The Mayo Clinic is the largest not-for-profit medical practice in the world. It brings together 55,000 doctors, scientists and health care workers to provide patient care in every medical specialty. With its history of professional services and experience in research to discover ways to improve, prevent and treat diseases, the Mayo Clinic is an established name. Over the years, many diets have used the name "Mayo Clinic" to add credibility to their claims.
Two Mayo Clinic Diets -- Which Is Authentic?
The Mayo Clinic Diet for Heart Patients stresses the importance of eating high-protein foods like meat and eggs along with grapefruit to induce weight loss, especially in heart patients. The fact that this diet allows you to eat all you want until you feel full should sound off warning bells that this is not a heart-healthy diet. In fact, the Mayo Clinic does not endorse this diet. In response to the popularity of diets like this one proclaiming their affiliation with the Mayo Clinic, the clinic created The Mayo Clinic Diet to teach everyone, including heart patients, a healthy way of eating.
Goals
The Mayo Clinic Diet strives to change your eating habits by breaking bad habits, like choosing foods with added sugars or high-fat foods, and forming new habits that not only help you lose weight but experience a more healthy you. The diet includes two phases: phase one, called "Lose It," provides for rapid weight loss, while phase two, "Live It," builds upon phase one to maintain your weight-loss goals.
The Diet
The Mayo Clinic Diet is based on the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Pyramid. Anyone can follow it, including heart patients. The diet focuses on eating large amounts of fruits and vegetables because they provide many nutrients in few calories. As you go up in the pyramid and the foods contain more calories, you eat lesser amounts of such foods as whole grains, lean meats, low-fat dairy and healthy fats. Learning to eat a balanced diet with controlled food portions brings about weight loss and promotes a healthy heart.
Physical Activity
No diet plan, especially one that promotes a healthy heart, is complete without exercise. Exercising burns calories and helps to prevent the onset of primary and secondary heart disease. The Mayo Clinic Diet recommends participating in 30 to 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity on most days. Moderate physical activity, which may include walking, biking or swimming, increases your heart rate and can help improve flexibility and build strength and endurance.
