The Superfoods Rx diet bases its weigh loss method on eating certain foods that contain a rich array of nutrients. These foods, also known as functional foods, play a key role in the prevention of cancer, while also helping to reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, hypertension, diabetes, and other ailments.
By consuming these foods, the creators of the diets contend that you can not only lose weight, but improve your overall health.
Superfoods Rx Diet Design
The design of the diet is divided into four parts: Prep & Practice Week, SlimDown, FlexPlan, and LifePlan.
Prep & Practice Week
The first part is called the Prep & Practice week. During this time the diet plan has you going through such activities as shopping for foods, preparing your kitchen, and making the shift to eat foods mainly found on the Superfoods lists.
In addition, it also helps to prepare you for the main part of the diet by taking note of environmental traps that may throw you off course, and gives you the opportunity to practice eating the new foods on your diet.
SlimDown
The second part of the diet is called SlimDown. This is the part of the diet that you will follow to start rapidly losing weight. During this time the authors report that some dieters have reported losing two inches around their waist and over 8 pounds of weight. The length of time you spend in the SlimDown phase will be at least two weeks, longer if you need to lose more.
During this phase you choose your food based upon three categories called “premium”, “protein”, and “plentiful.” The authors describe premium category as generally foods that are rich in vitamins, fiber, fats, and phytochemicals.
The protein category, as the name implies, consists of your proteins sources.
The third category, “plentiful”, consists of vegetables and fruits. These foods are low in calories, so if needed, you can add something extra on your plate.
FlexPlan
In this part of the diet you still experience weight loss, but at a slower rate. The authors state that this is the phase of the plan that you will forever follow in your life, which is where the diet becomes a bit confusing.
They say that you will follow this plan forever and continue to lose weight. Besides being unsustainable, no one wants to follow a plan that will cause him or her to lose weight the rest of their lives.
It would have made better sense to state that once you had reached your weigh loss goal, this portion of the diet would help you to gradually increase your food intake, which would help you to stay in that weight range. In fact this section talks about adding more food, but not in those terms.
LifePlan
The LifePlan phase of the diet has to do with getting you to maintain the positive eating and lifestyle habits that you have developed. This section mainly focuses on keeping you from falling back into your old bad habits. To do this, it goes over skills that you learned during your time spent on the SlimDown and Flex plan phases.
The plan also goes over techniques for dealing with stress to keep if from effecting your diet. In addition, it also goes over the importance of sleep and how it aids in weight loss. Plus, the authors also give you tips for eating in restaurants, eating at parties, and how to eat when you are traveling.
Exercise on Superfoods Rx
The diet also stresses the importance of exercising. In the SlimDown portion of the plan, it goes over the benefits of walking and how to set up a walking program.
During the explanation of the FlexPlan, the authors give more exercise options for the dieters to follow. In addition to walking, strength training, along with a synopsis of its benefits, is also discussed. Also, a brief mentioning of stretching is presented.
Superfoods Rx and Emotional Eating
The diet deals with the issue of emotional eating by having dieters keep a food diary. In the diary, the dieters not only track the foods they eat each day, but also their mood and hunger level. Keeping track of these things helps the dieter to better assess and discover what works for them, and identify areas that they need to improve upon.
Assessment of the Superfoods Rx Diet
Considering that the diet includes a wide variety of foods to select from, the basic foundation of the diet promotes healthy eating habits. Unlike many fad diets, the Superfoods Rx diet does not rely on a single food as a means to accomplish weight loss.
It also stresses the importance of exercise, which is always a plus in my book. Building muscle and strengthening your heart through aerobic exercises will help to ensure a more healthy and productive lifestyle.
The diet also does an adequate job in addressing emotional eating by recommending the dieters keep a food diary. This is important because research has shown that those who keep diaries or food journals are more likely to lose weight.
My only real criticism of the diet plan has to do not with the diet itself, but more so with how the authors presented the diet plan in their book. Instead of starting with the Prep & Practice Week of their diet plan first, they elected to explain the SlimDown portion first, then the Prep Practice Week, followed by the FlexPlan. The order in which they chose to present the material made following the diet plan somewhat confusing.
Check out the latest news and information on diets, weigh loss products, and exercise at http://www.How-to-Burn-Fat.com
Related Superfoods Articles
