The Lunch Box Diet, written by U.K.-based personal trainer Simon Lovell, claims to help you lose weight, prevent cardiovascular disease and immune system dysfunction and fit into clothing that makes you look and feel your best. Lovell proposes that his "secret combination of foods," boosts your metabolism, which allows you to shed unwanted pounds and maintain a new, trim physique throughout the course of your life, according to the diet website.
Theory
Your usual diet, comprised of three-meals-per-day and unhealthy snacks, causes your metabolism to become unbalanced and your digestion to become sluggish. Therefore, you feel tired after your lunch and dinner meal and experience unwanted weight gain, writes Lovell on LunchBoxDiet.co.uk. The Lunch Box Diet's method of eating small amounts of foods such as vegetables, lean proteins and low fat oils boosts your energy levels, balances your blood sugar levels, initiates healthy weight-loss and drastically improves your health, claims Lovell.
Methodology
While on the diet, you eat smaller portions of your normal breakfast foods. Then, you pack a lunch box with 60 percent vegetables, such as avocados, asparagus or broccoli; 10 percent low-fat condiments, such as mayonnaise or packaged salad dressings and 30 percent proteins, such as turkey or chicken breast.
Graze on your lunch box contents between mid-morning and late afternoon, eating a few mouthfuls every 1 ½ to 2 hours. Then, you eat smaller portions of your normal dinner menu items in the evening. You eat starch-containing carbohydrates, such as whole grains, only on days when you are highly active, Keri Gans, a registered dietitian representing the American Dietetic Association, told "Fitness Magazine." Although exercise will accelerate your success on the Lunch Box Diet, you do not have to work out to lose weight while on the program, according to the diet website.
Considerations
Although it is wise to bring healthy meals with you to work, don't depend on the Lunch Box Diet to meet all of your nutritional needs, says Gans. Lovell does not clearly define what you should eat for breakfast and dinner, says Gans, and his exclusion of whole grains for sedentary workers is erroneous. Whether you are active or not, your lunchbox should contain whole grain crackers or bread in addition to fruits, vegetables, protein and low-fat yogurt, says Gans.
Warning
Speak with your doctor about the Lunch Box Diet's loose breakfast and dinner guidelines and its exclusion of midday whole grain consumption before you begin the program. Your doctor might recommend another program that incorporates plant foods, protein and grain consumption throughout the day. Your doctor might also suggest that you follow another dietary regimen that better matches your individual health condition and weight loss goals.
Member Comments