The Ideal Protein Diet

The people who promote the Ideal Protein Diet like to call it "your last diet." They provide everything you need to shed those extra pounds (especially the fat) and live the rest of your life in control of your weight. There are beverages, entrees, deserts and snacks for sale, all tailored to meet the specific requirements of this protein-rich diet.

Several decades ago, French doctor Tran Tien Chanh became interested in weight loss for his athlete patients. This led to his development of a diet plan that he eventual called the Ideal Protein Diet.

The core of the Ideal Protein Diet is insulin control. Dr. Chanh believes that most of us trap our bodies in a vicious cycle of insulin spikes, sugar cravings, and carbohydrate binges. Only by eliminating these insulin peaks can people learn to control their eating and burn excess fat.

Shifting from carbohydrates to proteins reduces the secretion of insulin. Insulin is the hormone released by your pancreas that the body uses to convert glucose into energy for your cells. Diabetics have too little (or ineffective) insulin (Type II) or no insulin at all (Type I). Without correcting this problem, diabetics would starve and die, even while eating mountains of food.

In most people, insulin is produced in perfect balance with the food we digest, generating energy for our bodies. When we produce more glucose than we need, the body converts it into fat and stores it away for later. When we don't have enough glucose to power our cells, this fat is converted back into glucose for immediate use. Nice system, right?

The problem is that we don't run out of glucose very often, so the fat that our body stores away for later never gets consumed. The Ideal Protein Diet attempts to trigger that fat consumption process to deliver weight loss.

Protein can produce energy for our bodies, just like carbohydrates. Compared to carbs, the digestion process is slower and insulin release is more gradual. Your blood stream is not flooded with glucose and insulin, so you don't create fat cells. In fact, protein generates energy so poorly that fat cells need to be consumed at the same time in order to generate all of the energy your body requires.

The Ideal Protein Diet is divided into phases. The first, or induction, phase removes nearly all carbs from your diet. You eat their packaged meals and shakes along with any pure proteins, like lean meat, that you like. You stay in phase one until you are within 10% of your goal weight. During phase one, your diet looks a lot like the Atkins diet, although proponents will say that Atkins has too many fatty foods.

Dr. Tran Tien Chanh

Phase two is the "soft landing" at your goal weight. During this two week period (or so), you slowly introduce carbohydrates back into your diet. Your overall carb intake is still much lower than before your began the diet, but you do get some carbs back in your life.

This diet does have some issues. A very low carb diet will cause your body to burn fat, that's the goal. This fat burning process is called ketosis, and ketosis has some down sides. First, ketosis causes dehydration. This dehydration will significantly contribute to initial weight loss, so you will feel pretty successful at first. Of course, once you come out of ketosis and regain your hydration, all that water weight will come back. Ketosis also makes your muscles sore and subject to fatigue. That will make exercise more difficult and uncomfortable. Not really a good thing when you're trying to get back in shape. Your kidneys will work overtime while you're in ketosis, so don't consider this diet if you have kidney issues.

Could the Ideal Protein Diet work for you? This is a rapid weight loss program, aimed at people with a dozen or so pounds to lose. It can deliver a "quick win" for those looking to drop some weight for an event and realize that they will gain it back afterward. For a short time, the $100 per week cost of the supplements isn't too bad, either.

Have you tried the Ideal Protein Diet? Click on the Comment button and give the carb-free facts!