Calorie Shifting Fad and Facts

So how does a new diet get initiated, promoted and utilized? Often times these diets have been discovered in trials by Doctors who are exploring how the metabolism will respond to the following questions:

1. When and what do we digest?
2. Can the meal plan be altered?
3. What would the negative and positive effects be?
4. What’s the length of time to lose the weight?
5. How long will the weight stay off, and what are the contributing factors?
6. How does the diet effect bio-markers in the body?  (bone mass, insulin resistance, blood glucose, cholesterol, hemoglobin etc.   And organs: kidney, heart, liver, brain etc.)

These diets are designed for short term use pre and post surgery, in order to ensure the success of an intervention and the healing of the trauma to the body afterwards.  The “shake” or “liquid” diet may be prescribed to an obese patient so they can lose weight 3-6 weeks ahead of time, as to not endanger their life while on the table.  Yet post surgery, the patient is eased into a normal meal plan.

Calorie Shifting is no different.  A diet explored to help lose weight quickly, intended  for medical intervention only, then somehow adpoted into society. Most Americans who don’t take time to eat throughout the day maybe practicing CS and not even know it.  Short term wieghtloss maybe noticed, but once back to increased calories, the quickly shrunk lipid cells will expand. 

CS maybe a popular and widely used diet plan, however, questions have been raised about it’s overall success.  It is a diet that has been studied using both mice and men, to see how shifting a certain amount of calories within a weeks or months time would impact glucose homeostasis and weightloss. The question still remains what are the pros and cons of this diet?

Pros:

1. Calorie Shifting is easy to use. You simply get a menu and have to follow it.

2. You don’t starve on this diet. You get to eat 4 meals a day.

3. Very affordable. All the food in this diet menu is ordinary which can be bought cheaply at any supermarket.

4. Provides a fast and continuous weight loss, up to 9 lbs every 11 days.

Cons:

1. Lacks fruit and vegetables, calcium and fat, all critical to maintaining a healthy body.

2. Requires you to follow a menu. The calorie shifting diet has a menu you need to stick to. That does require some commitment on your part.

3. Doesn’t build muscle. This type of diet requires no exercise to lose weight. This means that it doesn’t build muscles.

4. Quick weightloss leads to quick weight gain. Compare to the recommended 1-2 lb’s a week weightloss, which allows the lipid cells the opportunity to properly shrink in size.

5. The Calorie Shifting Diet isn’t recommended for everyone, especially, for pregnant or breastfeeding women.

After reviewing the meal plan that had been posted on the internet, any Doctor, Dietitian or Nurse would ask “Where’s the fruit and vegetables, calcium and fat?”  All critical to your muscles, organs, blood and bones functionability.  Without calcium and magnesium (for mineral uptake) your bone mass will deteriorate.  Why is that important?  Because red blood cells are made in the bone.  All the different types of blood cells develop from one type of cell called a ‘blood stem cell’.  In adults, blood stem cells are normally found in the red bone marrow inside the bones.  Blood cells are made in the bone marrow in the skull, ribs, sternum (breast bone), spine and pelvis.

Fruits and vegetables are critical for the many naturally occurring vitamins that our body needs. (Vitamin A, C, D, E, B’s, Potassium, Phosphorous, Selenium, Magnesium etc.) In addition, to contributing to the digestion, lowering, cholesterol, blood pressure, cleansing of kidneys, energy and cognitive functions.

Healthy fat (extra virgin olive oil, omega 3,, 6 and even 7% of animal fat) contributes to the elasticity of veins, muscles (including heart and brain), as well as, ligaments

Below is listed a three day CS meal plan. Please note that the calorie shifting diet is NOT recommended or promoted.   This is all you would eat in three days.  As previously mentioned it lacks fruit and vegetables, calcium and fat, all critical to maintaining a healthy body. However, many respectable weightloss programs such as USANA’s Macro Optimizer, Reset  provide nutritional supplements so that you can achieve your goal effectively and without bringing on harm to your body by provinding it with additional vitamins and minerals.

Day 1

 Meal #1: Scrambled Eggs Meal

Meal #2: Sandwich (any type)

Meal #3: Flavored Oatmeal

Meal #4: Tuna Salad

Day 2:

Meal #1: Cottage Cheese

Meal #2: Scrambled Eggs [and] Mixed Vegetables

Meal #3: Chicken

Meal #4: Banana Milk Shake

Day 3:

Meal #1: Chicken

Meal #2: Fish Fillet

Meal #3: Cottage Cheese

Meal #4: Fruit Salad

HOLD ON!  Not all is doom and gloom….

The following MEAL PLAN is recommended for anyone and provides the daily intake of minerals and nutrients that your body needs to stay strong and healthy.  You can absolutely lose weight on this diet!  It’s loaded with fruits, vegetables (which burn the most calories when metabolically broke down), grains, protein and fat.  Most do not realize that eating vegetables is a trick to weight-loss, due to the amount of energy your body utilizes to them breakdown.  As with any food that one consumes, read the food label to understand what a serving size is before over loading your plate and understand your meal plan when planning your grocery shopping list. 

Follow the catagory on the left column for fruit, vegetable, meat, or bread.  The right side of the column provide just a few suggested food items.  (LS or Low Sodium is heighly recommended for weightloss.)  Vegetarians may choose meat substitutes, Tofu, beans, nuts or eggs.

Breakfast
Bread or Cereal…. Oatmeal LS, Total Cereal, Cheerios
Fruit…………………..Apple, Orange, Pear, Apricot, Banana, Cherries, Berries
Milk……………………Skim or 1% (8 oz), Low or nonfat Yogurt

Snack am
fruit (1-2 of choice.  1 fruit is 1 serving size), or Blend 2-3 Fruits with 4 oz OJ 

Lunch
Vegetable……………Cole Slaw, Green Salad, Veggie Salad, Pepper sticks, Broccoli, Cucumber
Vegetable……………LS Cream of Potato Soup  (Choice of Soup, Salad, Vegetable)
Meat (3 ounces)………Tuna, Turkey, Herring, Salmon, Beef, Chicken
Vegetable…………..(Any) Twice baked sweet potato, Aparagus saute’ EVOO and Garlic
Fruit……………… …Fruit Salad or Fruit of Choice, (Avocado and Tomato seasoned, EVOO)

Snack pm
1 0z …………………..nuts or seeds (unsalted)
Milk…………………. 1% Skim or 4-6 oz low or nonfat yogurt

Dinner
Meat (3 Ounces)………………. Chicken Patty, Pork, Beef, Fish, Turkey,
Bread……………… (Bread is optional.  Choose whole grain or wheat bread.)
Vegetable………..Lettuce, tomato and onion (cooked or raw)
Vegetable……….. Baked beans
Fruit………………. Kiwi-Strawberry or a  LS, Reduced sugar content Dessert acceptable i.e. Sherbert

Do your research before starting on a Meal Plan and altering your dietary intake.  Remember to consult with your Doctor or Dietitian so that you can make the necessary changes to a healthier lifestyle.  For more info on how to enhance Lifestyle Change read: “How to nutritionally and effectively Down Shift to 1350 Calories per day”; “How Tea’s effect weightloss” and Flatten your Tummy for a Poolside Silohouette“.  There are a few respectable weightloss programs such as USANA’s Macro Optimizer, Reset,  which provides nutritional supplements, so that you can achieve your goal weight effectively.  Check out the various types of Meal Plans and if you should (Avoid Sports Drinks?)  It’s a 310 calorie article you don’t want to miss!
You can read more at Cincy Chic

By: Kimberly Crocker-Scardicchio

Literature Research

http://www.healthalternatives2000.com/fruit-nutrition-chart.htmlhttp://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/help/default.asp?page=116#stemhttp://www.ifanca.org/newsletter/2002_07.htmhttp://ezinearticles.com/?Calorie-Shifting-Meal-Plan&id=870062http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15930970?ordinalpos=4&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSumhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17412526? ordinalpos=3&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

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