same as buying some of the smart choice meals when I compared them.  Just a thought. Now my opinion of this diet is quite simple, any diet that doesn’t promote exercise is too good to be true or not going to work out for the long term because even though diet is very important and more important then exercise, exercise should always be a recommended regimen and to be honest should be included (in my opinion). I can see why this doesn’t promote exercise though, because you would need more carbohydrates to fullfil enough energy to exercise otherwise it could really damage your body.  The phase one seems a bit scary and reckless, and no wonder people lose rapids amount of weight, because look at all is restricted during this phase.  Some more information about the phases: We spoke on phase one, now we will hop to phase 2 and see how this phase pans out

 

Phase 2:

  • Eat a variety of delicious foods & reach your goal weight. Your weight will drop more steadily, you’ll gradually reintroduce nutritious foods, phase 2 last as long as it takes to reach your weight loss goal

Phase 3:

  • Eat all foods in moderation
  • Maintain weight loss for life, eating all foods in moderation, maintaining goal weight, 
  • Keep your weight off for good

So basically the next two steps are about maintenance and balancing your foods so that you continue to eat nutritious foods and at some point reintroducing the foods that were restricted in the beginning.  Based on these last two steps, I still don’t think very highly about this diet but again that is because of the lack of exercise that is promoted and how much is restricted in the beginning, actually the amount of food restricted period is kinda scary a bit much for most people to handle.  Do I think this could be long term? no not at all, because all it will take is one food that you normally eat and a cheat day and someone will give this diet up. Although, I do like how they recommend maintenance and eating in moderation, I am not a fan of following phases. Overall, the diet has its up and downs, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone I know unless they made some tweaks.  

Thanks for reading, 

 

Sincerely, 

Your blogger Shay-lon 

The Jenny Craig Diet

“Remember Jenny Craig’s diet?”

“lets find out if it works?”

 

No picture posted today, because I cannot find a reputable site that has pictures representing “Jenny Craig” without me having to pay for it (because of copyright) sorry about this. 

Imagine you see her name and picture, lol 

 

P.S this may occur in future post as well, sorry ahead of time.

 

So, I am not sure how many people remember the Jenny Craig diet but I do know every once in awhile it hits the T.V screen late at night and early mornings where I am from anyways. It wouldn’t be fair of me to analyze all these diets and not mention this one because it has been around for over 30 years and this must mean it either works, or it works or perhaps it works. I am not quite sure which one it is, but we shall find out! Again, this is another diet that I have not tried and I am not interested in trying because remember: I don’t like diets, and I am happy where I am with my eating habits for now but this doesn’t necessarily mean I am going to stop you from experiencing something that might interest you.  Let me start off by saying for those of you who may not be experts on the Jenny Craig diet and have never heard of it or have had interest in it but never really understood it.. no worries I will explain it all here and hopefully give you more insight.  I want to just add that my goal isn’t to keep people from dieting (although I will make a post discussing diets & why I think we are better off without them: tune in for that one in the near future) my goal is to make sure you fully understand each diet and get the pros/cons at your service so that you can make healthy decisions based on your lifestyle and motivations. I don’t want to discuss this too much in depth but I will say, that diets have their negatives and positives.  

 

The Jenny Craig diet is for weight loss and maintenance and claims people will lose 2 pounds a week.  This diet is made to be a calorie and fat controlled diet that helps dieters manage portion size through the use of prepackaged foods.  This diet allows its dieters to talk with nutrition councelors online, or over the phone or at the Jenny Craig locations and the reason for the use of councelors is so that clients develop a healthier relationship with food by learning to use wise lifestyle choices that support mind, spirit and body.  Below I have listed some of the pros and cons of this particular diet that one should consider before starting this diet:

 

Pros

 
  • The prepackaged foods control portion sizes (saves time from having to calorie count)
  • The food is delivered to your location/residence
  • microwave use only, no need for cooking
  • Diet plan is tailored to meet your needs
  • The councelors offer extensive one-on-one support
  • Counceling can help you get through bad times like frustration, plateaus, and lack of motivation
  • You can participate online and or over the phone
  • Foods can be ordered online
  • The diet doesn’t encourage fads like skipping meals or starvation
  • slow and steady weight loss versus rapid weight loss
  • Social networking opportunities where dieters can support one another
  • The foods are said to be well balanced and “healthy” 
  • People say the food taste good.

Cons

  • You may not like the food
  • The diet is designed for those with food allergies or sensitivities
  • the majority of the foods are frozen
  • if you cook for a family, you may have to cook them something different while you eat the prepackaged foods (unless everyone in the family is in on the diet together)
  • The food and plan(s) are expensive
  • If one likes to go out to eat, this might be more difficult because it relies on prepackaged foods and frozen foods
  • The diet is difficult to follow while traveling 
  • Because this is a weight loss plan, there may be difficulties for those that lose weight and go back to real world eating habits because you no longer will follow meal plans

With this all being said, I already see the one of the biggest issues with this weight loss diet, it is just that a weight loss diet.  This means it isn’t meant for long term, it is meant for a short term goal and this doesn’t mean you can’t be on Jenny Craig for more than 6 months but it means once you lose the amount of weight needed/wanted it is no longer of use to you.  The problem with this is people end up going backwards and having to get back on the diet because they don’t know how to portion control real foods when they have become so used to prepackaged foods that have the correct amount of servings.  The weight loss aspect seems to be proven that it works but once one loses their weight they don’t know how to continue down the right path without the prepackaged meal plan and this makes things a harder afterwards.  I  believe in long term lifestyle choice diets, because those are the ones that will take cake and win every time.  When I think about diets like these, that are short term they have very good qualities but like I have said up top, the cons sometimes outweigh the pros.  As a dieter or person wanting to start a diet you need to really make sure whatever diet you have chosen fits your lifestyle and if it does, great and if not.. then you shouldn’t go through with it or you should look into other options that work best.  I state this all the time, DON’T GO BROKE FOR A DIET; and this includes all diets.  I would love to hear from everyone what they think of the Jenny Craig diet, testimonials, and share more information with us if I left anything out.  Thank you for reading!

 

comment, follow, like, share and reblog

 

Sincerely, 

Your blogger Shay-lon

Weight Watchers commercialized or does it really work?

 

Some of you may have already been on this diet or know someone who has and have heard good things about it.  I have yet to try it myself (no need for me to at this point) but where I work I have had clients who have tried it and it did work wonders for them. This is one of the many diets that are constantly commercialized and forced down our throats to try; and even though, I still don’t know much about it other than you have to eat what they give you.  Now based on what I do know is nothing.. but based on what I have researched, this is weight watchers at a glance : https://www.weightwatchers.com/us/. Yes I just pasted the website for all of you to search and take a look at what it is about.  I normally would go into great detail about topics, but for this particular topic since I know nothing of it other than what the commercial tells me, I trust that you will do your own research when it comes to finding a proper definition of what is “Weight Watchers”. However, this does not mean I won’t provide the pros and cons and of course add my two cents at the end of things that we should all keep in mind when you start this dieting program.

Pros

  • No foods are forbidden (no list of foods to avoid) but they use a point system
  • Nutritional tips, cooking advice, and lifestyle education are all offered
  • some locations offer a way to bring your children with you
  • slow and steady weight loss is achieved
  • encourages portion control
  • exercise is promoted
  • cooking at home is encouraged

Cons

  • The cost is expensive 
  • group meetings don’t work for everyone
  • weekly weigh ins are necessary
  • weekly progress may discourage you
  • smart points counting can be tedious
  • too much freedom to eat

From what all I have gathered from these pros and cons, I don’t think this diet would work out well with me, mostly due to the whole weekly weigh in idea and the fact that I would have to attend group meetings ( I am a busy person and my schedule may or may not work well with meetings) and while this could be optional, I would think attending is the best way to get the best results for the money.  While I do like the whole “no foods are forbidden” because I am all for less restriction of foods, this program gives people who don’t know anything about modifying their eating habits too much freedom with eating when they may not be aware of how to use this freedom.  Yes, they encourage portion control, but it makes no sense to encourage something when someone doesn’t know how to… see where I am coming from. You can promote exercise, but if the person doesn’t know where to start with exercise then they won’t start at all or will become frustrated.  My other problem with it is the weekly weigh ins can be a very good or bad situation, for some it may be the days they dread because they have gained weight and no one wants to get on a scale and not feel proud of themselves when they see the numbers, lets be honest.  My thing is Weight Watchers is this big phenomenon that went mainstream and kept many people interested; but why did it keep people interested? because Weight Watcher’s gives people all the things they need to stay healthy and yet it fails in other ways because again this is one of those programs when people lose weight they stop the program and end up going back to their old ways if someone doesn’t hold them accountable and next thing you know they are back on Weight Watchers again.  The goal of Weight Watchers (which they won’t mention nor admit) is to keep you coming back, because in general they don’t care if you lose the weight they only care about how much weight you have to lose and how long it will take because they is more money.  

 

No offense to those that work for Weight Watchers, I am not saying they don’t care about actual people but honestly this program/diet is priced the way it is for a reason (so they can earn a huge profit) and this means people who need to lose more weight, pay more than the ones who don’t have to lose much weight at all. In reality this may seem okay, but after a while it adds up and if you don’t see results like you want to, you will be upset because you spent so much money on this program.  On the other end of this spectrum, it is always offering deals to those who are thinking about starting this program and like I said I have heard it has helped many people lose weight. I think i’ll end this with these recommendations: 

  • if you don’t know how to manage portion control, find out
  • be accountable for your eating habits
  • Make time to attend the meetings because believe it or not it could be a beneficial situation
  • If you are tight on money, then this probably isn’t the best diet for you as it is costly
  • Exercise, Exercise, Exercise for the best results

Thank you for reading, 

Your blogger Shay-lon

 

Comment, like, reblog, share, and follow me 🙂