Background of the 17 Day Diet
One of the reasons why a person who desperately needs to lose weight loses steam and gets off a good diet is due to the fact that he or she will have to undergo a restricted diet which can be boring, monotonous and tiresome. This new diet called “17 Day Diet” is the brainchild of Dr. Mike Moreno and is known to be a fun diet with lots of variation. The 17 day diet has been featured in various talk shows, blogs in the internet and has caught the interest of millions of people who want to lose weight. Dr. Mike Moreno, the creator of the 17 day diet is a graduate of University of California Irvine and is presently residing in California and is a member of the San Diego Chapter of the American Academy of Family Physicians. He practices what he preaches and has launched the “Walk with your Doc” program which encourages people to exercise through walking. The 17 day diet was created to incorporate healthy eating habits and regular but not necessarily vigorous exercise in your daily routine. According to Dr. Mike Moreno, the diet was created for people to look at their life patterns and their behavior and how they eat. It is not a gimmick, fad or just a quick way to lose weight. Dr. Mike Moreno envisions his diet to be a life changing experience and a diet which you can do for the rest of your life. It is a way to retrain your body and reintroduce your body to a healthy way of eating devoid of supplements that are expensive, and get the necessary nutrients and vitamins your body needs through a clean and healthy lifestyle. He also espouses walking for 17 minutes daily. The reason for recommending 17 minutes of walking a day is to encourage people to do some form of exercise. Most often than not, we tend to procrastinate when it comes to exercising and we make excuses like not having that much time or it is tiring. The 17 days exercise will help you jumpstart an exercise program and can be done by anybody. The book “The 17 Day Diet” by Dr. Mike Moreno, has caught fire and is one of the most sought book today.
What is the 17 Day Diet?
The diet was initially created as a way to avoid gaining weight during the holidays which is always the reason why most of us gain weight drastically but never have the will power to lose it. This happens all the time and most often than not, we dread the holidays as this means extra pounds in our body. The strength of this diet is that you can do the diet anytime of the year including holidays! The 17 day diet’s foundation is based on metabolism and physiology. The program was created for you to burn your fats instead of muscles and reduce your cravings for junk and fattening foods. The diet also changes every 17 days which would result into confusion in your metabolic state. There are scientific evidences that show that our metabolism changes every 17 days. During this period, our metabolism adjusts to the changes in our body and this is the time wherein our body goes into a cleansing period. Diets can be psychologically draining and by changing your diet every 17 days, you avoid plateauing and boredom. With this diet, you can lose as much as 5 pounds a week or 12 pound in 17 days. Although majority of us have this notion that it is unhealthy to lose more than 3 pounds a week, Dr. Mike Moreno disputes this as his diet is based on healthy eating habits and not on starvation. This will also inspire dieters to stay on the diet and lose more weight. The diet is nutritionally sound as you do not avoid certain food groups except for sugar based food, fried food and processed food. It teaches your body to crave for healthier food such as vegetables and lean meat.
The 17 day diet is divided into 4 cycles, each one was designed to achieve certain results. The four cycles emphasizes on burning fat, altering your metabolism, teaching you to eat properly and nutritiously and lessening your hunger pangs and cravings.
The Four Cycles of the 17 Day Diet
As I have mentioned earlier, the diet plan is divided into 4 cycles. The first cycle is called the accelerate cycle. The accelerate cycle lasts from 7 to 17 days depending on how many pounds you need to lose. If you desire to lose ten pounds, 7 days on the accelerate cycle will be ideal for you. If you need to lose 20 pounds, then you have to undergo this cycle for ten days and if you wish to lose more than that, you will have to stay on this cycle for 17 days. This cycle will not only make you lose weight rapidly, it will also be the cycle wherein poor digestion will be corrected and your body will be cleansed from the toxins you have been storing. According to Dr. Mike Moreno, one of the reasons why our body does not burn fats easily is because of the toxins we have in our bodies which is a result of poor digestion. This has to be corrected to achieve the diet’s desired result. In this cycle, you can eat lean proteins such as fish, salmon, sole and flounder, canned tuna packed in water. You can also consume poultry products like chicken breast, egg white, eggs and lean turkey breast. Vegetables you can eat are cleansing vegetables which include favorites like cabbage, spinach, tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, cauliflower, green beans, spinach, lettuce and other green leafy vegetables. You can also have two servings of fibrous fruits like apples, berries, oranges, grapefruit, pears, plums, fruits and red grapes. Aside from these food groups, you are allowed two servings of probiotic food daily such as kefir, acidophilus milk, low-fat acidophilus milk, yogurt, yakult and sauerkraut. You can use olive oil and flaxseed oil in minute amounts to cook your food and condiments and seasoning are allowed in moderation. You do not have to count calories, just make sure that you follow the allowable daily servings of certain food groups. You can manage your diet so can eat as much as five times a day including snacks. After the duration of the accelerate cycle, you can now proceed to the next cycle.
The activate cycle is the second cycle in the 17 day diet. This cycle concentrates in improving your metabolism and confusing your body so your metabolism will not slow down while losing weight. When you lose a considerable amount of weight, your body will try to preserve its natural fats and the activate cycle will assist your body in losing weight and maintaining it through alternate low and high caloric days. This will ensure that you will not undergo any plateau in your quest to lose weight. Going in a plateau is usually the reason why dieters give up on certain diets. In the activate cycle, you will now alternate between the foods you were eating in the first cycle and the foods allowed in this cycle. Aside from the food in the accelerate cycle, you are now allowed to eat additional sea foods like clams, mussels, crabs, oysters, scallops and shrimps, different cuts of beef and pork, lamb and veal. A serving of natural starches is now permitted like brown rice, grits oat bran, cream of wheat, old-fashioned oat meal, barley quinoa and amaranth, peas and yams, but you must consume these starches before 2 pm. You may also consume a serving or half a cup of legumes and starchy vegetables. During these cycles, you must not forget to walk regularly for a minimum of 17 minutes and more, if it is possible. Diet and exercise goes hand in hand for a healthy weight loss program.
The third cycle is the achieve cycle. At this point in time, you have lost a considerable amount of weight and this cycle will assist you in acquiring the necessary skills and knowledge in maintaining the weight, controlling the portions of your food and making sure that you always have balanced meals. Although your protein intake is lessened at this cycle, your carbohydrates must still be consumed before 2 pm. Lessening your protein intake does not mean you have to eat less. On the contrary, it allows you to eat more of the other food groups. Aside from the foods allowed during the first and second cycle, you can now eat Canadian bacon, pheasant, hen, quail, sausage, lean turkey bacon and luncheon meat. You are now permitted to eat a slice of bread, a cup of high fiber cereals , half a cup of pasta, unlimited quantity of almost all kinds of vegetables, 2 servings of any fresh fruit, and a spoonful or two of friendly fast such as canola oil, mayonnaise, reduced-fat salad dressings and margarine and walnut oil. In the achieve cycle, additional snacks that are less than a hundred calories are okay. These snacks include frozen fruit bars, sugar-free pudding cup, reduced sugar and fat granola bars, light popcorns and other snacks that are low fat and sugar free. It is also highly recommended that your increase the period of duration of your daily exercise to at least 30 minutes a day or more. Remember that when you lose weight, you have more energy to indulge in sports, vigorous activities and exercises.
The last cycle of the 17 day diet is the arrive cycle. In this cycle, it is presumed that you have reached your ideal weight, has formed healthy eating habits which you are now used to, and is in that stage where all you need to do is maintain your ideal weight. This last cycle aims to confuse and shock your metabolism so you will never gain the weight back even if you are now eating normally. For you to succeed, you must eat the foods allowed in the three cycles during weekdays but by Friday night until Sunday dinner, you are allowed to eat any of the food you desire, in moderation of course. This will hinder you from binging during the other days of the week, as you can eat normally during weekends. In this process, you actually consume food high in calories during weekends, and the low calories food you eat during weekdays will sort of balance your weekend normal eating. This is also the reason why your metabolic system will always be in a state of confusion and shock which means, it will never proceed into that stage wherein it resists any weight lose as it wants to preserve your fats. It is also recommended that you weigh yourself regularly and an increase of three to five pounds means you have to return to any of the three cycles urgently. The arrive cycle does not have any time limit or duration. This is the cycle which you will have to live by for the rest of your life. The arrive cycle promotes healthy eating lifestyle, maintaining your weight and keeping it off, and enjoying an active lifestyle.
Reviews of the 17 Day Diet
As this diet promotes a healthy and clean lifestyle, the diet discourages drinking of alcohol, consuming of processed and dried food, refined carbohydrates and junk food which is not only good for dieters but for everyone as well. The plan is actually easy to follow, with a diet plan available to serve as a guide, and its maintenance regimen is ideal for those who love to eat and indulge once in a while. The plan lessens the possibility of backsliding and binging as you have your normal eating days which you can look forward to every week. If you find it hard to create your own menu based on the food list, there are websites found in the net where you can order your 17 day diet cooked food which means more variety and you do not have to wrack your brains in planning on what to eat. The food is delivered right in front of your doorsteps! You can also get back to the diet anytime you want to and choose your favorite cycle. The best thing about this 17 day diet is that it puts emphasize on the importance of maintaining an exercise program which must go hand in hand with your diet.
Although this diet’s goal is for you to have a clean and healthy lifestyle, the diet is not ideal for everyone. The re-setting of the metabolism might be difficult of those suffering from certain diseases, of a certain age group and those who need more nutrients and vitamins in their system, but if your personal physician gives you the go signal to go on this diet, it will definitely be beneficial to you. There are also concerns about the achieve cycle normal eating days as there might be dieters who have difficulty in controlling themselves when faced with their favorite food. This concern has been addressed by Dr. Mike Moreno when he explained that by the last cycle, you are ready and prepared to be in control of your eating habits.
Conclusion
This is relatively new diet and has taken the world by the storm. The 17 day diet has been tried by thousands of people and most of them are quite satisfied with the result. It has given them the opportunity to lose weight drastically, encouraged them to be more active and it has provided them the chance to change their lifestyle into a clean and healthy one. Like any other diets in the market today, there will always be a drawback but the positive aspects of this diet, outweighs some of its negative aspects. You will also be glad to know that there are no findings that this diet is hazardous to your health. In fact, this diet must be considered if you intend to lose weight, keep it off and still want to have the option of indulging and taking pleasure in eating your favorite food once in a while, without the guilt that goes with it.
Sources and further reading:
the17daydiet.com
tksinclair.com
webmd.com
dietsinreview.com
weightloss-hq.biz
lovekisses99.com
17daydietblog.com
eduinreview.com
suite101.com
editosuperemo.hubpages.com
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