When choosing a diet plan, avoid fad diets. These plans come and go each season, and some can even be harmful to your health. Take the time to consult your doctor, and design a weight loss plan that works for you. Your plan should allow you to lower your calorie count, while consuming foods from all major food groups.

Follow these guidelines to avoid dangerous diet plans:

Avoid Massive Calorie Cuts Some diets drastically restrict the amount of calories you take in per day. These diets can lead to malnutrition, so avoid them at all costs. Instead, consult your doctor for a target calorie count per day. He or she can take your height, weight, age, and medical conditions into account to design a diet plan that is safe and effective.

Avoid Cutting out Food Groups Just say no to diets that cut out entire food groups. Your body is designed to function at an optimal level by eating a variety of foods. Cutting out an entire group can cause severe health issues, such as malnutrition or organ failure. Choose a diet that balances grains, protein, dairy, and fruit and vegetables. Your body needs these nutrients to function.

Avoid Crash Diets or Pills – If your diet comes in a box, it’s probably not the healthiest option. Most diet pills and supplements are not regulated by the FDA, so use them with extreme caution. Avoid stimulant medications and crash “cabbage soup” types of diets. You may lose weight quickly, but it will come back as soon as you’re off the diet or supplement.

Use these guidelines to develop a diet plan that’s right for you. Avoid unhealthy calorie restrictions, cutting out entire food groups, or diet pills. Take the time to consult a medical professional and tailor a diet to meet your caloric needs. You’ll be able to lose weight, and keep it off effectively, if you use a combination of diet and exercise to do so.

This article entitled “Dying to Lose Weight Why Kill Yourself” is not medical advice. It should not be used as or substituted as medical advice; from a medical professional. This article is for informational purposes only.

8 chicken breasts, boneless, skinless

1 thinly sliced medium onion

1/2 cup dry white wine

2 crushed cloves garlic

1/2 teaspoon ground thyme

1 bay leaf

3 springs parsley

1 cup 98fat-free chicken broth

2 cups diced Italian style tomatoes

18 pearl onions

1 pound sliced mushrooms

Juice of 1 large lemon

1 cup sliced pitted black olives

1 jigger cognac

Chopped parsley for garnish

Directions

Spray nonstick Dutch oven with cooking oil spray. Saut sliced onion until very lightly brown then remove. Brown chicken breasts on both sides. Add wine, garlic, thyme, bay leaf, parsley, chicken broth and tomatoes. Cover and simmer for about 1 hour, until tender. Remove meat and strain sauce, then reduce for 5 minutes. Saut pearl onions and mushrooms in juice of lemon. Arrange chicken, onions, mushrooms and sliced olives in casserole dish. Sprinkle with cognac. Heat in 350

4 cups low fat vanilla yogurt

4 medium bananas

2 cups frozen strawberries

2 cups orange juice

Directions

If using fresh strawberries freeze strawberries the day before. Place 1/2 of each amount into blender. Blend on high for 30 minutes. Place other half of ingredients in blender and repeat. Serve immediately.

So, how do we get protein? The most common source of protein for most Americans is meat, but this is not necessarily the most energy efficient or cheapest way to get it. Of course, a steak will have a ton of protein, but this is not cheap and is not necessarily the best way to get protein into our bodies.

A great way to make sure that you save money on your protein intake while leaning down your sources of protein is to switch out meat with eggs. Eggs are much cheaper and easier to cook and serve in portions as compared to meat, and are perfectly healthy. If you really want to maximize the health quotient of eggs, try cooking only with the egg whites. Most of the cholesterol and fat in eggs is in the yolk.

Another way to get protein from a non-meat source is through beans. Beans are super cheap and also incredibly good for you – in fact, one of the best foods for humans to consume are lentils. Canned beans are inexpensive and take very little time to prepare, and can be quite delicious if seasoned properly. For those of you who really want to save money, consider purchasing dried beans. Dried beans take a little more forethought than the canned variety – being that you’ll need to soak them overnight – but they’re extremely cheap and pack a punch with nutrients and protein.

The main thing to stay away from if you’re on a budget is the specialty “protein bars and shakes” that dominate the health food market these days. It’s not that these are inherently bad for you, but they are extremely expensive for the protein they contain, and there’s absolutely no reason why you can’t get the same amount of protein from different sources. If you want to live healthy, cheap, and happy, try to stay away from processed foods as much as possible, and this includes “diet” processed foods!

First of all, let’s look at sources for lose weight recipes. The internet is full of recipes. WebMd, Epicurious, iVillage, and even BeliefNet all have low calorie recipes on them. You can also find recipes for just about any specific dish by typing “dish low calorie” into a search engine like Google.

You also have traditional sources such as low calorie cookbooks to find lose weight recipes. You can find lose weight recipes tied to specific diets such as Adkins or Mediterranean in these books.

Cooking shows on television often feature low calorie recipes. Food network provides details of their low calorie recipes online.

Another thing you can do is use a recipe you love, but swap out some of the ingredients for things that don’t change the texture or taste of the food but lower the calories. For instance, with pancakes, cut the oil and butter, switch to whole-wheat flour, use raspberry sauce instead of syrup, then add more fresh fruit on top. For pasta with red sauce, puree cauliflower and broccoli to mix into the sauce, and add whole vegetables as well to make it more filling and healthier.

But, it’s not enough to know how to make an individual recipe low calorie, you need to have a good idea of what ingredients make a dish off limits. That way, you can plan substitutes.

For instance, whole wheat bread (not reduced calorie) has 70 calories but a low fat bagel has 150. So, eating a “diet” brand isn’t necessarily a cure-all for dieting.

You should also start incorporating the so called “superfoods” into as many lose weight recipes as you can. The superfoods are: blueberries, black beans, spinach, yogurt, tomatoes, carrots, oats, and walnuts.

When a recipe for a baked product such as cake requires oil, substitute apple sauce. It will have no impact on the baking process or the taste, but save a whopping 15/16 of the calories! (1 tablespoon of oil is 120 calories. 1 tablespoon of apple sauce is 6.5 calories).

Other recipe substitutes include:

- Turkey bacon for bacon

- Cooking spray for butter

- Rolled oats for bread crumbs

- Ground turkey breast for ground beef

- Wine or fruit juice for oil based marinades

If you are looking for lose weight recipes, the good news is that you are not alone. There is a wealth of information out there for people wanting to cook healthy at home.

On the 3 day diet menu, it is very important to eat your grapefruit or drink your grapefruit juice at every meal. Additionally, you must drink at least 32 ounces of water each day.

Breakfast #1

Coffee or tea (sugar substitute okay)

1/2 Grapefruit or 4 oz. grapefruit juice

1 piece of dry toast topped with 1 tablespoon of peanut butter

Breakfast #2

Coffee or tea (sugar substitute okay)

1/2 Grapefruit or 4 oz. grapefruit juice

1 egg

1 piece of dry toast

1/2 banana

Breakfast #3

Coffee or tea (sugar substitute okay)

1/2 Grapefruit or 4 oz. grapefruit juice

5 saltine crackers

1 oz. cheese

1 apple

Lunch on the 3 day diet menu also has about 200 calories a day.

Lunch #1

1/2 cup tuna in spring water

1 piece of dry toast

Coffee or tea (sugar substitute okay)

1/2 Grapefruit or 4 oz. grapefruit juice

Lunch #2

1 cup cottage cheese

8 saltine crackers

Coffee or tea (sugar substitute okay)

1/2 Grapefruit or 4 oz. grapefruit juice

Lunch #3

1 boiled egg

1 slice dry toast

Coffee or tea (sugar substitute okay)

1/2 Grapefruit or 4 oz. grapefruit juice

Dinner on the 3 day diet menu has about 350 calories and bulks up the meal with 2 cups of vegetables. You also get a sweet treat in the form of vanilla ice cream.

Dinner #1

3 ounces of lean meat

1 cup of green beans

1 cup of carrots

1 apple

1 cup of vanilla ice cream

Coffee or tea (sugar substitute okay)

1/2 Grapefruit or 4 oz. grapefruit juice

Dinner #2

2 franks

1 cup of ?cabbage

1/2 cup of carrots

1/2 banana

1/2 cup of vanilla ice cream

Coffee or tea (sugar substitute okay)

1/2 Grapefruit or 4 oz. grapefruit juice

Dinner #3

1 cup EACH of:

* tuna in spring water

* carrots

* cauliflower

* melon

* 1/2 cup of vanilla ice cream

Coffee or tea (sugar substitute okay)

1/2 Grapefruit or 4 oz. grapefruit juice

Grapefruit has no scientifically based fat reducing properties and does not magically speed up your metabolism. Eaten whole (rather than juiced), 1/2 of the fruit provides 6 grams of fibre. But then, oranges provide 7 grams of fibre.

The 3 day diet menus do provide a healthy, balanced meal plan, but it has only about 900 calories. So, will you lose weight if you stick to the diet? Yes. You will probably lose between 3 and 6 pounds. Some people claim to have lost 10 pounds.

This can be a real turn on for people who need to lose a dress size in a short amount of time, particularly if a big event is looming. But, the 3 day diet menu does not provide a lasting solution to weight loss.

2 cups diced (1/4 inch) cantaloupe

1/4 cup finely chopped sweet onion such as Vidalia

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil

1 (2-inch-long) fresh Serrano pepper, minced (including some seeds)

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

Toss together all ingredients in a bowl and let stand, covered and chilled, 10 minutes.