The Perricone Diet - Does It Work?
Haven’t heard yet of Perricone Diet? If yes, well, it’s not that startling to know as Perricone Diet is not that well known in some places.
Generally speaking, the Perricone diet is a unique plan. It belongs to the long list of diet plans made available out there but its main focus is not on weight loss, which is very typical in diet plans, but rather on one’s vitality and length of life.
The Perricone Diet for Various Purposes
At present, the Perricone Diet is also believed to be effective in decreasing inflammation in every organ system, decreasing the risk of cancer, improving metabolism and bone density, lifting mood, repairing the skin, rejuvenating immune system, making the heart insusceptible to disease, and burning some fats.
The Perricone Diet on Foods
Though it does not focus more on weight loss but on vitality and length of time, like other diet plans, it still premises the importance of food selections and preferences. In fact, its author claims that bad food choices are “directly responsible for wrinkles, degenerative diseases, and accelerated aging”; which in a way is true.
Aside from food selections and preferences, Perricone Diet also cited the importance of supplements (25 per day) and lotions by which are both vital keys to younger looks and feelings.
Recommendations, Limitations, and Restrictions
The Perricone’s diet is very demanding but not that restrictive. Demanding in a sense that it obliges you to cut out foods that cause inflammation and on the good side, eat foods that will make you healthy. While not that restrictive in a sense that you could still eat foods that are typically prohibited in some other diet plans.
Well, generally, the foods to avoid include breads particularly French baguettes and croissants; alcohol; flour; coffee; breakfast cereals excluding non-instant oatmeal; granola; duck; beef; fruit juice; many fruits like grapes, mangoes, etc.; many vegetables like carrots, corn, peas, etc.; pasta and noodles; pizza; pickles; rice; soda (including diet soda); sugar; and hard cheese.
On the other hand, the foods you are strongly advised to eat include those that are with omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, and protein just like fish such as tuna, shellfish, or the like; Turkey; Wild Alaskan salmon (not farm-raised); eggs; yogurt; vegetables like broccoli, asparagus, mushrooms, leafy greens, bean sprouts, or the like; spring water (8 to 10 glasses per day); fruits like berries, cherries, apples, melons, and pears; avocados; olives; whole barley; beans; oatmeal; nuts; green tea; and spices like cayenne pepper, oregano, ginger or the like.
The Perricone Diet Works
Many believed that because of its basic approach, Perricone Diet became effective for many dieters. The approach we are talking about has actually three parts: diet, supplements, and skin care.
With diet, you will be encouraged to have five meals a day and include in your every meal foods from the list of “superfoods,” like berries and salmon. In this part, you will be taught the importance of eating protein before you eat any carbohydrates.
With supplements on the other hand, you will be strongly advised to have 25 supplements a day all just during breakfast and lunch.
And finally with skin care, well, what would you expect? Of course on this part, you will be accustomed with the different line of skin care products like cleansers, toners, lotions, and the like.
The Glycemic Index Approach
Another approach which is normally pointed out by many as another contributor to the effectiveness of the Perricone diet is the the glycemic index approach. Well, as already mentioned in some other diet plans, the index is a way to determine the effect of a particular food on your blood sugar levels as well as to any of your swelling body part.
Insights of Some Experts
There’s a lot of issues attached with the Perricone Diet. There’s the stretching of a lot evidences too far. For some, the author has made grand and oftentimes odd conclusions that even science can’t entirely support.
To some extent, the author has also made some pronouncements that are in a way alarming. Like for an instance, that sugar can be “toxic” and wrinkles are wounds. Hence, it’s never startling if many experts are quite hesitant of promoting the Perricone Diet.
For Roberta Anding, MS, RD, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, “although Perricone’s plan contains healthy foods, the limitation of some food groups contrasts with the 2005 Dietary Guidelines and the majority of nutritional science”.
For Lona Sandon, MS, RD, also a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, “any time a diet is sold along with additional supplements and creams that cost more than what most people spend on a month of groceries, that raises a red flag”.
Aside from Anding and Sandon, there are still some other health experts who are also in doubt with the potential and helpfulness of the Perricone Diet. According to some other experts, the diet may also not be safe for everyone. Thus, it is still best to see a professional before trying the diet plan.
Why Perricone Diet
In fairness to the Perricone Diet, to some extent, it has also showed some sense of reliability in terms of all of its approaches. However, because of some seen flaws by some experts, we advise that it is still best to take things slowly.
Before you try the diet itself, be sure to visit a professional beforehand. As the popular saying says, “prevention is better than cure”. Think twice before everything’s too late.