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F-Factor Diet

Description:

Tanya Zuckerbrot, a registered dietician, believes that your intake of calories is what controls whether or not you will lose weight. You can lose weight by eating bagels if you only eat them in moderation. Foods rich in carbohydrates are your enemy only if you eat them in large quantities.

Her diet plan, The F-Factor Diet, is about consuming fiber from high-carbohydrate foods. She points to a study that found if you simply double your consumption of fiber, you eat approximately 90 fewer calories per day and lose more than nine pounds a year. Fiber is what your grandmother called “roughage.” It is indigestible and therefore has no calories. This means if a food contains 25 grams of carbohydrate and 10 grams of fiber, it actually has only 15 grams carbohydrate because the fiber is indigestible. High-fiber foods are bran cereals, beans, apples, and potatoes eaten with their skins, whole-grain breads, vegetable crudities, and so on. These foods are digested slowly and thus release a more constant stream of glucose into your bloodstream, allowing you to feel less hungry and have more energy. Eating foods rich in fiber may help prevent certain cancers, improve cholesterol levels, and provide other health benefits.

Zuckerbrot promises you will lose weight if you simply increase your fiber intake to 30 to 35 grams per day (the government recommends 20 to 25). Within her 264-page book, the author devotes only six pages to exercise. The diet has a “jumpstart” plan, a “phase two” plan for losing weight, and then a maintenance plan designed to keep the weight off. The F-Factor Diet includes several name-brand foods. For example, the only cereals allowed are Fiber One, All Bran Extra Fiber, or Kellogg’s Bran Buds; the only bread allowed is GG Scandinavian Bran Crispbread (8 or fewer per day).

See: Zuckerbrot, Tanya (MS, RD) The F-Factor Diet (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons) 2007.

Created: 2007

Categories: High Fiber, Fad, Low Calorie

Website: http://www.ffactordiet.com/

Meetings: No

Books: Yes

Expert Review:

Americans are sorely lacking sufficient fiber in their diets. Fiber does fill you up and make it easier to eat less. However, the emphasis on fiber is probably too narrow for a truly well-balanced, healthy weight management plan for life. The lack of focus on activity is one critical piece missing. Any weight loss plan that does not emphasize activity as being AS important as your eating plan will likely not succeed in the long run.

There really isn't anything new here - this type of diet, low-fat, high-fiber, has been touted for decades by others.

Sample Menu:

JUMPSTART – PHASE ONE 

 

Typical Daily Menu (limiting fruit but not vegetables)

 

BREAKFAST

½ cup Fiber One with one cup cottage cheese or low-fat yogurt

 

LUNCH

Salad with two teaspoons oil and vinegar (or lemon juice) dressing

2 cups vegetable crudities

1 cup Gazpacho soup

1 cup V8 juice

Any protein from a list of lean proteins such as tuna, crab, poultry, etc.

2-3 Crispbreads

 

SNACK

¼ cup dried fruit with ¼ cup mixed nuts

 

DINNER

Salad with two teaspoons oil and vinegar (or lemon juice) dressing

1½ cup steamed, sautéed, or grilled vegetables

4-6 oz. protein

1 sugar-free Jell-O with a diet hot chocolate

 

PHASE TWO – ON-GOING WEIGHT LOSS PLAN

You choose foods from lists of permitted breads and cereals, fruits, meats, etc. The menu below provides 73 grams carbohydrate minus 36 grams of fiber.

 

Typical Daily Menu

 

BREAKFAST

1 multigrain English muffin with Canadian bacon, one fried egg, and a slice of low-fat cheddar cheese

 

LUNCH

Turkey burger on a whole-wheat bun

1 cup baby carrots

 

SNACK

2 Crispbreads and 2 tablespoons peanut butter

 

DINNER

1 pork chop (4 oz. edible portion)

½ baked sweet potato

1 cup steamed or grilled asparagus

1 glass red wine

1 snack-sized, sugar-free Jell-O pudding

 

PHASE THREE – MAINTENANCE

You should be able to eat anything you want as long as you keep your fiber content high.

 

Typical Daily Menu

 

BREAKFAST

1 package Quaker Weight Control Oatmeal with two tablespoons chopped walnuts, one small banana

 

LUNCH

1 cup black bean soup topped with 1 oz. reduced-fat cheddar cheese

2 Crispbreads

 

SNACK

1 apple with a sugar-free, snack-sized Jell-O

 

DINNER

¼ BBQ rotisserie chicken

1 cup steamed vegetables

1 whole-grain roll

1 cup salad with one tablespoon vinaigrette dressing

 

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Expert Comments:

This diet is basically of the low-fat, high-fiber variety so it is largely sound and safe. The specific brands they require could be limiting for some people (not to mention boring after a while), so it might not be easy to stick to it exactly for any length of time.



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