WEIGHT LOSS ADVISOR BLOG

(Also called Protal for “Proteins alternatives” by the creator of the diet – Dr. Pierre Dukan)

Dr. Dukan’s book (original french title: “e Ne Sais Pas Maigrir” (”I don’t know how to lose weight”) is for all who’ve tried to lose weight, for all who’ve been losing weight – too frequently and unsuccessfully– and for all who need the guarantee that in return of their hard weight loss efforts they will be able to lose weight successfully and keep it off forever.

The Dukan Diet is a weight loss program and a weight maintenance plan for life developed by the French nutritionist and eating behavior specialist Dr. Pierre Dukan.

With more than 30 years of experience, Dr. Pierre Dukan is a trust worthy health professional, whose books and remarkable work in nutrition and weight loss fields have made him an excellent nutritionist and diet expert.

The Dukan diet itself is not just a simple diet, it is a complete weight loss program or regime (you name it) that has 4 distinctive phases:

Protal I

Attack phase – the “purely natural proteins” phase that is a kick-start to your quick weight loss in less than one week (usually 5 days).

Protal II

Weight Loss phase – the “alternative proteins” phase during which you alternate ‘proteins’ and ‘proteins with vegetables’; and you reach your goal weight. But it’s the nest phase you need to keep that weight down…

Protal III

Stabilization phase – the phase that keeps you from the negative Yo-yo effect of fast weight loss. This phase lasts 10 days per kilograms lost (so if you’ve lost 5 kilograms then this phase would last 50 days for you). During this phase many of the important foods are re-introduced to your menu (bread, cheese, fruits).

Protal IV

Cruise phase – the one that lasts for the rest of your life (sounds scary, isn’t it), but it is so simple, effortless and not to be missed if you want to keep your lost weight forever… All you need to do is pick one day of the week (every week at the exact same day) to do the diet (the Attack phase).

Ingredients
2 servings

2 egg whites (or ¼ cup egg substitute)
¼ cup of skim milk
½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 teaspoon of sweetener (like Splenda)
1 ripe banana
4 slices light whole-wheat bread
4 tablespoons of reduced-calorie maple syrup (it’s optional)

Preparation
Use blender to mix together the egg whites, milk, cinnamon, vanilla, sweetener, and banana for about 1 minute, until smooth. Pour the mixture into a shallow bowl.

Cooking
Lightly coat a nonstick skillet with cooking spray and place it over medium heat. Dip the bread slices into the mixture and place them into the skillet. Cook until each side becomes golden brown (about 1 to 2 minutes per side).

Serving
You can top the toasts with 2 tablespoons of reduced-calorie maple syrup if you like and serve immediately.

It all takes about 15 minutes. I wish you bon appetite!

Do you know what the best way is to cut carbs from your diet? It is simple – just substitute the high carb foods from your diet for healthy low carb alternatives. This is a very smart thing to do and you’ll benefit greatly from it. That’s what Dr. Arthur Agatston advises (he’s the author of the South Beach Diet).

The lower carb alternatives you gonna use should have identical taste as the original high carb foods. You will be very nicely surprised to find out that many of them actually taste better than the original high carb dishes.

Sandwich

You can substitute Chinese and Napa cabbage for bread. This way you eliminate 29 grams of carbs per sandwich.

Use one leaf of the cabbage and roll it up with your favorite filling and if you like you can dip it in low-fat mayo. Delicious.

Pizza

You can substitute Portobello mushroom for pizza crust. This way you eliminate 20 grams of carbs per pizza slice.

Cut the mushroom gills out and place the mushroom on an oiled cookie sheet and bake until it dries out a little. Add you favorite pizza topping (my favorite is tomato sauce, ham and sweet corn). Mmm, I got hungry

Pancakes

You can substitute Oatmeal and cottage cheese for pancake mix. This way you eliminate 45 grams of carbs per pancake.

Mix 2 eggs, ¼ cup of the cottage cheese and ½ cup of the oatmeal. Add vanilla, nutmeg or cinnamon
(you know the benefits of cinnamon). Make the mixture smooth and cook it like you do with the regular pancakes. I am going to try this immediately.

Hello to everybody who’s been asking these particular questions for some times now:

1. Is cinnamon bad for the liver and the kidneys?

Coumarin is a chemical compound contained in Cassia (Cinnamomum aromaticum – aka Chinese Cinnamon) and is known to cause liver and kidney damage in high concentrations. True Cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum – aka Ceylon Cinnamon) has negligible amounts of Coumarin, so no worries here folks as long as you use the True Cinnamon.

Coumarin toxicity is 275 mg/kg, which is relatively low compared to related chemical compounds. We humans are able to largely metabolize Coumarin to a compound that is of lower toxicity.

Also pay attention to the key phrase here “high concentrations” – half teaspoon a day is not high concentration. So if you’ve been using a half teaspoon of Cassia to prepare the drink, instead of the Ceylon Cinnamon, you don’t have to be worried, just try to find true cinnamon.

2. How long should I take it?

Important notice: You should not over use the honey and cinnamon drink, meaning you can’t use it forever.
If you reach your weight goal within a couple of weeks or a month – that’s fantastic. If you need more time, just use it for about 2 to 4 months tops.

3. Should the honey be added after half an hour (when the water cools)?

I know that in my original post I wrote to make a paste from the honey and the cinnamon powder and then to poor the hot water in the cup. However, I should agree with that the honey is better to be added after the water and cinnamon mix cools (in about half an hour).

It’s always useful to have a list of low fat foods at hand. Remember how many bad food choices you have made… and now imagine how many good choices you could have made if you had that list at hand… especially if you want to lower the fat consumption in your diet.

However, if your goal is to lose a few pounds fast and easy, I think you’d be interested to check out the Protein Shake Diet – no fats or significantly reduced amounts of fats plus approximately 100 calories per serving…see more details

It’s not necessary to shop with a list in your hands, but it’s good to know a little more about low fat foods so that you can make healthier and more informative food choices when shopping for a healthy dinner.

You should know that it’s not healthy to lower your fat consumption to ground zero, as well as it’s not healthy to overeat with low or fat free foods, because they still contain calories from carbohydrates and proteins. The best advice is to pay closer attention to food labels.

Here is a small list of the most popular low fat foods arranged in groups:

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So you want to lose weight and want to know how many calories you should eat in order to achieve that:

First of all let’s remind us the number of calories contained in fats, proteins and carbohydrates:

1 gram of fat = 9 kilocalories ~ 37 kilojoules

1 gram of protein = 4 kilocalories ~ 16 kilojoules

1 gram of carbohydrates = 4 kilocalories ~ 16 kilojoules

And some more calorie values:

1 gram of alcohol = 7 kilocalories

1 gram of dietary fiber = 3 kilocalories

Having all these values in mind you can easily calculate the number of calories in food you eat every day. And how much calories you need a day is another question:

How to estimate your daily caloric needs

You can estimate your daily caloric intake with the Harris-Benedict formula. It helps you calculate your basal metabolic rate (BMR), i.e. the optimum amount of energy your body needs to function.

Let’s calculate your BMR

To do that you need to use your current weight, height and age in step ONE. It’s easy:

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Calorie is the non-SI unit of measurement for energy. The SI unit of measurement for energy is joule. There are two types of calories:

Small calorie (aka gram calorie) is the energy needed to increase the temperature of 1 g (gram) of water by 1 degree Celsius (1.8 Fahrenheit).
1 cal equals to 4.184 joules (cal is the symbol for gram calorie)

Large calorie (aka kilogram calorie) is the energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 kg (kilogram) of water with 1 degree Celsius (1.8 Fahrenheit).
1 kcal equals to 4.184 kilojoules = 4184 joules = 1000 cals (kcal is the symbol for kilogram calorie)

Although not a SI unit kilocalories are still the most common measurements for food energy. Hence the most common misconception that occurs when we talk about calories in food – despite we read calories or cals on food packages, the labeling actually refers to kilocalories when we talk about food.

For example: If a pack of crackers has 400 calories (or cals), it turns out that the calories (or cals) marked on the crackers package are actually kilocalories (or kcals), so it would be correct if written 400 kilocalories (or 400 kcals), but usually it’s not.

Often the word “calorie” (referring to kilocalorie) is capitalized (Calorie) in order to be distinguished from the small (gram) calorie, but this is not effective outside the specific context, so it’s practically useless.

The name “calorie” (referring to kilocalorie) is often used in medical sciences and non-scientific contexts. Whereas, the name “calorie” (referring strictly to the gram calorie) is used in scientific contexts such as chemistry and physics. Here’s why it is needed to be inferred from the context whether the gram calorie or the kilogram calorie is intended. (more…)

Do you know that a recent research showed that using artificial sweeteners might be related to weight gain? Amazing isn’t it?

The research was conducted by a team of scientists from Purdue University in USA and was published in the journal Behavioral Neuroscience.

In the experiment were used two groups of rats – each fed with yoghurt. The first group was fed with artificial sweetened yoghurt and the second one with crystal sugar sweetened yoghurt. After that each group was given food – plenty of it. The results were amazing:

The group of rats fed with yoghurt sweetened with artificial sweetener gained more weight and put on more fat compared to the other group.

Imagine if you drink your favorite morning coffee sweetened with saccharin and then eat up a lot of the chocolates and sweets from the local vending machine. Eventually you gain weight, whereas your closest coworker drinks her coffee with sugar and stays the same weight. Sound terrible, but it could be true…

It is all explained by the theory for sweet expectations:

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When I started my cinnamon recipes section month and a half ago I didn’t expect so many people would show interest in it. Now a few weeks later I shall continue with more cinnamon recipes for tasty and healthy desserts.

Cinnamon Oranges

This is a very simple dessert that can be prepared easily any time of the year. Takes only 10 minutes to prepare and serve. As you might be guessing oranges taste best in the winter when they are at their peak, hence the cinnamon orange dessert will have better flavor if prepared in the winter. Lucky you, cause you can try it immediately and it will taste best.

Ingredients:
4 servings

4 navel oranges
2 tablespoons orange juice
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon sugar or (1-2) tablespoons honey
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preparation:

Peel the oranges and remove the white pith from them. Use sharp knife to cut each orange into 5 or 6 slices and arrange them on 4 plates. Mix the orange and lemon juices, add the sugar and cinnamon and whisk. Poor 1 spoon over each orange slice pile and you are ready to serve.

Variation:

Instead of 1 tablespoon of sugar you can use (1-2) tablespoons of honey.

Nutrition Facts:

This dessert is low in calories, sodium, and cholesterol with 86 calories, 2 mg sodium, no cholesterol, no fat, 1 g protein, 3 g fiber, and 258 mg potassium per serving.
Rich in Vitamin C – you get 150% of you daily value. Good for the heart.

Bon Appetit!

Honestly since honey and cinnamon for weight loss has become my most popular post, I think cinnamon and honey have become my little obsession (in the good meaning of the word).

Every time I was looking for cinnamon recipes I turned out that almost all cinnamon recipe also needed honey. Strange isn’t it, but having in mind the great weight loss mixture they make, it is not so surprising after all.

Well, this is exactly what happened the last time I was searching for cinnamon recipes, in particularly for cinnamon baked apples:

I found a few very similar recipes all with the same ingredients but with different preparation methods. Anyway, I just though finally I found a recipe with cinnamon and no honey, when all of a sudden it turned out that the last recipe needed a honey topping just before serving. It sounded so tempting and easy that I not only had great time preparing them, but also had an amazing experience eating them

The great news for all dieting people is that you get a nutrition bonus with every baked apple you eat  20% of your average daily fiber intake. This makes this delicious side dish a great source of fibers. But that’s not all – you also get the cinnamon and honey mixture (not as a drink this time). Well, the amounts of honey and cinnamon here are way lower than the amounts in the drink, but yet they work the same way, after all the cinnamon, honey and apple are all healthy, right

Here is the cinnamon honey apple recipe:

Ingredients
4 servings

4 apples (large red ones would be great)
4 tablespoons brown sugar
Ground cinnamon for sprinkle
Water – small amount

Preparation

Preheat your oven to 350F ~ 180C.

Wash the apples and cut a hole in top of each apple (remove the core with a knife or an apple corer and leave the bottom intact). Clean out the hole and fill each one with 1 tbsp of brown sugar.

Transfer the apples to a baking dish and sprinkle the cinnamon on top of each apple. Poor small amount of water in the baking dish – this will keep apples from drying up during the baking process. Do not cover the top of the pan.

Bake for 30 minutes or until apples get soft.

Serving

Remove from oven. Let them cool for a while and then drop a teaspoon of honey on top of each apple just before serving. Enjoy!

Variation

You can use wine instead of water. Cover the pan with foil and bake for 1 hour.

My opinion

I think one hour for covered with foil pan is too much time, but after all I haven’t tried this one. 30 minutes in non-covered pan were just enough for my cinnamon baked apples to get soft and ready to eat.

And what is your opinion? Are you willing to try this recipe?