Be Healthy

fplan

Diet

This high fibre, low calorie diet requires both calorie/kilojoule and fibre counting. You are advised to eat between 1000 and 1500 cal/4000 206,300 kJ and between 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 ounces/35 to 50 g of fibre a day, which is twice most people's normal consumption.

There is, of course, nothing dramatically new about this type of eating programme, which is very similar to the Pritikin diet. Neither is there anything original about its findings, based as they are on a considerable amount of nutritional and medical research carried out by such pioneers as Dr Dennis Burkitt, Dr Hugh Trowell, Dr Alick Walker and Surgeon Capt Sir Hugh Cleave.

These doctors worked extensively in different rural areas of southern Africa, and all have produced very persuasive evidence for the protective health benefits of dietary fibre. There seems little doubt that there is a strong correlation between the high incidence of western degenerative diseases, including obesity, and a diet high in saturated fats and refined foods.

Recent medical recommendations all emphasise the need to cut down on these while increasing our intake of fibre rich whole foods, vegetables and fruit. The F plan diet is therefore based on sound, sensible rules of healthy eating.
According to Audrey Eyton states that "tests indicate that the increase calorie/kilojoule content of the faeces amounts to nearly 10% when people follow high fibre diets".

That these are filling and stem the appetite, however, cannot be denied, which explains the popularity of the whole diet. In spite of the undoubted health giving benefits of the whole foods, some doctors have recently expressed concern that eating too much fibre can lead to certain mineral and vitamin deficiencies.

The weight loss potential is moderate to good. The diet encourages a steady reduction of about one to three pounds 450 g to 1.3 kg a week in weight, nothing more dramatic.

Maintaining weight loss is easier on this diet then on any other high-protein diet. Hunger pangs between meals and lack of satisfaction after meals are rare, because food provides bulk fills you up for long periods.

Maintaining a steady balance of blood sugar.