Californian Diets

Introduction.

There can be few palaces on earth where dieting isn’t taken more seriously than California and there must surely be more Californian diets than anywhere else in the world. Looking and feeling good in California is almost ‘the law’ and, with all that great weather and the outdoors life there for them to enjoy, who wouldn’t want to be looking good and feeling fit. However, if anywhere can succumb to the latest dieting hype and fads then California is probably that place. So, with that in mind well explore a couple of the California diets that are currently very popular.

The definitive southern California diet.

One thing that is true for any diet is that to lose weight you simply have to eat less. Basically, that is the whole premise for the definitive southern California diet. Anyone’s weight gain is entirely down to an increase in the food they consume compared to the amount they burn off through exercise; whether that is done at work or play. It’s as simple as this - eat too much, exercise too little and the stores of fat in our bodies increase making us gain weight and endangering our health. To prevent this happening, or even reverse it, all we have to do is take control of, and change, our eating and exercising habits. Not for a few days or weeks like the Tuna diet weeks or months - but for life. Just about anyone can lose weight on a diet, unless you cheat yourself and don’t stick it. The problem comes when you stop doing the diet. Before you know it you’re back to your old ways of eating the wrong foods and too much of them; and all the pounds you’ve shed - get piled back on. The definitive southern California diet isn’t designed to give you rapid weight loss, but to slowly educate your body into eating less and exercising more; so that over a period of time you acquire new eating and exercising habits; forming a diet for life philosophy. The definitive southern California diet is not a quick diet in another respect. It will require you to carefully select the foods you eat, buying fresh produce and preparing/cooking it yourself. One of the biggest problems for any dieter today, in our 24/7 culture, is the temptation to garb a ready meal or something to eat on the move. Unfortunately those foods are invariably the very worst for us and can quickly undo the good a diet might be doing us. The definitive southern Californian diet simply aims to reduce your intake of calories by 10% and increase your exercise - to help you to lose a couple of pounds a month. This obviously requires you to have a long-term view to the success of this diet; but such a very modest loss per month is literally one you can learn to live with!

The California wine country diet.

This may well sound like a contradiction in terms to have a California wine country diet - when drinking any alcohol will cause most people to gain weight. However, like the definitive southern California diet - the California wine country diet is all about changing your lifestyle as much as simply being a weight reduction/control diet. The premise for this diet is that a successful diet needs to not only manage your weight but should alter your lifestyle, be enjoyable, involve physical activity and allow for treats. The lifestyle aspect is again about getting you to think more carefully about what you’re eating and why. It does this by getting you to focus on using locally available foods, along with an occasional glass of local Californian wine. Subsequently this diet is said to be highly influenced by Mediterranean diet traditions. By using local foods you will have to take the time to prepare and cook them, giving you a greater appreciation of what it is exactly that you’re eating. The California wine country diet has three main plans targeted at 1200, 1600 and 2000 calories per day; which are ideal for men and women not involved in heavy physical labor.