You might be searching for diet plans which would be devoid of any sort of extremity. Extreme forms of diets, also called the crash diets would allow you to lose weight faster and drastically. But these diets consist of fewer ingredients with fewer nutritional values and hence, these diet plans can cause immense harm to your body in the long run. Once you discontinue the plan, you would find that all the lost kilos have returned once again! So your weight loss turns out to be temporary!
All these make you search for diet plans which can be pursued with maximum levels of convenience and the ones that would create permanent, long term results. The 5-Factor Diet fulfills these criteria and that is the reason why many people across the world have adopted the plan. Even celebrities like Jessica Simpson, Mandy Moore, Eva Mendes, John Mayer, Alicia Keys and Kanye West have recognized the importance of this diet.
What is a 5-Factor Diet?
This is not simply restricted to a diet plan. Rather, it includes diet as well as fitness. There is no need for you to measure your foods, calories and carb intakes or to indulge in time consuming exercises in the 5-Factor Diet Plan. The program focuses on the intake of five healthy meals every day and on five 25-minute exercise sessions per week. You would need a dumbbell and a bench to carry out these exercises. This program was introduced by Harley Pasternak.
Basic Features of the 5-Factor Diet
- It is a five-week diet and fitness plan which means that you are going to observe the results in five weeks.
- This plan involves eating five meals daily. But these meals are necessarily the 5-Factor meals. Each meal or snack should be a balanced mix of lean protein (like fish, chicken or low-fat dairy), healthy fats (like olive oil), a low to moderate glycemic index carbohydrate (like fruits and vegetables), fiber (like whole grains), and water or another sugar-free beverage.
- Low to moderate glycemic index (method of rating foods according to their ability to affect blood sugar levels in the body after eating) carbohydrate helps to regulate the amount of insulin that you release or produce after each meal. The insulin level is directly related to your appetite and hunger. As part of 5-Factor Diet, when you eat meals containing fiber and low glycemic index food every 3-4 hours, it helps to stabilize your insulin levels, and hence makes your hunger easy to control.
- The meals prescribed by this plan can be prepared in less than five minutes and with just five ingredients.
- Pasternak is of the opinion that multiple sessions of short periods of exercise can be more effective than spending long hours in the gym. This is the reason why he has propagated the idea of 25-minute workout sessions.
- Since Pasternak has included foods in all the major categories, so his diet plan allows the dieters to eat out.
- Dieters are allowed 5 cheat days in 5 weeks. This comes to one cheat day every week. But this amounts to controlled cheating and Pasternak is of the opinion that this would allow the dieters to meet the objectives. For 6 days, you need to follow the 5-Factor Diet Plan while you enjoy your favorite foods for one day!
- The fitness program consists of cardio and strength training.
- The diet consists of taking regular foods and that is the reason why it shot to popularity.
What are the 5-Factor Foods?
The 5-Factor Diet plan allows you to eat almost anything, but Pasternak warns dieters about sugary foods or foods prepared from refined flour. These are the foods which should be compulsorily included in the 5-Factor Diet plan:
- Seafood
- Salsa
- Water
- Beans
- Mustard
- Egg Whites
- Sugar-free Juice
- Fruits & Vegetables
- No-flour breads
The list should comprise of many other foods because this diet does not put restrictions. Your weight is expected to go down provided you avoid flour and sugar! You also need to stick with small portion intakes. This diet is basically a normal diet in which you do not need to do anything extra like eating weird things, taking unsafe pills or working out in the gym like a maniac. This diet encompasses a change in your lifestyle in which you need to combine healthy diet and exercises to get the best results.
