Pros And Cons Of The Pritikin Diet

Nathan Pritikin developed the Pritikin diet to help him battle an incurable heart disease. Today his son Robert promotes the diet to prevent and treat obesity. The Pritikin diet is very low in fat and sodium and high in whole, unrefined carbohydrates and fiber. The diet encourages frequent eating of carbohydrates and limits meat and poultry to a maximum of 3.5 ounces and two small servings of skim milk or fat-free cheese daily.

Pro: Reduces Risk of Chronic Diseases

The Pritikin diet can reduce your risk of metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome is a group of risk factors that include abdominal obesity, elevated blood pressure, high blood glucose and high blood cholesterol and fats that collectively increase your risk of obesity, stroke, diabetes and heart disease. Research published in the "Journal of Cardiometabolic Syndrome" in 2006 demonstrates that short-term Pritikin diet therapy with exercise improves multiple risk factors for coronary heart disease within two weeks in patients with metabolic syndrome. The diet reduces weight, blood pressure, blood glucose and blood cholesterol and fats. The results enabled more than one-third of the study subjects to no longer meet the criteria for metabolic syndrome.

Pro: Healthy Foods

The Pritikin diet recommends that you eat whole foods, particularly carbohydrates such as fruits and whole grains, and eliminate refined and processed carbohydrates, such as white breads, cakes and cookies. Whole grains consist of the entire grain seed of the cereal plant, including the bran, germ and endosperm. You can find whole grain products, such as steel-cut oatmeal, brown rice and barley, at your local health food store. The diet also encourages you to eat healthier fats, such as those found in soy or avocado, instead of the saturated fats found in meat and dairy. Nonetheless, the diet still restricts the total amount of fat you can consume each day.

Con: Food Availability

Consuming whole, unprocessed carbohydrates is healthy, yet you may find it difficult to find these foods in supermarkets, restaurants and other stores. According to The Center for Science in the Public Interest, food manufacturers deceive the public by promoting foods as containing whole grains, when in fact these foods often contain a mixture of mostly refined grains and a small amount of whole grain. Such foods may also contain trans fats, an unhealthy type of fat that raises cholesterol levels and increases your risk of heart disease. Consuming these foods will surely take you off the Pritikin diet.

Con: Difficult to Change

Changing dietary habits is not easy. The Pritikin diet requires that you eliminate the refined carbohydrates you may be used to eating and limit the amount of meat and dairy you consume. You may need to make these changes in small steps, slowly minimizing these food choices and gradually increasing the number of healthier choices.