What is a bland diet? It is a diet specially set to treat certain gastrointestinal or stomach problems such as heartburns, ulcers and gas.

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An answer to a question, what is a bland diet, is that it is a simple treatment for people suffering from any one or more gastrointestinal disorders such as chronic gastritis, ulcer, esophagitis and dyspepsia.

Bland diet is a dietary regimen for people suffering from stomach disorders. Hence, it is quite understood that ingredients of a bland diet are soft food items, which are easy to digest with a capacity to keep the acidity to low levels. Questions about diet may be asked to your physicians and he/she can suggest the diet or recommend a dietician to do it.

Diet medical questions may include the queries about the food stuffs to eat and food stuffs to avoid during the time while a person experien ces any gastrointestinal disorders. However, before a dietician could decide the bland diet for a person, he/she needs to seek answers to several medical questions related to the person such as any food allergies or irritations associated with any food items and emotions medical questions of people.

Bland Diet:

The diet prescribed as a bland diet will include food items that are easy to digest and low in fiber and acid contents. Even giving up alcohol and smoking is advised while patient is on bland diet. Also a patient is advised to have 4 to 6 light meals after regular interval to avoid heavy and large meals.

Chewing food properly and eating slowly helps in the digestion of the food. Adequate sleep, avoiding smoking and controlling anxiety are supportive treatments for the standard treatment of the problem.

Allowed Food Items:

• Dairy Products
Milk, cheese, yogurt with low-fats and other dairy products are easily digested and hence, can be included as a part of bland diet. However, there is no restriction on ice-creams and one may consume even ice creams during bland diet, but it should not have any product such as nuts that are not allowed in bland diet.

• Fresh Fruits and Vegetables
Fresh vegetables and fruits are allowed to a bland dieter. However, while carrot, squash, green peas are good to eat in a bland diet, broccoli, onions and green peeper should be avoided as it forms gas. In fruits, oranges, grapefruits, and bananas are allowed.

• Proteins
Protein requirement of the body, while on a bland diet should be met with soy products and meat. Fried chicken and greasy hamburgers are not allowed to be consumed, while grilled and baked chicken is allowed.
Low-fat peanut butter and eggs are also efficient to meet the body’s protein requirement in a bland diet.

• Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are contained in whole grain breads, pasta, oatmeal, corn flakes, white rice and sweet potatoes. All these food items are allowed.

Bland diet is designed for treating certain medical circumstances such as gastrointestinal problems. Hence, to answer what is a bland diet, we can say that this is a diet that aims at improving the digestion with the help of a timed-routine diet and soft to digest food items. Once the problem is controlled patients can return to their normal diet.

Summertime is approaching and, for those who have to lose weight and wand to wear their most beautiful bathing suit on the beach, it’s time to think about starting a little diet.Whether you have five or forty pounds to lose, the choice of the most healthy and effective diet is sometimes hard. There are hundreds of different diets out there, all with the pros and cons. Whatever diet you choose, you will almost have to remove sugar and fat and deprive you of things you love, whether a burger, a pizza or shrimps in cream sauce.Here is a review of some of the most famous diet programs that will help you to choose the one that will work for you.Natural Health Diet If you take weight loss pills you can boost their action by changing your way of eating. If you do not plan to take pills to help you lose weight but want to follow a healthy diet, then Natural Health Diet is the perfect weight loss plan. You could make it healthier by limiting your portions and reducing the amount of fats that you eat. There are also other excellent ways to boost your natural weight loss while maintaining your body healthy ; for instance, by walking and cycling.The South Beach Diet Method: good and bad carbohydrates.You should not have to count the calories and do not limit the carbohydrate ingestion.This diet includes three phases:
Phase 1: you may eat all what you want except carbohydrates; alcohol, beer, etc. are also banned.
Phase 2: this is the phase where you will be reintroducing some of the prohibited foods, this phase lasts as long as you wish or have to lose weight.
Phase 3: you enter the phase that is supposed to maintain your new weight.
By following the South Beach Diet, you are not supposed to feel hungry. On the other hand, this kind of weight loss diet can be rather expensive.Calorie Restriction This is the easiest diet to understand. When you follow that kind of diet, you have to remove some types of foods. The Calorie Restriction Diet is a healthy diet, based on a better quality of life ; that brings you good health, few hyper or hypotension problems.The inconvenient of this diet is that you may notice that you feel hungry, and always must count the calories intake and perfectly know the contents of each and every food you take.You will also have to restrict the meals at the restaurant…The Zone Diet Here is what the Zone Diet allows you to eat:
Carbohydrates
Proteins
Fat (olive oil, butter)
What you cannot eat:
Fruits and vegetables that are rich in sugar
Potatoes, rice, pasta, bread, etc.
What you cannot drink:
Alcohol
Sodas, etc.
You will lose weight quickly but once you will finish the diet, you will be at the risk to gain the lost weight again – and maybe some more pounds. So, after having made such a diet, you will have to restrict your food if you want to maintain your new waist line.Dr Atkins Diet – The “fast weight loss” method This kind of diet method enables you to lose weight very quickly.It is easy to follow and you may eat a great number and a large variety of food. While following this diet, you are not supposed to feel hungry; which is a positive point. On the other hand, since you take few carbs, it can produce a loss of energy and vitality when it is prolonged. If you take carbohydrate, you will gain weight and alcohol is completely prohibited.The Green Tea Diet This weight loss diet is the easiest diet to do! It seems also appreciated by the professionals and seems effective.Drinking green tea not only helps you to lose weight but it is also very good for your health. It should be noted that the loss of weight is not as spectacular as with reducing diets but it is also the safest loss of weight: slowly lost pounds do not come back or if they return, they will do it as slowly as you lost them.If you plan to follow the Green Tea Diet, ensure you that you like to drink green tea Cleansing / Detox Diet If you want to feel more fresh, lighter or more energetic, choose Detox / Cleansing Diet. Detox Diet will cleanse your liver which will metabolize the food more quickly and allows you a long term weight loss. However, this kind of weight loss program is not easy to follow without feeling hungry. So it can be hard to stick to the Cleansing/Detox diet more than two weeks. Tip: have a Detox Diet one week before leaving on holiday.Good luck.

This article gives pertinent information about Dukan Diet and its side-effects

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Pierre Dukan, a French doctor and nutritionist, challenged with the case of obesity started to look for alternative ways in curing the illness. After 20 years of thorough research he published in the year 2000, a book called, “Je ne sais pas maigrir” or translated as, “I don’t know how to get slimmer.” It gained the best-seller in France after a year it has been published.
It was made a hit in UK when Kate Middleton, now the duchess of Cambridge, tried the Dukan Diet before her marriage to the beloved Prince William, she reportedly claimed a loss of two dress sizes. It also allegedly claimed to help five million French. The book is also gaining fame in the US in the year 2011 when actress/singer, Jennifer Lopez, lost pounds after her pregnancy by following this diet.
Dukan Diet: What is it? How does this work?
Dukan Diet is similar to the famous Atkins diet. Atkins and Dukan are much alike in terms of non-intake of carbs initially and do not require portion control or counting calorie consumptions. In Atkins, it requires net carbohydrate intakes and unlike Dukan, it suggests a daily intake of oats, increase water consumption and 20 minutes of everyday brisk walking. Dukan Diet adopts four phases namely: Attack, Cruise, Consolidation and Stabilization.
Four Phases of the Dukan Diet
Attack: In this starter phase, the dieter is only allowed take protein rich foods that are exquisitely low in fat. Dr. Dukan provided 72-item list of foods to be eaten, it excludes pork, lamb, poultry products and cheeses. Food should always be cooked but without adding any fat to it, it best to cook in grilling or roasting. It also requires you to eat 1 ½ tbsp. oat bran & 1.5 liters of water per day. This phase should be followed around 2-7 days or more. Results from this initial phase within 5 days may result in 4-7 lbs. loss. This phase promotes quick loss of weight since it is strictly based on a protein-only diet.
Cruise: Cruise, the second to the fourth phase of the Dukan diet scheme. During this phase dieters who were only allowed to eat protein-only foods can now alternate a 28-items of non-starchy vegetables. They may take attack phase diet for today and take non-starchy veggie diet for tomorrow, and so this phase must go on by alternating these two types of diet each day. This phase may last long enough as much as you want by reaching your desired weight and assuring 2 pounds per week loss.
Consolidation: As one achieves the desired weight, one has to go the next phase called Consolidation, this is the maintenance phase of this diet scheme where you have to prevent putting back excess pounds. The plan in this phase is less strict compared to the first two phases. During this phase you are permitted to eat protein-only and veggie diet along with a piece of low-sugar fruit, 2 slices of whole grain bread and a portion of hard cheese. In this phase you are allowed to have 1-2 serving of starchy foods and one celebration meal per week. The phase of consolidation does not expect to loss off pounds but rather it is steadily the maintenance process.
Stabilization: Stabilization is the final phase and a life-long phase of the diet scheme. In here maintenance of the life-changing diet may be a challenging and tempting. During this portion of the scheme, one is already permitted to allow any food intake that a person wants and by also sticking to the diet rule in the consolidation phase. As Pierre Dukan suggest, that staying on the phase 1 rule once a week and eat whatever you like for the rest of the week lowers the chances of regaining weight.
Pros and Cons of Dukan Diet
Pros: The fast results of this diet scheme is beneficially rewarding and motivating. It allows you to have protein and veggie meal plan diets and does not require you to count off your calorie intakes.
Cons: It is highly restrictive and can exclude healthy foods. Dieters can experience side-effects such as symptoms of headaches, nausea, lethargy, irritable and loss of concentration. Dieters may acquire halitosis (bad breath), metallic tasting mouth and strong smell in their urines. For those people who have problems with their kidneys and liver are not advised to follow this diet plan. It is not also recommended for pregnant and nursing mothers.

Views and Opinions by Health Experts on the Dukan Diet
There are lots of critics in this diet plan. Due to the restrictive type scheme of this diet, some fruits, grains and nuts which are healthy and have high amounts of vitamins and minerals that are vital to the nutrition of the body are eliminated. Keri Gans of American Dietetic Association, said that the lost amount of multivitamins that should be acquired from those restricted foods are not compensated in the Dukan diet. Experts have also criticized that experiencing such side-effects may not be healthy at all.