What is a bland diet? It is a diet specially set to treat certain gastrointestinal or stomach problems such as heartburns, ulcers and gas.

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An answer to a question, what is a bland diet, is that it is a simple treatment for people suffering from any one or more gastrointestinal disorders such as chronic gastritis, ulcer, esophagitis and dyspepsia.

Bland diet is a dietary regimen for people suffering from stomach disorders. Hence, it is quite understood that ingredients of a bland diet are soft food items, which are easy to digest with a capacity to keep the acidity to low levels. Questions about diet may be asked to your physicians and he/she can suggest the diet or recommend a dietician to do it.

Diet medical questions may include the queries about the food stuffs to eat and food stuffs to avoid during the time while a person experien ces any gastrointestinal disorders. However, before a dietician could decide the bland diet for a person, he/she needs to seek answers to several medical questions related to the person such as any food allergies or irritations associated with any food items and emotions medical questions of people.

Bland Diet:

The diet prescribed as a bland diet will include food items that are easy to digest and low in fiber and acid contents. Even giving up alcohol and smoking is advised while patient is on bland diet. Also a patient is advised to have 4 to 6 light meals after regular interval to avoid heavy and large meals.

Chewing food properly and eating slowly helps in the digestion of the food. Adequate sleep, avoiding smoking and controlling anxiety are supportive treatments for the standard treatment of the problem.

Allowed Food Items:

• Dairy Products
Milk, cheese, yogurt with low-fats and other dairy products are easily digested and hence, can be included as a part of bland diet. However, there is no restriction on ice-creams and one may consume even ice creams during bland diet, but it should not have any product such as nuts that are not allowed in bland diet.

• Fresh Fruits and Vegetables
Fresh vegetables and fruits are allowed to a bland dieter. However, while carrot, squash, green peas are good to eat in a bland diet, broccoli, onions and green peeper should be avoided as it forms gas. In fruits, oranges, grapefruits, and bananas are allowed.

• Proteins
Protein requirement of the body, while on a bland diet should be met with soy products and meat. Fried chicken and greasy hamburgers are not allowed to be consumed, while grilled and baked chicken is allowed.
Low-fat peanut butter and eggs are also efficient to meet the body’s protein requirement in a bland diet.

• Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are contained in whole grain breads, pasta, oatmeal, corn flakes, white rice and sweet potatoes. All these food items are allowed.

Bland diet is designed for treating certain medical circumstances such as gastrointestinal problems. Hence, to answer what is a bland diet, we can say that this is a diet that aims at improving the digestion with the help of a timed-routine diet and soft to digest food items. Once the problem is controlled patients can return to their normal diet.

Copyright (c) 2014 LifeWorks Integrative health

Fat around the waistline is a big problem that numerous Americans face. In fact, belly fatty tissue is one of the most risky type of fatty tissue. Excess weight around the midsection could raise your chances of establishing diabetic issues, cancer cells, heart disease and stroke. Not simply is belly fatty tissue unappealing, yet it could be a crucial indicator of a hormonal inequality.

Belly fat can be an indicator of a number of hormonal imbalances including:

A decrease in testosterone levels in men.

Elevated testosterone or DHEA levels in women.

Estrogen dominance in both genders.

Adrenal dysfunction in both genders.

In order to lessen belly fatty tissue, one must take part in normal exercise, take in a healthy and balanced diet plan, obtain a lot of rest and take care of any sort of hormonal imbalances that may be associated with your weight gain.

Bodily hormones and weight gain may be the result of high androgens (additionally referred to as DHEA and testosterone) in ladies. This can frequently be an early sign that a woman is establishing blood insulin resistance or has currently set up insulin resistance. When the physical body struggles with sugar metabolic rate, testosterone and DHEA degrees end up being elevated. With the elevation of testosterone and DHEA, lots of females start to establish male design excessive weight. Male design excessive weight describes the apple-shaped number that many females battle with as they end up being older.

More youthful women, particularly those dealing with PCOS, are also struggling with weight problems around the waistline. This is especially harmful given that it could raise the risk of a girl developing diabetic issues or heart problem.

Abdominal fatty tissue cells can increase the aromatization of testosterone into estrogen. When estrogen degrees rise, the probability of maintaining a lot more fat around the abdominal region becomes even more of a reality. Hormones and weight gain can make a vicious circle of blood sugar level dysregulation as well hormone discrepancies.

Male testosterone levels begin to become lower as the result of stress, aging and obesity. In today’s world, men are experiencing a decrease in testosterone levels much earlier in life than ever before. Lower testosterone levels are the result of insulin resistance as well as an increased risk of metabolic syndrome and diabetes.

Research carried out at the College of Washington suggests that men with lower testosterone levels are a lot more most likely to establish abdominal fat. Researchers also found that changing lost testosterone can help to assist in the fat loss process. Another thing to take into consideration when it comes to bodily hormones and weight gain is cortisol. Also referred to as the tension bodily hormone, cortisol inequalities could bring about a boost in abdominal fat. Analysts at Yale College located that even slim females with high cortisol degrees were likely to still experience fatty tissue around the midsection. Cortisol is likewise linked to a boost in the storage space of abdominal fat. Not enough cortisol levels could additionally induce desires, exhaustion and poor thyroid gland function.

Struggling with hormones and weight loss can be a challenge. Diet and exercise are often your best defense against weight gain and can help you to lose unwanted weight. However, it is important to remember that hormonal imbalances can make weight loss challenging even when you feel you are doing everything right. Testing for hormonal imbalances can beneficial to help ensure successful weight loss.

The idiot-proof diet is all about calorie shifting. That is, in this diet, you shift your food intake throughout the day instead of eating just 3 meals a day. The diet is popular because it’s actually very easy to follow and there are hardly any restrictions when it comes to the types of food you can eat.

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The Idiot-Proof Diet

The idiot-proof diet is all about calorie shifting. That is, in this diet, you shift your food intake throughout the day instead of eating just 3 meals a day. The diet is popular because it’s actually very easy to follow and there are hardly any restrictions when it comes to the types of food you can eat.

The ‘calorie shifting’ model takes place because you eat every two and half hours. The theory is that because your body is consuming calories (energy) constantly throughout the day, it’s always in ‘burning calories’ mode instead of the ‘saving calories’ mode.

When you sign up for the diet, you get access to a diet handbook, an 11-day diet-plan and a diet calculator. You get to pick what foods you like to eat so don’t think that you’ll be tarving in this diet!

NutriSystem

The NutriSystem way of dieting is all about proper meal planning. People love this diet because it takes away the burden of trying to figure out what to eat during their dieting phase. You see, a lot of people actually get confused as to what they can eat when they want to lose weight. That’s not really surprising because there’s so much information out there and for every yay sayer, there is a nay sayer so it’s really tough to know what to eat.

However, with NurtiSystem, they do all the meal planning and portion controlling for you. You just need to sign up to any of their diet programs (e.g., Women’s Program, Men’s Program, Vegetarian Program, etc.) and order a multi-day (usually for 28 days) diet program.

After you choose your diet program, a menu is presented to you and you simply choose what you want to eat. The meals are then delivered to your doorstep at various intervals during your diet program.

The South Beach Diet

The South Beach Diet is popular because the name alone conjures bikini-clad bodies! Add to that the fact that it was founded by a cardiologist, Dr. Arthur Agatston, then you have a sort of ‘doctor recommended, doctor approved’ seal on the diet as well.

At first glance, the South Beach Diet looks a lot like the Atkins Diet in the sense that it restricts carbohydrates during the initial phase of the program (there are 3 phases). The first phase (14 days) encourages ‘normal eating’ in the sense that you can pretty much eat whatever you want but you must NOT eat bread, rice, potatoes, pasta, or baked goods. Fruit is also not allowed. No sugar. No alcohol.

The second phase allows you to SLOWLY introduce these items back into your diet but at lesser levels that you consumed them before of course. The third phase is more about general maintenance.

Weight Watchers

Probably one of the longest running diet programs out there is Weight Watchers. It believes in the overall approach where food, exercise, behavior and support are addressed.

Weight Watchers is known for advocating a point system for foods. Using this system, one calculates the calorie intake of the foods he or she eats. The number of points you can have in a day varies depending on your weight. The beauty of the program is that there are no gut-wrenching food restrictions so you never feel deprived of anything. However, the point system teaches you how to balance your meals so that even if you indulge on one food item, you don’t go overboard and consume too much in a day.