Weight Watchers

Weight Watchers is a company founded in the 60s to help people with weight management issues and promote healthy eating programs. It started out as just a discussion group and forum and now is a fully-fledged weight loss program that operates in 30 countries around the world. In some areas, franchise organizations rather than Weight Watchers themselves operate Weight Watchers. It caters towards an audience of a specific amount of weight that is over the recommended amount so it protects those individuals who think that they are overweight but technically are not. Weight Watchers offers clients The Core Program and The Flex program.

TOPS Take Off Pounds Sensibly

The TOPS club is a non-profit corporation with its origins in Milwaukee with members worldwide. Its main principle is to help support groups with weight management issues. Originally formed in 1948, it formed a support group to assist those who thought that they were overweight and needed some help. As people started to recognize bulimia, anorexia and other eating disorders, TOPS made a conscious effort to include those people that are not only having problems because they are overweight, but considered all of those with eating disorders. They also invented incentives for those who achieve their goal of their ideal weight and stay in that weight region. They created KOPS, or Keep Off Pounds Sensibly, to recognize those that maintain their ideal weight and good eating habits.

Stillman Diet

Dr. Irwin Maxwell Stillman was a man who shamelessly stated that being overweight just simply comes out of being lazy and that anorexia is simply a state of mind. To a certain extend, people have agreed with him and as the inventor of one of the first low carbohydrate diets, he is trying to make his point. He started talking about low carbs being an important part of a diet in the 60s and had a booked named ˜The Doctor's Quick Weight Loss Diet published, which was very popular at the time. Now many years later, doctors and physicians are not only agreeing with his methods, but also advancing on them to create their own diets based on his findings.

Sugar Busters

Sugar Busters is a diet plan that is easy to follow with logical, practical and reasonable steps to follow. It is not so much a diet plan that excludes certain things, but more of a healthy lifestyle kind of plan where it encourages people to make healthy choices to promote healthy living for all the family. It simply states that all foods can be eaten but with a little less sugar than usual, thereby creating a natural alternative to your favorite foods. It also encourages foods that are whole and unprocessed, the way in which we used to eat in the olden days. It seems that in the past, very few of us were overweight in comparison to the weight problems that exist nowadays.

South Beach Diet

The south beach diet concentrates on good fats and good carbs. After years research, this diet plan was perfected so that it could be easily available and easy to follow for those that wanted to join it. Dr. Agatston states that bad carbohydrates are the ones that need to be avoided and therefore eliminates these from the plan. The bad fats are not good for the body and saturated fats and trans fats can lead to cardiovascular diseases. This is the reason for the emphasis of good fats and good carbohydrates.

In this diet, it is concerned with three phases and all phases have a limit on the amount of bad fats you can eat. Phase one consists of the body trying to lose its insulin resistance which Dr. Agatston says is the key to losing the first few pounds in phase one. Things like whole grain foods and fruits are cut out.

Sonoma Diet

The Sonoma diet was invented by Connie Guttersen and is a form of the Mediterranean diet. The plan has a main focus of concentrating around ten power foods and managing portions that are big enough to satisfy your hunger, but not too filling to make you feel bloated. The ten power foods are whole grains, almonds, bell peppers, olive oil, strawberries, blueberries, spinach, grapes, broccoli and tomatoes. These foods were chosen because of their nutritional values and big strong flavors.

The Sonoma diet consists of three stages, similar to the South Beach and Atkins diets. The first stage lasts for about ten days and is fairly restrictive with the smallest number of foods and the smallest portions of these foods allowed. The sugar taken in by clients is very limited which may come as a shock for some people. The next phase allows for a much wider range of foods and the weight loss process slows down to a gradual phase rather than a rapid one to help the body get used to it. When the target weight is achieved, the third and final stage is called the maintenance stage where an even wider range of foods is allowed and even some special desserts as a reward.

Pritikin Diet

The Pritkin diet was invented by Nathan Pritikin and continued and advanced by Robert Pritikin, his son. This unlike many diets consists of a low fat but high carbohydrate consumption that is basically the opposite of the Atkins diet. Pritkin believes that the source of all fat that accumulates in the body is due to fat that one eats. An elimination of this fat then equals an elimination of fat on the body. The body needs to feel full to be able to feel satisfied and he believes that this feeling of fullness can come fro high carbohydrate foods, which is why it is necessary as part of a diet.

Jenny Craig Review

Jenny Craig is an American diet plan institution founded by jenny and Sidney Craig in 1985. It operates all over the world in countries like New Zealand, United States, Canada, and Australia.

It is one of the largest weight management companies in the world with many hundreds of thousands of members. It offers people simple nutritional advice and promotes healthy eating and through this, shows methods and ways of weight control management with effective results.

Meetings in diet plans can be an excellent self-esteem booster. You can meet like-minded individuals and also compliment and congratulate each other. You can share stories and experiences, good and bad, and people will listen. The community aspect of diet plans seems quite a good way to encourage you to keep with your plan and succeed, especially after hearing success stories from individuals just like you. Diet plans generally run on a community basis because they know that this is one of the best ways to help you control your weight.

GI Diet

The Glycaemic index also known as the glycaemic index is a points system used for calculating carbohydrates based on what they do to the blood sugar levels in the first two hours. It compares the carbohydrates gram for gram giving them an exact calculation and therefore helping people calculate what exactly is needed to lose weight. Fast carbs are the ones that are not so good for the body and have the highest glycaemic rate. Slow carbs are the ones that release sugar slowly into the body thus creating a lower glycaemic index. If it is a lower rate, then the need for insulin is less therefore the fat is more likely to burn away. This is not always the case as same foods have a slower release time for carbs into the blood but give a high insulin response.