When you think of dieting, you can't help but think about denying yourself. Denying food, denying menu variety and denying that you want more. Now there is a diet that lets you eat nearly limitless quantities of a broad variety of foods.
The Mayo Clinic Plan is a diet that focuses on fruits, vegetables, proteins and dairy. Based on
the Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight Pyramid, menu planning is easy because of the breadth of foods available. As you can see, fruits and vegetables are the foundation. Complex carbohydrates and proteins are also well represented. The only area where you may feel some constraint is with fats and sweets. The diet emphasizes heart-friendly fats, from nuts, avocados, and the like. The diet even has a daily provision for sweets, with 75 calories every day set aside for those splurges that keep life worth living.
The Mayo Clinic diet promotes healthy habits, such as eating a light,but healthy breakfast to get your metabolism started. Plus, the diet stresses the importance of daily exercise and tracking your individual goals and accomplishments. On the other side of the ledger, there are five behaviors that the Mayo Clinic Diet labels "bad habits" and advocates against:
- Don't eat processed sugar. Only consume sugar that is naturally found in fruits.
- Only snack on fruits and vegetables. No chips or cookies.
- Don't eat and watch television at the same time. In fact, limit your TV time to equal your exercise time.
- Limit your meat and dairy intake, even low-fat dairy.
- Don't eat restaurant food unless it fits the diet guidelines
With the focus on fruits, vegetables, whole-wheat bread, oatmeal, low-fat dairy products, lean proteins, nuts and seeds, olive oil, this is a diet that can easily become a long-term lifestyle. It might be just right for you.
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