Many dieters find their biggest struggle with any diet plan is sticking with it. It is one of the greatest catch 22′s for dieters – eat less calories and burn more calories to create a 3500 calorie deficit which will result in a one pound loss. Then repeat this over and over until all the weight needed to lose is lost.
In the book “The Volumetrics Eating Plan: Techniques and Recipes for Feeling Full on Fewer Calories” nutritionist Barbara Rolls says “quit dieting for good and feel full on fewer calories.” Barbara recommends that readers should stop dieting and choose foods that offer more bang for fewer calories. She does this by showing how to calculate a food’s “energy density” – or the concentration of calories within a given food’s serving size. By choosing foods with low energy density a person can consume more foods which will help them feel fuller faster and longer.
The trick here is that they can actually eat more, but the catch is they have to eat foods that are low in calories and low in energy density. Energy dense foods have a lot of calories in a small package so low density foods which are often water-based like fruits, vegetables and soups can be consumed in greater volumes than high density items filled with sugar and fat like candy and cookies.
Consumer Reports praised The Volumetrics plan as the “best overall diet” in its June 2007 issue where they tested it and found that it had the “best overall weight loss of any diet evaluated.”
People Who Praise the Diet have found:
Consistent Weight Loss: Following the diet properly can lead to a consistent loss of 1 or 2 pounds per week.
Change in eating habits: those who follow the program will incorporate very good eating habits increasing their overall health.
Increases in energy levels: this is likely due to the fact that they are not seeing the dips and spikes in blood sugar levels from eating processed or sugary foods.
Critics of the Diet have found:
They Feel Hunger: since the majority of foods are water-based fruits and vegetables, they are processed by the body more quickly and can leave a feeling of being hungry. However, since the diet allows unlimited foods they can eat more of the water-based food. Nutritionists who promote the diet say that those who criticize the diet for hunger are likely not eating enough protein or enough of the low density foods.
Too Much Preparation: Requires you to plan, prepare meals. Since time is one of the biggest excuses and self sabotaging weight loss thoughts this tends to throw off any dieter, and most successful weight loss plans require planning and preparation.
Same old Same old: Other critics say the plan covers the same material and weight loss tips found in other diets and programs which include: increase your fruit and vegetable intake, decrease your fat intake and generally watch what you eat and how much you eat.
