Dietary modification really works to help you lose weight and improve your health. Leading public and private health organizations such as the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association endorse dietary modifications backed scientific evidence, including the DASH diet. Changing your diet to improve your health condition may offer a natural alternative to medications or work in conjunction with drug therapy. Consult your health care professional before making drastic changes in your diet.
DASH Diet
The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension has effectively reduced blood pressure and has now been found to reduce heart failure according to a study conducted by the Cardiovascular Epidemiology Research Unit at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts. This 7-year observational study followed 36,019 women between the ages of 48 and 83. The results, reported in the May 2009 issue of the "Archives of Internal Medicine," show women who ate a diet most resembling the DASH diet plan had a 37 percent lower rate of heart failure after an adjustment for a number of factors including smoking, body mass index and high blood pressure.
High Protein Meals
Rather than consuming breakfast, lunch and dinner some weight loss diet plans suggest eating many small meals throughout the day to prevent getting hungry. However, data gathered in a scientific study conducted by the Department of Dietetics and Nutrition at the University of Kansas Medical Center suggests eating many small meals throughout the day does not promote weight loss. Instead researchers found evidence, reported in the September 2010 issue of the medical journal "Obesity", suggesting fewer meals that supply 25 percent of calories from protein may produce better weight loss results. High protein meals gave participants the feeling of being full. However, the more meals the participants ate the more this feeling of satiety diminished.
Meal Replacements
Healthy meal replacements for weight loss are commonly low-calorie, nutrient-rich, individual servings of drinks and nutrition bars. Replacing breakfast and lunch with meal replacements along with eating a low-fat dinner is as effective for losing weight as a conventional calorie restricted, structured diet according to a clinical trial conducted by the Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Organization department of Health Sciences and Nutrition in Adelaide, South Australia. The results, reported in the August 2004 issue of the "Journal of Nutrition", show participants who used meal replacement diet plans lost as much or slightly more weight than those following a low-fat, calorie-restricted diet.
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