A 1200 calorie diet is nutritionally adequate for most grown adults. Also, it’s the recommended amount of calories for safe and healthy weight loss. Starving your body with too few calories causes your body to slow down the use of its calories, which is why there is no noticeable weight loss on the scale when you starve yourself. The 1200 calorie diet has proven itself to be nutritious while at the same time allowing your body to lose weight naturally. Standard diet programs recommended by physicians, dietitians, and nutritionists use 1200 calorie diet plans as a foundation for meal plans.
There are criteria that alter the number of calories a person needs to consume each day for weight loss. Examples include age, gender, basal metabolic rate, body size, exercise regime and any medical needs. A formula is often used when calculating a person’s individual calorie requirement.
The 1200 calorie diet plan may seem like more than enough calories to suffice the average adult, with the amount of processed foods with saturated fats and refined sugars make the calories add up very quickly. For this reason, the balance of micronutrients is crucial to sustain the feeling of ‘fullness’ without consuming more calories. These macronutrients consist of protein, carbohydrates and fats. Usually, you’ll want to have at least half of your calories (or over fifty percent) come into your system from complex carbohydrates, fifteen percent from protein, and thirty percent of calories from fats (with no more than ten percent of that thirty from saturated forms).
There are many advantages to the 1200 calorie diet. For example, when you are consuming nutritious food you’re less likely to overeat because of the effect of ‘fullness’ these foods give you. Also, because you can choose from a vast variety of foods in the 1200 calorie diet, you’re allowing yourself variety in your diet all the while supplying much needed energy and a sense of ‘well-being’ to every cell of your body. It is also recommended with this diet to drink forty eight ounces of water daily with your meals and snacks. Because being well hydrated not only provides energy but it also helps your body reduces the amount of fluid in your shrinking fat cells – which is weight loss! It’s a win-win scenario.
Because the 1200 calorie diet is highly regarded by the medical community, dietitians, and nutritionists, its’ considered the safest way to lose weight. By limiting your amount of calories, you allow your body to burn the fat reserves in your body, allowing yourself to lose weight naturally. Combined with a strict regimen of diet and exercise, the 1200 calorie diet is a sure fire way to create long lasting weight loss results that will be maintainable and noticeable throughout your life. As with any diet, be sure to consult your physician to get the proper training and plan for safe and permanent weight loss.

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For those of you wishing to try a 7 day 1200 calorie diet, Nancy Hughes has a fabulous book for this plan, The 1200-Calorie-a-Day Menu Cookbook : Quick and Easy Recipes for Delicious Low-fat Breakfast, Lunches, Dinners, and Deserts, this is a book that I fully recommend. The following sites have some good free meal plans that you can easily follow, http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/fitness/lose-weight-meals-oct04  or try http://www.choosemyplate.gov/downloads/PatternA1200cals.pdf  or for even more suggestions just Google “food suggestions for 1200 calorie diet” and you will find there is quite a list. Keep striving for better health, and good luck with your weight loss.

White Corn Salad

The rice diet is a fabulous way to not only lose weight, but also lower your cholesterol and blood pressure. The diet was developed by Duke University as a treatment for diabetes,hypertension, and obesity. However, this low fat, low salt diet has proven itself time and again to be a great source for not only lowering blood pressure and cholesterol, but also weight. Because of this, many overweight diabetics should join the program as a surefire way to get their diseases under control, lose weight, and lose the prescription co-dependence. In the treatment of diabetes, the rice diet is substantially useful. It reduces the need for insulin in patents in all patients – thirty two percent of which were able to completely lose their co-dependence on insulin. The remaining percent of patients were able to severely diminish their medicinal intake for their diabetes.

In coronary artery disease it reduces the symptoms of angina pectoris and congestive heart failure – therefore making the drugs associated with it unnecessary. In conjunction with the rice diet, research shows that lowering cholesterol with diet and/or medication can reduce the risk of death from this disease, and that the diet is a very effective treatment for it. Many coronary artery disease patients have even been able to completely stop their prescription medications after using the rice diet program.

Hypertension is also affected by the rice diet. Trials have shown that the rice diet lowers the blood pressure of hypertensive patients and therefore prolongs life as it lowers cholesterol, normalizes blood sugar, uric acid, weight, and heart size.

Overweight patients can lose on average one half to one pound a day on the diet. On www.ricedietprogram.com it says, “The average initial weight for women was 204 pounds. The average weight for men was 266 pounds. The average weight loss in the first week was eight pounds for women and twelve pounds for men, but some patients have lost over 30 pounds in the first week. In four weeks, women lost an average of 19 pounds and men an average of 30 pounds. Again, some patients have lost over 90 pounds in the first four weeks.” Afterwards, sixty three percent of patents reported weighing the same or less than they did when they left the program. Such high success rates are reported across the board, and are indicative of what patients learn while in the program.

While the rice diet program may not be for everyone, it is a safe way to not only lose weight, but also fight major diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease. The creators, at Duke University, have created a useful and safe method for you to lose weight (and keep it off) while under the direct supervision of a physician/doctor. If you feel that the program may be of help to you in your quest for weight loss, speak to your physician/doctor to see if the rice diet program will work for you.

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There have been many books on the rice diet, and even more focusing on different menus, some can be rather bland, with others being rather tasty as well as being healthy. The author Kitty Gurkin Rosati has written several books on the Rice Diet, I think one of her best is The Rice Diet Cookbook, anybody really interested in trying this diet should check it out. Another alternative is to open Google and type in The Rice Diet, then you can check out the relevant sites.