Cabbage Soup Diet

Cabbage soup diet or Russian cabbage soup diet, is a popular fad diet, that has had constant hype and marketing publicity within the press, especially with claims that some medical professions recommend this cabbage soup diet for weight loss prior to surgery.

The cabbage soup diet requires food combinations that make little sense, plus this plan is just not very healthy to begin with and is hazardous to your long term health and fitness.

The cabbage soup diet is a diet that enables you to eat as much as you like of a soup that you have stunk the kitchen out making, followed by storing in tupperware dishes within your fridge.

This diet is good for people who like to hear that they can eat as much cabbage soup as they want, as some dieters struggle if they know that they have to miss a meal or have a replacement shake. This will surely sound appealing to dieters, because after all, dieters just love to hear that they can eat unlimited amounts of any type of food.
The problem with the cabbage soup diet is that this cabbage soup is so horrible tasting, regardless of how you try and spice it up, that after a few servings you spend your time trying to wash the contents of your tupperware containers down the sink.

Weight loss from the cabbage soup diet is due to the few calories that the soup contains, and also a major reduction in water content throughout your body.

Due to the lack of energy that the cabbage soup diet will give you, your energy stores in both your muscles and liver will be greatly reduced, resulting in a lower body fluid content, which results in you feeling tired throughout the day.

As the cabbage soup diet is really a form of starvation with the added benefits of regular visits to the loo, I personally would advise against this method, however if you wish to try it, you will find the recipe below.

Alternatively you could try and make up your own recipe by boiling two hand fulls from a compost heap. Personally I wouldn't try the first method, and certainly wouldn't recommend that you try the second.

For those of you that want to spend a week on the loo.

1 head cabbage, shredded or chopped 2 large onions, chopped 16-28 ounces canned tomatoes, chopped 2 green peppers 4 stalks celery 1-2 packages Lipton onion soup mix black pepper fresh herbs, chopped 6 carrots, sliced 1/2 pound green beans, sliced diagonally 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar (optional)

Put all vegetables in a big pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil stirring in the soup mix, and boil gently for 10 minutes. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer until all the vegetables are soft. Stir in the black pepper and chopped herbs of your choice to flavor.

Here is the good news, you can eat as much of the soup that you want, with the following on these days.

DAY 1: All fruits except bananas.

DAY 2: All vegetables, raw or cooked. This includes baked potato with a LITTLE butter.

DAY 3: Fruits and vegetables, but no potatoes or bananas.

DAY 4: Bananas and skim milk--eat as many as 8 bananas and drink as many as 8 glasses of skim milk.

DAY 5: Beef, skinless chicken, and/or fish--as much as 20 ounces, total. You can also eat 6 tomatoes. And you must drink 8 glasses of water. Don't forget at least one bowl of soup.

DAY 6: Beef, skinless chicken, or fish and vegetables. Drink 8 glasses of water and eat at least one bowl of soup.

DAY 7: Brown rice, vegetables, and unsweetened fruit juice.
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Grapefruit Diet

The Grapefruit Diet, also known as the Hollywood Diet, was originally developed in 1930s Hollywood.

It gained real popularity in the mid-1970s, This so-called fad diet regained popularity in the mid-1970s with its claim that you can lose up to 3 stone in only 12 weeks.

The original Grapefruit Diet, the basics of which are detailed below, is an unhealthy, ultra low calorie plan, and not recommended.
However, a 2004 study led by Dr. Ken Fujioka at the Nutrition and Metabolic Research Center at Scripps Clinic found that simply adding half a grapefruit or a serving of grapefruit juice to each meal resulted in an average weight loss of around 3.5 pounds over 12 weeks.

This appears to be due to grapefruit's ability to reduce insulin levels. For those interested, here are the rules and meals for the original 1970s plan.



Rules for the grapefruit diet:

• Eight 8oz. glasses of water daily (required).
• Eat until you are full at any meal.
• You must eat the minimum listed at each meal. Do not eliminate anything from the diet - these combinations of food are designed to burn the fat, thus omitting any part of the combination will cause the plan to not work.
• The grapefruit/juice is crucial - it acts as a catalyst that starts the burning process. Don't add or reduce the amount of grapefruit or juice.
• Limit coffee to one cup at meals - it can affect the insulin balance and hinder the burning process.
• Don't eat between meals.
• You can use butter generously on vegetables and also fry food in butter.
• Completely avoid desserts, breads, white vegetables and sweet potatoes.
• Eat as much meat, salad and vegetables as you want.
• Eat until you are sated. The more you eat the more weight you will lose.
• Follow the diet for 12 days, stop for 2 days, then repeat.

ITEMS YOU CAN EAT	ITEMS YOU CANNOT EAT
RED ONIONS	WHITE ONIONS
BELL PEPPERS	POTATES
RADISHES	CELERY
BROCCOLI	PEAS
CUCUMBERS	CEREAL
CARROTS	CORN
LEAF SPINACH	STARCHY VEGETABLES
CABBAGE	POTATO CHIPS
TOMATOES	PEANUT BUTTER
GREEN BEANS	PASTA
LETTUCE	CORN CHIPS
CHILI (NO BEANS)	JAM
MAYONNAISE	SWEET PICKLES
ANY CHEESE	PRETZELS
HOT DOGS	FRUIT
COLESLAW	LOW FAT / DIET SALAD DRESSING
REG SALAD DRESSING	.
GREEN VEGETABLES	.
DRIED NUTS	.

You can add the following to flavour your food: salt, pepper, herbs, lemon, vinegar, Worcestershire, soy sauce, mustard, ketchup.

Sample weekly menu:

DAY 1
BREAKFAST
Coffee or tea with sugar substitute & 1/2 grapefruit
2 eggs any style or 2 rashers of bacon
LUNCH
Lean beef, chicken or fish + tomato salad + coffee or tea
DINNER
broiled fish + tomato and lettuce salad + grapefruit or melon

DAY 2
BREAKFAST
coffee or tea with sugar substitute & 1/2 grapefruit
2 eggs any style or 2 rashers of bacon
LUNCH
any amount of fruit salad + coffee
DINNER
hamburger (no bread!) and all the cooked vegetables you want

DAY 3
BREAKFAST
coffee or tea with sugar substitute & 1/2 grapefruit
2 eggs any style or 2 rashers of bacon
LUNCH
tuna salad + grapefruit or melon
DINNER
2 lean pork chops + mixed green salad + coffee

DAY 4
BREAKFAST
coffee or tea with sugar substitute & 1/2 grapefruit
2 eggs any style or 2 rashers of bacon
LUNCH
2 eggs + cottage cheese + 3 oz. squash + 1 toast + coffee
DINNER
Chicken ( grilled or broiled w/o skin ) + spinach or green pepper + coffee

DAY 5
BREAKFAST
coffee or tea with sugar substitute & 1/2 grapefruit
2 eggs any style or 2 rashers of bacon
LUNCH
As much dry cheese as you want + spinach + 1 toast
DINNER
broiled fish + cooked veggies or green salad + 1 toast

DAY 6
BREAKFAST
coffee or tea with sugar substitute & 1/2 grapefruit
2 eggs any style or 2 rashers of bacon
LUNCH
fruit salad (as much as you want) + 1 coffee
DINNER
broiled chicken w/o skin + tomato and lettuce salad + grapefruit or melon + coffee

DAY 7
BREAKFAST
coffee or tea with sugar substitute & 1/2 grapefruit
2 eggs any style or 2 rashers of bacon
LUNCH
cold or hot chicken + tomato & lettuce salad + grapefruit or melon + coffee
DINNER
lean beef + mixed salad + coffee
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Blood Group Diet

The blood group diet is said to have originated from two American Naturopaths, Dr James D'Adamo, and his son Dr Peter D'Adamo, who believe that your blood group type is the key to how you burn your calories, which foods you should eat and how you would benefit from certain types of exercise.

They recommend that eating to suit your blood group may, help you to lose weight, help you fight disease, boost your immune system and slow down the ageing process.
t is believed that a chemical reaction occurs between your blood and foods as they are digested. Lectins, a diverse and abundant protein found in food, may be incompatible with your blood group and adverse side effects may occur. The avoidance of these Lectins which can agglutinate (adhere or stick to one another) can be important if your particular cells-determined by your blood type,may react with them.

There are 4 blood types: A, AB, B, and O

Blood Type O

The O blood type was the first blood type to evolve from the hunter-gatherer era around 50,000 BC. Here the diet was high in red meat and virtually void of grains and dairy. The type-O thrives on a meat-eating diet. As the diet is high in animal protein, the type-O requires intense physical exercise to help burn off the meat.

Type-Os are prone to digestive disorders resulting from over-secretion of stomach acid. They can also be more susceptible to arthritis and thyroid disease due to overactive or hyper -immune system.

Wheat and dairy also promote inflammation in this blood type which can trigger an imbalance in the immune system.

Blood type O individuals can gain a significant amount of weight following a high carbohydrate diet, as their bodies cannot properly metabolize these foods.

Blood Type A

Type-A blood group formed when man began to develop an agricultural lifestyle between 25,000 and 15,000 B.C. People with blood type-A do best on a vegetarian diet for weight loss especially the macrobiotic diet.

The type-A individual hardly produces much hydrochloric acid and therefore does poorly on meat and dairy diets such as the Atkins Diet.

Type-As are generally more prone to cancer, diabetes and heart disease, if they do not take charge of their health. The gene for alcoholism is also found in type-As.

Blood Type B

Type B also evolved from the intermingling of blood type O with the blood type A. This occurred between 15,000 and 10,000 B.C due to man traveling further.

As a result, the type-B individual does best on a dairy diet with some meat (no chicken) and few grains.

The type-Bs suffer from the highest incidence of bladder and urinary tract infections. They are also prone to viral diseases when their immune system is compromised.

Since B blood types can metabolize dairy products and most foods, they will usually lose weight effortlessly as long as peanuts, corn, wheat, and lentils are eliminated from the diet.

Blood Type AB

The rarest and newest blood type to evolve (1500 years old) was the AB blood type. This blood type is the most well adapted to a moderate diet. The type-AB individual benefits from both the A and B type diets.

Meat is not as well digested as seafood, dairy, wheat-free grains and soy foods.

The type-ABs are prone to either diseases encountered by the Type-As or the type-Bs. By undergoing further metabolic typing, it can be determined which diseases they are most likely to be vulnerable.

For weight loss and maintaining a healthy weight, AB's do best on seafood, dairy, nuts and grains.
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Dieting Advice

Dieting advice and what are the best weight loss supplements or tablets, is the most popular email request that this site receives.

There are so many different forms of dieting tablets and supplements out there, with some manufacturers making obscene claims of amazing rapid weight loss.
Today's lifestyle of fast food and sedentary working has resulted in a rapid obesity level in the Modern World, however as modern people, most of us are still looking for the easy fix for weight loss in a bottle.

If you feel that this is the route to take, the Netfit Teams only advice is to make sure that you use whatever product, within the guidelines of that product.

Too many people believe by doubling the dosage, they will gets results in half the time - don't make that mistake.

Every health and fitness magazine, or those with celebrities on the front cover will be full of adverts and claims of the lastest amazing weight loss products.

Losing weight is not the key to being healthy and happy. Would you want to lose 20lb in 4 weeks, but have stretch marks and saggy skin - bad breathe and poor skin tone.

Rapid weight loss should be avoided, just like most diets. Your bodies are designed to digest food, not take its calories in the form of shakes..

Unfortuanetly most dieters don't realise that the actual process of breaking down FOOD, especially proteins requires a large calorie exspenditure by the body, whereas drinking a protein shake requires very little.

With healthy eating and exercise you will create a well toned, healthier looking body - this process does require some effort and will-power but the end result is much better than any dieting plan can provide to you. full story...

Weight loss and Diet advice

Our most popular area dealing with weight loss and dieting advice.

The best piece of advice I can give to anyone wanting to lose weight or go on a diet, is to increase your exercise / activity levels and eat regular healthy meals.

Weight loss is simple, you simply need to use more calories each day than what you consume through food and fluids. Either that or you may have heard about Xenical or reductil prescription pills.

Its easy to put weight on, all you have to do is consume more calories than you expend. The answer to losing weight in the form of excess body fat, is also really really simple, you intake less calories in food and fluid then you expend through your daily calorie usage.
he biggest problem is that for most people they have put weight on over a number of years, simple for two main reasons, firstly that good tasting foods are all around and easy to eat and secondly lifestyle changes mean that most peoples lives have become less active.

Simple mathematics would equate to the fact, that if you have taken a number of months or years to slowly increase your body weight and increase your body fat percentage, you need to appreciate that this weight is not going to be safely removed for a friends wedding or summer holiday a few weeks away.

The truth is that in order to lose just 1lb of body fat, a deficit of 3,500 calories needs to be achieved.

If you're generally eating 2,500 calories a day, then aim to simply cut back by just 10 - 15%, anymore and your body will think about going into its starvation mode (avoid at all costs).

The other side of the equation, is to look at increasing your calorie expenditure, if your body is using 2,500 calories a day, than chances are you haven't gained much weight lately, however if your only using 2,000 calories a day, then over just 1 week you could be close to increasing your bodyweight by 1lb.

Just a small amount of daily exercise, enough to increase your bodies calorific expenditure by 250 calories a day, combined with just a 10% reduction in your calorie intake from food, will already help you on the way to losing 1lb of body fat per week, with minimal change in your eating habits - slowly change both your eating habits and foods you eat and you will get quicker positive results.

If your aim is to lose 10lb in weight this week, then the information within this weight loss (fat) section is not for you, as this form of weight loss is detrimental to both your health and long term weight loss goals. full story...

Salad - warm potato and salmon

Good source of: fibre, folate, iron Preparation time: 30 minutes Cooking time: 45 minutes Serves: 4
Ingredients: 600 g salmon fillets 500 g baby (new) potatoes, halved olive oil, cooking spray 100 g baby corn, (either whole canned baby corn or fresh corn) 100 g baby spinach leaves, washed and halved lengthwise 100 g semi-dried tomatoes

Dressing
4 tablespoons natural yoghurt, reduced fat
3 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 200°C.
2. Remove the skin from the salmon fillet and then use tweezers to remove any bones. Cut the salmon into large cubes.
3. Put the potatoes in a large baking dish, lightly spray with olive oil spray and cook for 30 minutes, turning a couple of times during cooking.
4. Add the baby corn to the potatoes and cook for 10 minutes or until the potatoes and corn are tender.
5. Turn the oven off and keep the vegetables warm.
6. Lightly spray a chargrill with olive oil spray and cook the salmon cubes over a high heat for 3-4 minutes or until just tender and golden.
7. To make the dressing - Put the yoghurt, sweet chilli sauce and lemon juice in a small jug and whisk well.
8. Put the potatoes, spinach and semi-dried tomatoes in a bowl and toss to combine.
9. Arrange the salad on individual plates, top with hot salmon pieces and drizzle with the dressing.

Contributed by:


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Source: Heart Foundation, Deliciously Healthy Cookbook

This recipe was originally published as: Warm potato and salmon salad
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Easy Makeover

Olive Skin
Use a tinted moisturizer instead of regular moisturizer but if you have dry skin you use tinted one at the top. To conceal your dark under eye circles. Use a yellow-toned concealer to blend nicely and cover it with a loose powder. Apply powder on your forehead and other shiny part of your face. Use a sheer, berry or plum color lipstick on your lips. You will sure look great.

Fair Skin
Use a moisturizer and foundation with SPF 15. They will protect your skin against the sun. Apply translucent powder to set your foundation. Then stroke peach blush on your cheeks. You can use the same one to line your eyelids too. Apply extra coat of mascara and use a sheer red lipstick for a quick finish.

Rosy Skin
Cover your blemishes and your uneven skin tones with a concealer same shade with your skin. Then apply a berry shade liquid gel blush with your fingers on your cheeks. Put on brown mascara onto your upper and lower lashes. Before applying your lipstick use a tinted balm but if you have rosy lips, apply clear gloss.

Dark Skin
Use an oil free makeup. Apply foundation using your fingers or sponge. Use a powder that will match your skin to set the foundation. Then a stroke of brownish red blush will look great on you. Finish it with a coffee or copper colored lip gloss on lips.