The Food Doctor Diet was created by a nutritionist in the UK named Ian Marber as an answer to long term weight loss – rather than the popular “lose 20 pounds in 15 minutes” (but gain it back in an hour) diets and as fat loss programs go it’s fairly sane and sensible.
As so many of us already know, part of the problem with most diets is that the sufferers – that’s us, folks! – feel hungry. In face, we often feel like we’re starving and that misery and discomfort makes it tough to ‘stay on a diet’. Add in the psychological elements and we have an almost certain recipe for that dread dis-ease, Diet Failure. The Food Doctor Diet aims to solve that problem by not allowing dieters to get hungry.
How To Follow The Food Doctor Diet
There is no calorie counting at all. No weighing of food portions.
Read labels so that you only eat very nutritious foods. If you’ve ever spent any time reading the labels in the grocery store you will soon see how much garbage is in all our foods. My rule of thumb: if I can’t pronounce it, I don’t eat it.
Drink a lot of water – a recommendation I thoroughly agree with. Water flushes out toxins and wastes which keep us fat. In addition, every single cell in our body is loaded with water and without that precious liquid our cells will not be productive and efficient and can’t keep us humming along at our best.
Ian Marber insists that we should never, ever skip breakfast. He states that our metabolisms will work better for the entire day if we ‘start our engines’ first thing in the morning. Most ‘experts’ agree with this recommendation – although not all. One of my favorites, Natalie Rose, strongly suggests that we NOT eat in the morning because that is the time when our bodies are most efficient at throwing off toxins. Natalie’s diet is a story for another time, however.
Eat protein alone or with complex carbohydrates– not with refined ones. Digesting protein takes a good deal more energy than most foods which means we will have that ‘full ‘feeling for a longer period of time.
He doesn’t agree with diets like the McDougall diet that eliminate fat. He claims – and my research supports his belief – that the ‘right’ fats will help us to lose weight, rather than harm our efforts.
I’m not sure what Food Doctor Diet claims are the right fats but I have done a lot of research on this subject and know that olive and flaxseed oils are good. But they need to be cold pressed and organic for optimal health. The Paul Newman brand of organic olive oil is perfect and is available in almost every grocery store.
Marber’s diet could fairly be term the Glycemic Index Diet because he is aware of the effect of high glycemic foods on our blood sugar. He suggests avoiding every food that has a glycemic score higher than 50. The blood sugar spikes lead to higher blood sugar, resulting in weight gain and lower energy. Not to mention hunger …
He is very opposed to sugary snacks right before dinner = a danger zone for most of us. His suggestion: save a bit of your dinner to eat before bed if you just can’t help gnawing down before bed. I don’t eat anymore before bed for one powerful reason: I discovered that I have trouble sleeping through the night if my stomach is too full. I had trouble with insomnia for 15+ years and late night eating was certainly a factor.
Another important – but common – suggestion is to exercise at least three times a week. Exercise, of course, builds muscle and revs up our metabolism, all of which will help us to lose weight. And, of course, although those are excellent reasons, I’ve been able to stick with exercise simply because I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER!
If You Live In The UK …
The Food Doctor Diet was invented in the UK and if you live there you can get home delivery of snacks, nuts, bars, and entrees. But obviously, we can follow this diet even if we don’t live in that country.
You can purchase his Food Doctor series, even if you live outside the United Kingdom, and follow along with it.
Check our diet reviews on popular eating plans
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