List of Diets
Well-known nutritional diets:
Atkins diet
The Atkins Nutritional Approach, popularly known as the Atkins
Diet or just Atkins, is a way of looking at nutrition, perhaps
the most marketed and well-known of the low-carbohydrate diets.
It was popularized by Dr. Robert Atkins (1930-2003) in a series
of books, starting with Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution in 1972.
There are many outspoken advocates and critics of the diet,
and in his revised book, Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution,
Atkins updated some of his ideas, but remained faithful to
the original concepts.
The Atkins franchise (i.e., the business formed to provide
products serving people "doing Atkins," had been
highly successful due to the popularity of the food plan,
and is considered the iconic and driving entity of the larger
"low-carb craze." However, various factors have
led to its dwindling in success, and the company Atkins Nutritionals
of Ronkonkoma, New York, founded by Dr. Atkins in 1989 filed
for bankruptcy in July of 2005.
While once considered popular, it had likewise been controversial
for its claims regarding high-protein, and high-fat intake.
The Atkins logo is highly visible through licensed-proprietary
branding for food products, and related merchandise. While
many viewed Atkins critically for his claims, regimented plans,
and profit-making franchise, he is nevertheless credited with
popularizing the availability of healthier low-carb foods
in the United States and abroad.
Best Bet Diet
The Best Bet Diet has become popular in the Multiple Sclerosis
world.
The Best Bet Diet is a little like the song from The Singing
Detective: "Accentuate the positive and eliminate the
negative". Eating the wrong food is thought to lead to
a lack of the nutrients that help to keep your immune system
in control, and the wrong food can also cause the immune system
to attack your body.
Adherents therefore cut out the wrong stuff (eliminate the
negative) and add some of the right stuff. The diet is dairy-free,
gluten-free and egg-free. It's also yeast restrictive, sugar
restrictive and low in saturated fat. There's a list of supplements
you're also advised to take to accentuate the positive.
People with Multiple Sclerosis say how much better they feel
on this diet - less tired and fewer relapses. And if you look
on the positive side of things, it could actually be quite
palatable - lots of white meat, fish, fruit and vegetables.
Some people also say that tequila is OK too.
Body for Life
Body for Life™ is a popular 12-week diet and exercise
program. It was created by Bill Phillips, a former competitive
bodybuilder and the founder of EAS, a manufacturer of nutritional
supplements. It has been popularised by a bestselling book
of the same name. The first annual Body for Life competition
was held in 1997.
None of the principles behind Body for Life are original
or unique to it. Body for Life makes use of principles that
have been widely known in bodybuilding circles for many years.
Its innovation lies in the way it has been packaged and marketed.
It is the first such program to attract widespread interest
from ordinary individuals since Charles Atlas's. It has inspired
numerous imitations, and supports an extensive ancillary industry
of gyms, nutritionists and personal trainers.
Breatharian diet
A breatharian is someone who follows a philosophy that food
(and possibly water) are not necessary for human sustenance.
Breatharians believe that the body can be sustained solely
by prana (the vital life force in Hinduism), or according
to some, by the energy in sunlight. There have been no verified
cases of this occurrence to date.
Breatharian may also refer to someone who practices this
philosophy as a lifestyle in place of the usual diet. While
it is often seen as an esoteric practice performed by eastern
ascetics, recently some groups such as the Breatharian Institute
of America have promoted the practice as an option for anybody,
once the proper techniques for accessing it are made known
Both current scientific theories about nutrition and generally
accepted common sense indicate that a person who followed
this practice in the long term would die of starvation (if
abstaining from food) or thirst (if abstaining from food and
water). As breatharians have seldom submited themselves to
medical testing, there is currently little evidence to support
their claims. They claim to be sustained by prana, the Hindu
concept of an all-pervading universal force.
Prahlad Jani, a fakir, spent ten days under strict observation
by physicians in Ahmedabad, India in 2003. During the observation,
he was given only 100 millilitres of water a day to use as
mouthwash, which was collected and measured after he used
it, to make sure he hadn't consumed any. Throughout the observation,
he passed no urine or stool, but doctors say urine appeared
to form in the bladder, only to be reabsorbed. However, despite
Jani's claim to have gone without food for decades, Jani was
not engaged in strenous exercise during the ten day trial
and longer trials were not recorded under similarly strict
observation. Further, his weight did drop during the 10 days,
thus casting doubt on his claim to go indefinitely without
food. Indeed, Jani doesn't claim to be a breatharian or to
rely on prana but, rather, claims a goddess sustains him through
nectar that filters down through a hole in his palate.[1]
Jasmuheen [2] (nee Ellen Greve), on Australia's 60 Minutes
[3] [4]–became ill and bowed out after a few days without
food or water, citing stress and pollution as the cause for
her symptoms. The well-publicized deaths of Verity Linn and
Lani Marcia Roslyn Morris whilst attempting to enter the breatharian
"diet" have drawn further criticism of the movement.
To date, three deaths have been linked to breatharianism.
[5] [6]
Paramahansa Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi details two
alleged historical examples of breatharianism, Giri Bala and
Teresa Neumann.
Other than a simple con, skeptics can also point to somnambulism
as an alternative explanation for this purported phenomenon.
The most common sleep activity is sleepwalking, but activities
such as eating, dressing or even driving cars have also been
recorded as taking place while the subjects are technically
asleep.
Buddhist diet
Two types of restrictions
Reincarnation - or more properly, rebirth - is one basic tenet
of Buddhism, and this includes rebirth of humans as other
animals, and vice-versa. As a result, many Buddhists do not
kill animals, and many also do not eat meat. Other common
reasons cited are that killing animals and/or eating their
meat are a violation of the Five Precepts and bad for one's
own karma, and because of a compassion for other animals.
Many vegetarian Buddhists are not vegan, but for those who
are vegan, such beliefs are often due to objections about
the circumstances in which the animals producing products
such as milk and eggs are raised.
Some Mahayana Buddhists in China and Vietnam also avoid eating
strong-smelling plants such as onion, garlic, chives, shallot,
and leek, and refer to these as wu hun (??, "Five Spices").
The theory behind this Buddhist dietary restriction is that
these vegetables have strong flavours which are supposed to
excite the senses and thus represent a burden to Buddhists
seeking to control their desires. Another explanation is that
these are all root crops, and harvesting them requires killing
organisms in the soil. It is unclear which is the correct
explanation, if indeed there is one.
Only for some Buddhists
There are no universally agreed-upon rules for permitted and
unpermitted foods in Buddhism. In some regions, it's common
for monks to eat no meat, but for the laity to, or for the
laity to abstain when they visit a monastery. But even some
Buddhist monks will eat meat. A majority of Buddhist traditions
believe the Buddha himself taught that food offered as charity
to monks and nuns should not be refused, unless the killing
was done specifically for the monks and nuns. However, other
traditions believe this to be inaccurate, and that the Buddha
was strictly vegetarian. It is also common for Buddhists in
some regions to believe that vegetarianism is better for their
karma than eating meat, but to eat meat anyway and consider
it something of a bad habit, and in other areas, such as Japan,
vegetarianism and avoidance of wu hun foods are not a large
part of Buddhism.
It is worth noting when debating the details of the Buddha's
teachings that there existed no written language in India
at the time of the historical Buddha. Furthermore, it is widely
believed and accepted (if not wholly accepted) that the Buddha's
final words were "Be a light unto thyself". The
combination of these two facts/beliefs have lead to a general
agreement that it is more important for the individual to
make their choices along the path for themselves. Vegetarianism
is thus one of the most controversial aspects of Buddhism,
with the teachings of compassion and Karma being the only
real guides for the practitioner. The conflicting aspects
of compassion, being the humility to accept whatever is offered
while simultaneously not wanting to cause suffering unto sentient
beings, is not likely to be easily resolved.
Vegetarian restaurant buffet, Taipei, Taiwan. July 2003
Common sources for Buddhist foods
Buddhist vegetarian chefs have become extremely creative in
imitating meat using gluten, tofu, agar, and other plant products.
Some of their recipes are the oldest and most-refined versions
of meat-analogues in the world. Soy and pressed wheat gluten
(seitan, or wheat-meat) are very versatile materials, because
they can be manufactured into various shapes and textures,
and they absorb flavourings, whilst having very little flavour
of their own. With the proper seasonings, they can mimic various
kinds of meat quite closely.
Some of these Buddhist vegetarian chefs are in the many monasteries
which serve mock-meat (and sometimes non-wu hun) dishes to
the monks and visitors, including the public.
Many Buddhist restaurants also serve vegetarian and/or non-wu
hun dishes. Some Buddhists eat vegetarian only once per month
or on special occasions such as annual visits to the ancestor's
graves. To cater to this type of customer, as well as vegetarians,
the menu of a Buddhist vegetarian restaurant usually shows
no difference from a typical Chinese or far-Eastern restaurant,
except that it is a full menu of "meat" dishes made
using meat analogues.
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