The 17 day diet is the brainchild of family physician Dr. Mike Moreno who is based in California. Since its inception, this diet plan has gone viral among dieters through the internet and TV and followers are already singing paeans to its efficacy. Originally formulated to help the holiday crowd stay fit and healthy, the flexibility of the diet ensures that it can be followed by anybody anytime with good results.
Diet plan overview
Though called the 17 day diet, the plan is actually spread out over 68 days in total; broken up into four 17 day periods. The underlying theory of this diet is to juggle your diet every 17 days and alternate the food groups to trigger weight loss. The first 17 day cycle is called ‘accelerate’ wherein your carbohydrate intake is drastically reduced to around 1200 calories per day. You can eat as much of starch free vegetables and lean meat as you want along with 2 servings each of low fat yoghurt and fruits containing less sugar. Additionally, you need to drink green tea and water (about 64 ounces). According to Dr. Moreno, this stimulates your metabolism and flushes out the toxins from your body resulting in quick weight loss.
The second phase is known as ‘activate’ during which your body’s metabolism adjusts to a pace best suited for rapid weight loss. You have to add whole grains to the meal plan followed in stage 1 to take your total daily calorie intake to 1500 calories. The third phase, called ‘achieve’, reintroduces a few of the foods which were banned earlier while teaching you to make healthy eating a lifelong habit and not just a passing fad. You intake of lean meat is now limited while more fruits and whole grains are added to your diet. You may also add a serving of alcohol and a snack of about 100 calories; if you want.
Once you are used to healthy food and eating habits, the fourth phase ‘arrive’ makes it easy for you maintain your ideal weight by eating healthy on weekdays and indulging somewhat over the weekend. However, Dr. Moreno advises against going overboard with food during your weekend party. Whatever the phase you are in, abstinence from all kinds of sugar and processed food is compulsory while great importance is laid on healthy eating. Dr Moreno informs that with this diet plan, you can lose about 10-12 lbs during the initial 17 day period itself.
Meals and Cost
If you plan to take up the 17 day diet plan, you can begin you day with one cup green tea followed by scrambled eggs and a grapefruit for breakfast. Lunch would comprise a large salad with plenty of veggies like broccoli, carrots, tomato, lettuce and onion. Dressing is of course, off limits. Satisfy your afternoon hunger pangs with fat-free yoghurt and fresh berries while dinner can be steamed asparagus, carrots and turkey breast. Other common foods on the list are chicken breast, Brussels sprouts, cucumber and seafood. The diet also incorporates a 17-minute workout regime which you need to do for six days in a week. A DVD on the exercises guides you through the workouts. The 17 day diet workbook is available online for $ 25. Add to that the cost of the DVD for which you have to shell out $ 15.
Pros
The greatest advantage of the 17 day diet is its flexibility and dependence on natural, easily available foods. Unlike other diets you have a variety of food items to choose from. This gives you the freedom to try out different meals and the excitement keeps you motivated. You can even order for the food to be delivered at your doorstep for an extra charge. The meals plans are simple enough to understand and the workbook contains stimulating meal plans and tasty recipes which really work. Another plus point is the short exercise schedule. Not everybody can workout for an hour or more every day for various reasons. 17 minutes is not too much to invest for your health and thought short, the exercises help you to lose unwanted fat effectively.
Cons
The biggest disadvantage is that the 17 day diet can only be purchased online. This means, you cannot really check out the contents before buying. The diet is also not appropriate for diabetics and the proposed calorie consumption may not be enough for active people.