The Best Life Diet Plan in a Nutshell:

The Best Life Diet plan is more than a diet; it’s a lifestyle change. Exercise physiologist Bob Greene created this approach to dieting and weight loss that became popular when Oprah Winfrey found success with this weight loss program. The Best Life Diet changes your old eating and exercise habits by starting with small, easy to follow steps. His approach is not strict, you don’t count calories, and you can eat a wide variety of foods. By changing your mind you will change your body. Depending on your gender and activity level you could be consuming anywhere from 1,500 to 2,500 calories a day. The more active you are the more calories you can consume. You can either follow the diet by his book or online for a fee. There are three phases:

Phase 1:

For a maximum of four weeks you focus on increasing your activity level and changing your eating habits. You will eat three meals and one snack a day. No eating two hours before bedtime, drink plenty of water, no alcohol, take a multi-vitamin, omega-3 fatty acid and calcium supplement.

Phase 2:

For a minimum of four weeks you will continue to eat healthfully and increase your activity level so it is more challenging than in Phase 1. Because much of The Best Life Diet is about behavioral changes, you will work on controlling physical and emotion hunger by removing six problem foods from our diet. Phase 2 also focuses on portion control and weekly weigh-ins.

Phase 3:

This is the maintenance phase, which means hopefully you have made significant lifestyle changes that you can carry through from here on out. You will focus on removing even more unhealthy foods from your diet and replacing them with whole foods. Greene also introduces what he calls the “anything goes” calories, which means that you can enjoy your favorite foods, but in smaller portions because you are most active. The reason being in phase 3 you should be working out hard and burning enough calories that a little treat here and there won’t have any negative effects on your weightloss.

Bob Greene attacks emotional eating at its source to rid your life of overeating and teaches you how to gauge real hunger. Before beginning the diet program you are asked the following questions to help you identify the eating issues you need to address:

• Why are you overweight?
• Why do you want to lose weight?
• Why have you been unable to lose weight in the past?

Pros:

• This is not a fad diet
• Is not super strict or low-calorie
• Caters to a wide variety of personal preferences, activity levels and food preferences
• No calorie counting
• Slow and steady weightloss
• Exercise is part of the program
• Bob Greene’s approach to dieting and weightloss is very easy-going

Cons:

• The slower weightloss approach may not appeal to dieters who want a quick fix
• Greene tries to make money by having dieters buy processed food products with his seal of approval

Foods You Can’t Eat:

• Sugar
• White Bread
• Candy, Cakes, Cookies and Baked Goods
• High-fat Dairy
• Pasta
• Fried Foods
• Alcohol
• Processed Foods

Potential Risks:

No potential risks.

Oodora’s Opinion:

You are never going to lose the weight for good unless you change the way you think about food and address the deeper reasons for why you overeat and the emotional stress that causes overeating. Bob Greene’s The Best Life Diets helps tackle those tough dieting problems through awareness, small steps and a relaxed attitude.

The gradual weightloss approach has always been, in my opinion, the way to achieve success. He doesn’t start you with a strict first phase like many other popular diet programs, rather the phases get more intense as you progress, including upping your activity level which is key. And once you have reached the maintenance phase you can start adding in “forbidden” foods.

Sample The Best Life Diet Meal Plan:

• Breakfast: Mocha, pear muffin, apple
• Snack: Low-fat yogurt
• Lunch: walnut cannellini wrap, chopped salad
• High-Calcium Snack: Whole grain crackers with reduced-fat cheddar or Swiss cheese
• Dinner: Pasta with chicken or shrimp, mixed green salad
• Anytime Treat: 1 oz dark chocolate

• Breakfast: Best Life Kashi Go Lean Mix with pecans and non-fat milk, grapefruit
• Snack: Iced Vanilla Soy Latte with graham cracker
• Lunch: Nut Butter and pear whole wheat sandwich, carrot sticks
• High-Calcium Snack: Maple nut yogurt
• Dinner: Lemon and herb grilled trout, corn, sauteed sugar snap peas with ginger
• Anytime Treat: light ice cream

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