The Full Liquid Diet like knitpicks brava sport is often misunderstood and misrepresented. Adherents say it’s the healthiest thing they ever did, while detractors claim it’s a starvation diet. It can be either one, depending on your needs and how you implement it into your lifestyle.
1. Discover What This Diet is For
It’s easy to fall prey to all kinds of diet hype. If a diet promises fast results and easy weight loss, it can look appealing, even if it leaves you underweight. That’s the case with the Full Liquid Diet (FLD). Some call it the holy grail of weight loss, while others say this “living” liquid diet will leave you anemic and malnourished.
The truth is that the FLD is more versatile than promising headlines may have led you to believe. It’s simply a tool to help you eat the foods you want to eat, while it’s equally important that healthy nutritional needs are met.
The FLD is a liquid diet plan whereby individuals restrict their food intake to liquids and soft foods. This fast weight loss diet is designed to provide at least 1,000 calories per day (1,600 when combined with exercise), which means this diet plan will not only make you lose weight quickly—but also keep it off. It’s also designed to put your body in a state of “metabolic balance” so that your weight will stay in check even if you’re eating healthy foods now vs. going out for fast food or carb-heavy meals later on.
2. Choose Your Liquid
Polydextrose, glycine/proteinate and soy-based drops are three of the most commonly recommended FLD liquids. Each has its own set of pros and cons, which makes choosing more complicated than you may think.
Polydextrose is a Sugar Substitute for Diabetics. Since polydextrose contains a small amount of sugar, it’s not the best choice for diabetics (who usually limit themselves to just glucose). However, it’s a useful tool for individuals who have trouble digesting lactose or can’t tolerate other sugar substitutes.
Polydextrose is an effective thickener for soups, stews and sauces. It also gives a creamier mouth-feel (at the slightly less expensive cost of some nutrients—like vitamin A).
Polydextrose is also hypoallergenic and doesn’t contain gluten, soy or corn (although it’s derived from wheat). This makes it ideal for people with food sensitivities to common food ingredients.
Polydextrose will not cause weight gain. Experiments have shown that polydextrose has no effect on either blood sugar levels or weight gain.
Glycine/Protein Supplements Can Fill You Up. The need for a protein supplement is essential if you’re limiting your food intake to liquids. However, there’s some confusion about which type of proteins should be used in this liquid weight loss diet.
Glycine and protein supplements contain a mixture of amino acids that provide the necessary building blocks to produce growth hormones and repair your muscles. These amino acids are called branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs). BCAAs have been shown to help those who exercise build muscle mass, retain lean body mass, recover from workouts and reduce muscle soreness.
The glycine/protein formula is beneficial for those who wish to lose weight without reducing calories as well as individuals with muscle wasting diseases/disorders such as AIDS or chemotherapy.
3. Understand the Liquid Diet’s Fasting Period
A fasting period of at least 24 hours is required when you’re on the Full Liquid Diet. This allows your body to get a chance to repair and rebuild (in order to drop some weight). If you eat solid food, your body won’t burn fat but will actually convert much of it into fat stores. The fast must continue until your next scheduled colon cleansing.
So it’s very important that you adhere to the Full Liquid Diet for long enough to put your body into recovery mode so that weight loss can occur naturally with no harm done to your well-being or health.
4. Look for a Colon Cleanse
A colon cleanse, or colon detoxification, is required at least one week before starting the Full Liquid Diet. This helps to rid your body of any toxins in your digestive tract (chewing is one way to accomplish this) and also allows your body a chance to begin repairing and rebuilding your major organs.
The belief is that once you go back on a solid food diet, you’re going to replace regular, healthy foods with highly refined foods such as sugar, white flour and pasta. These unhealthy foods don’t fill you up (since they produce little-to-no nutrient value), but they can cause an imbalance in hormones that will make it very difficult for the body to shed excess weight.
To ensure a healthy transition and weight loss, it’s best to complete your FLD with an additional fast of at least 24-48 hours. This second fast gives your body a chance to replace old, bad eating habits with new, healthier ones.
Summary:
This diet is designed to help you drop excess weight quickly. It can be done with the help of a certified FLD specialist or all by yourself. Try doing the Full Liquid Diet once a year (in conjunction with colon cleansing) and find out why so many love it.
