New Way To Lose Weight…Protein Diet (Lebanon)
It seems like celebrities are constantly on the craziest diets: detox diet, fasting diets, soup diets, slimming pills…and yes people follow celebrities’ diets and are ready to do anything and go to dangerous extremes in order to lose weight. “Perfect body”, “Secrets to lose weight” and many other magic words are only used to make people follow these commercial diets.
But wait a second, don’t you know that you can lose weight rapidly but safely? Yes, the Protein-Sparing diet is a low carbohydrate diet designed for rapid weight loss, 6 to 8 kilograms per month. It is a medically-supervised diet that requires a back to back follow up with a dietitian specifically trained for the mentioned diet. (You can find this diet at Dietitian Christelle Bedrossian’s clinic)
The concept behind this diet
Carbohydrates are usually the body’s primary source of energy. Since a very limited amount of carbohydrates is consumed, your body will start burning your stored body fat. The idea of this diet is to reduce calories to the lowest possible threshold while still eating enough protein to preserve muscles and enough micronutrients to avoid deficiency. Practically, this diet involves:
PROTEINS
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– Lean proteins such as lean meat, seafood, poultry and eggs are allowed.
– The diet includes 70 – 90 grams per day of high-quality protein so it is not a high protein diet that affects your kidneys.
– You can also have protein shakes or bars made of soy
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FAT
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– Healthy Fats are allowed in small quantities
– It is not a high fat diet like the Atkins diet
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CARBOHYDRATES
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– Carbs are minimized as much as possible: no pasta, rice, bread, potatoes, corn are allowed …
– Non-starchy vegetables are allowed: lettuce, cucumbers, cabbage…
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SUPPLEMENTS
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Missing required nutrients, if any, are provided through supplements
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WATER
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At least 1.5 liters of water is recommended every day
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You follow the diet until reaching your target weight and then gradually reintroduce carbohydrates and decrease protein in a post-diet process called a refeeding phase
Is this diet healthy?
Several official protein sparing programs are going strong and showing good results like in Cleveland clinic where this diet is used. With this medical protocol, you don’t just lose weight, you improve your blood pressure, blood sugar, and blood lipid numbers. You use this diet for several weeks for initial motivation and rapid loss. Once your target weight is reached, you move to the transition plan, a more sustainable long-term diet.
Be smart in choosing your diet. After all, if the celebrities’ diets really work, we wouldn’t have thousands of diets to choose from!
Christelle Bedrossian,
Registered Dietitian- Nutritionist
www.christellebedrossian.com
Author Info
Dietitian Christelle Bedrossian
Dietitian Christelle Bedrossian dedicates some of her time to address us through the various media outlets and provide answers to our questions. As a prominent professional in the field of dietetics, Dietitian Christelle Bedrossian is frequently hosted on several local and international television and radio stations to offer up to date advice and tips on health and nutrition. Dietitian Christelle Bedrossian is a writer and nutrition consultant for a variety of written publications, both print and online magazines and newspapers.
