Have you been hearing about the south beach diet phase 1? If you are known to frequent health forums or are a member of a dieting or health organization, than you have likely head of this before. The basic idea of the south beach diet is too maintain a healthy diet of average food staples while using a progressive form of phases to help phase out the cravings that your body experiences from a unhealthy diet. This has proven to very successful in getting people to shed weight and keep it off. The following guide will walk you through some of the benefits of the south beach diet and more specifically the first phase of the diet.

The benefits of the south beach diet phase 1 are extraordinary. The best part of this phase is that it trains your body without you even realizing it. How it works is by almost tricking your body into having cravings for healthy foods that are good for and at the same time gets rid of some of the cravings that are commonly associated with an unhealthy diet. This is the key to long term weight loss success. The south beach diet and specifically phase 1 of the diet have proven to be very successful in doing this.

Phase #1: The part of the phase is of course the food. The good thing about this diet opposed to others is that it is very easy for most people to make the transition from their old diets. This is because the foods that are recommended during the south beach diet phase 1 are foods that most people already enjoy. Some of these foods that you should consume during the first phase include chicken, beef, fish, turkey, nuts, eggs, cheese, and vegetables. If is also recommended to eat garden salad with only 100% olive oil as a dressing. The diet recommends that during this phase you should consume three meals a day and completely stop eating sugary foods or any other foods other than the recommendations set out by the first phase of the diet.

Perhaps the most important part of this diet is the fact that you are slowly beginning to teach your body to stop having craving for sugary foods and other unhealthy foods. Other diets commonly only cause you to lose weight by depriving the body of food. With the south beach diet phase 1 you are actually doing quite the opposite. During phase 1 you will consume three meals a day as well as a snack in between meals. This is crucial to the success of the diet. You can also drink coffee and tea during this phase.

The big changes that you will making during this phase is cutting out foods such as potatoes, bread, rice, fruit, baked goods, candy, cookies, ice cream, and other foods that contain a high concentration of sugar. As long as you make sure that you follow the south beach diet phase 1 you are guaranteed to be on the path to success and reach all of your weight loss goals.

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Unchaining Yourself from an Unhealthy Food Addiction
Protica Research

The cry of I have no willpower! often emerges from the consumers who jokingly surrender to their lack of will when it comes to eating something clearly unhealthy. However, scientific nutritional research has identified that something much more serious much more dangerous is often at work here. For many people, what they perceive as a harmless lack of willpower is actually an addiction an addiction to chemicals that the brain secretes in response to stimulation by certain foods, such as chocolate or cheese[i].

As dangerous as this addiction is, however, recent studies suggest that it is actually much more frightening than it first seems. According to one notable study, the human brain can release dopamine, which is a neurotransmitter linked with feelings enjoyment, when a person merely sees or smells certain foods[ii]. As such, people who may be sensibly avoiding foods that release serotonin and other chemicals (such as chocolate) may still be susceptible to a sight and smell-based addiction to unhealthy food.

Understanding this complex problem begins with understanding the word addiction. Defining a clear-cut definition of addiction is in itself a challenge and a rather hotly debated pursuit at the moment. Still, there is enough unity among credible social and biological scientists to say that a person who is powerless to stop an action is addicted[iii]. When applying this rather grave concept to eating, it becomes starkly clear that choosing an extra slice of pizza or bar of chocolate may be the expression of a very serious addiction to unhealthy food.

Remarkably, unlike how addictions to things like alcohol, drugs, and sexual activity viewed biological and psychological illnesses, addiction to eating is often ignored or, at the very least, diminished to be something that is based on willpower. The insulting advice of just dont eat it if you dont want to get fat! that some obese people actually hear from their doctors, relatives, or colleagues is one of the most common manifestations of this often well-meaning, but potentially harmful, ignorance.

The bottom line fact and one that more medical professionals are accepting based on scientific evidence is that obesity and related eating disorders are often the results of an addiction they are a serious health condition that must be approached methodologically like other diseases[iv].

Understanding that food addiction is indeed a problem a severe disease, in fact is a fundamental key in addressing this unique health challenge. At the same time, the notion of willpower should be removed, in most cases, from the eating disorder vocabulary, and replaced with the word addiction. This will make that extra piece of pizza or that third slice of chocolate cake be seen for what they often are: the means to satisfy a bonafide addiction.

Once the eating disorder as an addiction paradigm is in place, then and only then can both unhealthy eaters and those supporting them take steps to solve the problem. While there are no overnight solutions, there are paths that eaters can take that head in the right direction: freedom from eating addiction. The first step on this path is to eat a complete and balanced source of nutrition.

Taking this first step, like so much else associated with the addiction to unhealthy food, is easier said than done. Eating sensibly is unusually difficult in a time-starved culture and even more difficult when there are arrays of self-described nutritious dietary sources to choose from. Whether it is energy bars or fad diets, finding a simple, convenient, and practical source of balanced nutrition is hard to find.

However, some exceptional products are garnering serious positive attention from scientific community. These products deliver complete protein in a vitamin enriched formula. Furthermore and of critical value is that these products contain no carbohydrates, no unsaturated fat, and few calories none of which are from fat. These products are helping people unchain themselves from food addictions, and reflect a trend towards nutritious and ethical nutritional supplement manufacturing.

Of ultimate importance, however, is that these products return eating choice control back to where it must always remain: with conscious and empowered consumers, and not to some hidden and potentially destructive addiction.

About Protica

Founded in 2001, Protica, Inc. is a nutritional research firm with offices in Lafayette Hill and Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. Protica manufactures capsulized foods, including Profect, a compact, hypoallergenic, ready-to-drink protein beverage containing zero carbohydrates and zero fat. Information on Protica is available at www.protica.com

You can also learn about Profect at www.profect.com

References

[i] Source: Thats Why We Call it Junk Food. MSNBC. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3606198/

[ii] Source: Food on the Brain. Forbes.com. http://www.forbes.com/home_europe/free_forbes/2005/0110/063.html

[iii] Source: Addiction. eHealth Connection. http://www.ehealthconnection.com/regions/ehealth/health_information/ 00036220.asp

[iv] Source: Obesity as a Disease. MPR News. http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2004/03/29_bensonl_desease/

Copyright 2004 – Protica Research – http://www.protica.com

About the Author

About Protica

Founded in 2001, Protica, Inc. is a nutritional research firm with offices in Lafayette Hill and Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. Protica manufactures capsulized foods, including Profect, a compact, hypoallergenic, ready-to-drink protein beverage containing zero carbohydrates and zero fat. You can learn more about Protica at www.protica.com — Information on Profect is available at www.profect.com

Copyright 2004 – Protica Research

Tags: Alcohol Drugs, Author, Biological Scientists, capsulized foods, Cheese, chemicals;, Chocolate, Conshohocken, Consumers, disease, Diseases, Dopamine, Eating Disorder, Energy Bars, Expression, Extra, Feelings, Food Addiction, food addictions, Forbes.com., head, Human Brain, Lafayette Hill, Msnbc, Neurotransmitter, nutritious and ethical nutritional supplement manufacturing, obesity;, overnight solutions, Pennsylvania, Protica Inc., Psychological Illnesses, ready-to-drink protein beverage containing zero carbohydrates, related eating disorders, Serotonin, severe disease, Sexual Activity, Slice Of Pizza, Unhealthy Food, Unity, Willpower, www.profect.com, www.protica.com —

If you want to really be successful with your diet and detox program it can help to keep a journal of your experiences. For that reason you may want to consider keeping a master cleanse blog. Writing down your progress, and even your slip ups, can help you stay on target. It adds an element of peer pressure to the equation which can help enormously with your success.

By chronicling your journey, you can also help inspire other people. It’s possible that you can find a way to help each other in your overall weight loss goals and not just with the success of your cleansing.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with what the master cleanse is, it’s simply a diet drink that can help speed up your metabolism and help clear out the build up of toxins in your system. The cleanse mixture is made up of all natural organic ingredients such as fresh lemon juice, organic maple syrup, cayenne pepper powder and water. This diet program will require you to go on a liquid only diet for a full ten days. During this time you will only drink the cleansing mixture, water and clear broth.

Now if that sounds like it’s hard, it is. It’s not an easy thing to go on a liquid only diet. Just ask anyone who has had to do it in preparation for a medical test or surgery. It can be made somewhat easier if you plan ahead. You will greatly increase your odds of success by spending some time in preparation. For example, set a start date. Pick a date that is a few days up to one week in advance. That way you’ll have plenty of time to get your head in the right space.

You can also slightly decrease your caloric intake during this ‘prep’ time, that way your body won’t be so ‘shocked’ when you go on the all liquid diet. By taking some of the shock factor out you will greatly increase your chances of success.

Another thing. don’t forget to ask your doctor if it’s ok for you to go on this diet program. For most healthy people it shouldn’t be a problem, but since I’m not a doctor and I don’t know your history, I can’t say whether or not it’s ok for you. Talk to your doctor first.

Once you get your doctors ok you can do a cleanse up to once a month if you want to. Once you are done with the cleanse make sure you ease back into your normal diet. Don’t expect to rush out and eat a ton of food or you will get sick. You’ll have to get your body used to eating solid foods again, and that will be a bit of a process.

You also don’t want to cleanse your body and start losing weight just to go out and eat a bunch of junk and drink a lot of coffee and soda thus undoing all you just did. Keeping a master cleanse blog journal can help ‘keep you honest’ before, during and after your cleanse.

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