No White Foods Diet

Background

The No White Foods Diet does not involve a specific plan but basically involves eliminating all white foods from the diet. Many celebrities including Cameron Diaz and Oprah have endorsed this diet.

When combined with regular exercise and followed for a month, dieters can hope to lose between four to six pounds with this approach.

No White Foods Diet Basics

White foods should be avoided completely under the premise that most of these foods contain simple carbohydrates, which increase insulin production and trigger cravings for more carbohydrates.

Foods to steer clear of on this diet include white rice, white flour, sugar, and potatoes, salt and milk, although some versions of the diet do allow for the inclusion of skim milk.

Anything made from white flour must also be strictly eliminated such as bread, cakes, pastries, pasta and noodles. Some proponents of the diet also advise dieters to avoid fruit juice and artificial sweeteners because these foods can cause sugar cravings.

Recommended Foods

All vegetables except potato, fresh fruit, fish and seafood, lean meat, nuts, cheese, legumes, whole grain bread, whole-wheat pasta, brown rice, oatmeal, agave nectar, Splenda, olive oil.

Sample Diet Plan

Exercise Recommendations

There are no specific exercise recommendations for this diet.

Costs and Expenses

There are no expenses involved in this diet apart from the costs of groceries, which may increase slightly due to the need to replace the cheaper flour and sugar products with fresh produce.

Pros

• No counting or measuring required.
• Eliminates refined flour and sugar, which are sources of empty calories and blood sugar imbalances.
• Eliminates most of the foods that dieters commonly overeat such as cakes, cookies, bread, pizza, ice cream, and potato chips.
• Encourages the intake of ‘good’ carbohydrates from vegetables and whole grains.
• May assist with prevention and management of diabetes and insulin resistance.
• Avoiding salt can assist with the reduction of some cases of high blood pressure, heart disease as well as assisting with removal of excess fluids from the body.

Cons

• Eliminates some healthy white foods such as chicken breast, cauliflower and dairy products,
• Dieters may wrongly believe that anything that isn’t white is a good food for weight loss.
• Allows some high fat foods such as hard cheese, while eliminating low fat cottage cheese and yogurt.
• Does not address the importance of exercise and psychological factors for successful weight loss.

Conclusions

While it is certainly beneficial to eliminate refined grains and sugars from the diet, this program is no guarantee of successful weight loss. For many dieters, especially those who are sensitive to carbohydrates, it will help to balance their insulin levels and reduce cravings. This will in some cases lead to a subsequent reduction in calorie intake because it neutralizes the excessive appetite that is related to blood sugar imbalances.

However this program does not offer a complete solution to weight loss because it is still very easy to overdo calories, especially if eating a lot of high fat foods such as nuts, oils, cheese and fatty meats. Ultimately dieters will require more information than simply the color of a food, on which to judge its suitability for a weight loss program.

See Also:

No flour, No sugar Diet