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Is Soy Sauce Keto Friendly?

The Keto Diet and Soy Products: Is Soy Sauce Safe for Keto?

The keto diet has exploded into being one of the most followed diet trends of the past few years. The famous low carb, high fat diet is known to melt fat off when ketosis is reached. There are many well keto foods that are known to work perfectly with the diet, such as seafood, broccoli and cauliflower, cheese, avocados, meats, some nuts, and more. But many people wonder about other products that might instead tiptoe a fine line for the title of “keto-friendly.” A common question for many people who are on keto is “are soy products keto-friendly” and more specifically, “is soy sauce keto-friendly?” Since this question needs to be asked so frequently, you can probably guess that soy products and keto aren’t a match made in heaven, and we’ll go into why and how much you can get away with.

Soybeans and soy sauce as a keto friendly nutrition on a keto diet

Qualms with the keto diet:

The keto diet is ragingly popular right now, and for good reason. It really works, people really lose weight fast, and it’s very viable for people without greatly changing the foods that they eat. Instead, many people end up cutting a lot out of their diet, but it isn’t as if a slew of new foods or methods are introduced, just don’t step outside the keto regulations, otherwise you’re somewhat free to make keto how you want it to be.

But there are some rebuttals to those people who sing the praises of the keto diet. First, the keto diet doesn’t have a lot of long-term research on it, since it’s a new diet that really only rose to prominence within the last decade. It has been confirmed that the keto diet can help those who have problems with epilepsy, but that study also uncovered that those study participants encountered a slew of side effects such as constipation, but none of the side effects were worse than the impacts of epilepsy, and thus it was deemed that keto might be worth it for those who have epilepsy.

In addition to a lack of research, it can be difficult to follow the keto diet without making yourself prone to nutritional deficiencies and also it usually entails your saturated fat intake skyrocketing. These saturated fats can be bad for your heart and can increase your risk for heart disease and stroke. If you can manage to keep saturated fats low and stay on keto, then you’re doing well. And the diet itself is just considered a bit of an extreme diet in that it can get you extremely quick results, but there’s likely a side effect of a nutritional deficiency or eating too much fat.

It’s certainly true that many of the low-fat processed foods that were advertised as being diet foods starting before keto was really in the headlines are very bad for you due to high sugar contents. However, this doesn’t also mean that you should swing entirely the other way and eat anything as long as it’s low carb and not processed.

Ideally, you’re still crafting your daily diet around the nutrients that you need for your body and mind to function their best, and the fact is that keto probably isn’t the answer for people who are looking for weight loss without sacrificing nutrition. That being said, in terms of rapid weight loss, it seems to be one of the more attractive options out there.

Are soy products good for the keto diet?

Many of your favorite soy products probably are not good for the keto diet. This might come as a surprise, since the soy alternatives to many foods are often seen as “healthier,” but the keto diet comes with stringent regulations and soy simply doesn’t pass many of these regulations. For example, many soy products contain a lot of phytoestrogens, which can interfere with the ketosis process. Soy products such as soymilk and tofu don’t make the cut simply because they’re high in carb count, which is square one for keto.

Also, many soy-based foods are made in a very processed manner, and the keto diet urges its followers to not eat processed foods. So, if something is made with soybeans and you’re wondering whether it’s keto-friendly, the best guess without further research would be “no,” but there are some soy products that are better than others, and a select few might even be able to make the coveted “keto-friendly” list.

What is soy sauce made of?

Soy sauce is made with fermented soybeans and what. Its origins trace back to China as long as 3,000 years ago, although its name comes from a Japanese term for soy sauce. Additional key ingredients in soy sauce include salt and yeast. Outside of these key ingredients, soy sauce can vary based on who is manufacturing it and where it’s manufactured. The fermenting time for a traditional batch of soy sauce to be ready is usually anywhere from five to eight months.

However, these traditional soy sauces are generally much more expensive, due to their time requirements. For that reason, much of the soy sauce that you consume is probably chemically produced. To chemically produce soy sauce, they use a method called acid hydrolysis. The time it takes to make a batch of soy sauce using the chemical process is only a couple of days. As you would expect, the chemical process comes with a few unhealthy downsides, including carcinogens.

To be sure that you’re buying the traditional soy sauce, look for any soy sauce labeled “naturally brewed.” Those who are made chemically will be listed as “hydrolyzed.” The differentiation in these methods of production won’t have a large impact on whether or not the soy sauce you eat is keto-friendly, but the traditionally produced sauce will be healthier in terms of what the long-term consequences might be for consuming its chemical counterpart. As with many foods today, with soy sauce you must weigh how worth it is to you to eat healthy. There is no doubt that it’s harder to eat healthy on a budget, but it can be possible if you do your research.

Is soy sauce good for the keto diet?

Soy sauce is actually one of the better keto diet soy-based foods. One tablespoon of soy sauce only gives you 1g of carbs, which for a soy product stacks up pretty well. Also, since soy sauce has a lot of sodium and electrolytes, this is actually positive for keto dieters since these can be difficult to intake while maintaining a low carb restriction. However, soy sauce isn’t low enough in carbs to just use it willy nilly, so make sure that you’re still keeping close track of how much you’re using to meet your daily goals.

Other soy products that are surprisingly not bad for the keto diet are edamame, which works as a great snack, and silken tofu. The fact that these few soy items aren’t bad for the keto diet, while others are utterly impossible to eat while on keto, creates the confusion for many keto dieters who assume that all soy products can be lumped into the same category.

There are many foods out there that don’t fit in the keto diet. If you examine most of the foods that the average American eats and ask “is it keto-friendly,” the answer will be no more likely than not. And when you have foods that are made from something that is high carb, such as soybeans, it can be easy to write off that entire group of foods as being not an option for the keto plan. But the reality is that even within these subgroups, soy products for example, there are some that might work with keto and others that certainly won’t.

Final thoughts: Is soy sauce keto friendly?

Today, we found out that soy sauce is one of the few soy products that is in fact okay for those on the keto diet (with some caution). And this is also why many of the most successful keto followers have been on the keto plan for a long time, because it is a nuanced diet that gets easier to follow as you develop an internal database of what you can and can’t eat, rather than going to Google or an app each time you sit down to eat.

So, if you’re thinking about getting into keto or you’re on keto currently, you should first make sure that you’re doing plenty of research so that you can keep close account of what you’re putting in your body to make sure that you’re getting the best results and not neglecting anything for the sake of weight loss. And if you’re preparing an Asian seafood dish for your keto plan, feel free to add a little bit of soy sauce and enjoy it.

Dr. Nowzaradan Diet Plan After Surgery

Dr. Nowzaradan’s Pre and Postoperative Diet Plan

Dr. Nowzaradan, also known as the abbreviated “Dr. Now,” rose to fame after his diet plan successes on the TLC show “My 600-Lb Life.” He is a surgeon from Houston, Texas who has helped the various extremely obese people on the show to regain control of their eating habits through his stringent diet plans. In this post, we are publishing recommendations on dr. Nowzaradan diet plan after surgery.

Dr. Nowzaradan explaining his diet plan after surgery

First impressions of how Dr. Now operates with his clients indicate that he is a realist. Dr. Now doesn’t turn down anyone who comes to him and needs help. Surprisingly, many doctors do turn down patients that might be more of a tall task to help get them back on track, such as the participants on the hit TLC show that Dr. Now is a part of. Also, Dr. Now doesn’t sugarcoat the situation of any of his patients or the process that it will require to get them back into shape. His realistic approach lets his clients know how much danger they are in and how difficult and how much determination it will require for them to curb that dangerous aspect. This approach often gets clients all the more ready to buckle down and endure a long period of strict dietary guidelines to get their life back on track.

Many of Dr. Now’s patients are people who plan on undergoing weight loss surgery. However, even to those who are receiving this surgery, they might need to still lose a large portion of their weight prior to receiving surgical assistance in their weight loss journey. Dr. Now recommends dieting prior to surgery because surgery can bring greater risks for people who are extremely overweight. But even beyond that, he wants to start psychologically training his clients before they have the surgery so that after the surgery, they won’t feel the need to go back to eating how they used to. If he begins to restrict their diet prior to the surgery, they have already started to build that willpower that’s necessary for them to excel in their weight loss goals after the surgery.

What is Dr. Now’s diet plan?

Dr. Now’s famous diet is also known as the “1200 Calorie Diet Plan.” Usually those on his diet hover their daily caloric intake around 1200, although some of the more severe cases might require caloric intakes as low as 1000 each day. And in addition to the caloric restriction, Dr. Now removes a large number of foods that are deemed unhealthy and unfit for those trying to lose massive amounts of weight.

His plan and the foods within it are generally low-fat, low-carb, and high in protein. Through his suggestion, a lot of their meals are made using plant-based proteins which also assist in the low-carb and low-fat categories. But the biggest catch of the diet, and what probably allows so many morbidly obese people to find great success with it, is the extensive list of items that are prohibited by the diet.

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These foods that are strictly forbidden include:

Sugar and desserts (cookies, ice cream, etc.)
Fruit that has been sweetened and froyo
Chocolate
Potatoes in any form
Crackers
Bread
Nuts (including peanut butter)
Juice
Noodles and rice
Soda pop, Gatorade, energy drinks, and similar sugary drinks

These are not even the entire list, Dr. Now himself might be the only that knows how exactly to plan the diet from start to finish, but this list covers some of the most difficult foods to give up, such as bread. Also, Dr. Now must find ways to provide any nutrition that these foods would otherwise have provided in his clients’ diets. Many of these items offer very little nutritional gain, but some of them, such as bread and juice, could have provided key vitamins and fiber for his patients. This diet is effective when you’re under supervision of someone such as Dr. Now who can keep you at that low-calorie level while still maintaining your nutrition, but it can be difficult to maintain if you aren’t under the supervision of a medical professional to ensure that you’re not depriving yourself.

Dr. Now describes the list of foods that he has forbidden as “trigger foods” that can lead to excessive weight gain, food addiction, and the need to consume large amounts and large portions. Often, Dr. Now will not allow his patients to go through with their surgery if they haven’t successfully found ways to lower their portions and eat more weight and nutrition-friendly foods. He also prohibits pre-packaged and processed foods and recommends that his clients switch over to a diet that is based more in real foods and the raw ingredients of what makes up our food, without the chemical and sugary component that is often added in throughout the food processing sequence.

Dr. Now also recommends that his clients avoid eating frequently, including snacks in between meals. This is one of the leading causes of obesity and chemically increases the amount of fat that you put on in your midsection. To aid his patients in cutting their calories back extremely, which can be extremely difficult to do, Dr. Now prescribes a high protein and fiber diet to keep those following the plan feeling full for a longer period of time.

Otherwise, a low-calorie diet would leave those who follow diet feeling unbearably hungry, increasing their temptation to snack in between meals. Another diet item that assists in making 1200 Calorie dieters feel full is drinking a lot of water throughout the day.

Differences from keto:

When reading about Dr. Now’s diet plan, it’s hard not to draw similarities to the keto plan and assume that they’re one and the same. But rather, he does not want his patients to be on the keto diet or to be entering ketosis because the keto diet is often a high-fat diet.

The issue with many high-fat foods that contradict what Dr. Now is trying to do with his patients is that they’re often high calorie. Furthermore, high-fat options can be even more unhealthy for those who are already obese as it could put additional strain on their hearts.

Postoperative diet plan:

For those who have undergone surgery successfully and were following Dr. Now’s plan leading up to their surgery, there are various factors that determine how their postoperative diet will be structured. These factors include their pre-surgery weight, their weight loss goals, their existing diet, their age, their gender, and any other medical complications or dietary restrictions that they might have. A combination of these factors help Dr. Now to craft a diet plan that will be successful for this clients and custom made just for them.

For those in the postoperative stage of the diet, the list of forbidden foods generally remains the same, but certain groups of foods come with additional warnings and suggestions attached. Obviously, sugary foods are still strictly forbidden. Vegetables are recommended to be dark green or brightly colored to supplement vitamins and minerals. Dairy products must be low fat or no fat options, as the Dr. Now diet is predicated on the low-fat ideal. Whole grains are allowed but should be minimal in the entirety of the diet.

Essentially the idea of the pre- and post-surgery plans are that they are similar so that you’ll grow accustomed to that diet before your surgery. So, overall there aren’t any glaring differences to the pre and postoperative diet, just minor adjustments made for each specific situation.

In addition to the difficulty of cutting back on food and eating smaller portions and healthier foods comes some psychological troubles. The diet can bring about mood swings and emotional highs and lows due to the sudden change in diet. Also, there are major life adjustments that are required to successfully complete Dr. Nowzaradan diet plan after surgery, such as staying strong when on a busy schedule and at social events where food is present. All of this is motivated and pushed along, however, by the positive psychological reaction at seeing a thinner and more healthy you in the mirror each day and knowing that the end goal is going to be positive and cause for much celebration.

Final thoughts: Dr. Nowzaradan diet plan after surgery

Overall, Dr. Now’s diet is a good alternative diet plan for those who are excessively overweight and are strong enough and have researched enough to go through with it. It’s not recommended that you pursue a diet such as this without dietary guidance, although there are sample daily plans available if you want to try a few days of the plan and see how manageable it is for you, before seeking professional guidance.

The obesity epidemic in the United States is saddening and it’s unfortunate that plans like these are what is required, but it’s also admirable when a successful comeback story surfaces and someone regains control of their weight and their health. If you’re considering surgical weight loss, this diet might be perfect for you since that is what it’s application is most often.

Sugar-Free Keto Peanut Butter Fudge Recipe

How to snack on keto without blowing it and a bonus sugar-free peanut butter fudge recipe

As you probably know, sugar is the enemy of the keto diet. To some on the keto diet, it can be difficult to even find out how to snack throughout the day when you get hungry. Unfortunately, being hungry more often is a part of dieting, so what is the easiest and best way to take the edge off of your hunger when you need it, but still maintain your dietary progress and goals? We’ll look at best ways to snack on keto, and we’ve included a sugar-free keto peanut butter fudge recipe that is keto-friendly and is a great alternative to other sugary snacks that would ruin your diet.

Peanut butter fudge as a healthy snack if you're on keto diet

Finding keto-friendly snacks can be the key to buying yourself some time before your next meal or large portion consumption. It’s great for those who are hungry while at work or during strange times of the day when you just need something to take the edge off and don’t want to eat an entire meal.

However, you should really only use these snacking tips when you absolutely need them. Think of them as a lifeline for when your hunger is negatively affecting your ability to think or produce or is damaging your mood. You can also try to avoid hunger by adding more fat to your meals instead of simply snacking more. This is where counting your macros can help you to positively adjust your keto plan to fit your schedule and your eating habits.

Here are some keto-friendly snack options:

Whole foods are a great way to take the edge off and enjoy a tasty treat. Whole foods are great time-saving options as well because they require little to no prep and are usually ready to eat. Some examples of great whole food snacks are cheese, avocados, olives, cold cuts and macadamia nuts which aid in increasing healthy fat and reducing carb intake. Keep in mind to avoid purchasing processed foods when buying items such as cold cuts, since non-processed fresh cut options will always be healthier for yourself as well as for the environment and maybe local businesses as well.

Vegetables and dip can be a great snack that is satisfying, not plain if combined with dip, and can give you sustenance to carry on throughout your day. Consider trying celery, cucumber, peppers, or carrots (although carrots are on the higher end in terms of carbs). Combine these great vegetable options with a low carb dip or cream cheese.

A little less keto-friendly than vegetables, but not completely off the table, are berries and cream. Berries must be consumed modestly, since eating too much could certainly knock you out of ketosis. The best berries for keto dieters are blackberries, raspberries, or strawberries. Dip these into heavy whipping cream. This option is a great way to satiate your sweet tooth and avoid those sugary desserts that will certainly knock you out of ketosis. Also, keep in mind not to add any sweetener or sugar to your fruit, since that nearly defeats the entire purpose of eating the fruit in the first place. Also, check out our recipe at the end of this article for another great dessert alternative to keep you on track and moving towards your goals.

Dark chocolate is surprisingly somewhat keto-friendly. The darker the chocolate the better, and make sure to keep it only to one or two squares. Even normal dark chocolate is too much for your keto guidelines, so go with something above 70% cocoa to ensure you’re staying within your boundaries. This shouldn’t be a regular thing, but it can work when the time calls for it and you simply need to get your hands on something sweet.

Other great treats that are quick and fall in line with your keto plan are pork rinds. Pork rinds amazingly have zero carbs and can provide you with a salty crunch that really hits the spot. With the keto boom, there are more pork rind varieties out there than ever before, so chances are you’ll find multiple different options to try, which helps you to not get sick of eating the same flavor for a long time. Beef jerky also works usually but beware of any jerky that is prepared with excess sugar. Always make sure you’re checking the nutritional information of what you’re eating, especially if it’s a flavored or prepared food like jerky. If you’re a hunter, consider making your own jerky for a great homemade snack.

Snacks to avoid on a ketogenic diet

Some common snacks that are deceivingly bad for keto participants are grapes, bananas, coffee with a lot of added milk and sugar, cashews, and juice. Drink your coffee black, avoid sugary sports drinks, and keep in mind that fruit can be dangerously high in carbs.

As stated before, just always double-check the nutritional info of what you’re eating if you have time. It’ll go a long way in preventing honest mistakes that you could’ve avoided. And at all costs avoid the things that you would expect to be bad and are in fact terrible, like donuts, chips, and candy (other than that high cocoa dark chocolate mentioned earlier).

Keto peanut butter fudge recipe

As promised, we have a great keto-friendly sugar free peanut butter fudge recipe that you’ll love and that will help to appease some of your cravings and get on with your day without being hangry or tempted by some real sugary foods. This recipe allows you to enjoy the richness of peanut butter fudge without the sugar that will derail your keto goals.

We are in strong agreement here that peanut butter and chocolate are the not only the best food combination ever, but they are definitely the two best flavors of fudge, so we’ve found a recipe from buttertogetherkitchen.com that perfectly combines these two amazing tastes into one perfect peanut butter fudge recipe. It’s also great because although you leave out the sugar, you don’t sacrifice the amazing texture that makes fudge to popular and irresistible in the first place. This recipe utilizes Lakanto’s Powdered monk fruit to achieve that famous fudge texture and make for a delicious sugar alternative that you’ll be satisfied and snacking on this fudge happily all week long.

For the chocolate part, the perfect complement to peanut butter out there, you’ll need to use sugar-free chocolate chips. The most keto-friendly options for chocolate chips, however, are Lily’s chocolate chips or Fat Fit Go’s Chocolate Chips. They offer the best option for anyone following the keto diet because they’re made with simple and clean ingredients, but they also taste incredible despite a healthier and more keto-friendly makeup.

A spoonful of peanut butter for keto peanut butter fudge

Ingredients:

1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1/3 cup Lakanto powdered sweetener
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
1/3 cup Lily’s baking chips

Baking instructions:

First, heat the heavy whipping cream and butter in a pot on the stove on medium-high heat.
Next, whisk in Lakanto’s powdered monk fruit until consistently mixed in and bring the pot to a low boil.
Stir continuously and add the vanilla extract. Keep cooking over medium heat until the mixture begins to thicken and starts to turn light brown.
Once the mixture has thickened, remove the pot from the heat source, and whisk in the peanut butter until the mixture is consistently smooth throughout.
Transfer the mixture from the pot into a loaf pan or similar pan lined with parchment paper.
Allow the mixture to cool a few minutes, then top with chocolate chips over the top of the fudge.
Put the fudge into the freezer for one hour, then move it to the refrigerator for another 2 hours.
Slice the fudge and serve. If you have leftovers, store any remaining leftovers in a sealed container in the freezer.

Final thoughts: Keto peanut butter fudge recipe

Hopefully, this article provided you with some great tips on snacking while maintaining ketosis and dropping that weight. It can be difficult to maintain ketosis, but learning more great tips like this can keep you on top of your game and the more you learn and the more you practice eating keto-friendly, the more you’ll find yourself in a groove and planning your meals and snacks better.

Don’t get discouraged by a slip-up, just learn from it and plan better next time. And take advantage of these great tips by filling your grocery cart with the items mentioned above, and don’t forget the ingredients to the fantastic peanut butter fudge recipe!

Pro-ana Diet Plan Risks and Uncertainties

Pro-Ana: a community formed on good intentions that can lead to dangerous habits

The beginnings of Pro-ana diet plan

Those who have suffered anorexic or bulimic behavioral addictions in the past have congregated online to offer support and tips for others who are working on recovering through various stages. Unfortunately, some of these forums and communities that were initially intended to create a culture of support have devolved into a pro-anorexia or pro-ana culture and endorsement of a pro-ana diet plan.

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder in which those who suffer from it take drastic measures to cut calories and lose weight. Additional symptoms can include exercising excessively or vomiting and using laxatives to reduce their caloric intake as much as possible. To be anorexic, you don’t have to be extremely thin. In fact, many people who struggle with anorexia and unhealthy methods of weight loss might not be skinny at all.

An empty plate representing low-calorie unhealthy diets such as a Pro-ana diet plan

Why Pro-ana diet plan can be a dangerous road

Those who follow the pro-ana philosophy are buying into a dangerous methodology that anorexia is psychologically rewarding or that the torture that they’re allowing their bodies to endure will be worth it in the end after their drastic weight loss. However, anorexia will deprive the body of essential nutrients that the body needs to function, and this can have drastic effects. Anorexia has been known to lead to electrolyte imbalances or cardiovascular issues, both which can be immediately fatal. Thus, those who might believe that they’re putting themselves through some temporary pain to achieve and end goal are in actuality walking a very dangerous line between life and death.

Perhaps the most sickening part of the pro-ana movement is the slogans, marketing, and encouragement that is offered to members of the community to continue their unhealthy road to thinness. One common goal for those in the pro-ana movement is achieving a “thigh gap,” or increasing the amount of daylight that is visible between their upper thighs. The issue with the thigh gap obsession is that everyone has different fat distributions for their body, and some might have more fat stored in their thighs than others.

In fact, many women, who make up the majority of the pro-ana movement, have a fat distribution that places their fat in their hips, upper arms, behind, and thighs. So, lowering the fat content in these areas to extremely low levels can not only be incredibly difficult, but incredibly unhealthy and can go against how the body is supposed to function. Those who have a thigh gap while maintaining a healthy diet do so due to genetics, they have a different fat distribution that allows them to have a thigh gap while also ensuring that their body gets the nutrients and caloric intake that it needs to function properly.

Those who can’t get a thigh gap through healthy methods, and most people fall into that category, should not only seek to understand that their bodies are beautiful without some silly diamond of daylight between their legs, but furthermore they should seek help from eating disorder professionals if they find that they are obsessing over their size.

Woman with thigh gap which is a common goal in Pro-ana community

When you starve yourself, you’re starving your entire body. It isn’t simply a matter of having less fuel or feeling a little more tired, it affects every function within your body.

According to Dr. Kimberly Dennis, medical director of Timberline Knolls Residential Treatment Center, in an article with hercampus.com, “In states of starvation, the heart shrinks, the brain shrinks, the liver can get inflamed, the immune system is diminished.” And beyond the physical effects lies many other psychological effects, such as an addiction to starving yourself, which compounds the physical effects as the addiction grows and continues.

Pro-ana “motivational” quotes

So, even those who think they might take a chance at pro-ana diet plan for a brief period of time and then maintain their goal weight through healthy eating might find themselves addicted to the unhealthy weight loss methods and the mentality that one more pound of weight loss will get them to where they want to be, even if they’re already ten pounds lighter than their goal weight.

And breaking this addictive cycle doesn’t become any easier in the midst of the encouragement and marketing done by the pro-ana community that say things such as “What nourishes me destroys me”, as quoted directly from theproanatips.com. If you do a simple Google search of pro-ana diet tips, you’ll find a host of similar sayings that are enough to make you heartbroken for those who buy into this damaging community.

Another, also taken from theproanatips.com is a quote from Brian Flatt which states “If you have to eat, eat in front of the mirror.” These are supposed to be motivational quotes that are perpetuating a healthy lifestyle, when in reality those who are promoting these behaviors are either preying on those who have existing struggles with eating disorders, or who have eating disorders themselves and are sharing their suffering with others unknowingly.

700 calories for a week

Pro-ana sites will also recommend diets that offer less than 700 calories for a week. You don’t need to be a nutritionist to understand the damage that such a void nutritional offering could bring. And of course, in traditional cult style, many pro-ana sites will continue to pull the wool over the eyes of their followers by acknowledging the resistance to the movement and to prepare themselves for those who might question the health impacts of their dietary choices and assure their followers that those who don’t follow pro-ana diet plan simply “don’t understand” the need to continually lose weight.

Since we’ve been pointing out examples of the tragic encouragement offered by many of these sites, we should add that number five on theproanatips.com’s list of tips is to purge via vomiting or taking laxatives. They also encourage to stand in front of a mirror often as motivation and to eat alone to hide their lifestyle from those who are close to them.

Additionally, in their “about me” section, they mention that they do not intend to promote anorexia or eating disorders in any way and simply want to offer a quick way to lose weight fast, but it’s difficult to identify a separation between their suggestions and encouragement and the true form of eating disorders. In fact, if you look up symptoms of anorexia and bulimia and subsequently look up tips for the pro-ana diet plan, you won’t find any distinguishable differences, except that one source will paint the symptoms in a positive light as “progress.”

Of course, as with any fitness or dietary plan, different pro-ana sources offer varying degrees and extremes of their lifestyle. Throughout this article, we’ve been bringing light to some of the red flags on the site theproanatips.com. Even sites that might not necessarily perpetuate the encouragement of anorexia to that extreme can in the end be guilty by association, perhaps innocently, by leading people to the more dangerous pro-ana resources in their own research.

Those who want to help people lose weight in a healthy manner should distance themselves from the pro-ana movement and should reach out to those who might be blindly following pro-ana methods and offer them some guidance and support.

How to get help

Pro-ana did begin as a way to offer support for each other and to create a strong community, unfortunately the support portion of that has morphed into an extreme form of dieting that doesn’t align with anything healthy or nutritional. Those who are seeking help with eating disorders of any sort should seek help. Some pro-ana followers are a part of pro-ana solely because they enjoy the sense of community that pro-ana has offered them. For those who might feel tied to this community and are realizing the negative effects that it can be having on their mental and physical health, they should look into other sources of community such as We Bite Back.

We Bite Back can offer the same source of community that pro-ana has built, but through with a much greater degree of safety and support and reinforcement of positive eating patterns. NEDA also offers multiple resources on their website for anyone who is experiencing difficulties or needs help of any sort with any level of an eating disorder, big or small.

It’s important to take charge and get help quickly in the beginnings of an eating disorder since it can frequently spiral deeper and have greater health impacts if not assessed immediately.

Anorexia is not a stigmatized condition that is overplayed by medical professionals. It’s a serious mental illness that can have drastic and tragic physical implications. Even if those in pro-ana have good intentions or are themselves in need of professional support, it can be a dangerous road to embark on.

How to Make a Meal Plan Based on Macros

Create a meal plan by counting your macronutrients

Tracking macronutrients and calorie-counting is becoming more popular each day for those seeking a healthier lifestyle. However, it can be difficult to track macros on the fly, which is why a meal plan is so necessary to achieving diet success. But developing a macro-based meal plan is quite literally a science and can be difficult to understand. That’s why we’re going to try to break it down to teach you how to make a meal plan based on macros and get you moving in the right direction towards crafting your own meals with the right macros for your goals.

Tips on how to make a meal plan based on macros

What are macros?

Macros are short for macronutrients, and they include fat, protein, and carbs. These provide your energy throughout the day, and you can alter your intake of each to fit your goals. Whether you’re looking to lose weight, gain muscle, or maintain what you have, macros are key. Macros are the next step beyond calorie counting and macros each make up your total calorie count.

Alcohol is also technically a macro but has no nutritional value, so it’s not included in most macro-counting resources. If you’re solely counting calories, you might be missing the deeper picture of your nutritional intake and not noticing what macros those calories are made up of.

Why count macros?

Simply paying attention to your macro intake will open your eyes to how your daily diet looks in detail. You might notice that you’re lacking in protein or eating too much fatty foods. Being able to adjust these macros will provide benefits and will shed a new light on what foods you eat.

Counting macros also gives you the option to tailor your meals to meet your goals. No matter what your dietary goal is, counting macros will only help you achieve it. Boosting certain macro counts and lowering others can have significant impacts on your ability to gain muscle or lose weight. So gaining information on macros will help you to achieve your goals by zeroing in on a plan that works for your specific goals.

Counting macros can, aside from making you look better, make you feel better. If you’re always tired or you have digestive issues, it could be due to an imbalance in your macronutrients. Maybe you’re happy with how you look, but you want to boost your daily energy and wellbeing, start counting those macros!

The difficulties of macro counting

Macro counting isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, it can be tricky to get it right for a few reasons. First, if you’re only looking at these three key macros, you could still be missing the overall picture of what you’re eating. For example, if you’re eating anything and everything as long as it fits into your macro counts, sure you could be losing weight or gaining muscle, but you could be exposing yourself to other health impacts such as low energy or high blood pressure.

Counting macros can be difficult to manage for those who have busy schedules, which is why meal planning is so vital to your success. It takes extra time to grocery shop and plan out your week for what meals you need to fit your macros. So be prepared to put in the extra work necessary!

How to make a meal plan based on macros and how to start counting them

To start counting your macros, you’ll first need to take some inventory on yourself. There are calculators available online, such as the USDA DRI Calculator that will generate a recommended nutritional intake per day based on your age, height, weight, and activity level. This provides you with an accurate baseline since the USDA is aware of the most up to date macro and micronutrient research, but you can alter this plan to meet your specific goals.

meal plan base on counting macronutrients

Once you have your baseline daily plan, it’ll be up to you to decide how those macros are distributed by meal. Take note of how you eat throughout the week and on weekends so you can accurately mimic your current schedule. If you regularly eat 3 meals and two snacks throughout the day, you’ll want to split up your macros into those 3 meals and 2 snacks. If you generally eat a light breakfast and a heavy dinner, take note of trends like that as well and don’t evenly distribute your macros throughout meals when one meal is generally way larger than another.

The most important thing to remember is to not get discouraged or stressed over counting your macros. The reality is, sometimes you can’t perfectly manage your macro intake, but being aware of what you’re eating will help you and you’ll slowly become more effective at managing your meals. It’s much easier once you’re already aware of how much fat, protein and carbs are in a meal item and you don’t have to look it up or read the nutrition label.

Once you have a meal schedule laid out with macro amounts included, you need to find some recipes that fit these macro amounts. When you’re looking into recipes, keep in mind your grocery budget, the amount of time you’re willing to spend cooking, and if you’re going to be prepping meals days ahead or eating leftovers the next day. Some people are perfectly okay with eating a very similar meal plan every day of the week, others need variety. You know yourself better than anyone else, so if you can’t eat chicken and broccoli for 5 meals a week, don’t do it!

Websites and macro tracking apps to help you count macros

There are apps and websites that can help offer recipe ideas and macro breakdowns for your specific goals. Utilize these if you don’t think you’ll be able to keep track of your intake easily. Many of them have helpful tools built-in like being able to craft a shopping list directly from your meal plan recipes. Most of these apps and sites are useful for being able to look back at your week and adjust your macros and meals for the next week.

Data collection is key to being able to optimize your plan. You most likely eat differently than you originally thought, and you need to be able to adjust for that. Also, you need to be adjusting your macros as you move on towards your goals! Your body will be changing throughout the macro counting process (unless you’re on a maintenance plan), and your macros should change with it!

Continually research and learn more about macronutrients to optimize your plan

If you’re going for weight loss, your carb intake will be much lower than if you were going for muscle gain and you were regularly working out. Learn more about the different types of each macro, not all carbs are the same and not all fats are the same.

Simple carbs are easily broken down by your body and are contained in dairy, fruits, and sugary foods. Complex carbs break down slower and are contained in veggies, whole grains, and beans. Good fats are unsaturated fats. These are found in plants, oils, and omega 3s. Bad fats are saturated fats and trans fats and are contained in dairy and processed animal foods.

In addition to counting your macros, you should be making sure to stay hydrated and drink plenty of water. You should also ensure you’re eating fiber to aid digestion. The term “IIFYM” or “If it fits your macros” is a popular saying, but the truth is this can be dangerous if you only look at macros! Make sure you’re intaking fluids and fiber and not blindly following a macro count.

In combination with calorie counting, keep in mind each gram of carbs and protein has 4 calories, while each gram of fat has 9 calories. You can think of calories as energy, and if you don’t burn your energy, it will be stored as fat. If you burn too much energy or take in too little calories, you could find yourself fatigued. You can surely see by this point that there’s a lot that goes into it, but every little bit helps.

Final thoughts: How to make a meal plan based on macros

Start counting your macros based on these tips. And remember not to overwhelm yourself by trying to be a nutritionist on day one. It’ll take time to do it well, and each step of progress leads to a healthier you.

Alkaline Food Chart for Healthy Eating

Best Foods to Alkalize Your Body

Your questions on where to draw the line between acidic and alkaline foods and how or with what can you alkalize your body will be answered shortly. Use the acid / alkaline food chart to help you find the right foods for your meals.

Of course, you will agree with me that our body functions better with certain food intake while some foods are just toxic. So, where do we generate our healthy foods from and how?

Let’s start with the how. A sure-fire way to determine how healthy the food is is by checking properly the food alkaline and acidic level. For clarity, there are a lot of components that make cells and tissues work in our body appropriately.

Examples are nutrients availability, temperature, and potential of hydrogen also called pH, which measures the level of hydrogen ions in certain solution, meaning the more ions present, the more acidic the solution will be and the less the ions, the less the acidic solution.

If you keep eating too many acidic solution foods, your body – the kidney to be precise cannot keep up with the acid waste and they start accumulating in your tissues.

And research has proven that if the acidic pile-up happens for a long period of time, it will lead to all kinds of health conditions, for example, cancer, arthritis, kidney stones, diabetes, and many others. And all these can be linked with acidic foods intake.

What differentiates alkaline from acidic foods?

An acid-solution diet with limited vegetable intake can be linked to an increased risk of metabolic syndrome. And they are very dangerous and affect the body’s ability to repair or detoxify, and eventually cause a person to be more opened to disease and illness of all kinds.

The signs of acidosis to watch out for include infections, allergies, headaches, candida, cancer, diabetes, heart problems, arthritis, brittle nails, and hair, fatigue, heavy breathing, underweight, or excess weight, digestive issues, etc.

The body finds it tasking and overbearing to detoxify and neutralize acids before they act as poisons in and around our cells.

And it’s easy to know your level of alkaline and acidic intake and know where you are excess or deficient. Just get a test strip from any health food store or order online, and you can use either your urine or saliva to get the result.

So, why recommend alkaline foods in place of acidic’s?

There are billions of cells in your tissues that rely on an alkaline environment to function appropriately and prevent cellular damage.

So, whenever you eat an alkaline diet you get deeper and more restful sleep, improve your cardiovascular health, develop more healthy tissues, grow better bones, you mitigate chronic diseases, cell function properly, energy level increases, your memory, and cognition get enhanced, and you reduce candida overgrowth amongst others.

What foods are the best to alkalize your body?

My alkaline food chart answers this question. Whole plant-based foods are most beneficial to us, not only are they harmless but their high vitamin and mineral content have an enormous effect on our entire body, such as disease prevention and healing processes.

Let’s therefore examine the following alkaline food chart; for clarity on the most common misconception, an acid/alkaline solution of a particular food is not talking about the pH of the food before consumption, but the acid/alkaline result is determined after you digest it.

Your kidney has to neutralize the acid that is produced in the process of digestion. In other words, whether your food intake is alkalizing or acidifying is based on the amount of acid waste that is produced after the digestion.

It is the waste of the chemicals and not the acidity of the food that affects our body.

Choose foods from the following alkaline food chart to properly alkalize your body. Remember to keep your acid-solution foods to a minimum as they are also needed.

Alkaline food chart

Here is the alkaline food chart for you to consider:

Fresh beans, green peas, lima beans, soy products
Mushrooms, sprouts, legumes
Pumpkin, potatoes, beets
Nuts and seeds like coconut, almonds, sesame, chia
Grains like amaranth, millet, and quinoa
Wheat and barley grass, algae like spirulina and chlorella, etc.

Let me expatiate on few of these alkaline foods on the chart

Almonds: Among other alkalizing foods, almond leads with high magnesium content which makes them count along with other alkaline-forming food. The healthy fats content also nourishes and fills your body quicker.

Parsley: As a kidney cleanser, parsley which is another strong alkalizing food is a good choice. And like lemon, parsley also helps with digestion and can be consumed in differs ways e.g. as salad, soup or chilies.

Lemon: Your liver needs support to adequately eliminate toxins from your body and lemon has proven to be a perfect option over the years. Lemon among other functions aids digestion and helps to detox properly. You want to really consider a glass of lemon juice or water daily as a habit.

Tomatoes: If you are seeking a better alternative to get Vitamin B6, Vitamin C, and vital digestive enzymes while you enjoy all the alkaline along then tomatoes are your best bet. Raw or cooked, you’ll get all the nutritional benefits. But tomatoes serve you higher alkaline when they are consumed raw. Consider tomatoes as a snack on your diet list. You won’t regret it.

Garlic: Highly rated on the list of alkalizing natural agents is garlic. Popularly known for effective immune system boosting, prevention of all kinds of diseases it serves as a strong anti-bacterial agent in the body. You definitely want to give garlic a try or add it to your food more often.

Red Onion: Consumption of raw onion is highly beneficial to your body. Aside from being alkaline agent, onions nourish your system in a lot of ways with their high anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory effects. They also pass for a vitamin C supplement. You can cook it slowly until the onion is lightly yellowed if you find it difficult eating it raw.

Avocado: Since everything you consume matters, then you need a better alternative to your fat intake and avocado is one of your best bet. With its rich and healthy fats content, it is a perfect addition to the alkalizing and anti-inflammatory properties.

Basil: If you are considering one alkalizing ingredient with mega antioxidant effects, then basil is your choice. Loaded with a high level of flavonoids, vitamin K, A, and calcium basil is highly recommended.

Final thoughts: Alkaline Food Chart for Healthy Eating

A healthy diet should consist of 70 to 80 percent of basic foods and 20 to 30 percent of foods that acidify the body. So, carefully make your choice, take time to eat and be mindful of your eating habits.

Slow Carb Diet Review

Insights into Slow carb diet

Get ready to have your mind blown…Are you ready? In Tim Ferris’ book The Four Hour Body, he says you can lose 20 lbs of fat in 30 days with Slow carb diet – and without exercising. Do you believe it?

I couldn’t, and so I looked into it. The promises offered were reminiscent of every diet ever created. Rapid weight loss, eat whatever you want of the selected foods, it’s easy. It’s the missing piece of knowledge you never knew, but, now that you do, your life problems will be solved. I was left with the question; does it work?

What is the Slow carb diet

The slow carb diet is fairly simple and similar to other diets like the ketogenic diet. You follow guidelines and over time you see results.

The guidelines for the slow carb diet are as follows:

You can eat whatever you want one day a week, a cheat day. On the cheat day, you can eat whatever you desire.
The other six days you can still eat till you feel full but you have to follow the rest of these rules.
Absolutely no sugary foods, that includes fruit, this is one key difference between many diets.
No caloric drinks, in fact, drink mostly water and preferably a lot of water.
Another rule and a big change for many people who are new to diets is to eliminate carbohydrate-based foods.
The last guideline is to try and eat the same meal multiple times.

PROTEIN

Eggs, lots of eggs are recommended by Tim Ferris
Lean meats, like chicken and other poultry
Other meats are acceptable as well, like beef and pork
Seafood

LEGUMES AND BEANS/MORE PROTEIN

Lentils
Soybeans
Pinto Beans
Red Beans
Black Beans
Snap Peas

VEGETABLES

Spinach
Broccoli
Brussels sprouts
Cauliflower
Kale
Sauerkraut and Kimchi
Asparagus
Peas
Green beans

CARBS

NONE, no carbs allowed

DIARY

Cottage cheese only, no other dairy

FRUIT

No sugary fruit, so tomatoes and avocados.

Does this diet REALLY work?

If you’re a skeptic like me then you are still hesitant on this diet’s effectiveness and rightfully so. This diet was created by Tim Ferris, the best selling author and someone who finds hidden patterns in successful people. He has a popular podcast, multiple books, and a handful of awards.

He is a successful man, but he is not a nutritionist, or a biologist, or anything that you would expect to create a healthy diet. That doesn’t mean the diet is bad, but it definitely means you should be cautious.

Tim Ferris did consult some people who actually know what a diet should or shouldn’t be, and they agreed with some of his diet restrictions while you can find others who disagree with other parts of the diet. Specifically with the long term effects of staying on the diet.

Dairy is not recommended on this diet along with fruit and whole grains. These are widely considered healthy if eaten in moderation however they are considered banned foods for the slow carb diet. While it is possible to live without these items, it could cause vitamin and other nutrient deficiencies especially when compounded by the concept that you are supposed to eat the same meals over and over.

This creates a lack of variety especially when it comes to vegetables which is where most people get most of their vitamins.

Weight loss app proof

I will admit that there are reasonable reasons for each restriction in the diet, but this diet has never been studied closely. The only study performed on the slow carb diet is one through an app where people signed up and recorded their own weight loss.

The study posited that 84% of participants lost at least 8 pounds after 4 weeks. This is a significant result and has a little bit of credit to it but 4 weeks doesn’t show the long term results of a diet like this. The results could be a combination of muscle loss and water weight loss which is not fat loss.

I don’t think most people want to use this diet to just lose muscle and water after a month and then gain it back once they switch to a more sustainable diet.

Perhaps this diet isn’t so bad though, at least in the short term of about a month. I mean if you’re new to diets, then this can help you build beneficial habits like eliminating most processed foods, and eating “healthier” food groups, as well as helping you be aware of what you are actually eating.

Carbs are not bad, but they do have a tendency to be calorie-heavy and so would be bad for those trying to shed some pounds. This diet limits dairy because lactose is supposed to increase insulin which has been seen to have a negative correlation with weight loss.

The slow carb diet does encourage the consumption of cottage cheese which has lower lactose and higher protein than other dairy products. The sugar in fruit, fructose, can increase blood fat levels which is supposedly bad for fat loss.

The cheat day is also supposed to have some science to it, by eating a lot every once in a while you’re preventing your body from keeping equilibrium with your, hopefully, lower-calorie days thereby increasing your metabolism.

Should I try it?

Maybe by now, you are wondering if this diet is right for you or if it even works. Well in my non-medical opinion I would say it could definitely cause weight loss.

I have researched other diets and have found processed foods specifically sugary ones to be a big factor in weight loss or lack thereof.

My biggest concern for this diet is how limiting it is, that is part of its supposed benefits though. You don’t have to think about what to eat as much, just pick a few meals and eat those every day. The same breakfast every day, the same lunch every day, and maybe switch it up for dinner a little bit.

This makes preparing and choosing what to eat easy but can leave you lacking in some key nutrients.

A big factor in whether this diet or any diet is going to work for you is whether you stick to it. A diet shouldn’t be something you do for a month, it should be a lifestyle choice.

So a good indicator of whether this diet is good for you is how much of a lifestyle change is it for you. If you have to change a lot then you are less likely to stick to it.

Final thoughts

The possibility to eat as much of the prescribed foods is a good benefit but I’m concerned with its effectiveness in weight loss. While ideally, you won’t get hungry if your body doesn’t need it, this isn’t always the case and what kind of food you consume doesn’t change the number of calories ingested. I understand proteins and vegetables are less calorie-dense than carbs you should still be somewhat mindful of the number of calories consumed.

Overall, I would say that this diet will work for some people, but most people may have trouble sticking to the habits and dietary restrictions. It’s important to note for those who think they need to lose weight, just trying to diet is better than not trying and sulking about your weight.

If you really want to accomplish a goal you have to take action and one little step is better than standing still.

21-Day Plant-Based Diet Guide

Reasons to try a plant-based diet for 21 days

Are you motivated to try a plant-based diet for 21 days? I know, it’s not as easy as it sounds, but it’s worth the effort. While getting used to plant nutrition you will have to overcome a number of challenges. However, proper planning and sticking to the schedule can assist you to overcome all sorts of issues that you might face while changing your eating habits. That’s where the 21-day plant-based diet tips can assist you with.

Following an eating plan that your body is not used to is very difficult. But if you can stick to it for a period of 21 days, you can gradually make it a habit. That’s where the 21-day plant-based diet is designed to help you as well. You will be following the diet plan for a period of three consecutive weeks and you can receive the best possible results at the end of it.

A well-planned and appropriately supplemented plant diet is extremely effective and health-friendly. In addition to satiety, a smaller waist and more energy, you will improve your health and well-being with this type of diet. Many people with a plant-based diet normalize their body weight, improve and ease digestion, increase energy levels and improve skin condition.

We’ll teach you how to survive those 21 days and what you should do during this period so that you will be able to end up with measurable results.

What exactly is a plant-based diet?

To begin with, let’s find out what exactly is meant by a plant-based diet. When you are following a plant-based diet, you stick only to plant-based foods. This kind of diet is environment-friendly and can provide you with a large number of other health benefits.

For example, you can easily overcome some frustrating illnesses that may affect your health, such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular health.

When you are following a plant-based diet, your attention is focused on the consumption of non-processed or whole foods, along with plants such as vegetables, whole grains, fruits, seeds, legumes, and nuts. You should keep in mind that a plant-based diet is not the same as a vegan.

Unlike vegan, a plant-based diet is well-planned nutritious eating that can allow a “less radical” approach and consumption of some animal foods at the start of a diet.

Over time, it promotes the replacement of approximately all animal foods with healthier plant foods, which improve your health and help you lose weight in a safe way.

How to follow a 21-day plant-based diet?

Now let’s focus on how you can start following a 21-day plant-based diet. We will provide you with some useful tips that you can use when getting accustomed to a new lifestyle. This will ensure that you get the best possible results at the end of the diet.

Before you start following a 21-day plant-based diet, it is important to make a plan. You should really spend some time to put this plan down on paper because you are going to stick to it for the next three weeks. A diet plan also involves selecting recipes that you will follow each day. At the end of the plan, you must have healthy recipes for every day including ideas for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

We will also share a few example recipes you can use for a 21-day plant-based diet. You will find that it is an easy task to stick to the plan and to get the best possible results that are promised to you.

Breakfast

For your breakfast, you can consume a cup of oatmeal, along with half a cup of blueberries. Likewise, for every breakfast, you can add two servings of grains with one serving of fruit. If you want to go for a mid-morning snack, you should try a fruit. For example, you can eat one banana.

Lunch

You can eat 1 serving of beans, 1 serving of grains, 1 serving of fruits and 2 servings of veggies for lunch. For example, you can try half a cup of black beans, half a cup of brown rice, half a cup of diced onion, tomatoes or peppers, 1 cup of lettuce and one apple. Every time you can use other types of grains, beans, vegetables, and fruits, and prepare them in various ways so that you do not get bored.

If you want to have a mid-afternoon snack, you can eat 1 cup of raw vegetables, such as cucumbers, peppers, and carrots. You can add half a cup of grapes and half a cup of oil-free hummus. In other words, you need to stick to 1 serving of beans, 1 serving of veggies and 1 serving of fruit.

Dinner

For the dinner, you can make 2 servings of veggies, 1 serving of beans and 1 serving of fruit. That’s where you can try a chickpea noodle soup, along with baked cinnamon apple and a side salad.

As you can see, you are sticking only to plant-based foods throughout the entire day. It can provide you with a range of benefits in the long run.

Why should I stick to a plant-based diet?

There’s plenty of reasons for the people in today’s world to start following a 21-day plant-based diet. The ability of it to contribute towards your gut health holds a prominent place. The plant-based diets are filled with legumes, whole grains, and seeds, which are in a position to support your gut health. That’s because they can increase the amount of healthy bacteria found in your gi tract.

All people who start following a 21-day plant-based diet can experience a reduction in the risk associated with heart diseases and diabetes as well. Heart diseases can be considered as the main cause of death in the world.

If you want to overcome these health conditions, all you have to do is to stick to a plant-based diet for a longer time. The above-mentioned tips can provide you with much-needed help.

On the other hand, a significant percentage of the world’s population experiences negative consequences associated with plant-based and vegan diets, so consult your physician prior to dieting. He can best assess whether the diet is appropriate and safe for you, which of course depends on your health condition.

Releana Diet Review – Should you Try it?

Review on the Releana diet

Have you noticed that in today’s world, almost everyone, one way or the other desires to lose weight? Some people are trying to lose weight because they want to be healthier and stronger while others have a mere desire to look better so they can wear those dream jeans they’re aspiring to fit into. Checking the internet for information about weight loss and maintenance strategies, one would see that there are many meal plans, diets, and exercises that help to reduce body weight. One such way to lose weight is the Releana diet plan.

It is a diet plan that is designed to integrate a low-calorie plan with some drops specially created to help reduce weight easily and quickly. However, the critical question you have to ask yourself is whether these drops have a real effect on weight loss or not.

Will the Releana diet plan help me lose weight? We will get into details shortly!

What is Releana HCG?

The meaning of HCG is Human Chorionic Gonadotropin, this is a hormone produced by pregnant women during pregnancy. According to the information published by the company, the primary purpose of HCG is to burn those undesired fat stored in the body, leaving out essential fatty acids needed by the body.

Releana is identical to HCG, except it is in the form of a droplet and it is taken by diffusion through the tissues that are under the tongue. It is perfect for dieters who wish to combine it with their low-calorie meal plan. The company asserts that the drops cause a reduction in appetite and resets the rate of metabolism of the body. Releana comes with a prescription, and physicians are expected to monitor their patients when taking the Releana medicine.

Does Releana have a specific food program to follow?

As mentioned above, you take Releana drops twice a day for 20 days by the sublingual method. If at the end of 20 days, you have seen the improvements you desire, you can quit taking the Releana drops, but if you haven’t achieved the weight loss you want, you can continue taking the drops until you get the target weight loss.

Aside from taking the drops of Releana in your bid to lose weight, one must also follow a strict meal plan. In the first two days of the Releana diet, which people popularly refer to as the loading days, you can eat whatever you want (especially food that has high-fat content in them). The reason is to restore fats in the body, which may have been reduced due to previous weight loss attempts. These first two days also helps the dieter to reduce the effect of hunger for the early 7 days of the diet.

Moving on to the next 18 days of the diet, the regime becomes stricter. You are allowed to eat a total amount of 500 calories per day. The sources of the calories you consume must come from fruits, lean meats, and vegetables. You can also use organic meat and its products for the recipe, but it is not required. On the Releana diet, you are not allowed to consume fat or any form of alcohol. Most dieters following the Releana diet are always instructed to do so judiciously without any deviation so they can quickly achieve results.

Ingredients

The Releana drops have as its constituent, natural HCG which is sourced from alpha and beta subunits.

Administration

To take the Releana drops, you have to hold it under your tongue for some time (about three minutes), and then you swallow it. In addition to taking the Releana drops, you are expected to take potassium supplements to avoid dizziness and dehydration. The dizziness and dehydration occur because of the increased rate of weight loss.

Possible Side Effects

Although the effects of using Releana drops have not been adequately studied, there are some side effects that one must consider before deciding to use the program. Some dieters who tried the Releana diet program gave their feedbacks. Some said they experienced constant tiredness and weakness, headaches, and sleeplessness.

Another thing one has to take as a significant concern is a deficiency in vitamins and minerals. Excessive reduction in calorie intake can be counterproductive. Studies with low-calorie diets (less than 1000 calories per day) have shown that loss of muscle mass, hypoglycemia, hair loss, lack of energy and fatigue and significant metabolic slowdown may occur. Another side effect of the Releana diet is gallstone formation, which happens because of the increased rate of weight loss.

How beneficial is the Releana Diet?

In the same way, every other HCG diet program has advantages and drawbacks, and so does the Releana diet. Below are the pros and cons.

PROS

It is a perfect way to lose weight quickly.
The method of administration does not require the use of injections, which makes it better and safer.
Individuals can only take it when prescribed by a physician; this way, better protection and professional care are provided.

CONS

The risks involved cannot be explained comprehensively.
There are lots of side effects involved when HCG is taken through the mouth.
Physicians and medical experts who administer the Releana drops are not fully recognized in the medical field.
The program requires proper monitoring, and there is no guarantee that physicians will strictly adhere to it.
The patient may likely experience weight gain when he/she stops taking the Releana drops.
Using potassium as a supplement to the administration of the Releana diet to reduce side effects can endanger the dieter.

Final verdict

We do not recommend this diet because there is not enough information about its long-term effects. In these times the increase in HCG suppliers on the internet is significant, but it’s a shame that the Releana diet does not meet the standards required for its use. Irrespective of the fact that some dieters report that they experienced a noticeable weight loss, others are not so certain that they lost their weight as a result of the Releana drops.

Then again, it is not so easy and comfortable to always see a physician for a prescription before you commence your dieting program. The most concerning part of the Releana diet is that it is new to the medical community, not reviewed, there is no detailed study showing the extent of its side effects, and finally, It has failed to meet primary endpoints to receive FDA approval.

Vegan Military Diet Plan

Lose weight in 7 days with the vegan military diet

The military diet plan is one that many people around the world know very well. It is a diet plan that serves as an excellent way to get into a weight reduction program. Nevertheless, a setback that one must know about the military diet is its high content of animal food products like meat, eggs, cheese, etc., which is so because most animal products are rich in protein. But these days, both vegans and vegetarians want to get a shot at the military diet plan. Luckily, this piece will shed more light on the vegan military diet plan, which is a substitute for the “real” military diet plan.

Now, before we go into the vegan military diet, let us first talk briefly about the military diet plan.

So, what does this diet plan entail?

Over the years, there has been no concrete evidence or any reliable information about the origin of the military diet plan. No one knows how it started, who started it, or the reason why it was created. The only fact about the military diet plan is that it has only two reliable resource sites, militaryDiet.co, and TheMilitaryDiet.com and that fans and proponents of the diet run both sites without any credentials from health professionals.

However, they say that the military diet plan works like an ideal fasting diet although this is not completely true. The difference here is that it combines a three days meal plan where you have to maintain a certain amount of calorie intake, and then followed by a four days free eating plan (here, you can eat whatever you desire, but you have to ensure that it doesn’t go above the total calorie intake).

Now, during the first three days, you have to follow the military diet plan strictly. The total amount of calories you can consume is 1,000-1,400. The standard number for most days by calculation is approximately 1,150 calories. For the next four days, you have to target a total calorie intake of 1,500. The Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion in the USA advises male adults to endeavor to maintain a moderate calorie intake of 2,200-2,800 per day, and adult females to sustain that of 1,800-2,000 per day.

You may ask, do only the military make use of the military diet?

The answer to the question is no! Then again, most people call the military diet other names like navy diet, army diet, or ice cream diet, because each evening on the first three days of the diet plan, you are required to consume a small amount of ice cream. People often wonder why the meal plan is called the military diet plan. we don’t have a clue either, but it might be associated with developing an army level mindset and perseverance in order to be able to follow the meal plan effectively.

Now that we know what the military diet plan requires, let’s see how it applies to the vegan army diet.

Military diet for vegans

A three-day military diet is surprisingly popular for a quick loss of kilograms without long-lasting suffering! In this diet, you replace meat with lentils or other vegetables that have higher protein content.

This diet is based on accelerating metabolism and those who have tested it claim that in just one week they lost as much as 4.5 kg or even more. This diet is by no means suitable in the long run! It is still essential that you constantly take care of a healthy lifestyle and diet as well as daily physical activity.

It is recommended that low-calorie diets like this one are followed by those who are well-prepared for such a regime and have no problems to refrain from eating large portions, otherwise, overeating may occur.

Below is an ideal Vegan Military Diet Plan:

Vegan Military Diet Plan Day 1

Breakfast

½ of a grapefruit
1 slice of toast (It is preferable to take wholemeal, toast can be replaced with regular bread)
2 tbsp. of peanut butter
1 cup of coffee or caffeinated tea without sugar

Lunch

1 cup of coffee or caffeinated tea without sugar
1 slice of toast (applies the same as breakfast)
½ cup of bean curd (you can use some other comparable source of protein)

Dinner

approx. 160g of any legumes rich in protein
½ banana
1 small-sized apple
1 cup vanilla ice cream

Vegan Military Diet Plan Day 2

Breakfast

1 hard-boiled egg
1 slice of toast or bread
½ banana

Lunch

1 cup of curd
1 hard-boiled egg
5 saltine crackers

Dinner

1 cup of broccoli
2 approx. 160g of any legumes rich in protein
½ banana
½ cup of carrots
½ cup vanilla ice cream

Vegan Military Diet Plan Day 3

Breakfast

1 small-sized apple
1 slice of cheddar cheese
5 saltine crackers

Lunch

1 hard-boiled egg (it can also be soft-boiled)
120 grams of legumes of your choice

Dinner

1 cup vanilla ice cream
150 grams of bean curd
½ a banana

Vegan Military Diet – Days 4 To 7

Eat what you like, but watch for calories (max 1500 kcal per day)! More than 80% of people misjudge how many calories they consume per day, so it’s best to follow the menu.

Essential tips to follow while on a diet

The first thing to remember here is that you have to drink at least 2l of water every day, depending on the weight of the individual (35 g of water/kg body weight), physical activity, workload, climatic conditions, etc. If we do not drink enough water, the body becomes dehydrated.
Endeavor to stay away from carbonated drinks, sweet drinks, and alcohol. Apart from water, drink only unsweetened tea or coffee. Coffee is a strong diuretic, which means that it accelerates the secretion of fluid from the kidneys and thus from the body. This causes dehydration, so do not forget to drink water.
Don’t allow the diet plan to disturb your everyday life; go about it as healthy as possible.
And lastly, aim to engage in exercises for faster and better results. Properly selected physical activity greatly helps to lose weight and speed up the melting of your pounds. You need to practice at least four to five times a week and your heart rate should be somewhere between 60 and 70 percent. The exercise should last from 30 to 45 minutes or more.

Final thoughts

Low-calorie diets usually result in a lack of essential vitamins and minerals, as food intake is reduced. This leads to a weakening of the immune system, which means that we are more susceptible to various diseases. Therefore, the duration of the diet should not be prolonged.

And another thing, because of the natural mechanism of survival, the body quickly begins to adjust to lower calorie intake and it also reduces the burning of these calories. With reduced calorie intake, you stop losing weight very quickly, which at the end of the diet results in the unwanted and unhealthy yo-yo effect.

For this reason, after finishing the vegan military diet you need to stick to a healthy eating plan, otherwise, you will regain weight very quickly. With this diet you will not lose a lot of excess weight, you can expect to lose up to 4,5 kg.