March 2017 - Issue # 040 - Facts About Liquid Diets

Hi Everybody and Welcome Back

Are liquid diets getting popular again?

They must be, as we've had a flurry of visitors in the past couple of months asking us about this type of diet. So here is some information that may help answer some of your questions.

Types of Liquid Diets:

includes liquids and also foods that become liquid at room temperature, such as jello and ice cream. No solid foods are included.

There are two reasons why you may need or choose to do a full liquid diet. One would be a personal (and hopefully short term) weight loss method.

The other is usually for medical reasons. Some reasons may include preparation for surgery (or other medical procedures) or if a person is having problems eating or digesting their food.

Part liquid diet –

includes both liquid and solid foods.

For weight loss you would use a meal replacement beverage to replace one of your daily meals to reduce calorie intake.

For weight gain or added nutrition you would add a meal replacement beverage along with and in addition to one of your daily meals to increase calorie intake.

Some popular well known meal replacement beverages may include slim fast, boost and ensure. Or better yet replace a meal with fresh vegetable juice (there’s a recipe farther down below).

Do These Types of Diets Really Work?

To share with her audience her success, she pulled a cart on stage which had 67 pounds of fat on it that represented the same amount of weight she had lost.

She used the liquid protein diet called “Optifast”, which should be achieved with medical supervision. It only provides an average of 400 calories daily (wow, no wonder you need medical supervision).

The problem with this diet is that it messes up your metabolism and as soon as you stop the diet, your body will try to hold on to every calorie that you eat or drink.

For more on her story - click this link. More on Oprah's Liquid Diet Success

An all liquid diet could include any of the following choices:

Water
Tea/coffee
Sodas such as ginger ale or sprite
Broth
Strained soups
Fruit juices
Vegetable juices
Ice cream
Frozen Yogurt
Frozen Sherbert
Popsicles
Pudding
Jello
Protein shakes
Milkshakes

Any type of meal replacement drinks such as boost and ensure

Of course the list above contains many high calorie liquids, which can be helpful in certain medical situations.

But if you are looking at a liquid diet for weight loss you have to keep the calories low and nutrition levels high.
This can get tricky.

For instance, I myself enjoy a glass of homemade vegetable juice about 3 times a week.

It’s so healthy and gives you so much energy, but contains around 250 plus calories in one glass and that can really add up.

Just think 4 glasses can easily add up to and over a 1000 calories and some homemade fruit juices can yield an even higher calorie count.

So this vegetable drink is amazing for good health and nutrition, but not so great if counting calories.

Here is the recipe if you want to add some nutrition to your diet. This drink is also a fabulous liver cleanser. (Hope you try it).

My Personal Creation “The Daily Pleaser”

2 good size carrots
1 medium sized apple
1 celery stick
1 good medium sized red beet
1/4 of an English or field cucumber (optional)
1/2 cup of green cabbage (also optional)
1 clove garlic
Thumb (chunk) of fresh ginger
Thumb (chunk) of fresh turmeric (optional)

For more juicing recipes click here: Juicing Recipes

Popular liquids used:

In fact there are literally hundreds of products to choose from (I kid you not). Just type in meal replacement on amazon and pages and pages of products will surface.

Drinking broth is also very popular, but it wouldn't provide all the nutrition the body needs.

Fresh vegetable juices and water throughout the day are also popular.

Are liquid diets safe?

There are two important factors when it comes to liquid diets. The first one is your daily calorie intake and the second are you getting the proper nutrients to feed your body what is needed for daily activities.

Like the diet Oprah was on only provided her with around 400 calories a day, that is why she had medical supervision from the start to finish.

Then there are liquids which can be calorie rich, but may not provide your body with all the essential minerals and nutrients that it needs.

Helpful Tips and Suggestions:

If you are planning a liquid diet, it would be very smart to talk to your doctor before starting one.

They may be able to help or offer different solutions, which may be better suited for you.

Many liquid diets are so low in calories that you must have medical supervision while on them anyway.

Personally, I have never gone wrong when I go on the “soup diet”. It provides high amounts of nutrition yet most soups are very low in calories.

Here is a bunch of recipes we love to share. Click this link to go to our "homemade soup recipes page". Homemade Soup Recipes

In fact, cabbage soup has been lunch for the last 2 days. It's so very healthy, tasty, yet easy to make and best of all it's really cheap to make.

In our next newsletter I will share in detail the “Soup Diet” that our family has used for generations for weight loss, which always produces positive results.

Hopefully we have answered most questions about liquid diets. In the meantime, if you have time, please try one or some of our soup recipes.

Have fun.

Your Opinion Counts:

If you have an opinion or would like to share a story with us we would love to hear from you.

Use our Contact Us page - or our Weight Loss News page (Your Story Counts).

Wishing you health and happiness
Until next time
Catherine :)