The Best Life Diet

The Best Life Diet

 Overview of Bob Greene's Best Life Diet

According to Bob Greene, the key to weight loss success is a strong emotional base. Honesty, responsibility, commitment, and inner strength are, he says, the four cornerstones of emotional foundation. Honesty means being honest about past weaknesses and past failures for present and future success to occur. Responsibility means taking responsibility for your past actions, vowing to change, and owning up to past failures. Commitment, the third cornerstone, means really keeping to commitments; and inner strength means having the strength to make healthy choices and sticking to them.

The Best Life Diet encourages the individual to make gradual changes and depending on your current fitness level and gender, the diet, which progresses through three phases, encourages calorie intakes ranging from 1,500-2,500 per day, along with exercise.
What you can eat on the Best Life Diet?

While there is a calorie range for this diet, individuals do not necessarily have to calorie count, but rather pay attention to portion sizes. The list of foods allowed on this diet is vast and varied and include fresh fruits and vegetables, breads and cereals, lean meats and protein, oils such as olive oil, low fat to nonfat dairy products, and most spices and seasonings. Basically all healthy foods are allowed in normal not "America's average" portion size, which is typically two- three times the normal serving size. Weekly menus will guide in preparing your meals.

What you can't eat on Bob Greene's diet?

 
Unhealthy foods are all but eliminated (gradually), including:
    * Foods containing trans fats
    * Fried foods
    * High-fat dairy
    * Regular pasta
    * Soft drinks
    * White bread.

In the initial phase, alcohol is eliminated, but it can be added back later. Additionally, individuals are required to stop eating at least two hours before bed.
Eating options on The Best Life Diet

Best Life dieters are encouraged to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, whole grains and cereals, lean meats, fiber-rich foods, and low-fat to nonfat dairy foods. All foods, with the exception of fruits and vegetables, should be eaten in moderation. Weekly menus are provided to help guide your daily meal plans.

The Best Life Diet - any exercise recommendations?
Depending on your current exercise routine or lack of, you may remain at the same level or add exercise if you are sedentary. Keep in mind that the Surgeon General recommends that Americans accumulate at least 30-60 minutes of moderate physical activity most days of the week. Greater amounts of physical activity may be necessary for the prevention of weight gain, for weight loss, or for sustaining weight loss.

Bob Greene and Oprah Winfrey: creating a winning diet
Bob Greene helped Oprah Winfrey shed 90 pounds back in 1995, and since then he has published several books on the subject of weight-loss including the wildly popular The Best Life Diet. Oprah Winfrey wrote the foreword and to date, the book has sold more than 1.6 million copies. Potential followers can purchase the book or follow the diet online for a fee. Millions worldwide have followed (or are currently following) The Best Life Diet.
Post Weight Maintenance Plans

The three phases of The Best Life Diet are as follows:

    * Phase One focuses on changing old eating habits and increasing activity levels.
    * Phase Two increases physical activity and promotes healthier eating.
    * Phase Three is maintenance.

Phase Three basically covers the guidelines you should follow for the rest of your life--so it's not really a diet. Even more unhealthy foods are eliminated in Phase Three and it introduces Bob Greene's "anything goes" calories which are similar to the "discretionary calories" found in the U.S. government's 2005 Dietary Guidelines.

The "anything goes" calories will allow you to enjoy your favorite foods in small portions, but this can only be done in this final lifetime phase of the diet--when you are at your peak level of activity and your diet is at its healthiest ever.