Bob Greene, perhaps best known as Oprah's personal trainer, developed a diet plan in 2006 called "The Best Life Diet." Unlike many other diet plans, this one puts the emphasis on changing habits before curtailing calories. The diet has three phases in which dieters progressively change their eating and exercise habits to facilitate ever-increasing weight loss.
Phase One
The first phase of "The Best Life Diet" focuses exclusively on teaching you how to change your eating and fitness habits. Greene asks that dieters weigh themselves once and then refrain from weighing again until the end of the phase -- four weeks later. Dieters are to focus on eliminating late night eating, drinking sufficient water, cutting out alcohol, and eating three meals a day in addition to one snack. Greene also recommends increasing your daily activity, as well as taking a daily vitamin supplement.
Phase Two
During the second phase of the diet, you focus on maintaining the habits that you developed in the first phase, and begin to work on increasing healthy behaviors. Greene explains the physical and emotional nature of hunger and provides a hunger scale that helps dieters to rate the severity of their hunger. Another focal point during this phase is portion control. Finally, Greene asks that you remove six "problem foods" that add excess calories to your diet, such as replacing soda with tea. At this stage of the diet, he anticipates that most people will lose from 1 to 2 lbs. per week.
Phase Three
Phase Three is both a weight loss and maintenance phase. Greene suggests increasing your level of activity and eliminating additional unhealthy foods from your diet while replacing them with more nutritious choices. To manage craving for unhealthy foods, Greene introduces "Anything Goes" calories, which is a small number of calories -- dependent on your activity level -- that you can use to splurge on foods that otherwise wouldn't be appropriate for the diet. Recommended caloric intakes based on activity levels are provided along with the diet's maximum amounts of fats, sugar and sodium.
Typical Menu Items
"The Best Life Diet" allows you to choose between a wide variety of foods and includes plenty of carbohydrates, protein and fat. A typical day might include a nonfat latte with a muffin and an apple for breakfast, a nut butter and pear sandwich with carrot sticks for lunch, and steak salad for dinner. Snacks include yogurt, almonds, fruit and chocolate. Recipes incorporate plenty of vegetables, beans and whole grains along with moderate amounts of healthy oils and lean proteins.
References
- "The Best Life Diet"; Bob Greene; 2006
- Best Life: Oprah's Trainer
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