A diet referred to as the Mayo Clinic Weight Loss Diet has been circulating for years from the days of photocopies and bulletin boards to today's websites and emails. That diet included high-fat and high-cholesterol foods. The actual Mayo Clinic never endorsed it. The Mayo Clinic does have a weight-loss program it recommends. It is not a diet so much as a lifestyle that promises to maintain healthy weight over your lifetime.
History
The rumored diet, not connected in anyway to the famous Mayo Clinic, has varied over the years in different forms around the world. It usually includes grapefruit with many meals, fruits, vegetables and unlimited portions of meat and fat. This diet is considered unhealthy and ineffective by nutritionists.
Warning
Be careful when reading about the Mayo Clinic Weight Loss Diet. The clinic usually refers to its own diet as a weight-loss program and it can be found on its website and in its official literature. The clinic's approach to weight loss is based on research and clinical experience. It focuses on overall health along with diet and exercise.
Pyramid
The Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight Pyramid, the first part of its program, is at the center of its lifelong eating plan. The base of the pyramid focuses on foods with a low number of calories in a large volume of food, mainly fruits and vegetables. The rest of the pyramid includes four to eight daily servings of whole-grain carbohydrates, three to seven daily servings of lean sources of protein, such as legumes, fish and low-fat dairy products, and three to five daily servings of foods that have unsaturated fats. You should eat more foods from the base of the pyramid and fewer from the top.
Exercise
Increasing physical activity is the second part of the weight-loss program. Whether it is daily activities in and out of the home or exercise, the clinic researchers recommend 30 to 60 minutes of moderately intense physical activity most days of the week. These are activities that increase your heart and breathing rates. Brisk walking and yard work are examples of these activities.
Goals
The third part of the weight-loss program deals with setting goals. The goals might be decreasing the number of servings of high-fat food in your diet until you achieve the right amount. It might also include increasing your daily exercises, such as walking or jogging a certain number of miles each week.
Motivation
The program concludes with a phase on staying motivated. This includes emphasizing the positive aspects of losing weight, such as providing more energy and improving health. The program also stresses to steer clear of dietary gimmicks that don't involve long-term weight management. You should not look for a quick fix, but focus on slow and steady weight loss that will keep you healthy throughout your life.
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