I can go to Baskin Robbins as much as I want! That's the first thing that popped into my head when I heard about the Milk Diet, or, the more saleable titled Dairy Diet.
Haven't heard of it yet? You will. Something had to come along to take the place of Atkins, right? All those bacon and fried chicken eaters who are experiencing no weight loss need something new to pin all their hopes on. Counting calories and exercise is never appealing, so the Dairy Diet it is. This one is based on data from recent studies, as well as longer term research, which shows that those who had regular servings of dairy every day actually lost more fat than those who did not.
Before you go chugging a half gallon of chocolate milk, keep in mind that those who lost weight also counted calories. So, low-fat or skim milk is probably the way to go. And, don't overdo. Four servings isn't as much ice cream as you want, even though in my Dairy Diet it is. If I eat four bowls of ice cream, I lose four times the amount of weight. I'm sure that's how it's supposed to work.
Right now, the food pyramid recommends two to three servings of dairy per day. The Dairy Diet pushes it up to four eight ounce servings. That's four average size glasses. Of course, you don't have to drink milk. Your four servings could be made up of cheese, yogurt, and other dairy products. Just remember to watch the overall calories. A small rectangle of cheese is one serving, while a block of cheese is delicious but still forbidden.
The best part of the Dairy Diet is that not only does it claim to help lose fat, it loses fat from your mid-section, the area that most dieters want to lose fat from first. But, this is usually the hardest place from which to lose your fat. Not anymore.
Even better, the dairy is supposed to even help you avoid gaining new fat. Just look on the labels of your Yoplait yogurt, which claim to be part of a smart weight loss regimen. Labels never lie, right?
Scientists still aren't quite sure what part of the dairy is contributing to these benefits. Calcium is the key, but only part of it. Dieters who ingested the same amount of calcium from supplements saw only part of the success dieters gained from actual dairy products. Is it a certain vitamin combination, a magic enzyme—Who knows? In the meantime, drink your milk.
Make that cinnamon milk. OK, on second thought, don't. But, look for cinnamon to be the new wonder drug of 2005. Eastern medicine and non-traditional practices have long touted the benefits of this plant derived spice. Now, more mainstream medical practices are looking at cinnamon with a new respect. It seems that cinnamon helps to counterbalance sugar spikes in your body, which occur after eating foods high in sugar, but also after eating highly processed foods and those oh so good but so bad for you white carbs. When your blood sugar spikes, your body has to create insulin to get it back down to acceptable levels. Too many blood sugar spikes and you run out of insulin. That's when you get diabetes, and you have to start injecting artificial insulin into your body.
I guess that means the cinnamon-laden slice of apple pie is out of the picture then, huh? And, no, this doesn't mean that you should go out to eat that pint of cinnamon ice cream (dairy, too, right?). But, it does mean that a half teaspoon every day can act as a deterrent to diabetes, which is becoming more and more commonplace, as more and more people reach dangerous levels of weight gain.
Try your half teaspoon on toast (yes, it's better as cinnamon sugar, but we both know that defeats the purpose), over your cereal or on your oatmeal. I like it in tea and coffee, which takes no getting used to. In fact many coffees and teas are already cinnamon flavored.
Finally, here is a diet and nutrition tip that all but the staunchest cinnamon haters can follow.
