Healthy Food Choices for the Pritikin Diet

Last Update: September 18, 2008

Video By: LIVESTRONG.COM

The Pritikin Diet was developed by Nathan Pritikin in 1979, and has since been revised by his son Robert. Learn how to make healthy food choices for the Pritikin Diet from a licensed dietician and nutritionist in this health and nutrition video.

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  • Low calories
  • High carbs
  • Low fat

About this Author

Christine E. Marquette is a registered and licensed dietician with the Austin Regional Clinic in Austin, TX. She conducts nutrition therapy for ages 2 and up for all dietary needs.

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Video Transcript

The Pritikin Diet was first introduced by Nathan Pritikin in 1979. It has since been revised by his son Robert and re-released. The focus of this diet is its low calorie, high carbohydrate, and low fat, and the principles are making sure that each meal is low calorie by combining high carbohydrate foods that tend to be low calorie such as whole grain pastas; whole grain pastas over refined pasta, making sure that you include very small amount of lean meat such as tuna that are naturally lower in fat. And again, because of the smaller portion, you're caloric density per meal is going to be very low. You're also going to include a variety of fruits as well as a variety of vegetables. Again, the fruits and vegetables being slightly lower in calories and the higher fat items things such as cheese, beef, bacon, those types of things so, again, really making sure each meal contains a very low-calorie, high-carb food such as a whole grain or a fruit or a vegetable with a very small amount of lean protein.

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