The Traffic Light Diet

The Traffic Light Diet relies on what may probably be the best-known color code
around to teach the user which foods should be avoided and which should be
consumed in greater proportions. This diet focuses on cutting down the amount of
calories contained in the daily food, instead of carbohydrates. Nothing new
here, for that matter; a lot of diets are based on low-calorie foods. The
cabbage soup diet, the Cambridge diet or the Ann Collins 14-day Diet come to
mind when discussing this issue.
According to the Traffic Light principle, the foods are split into three
categories. Red Light foods are high-calorie foods which contain few nutrients
and should be avoided. Yellow Light foods are high in calories, but also high in
nutrients, which makes them good to have around in moderate quantities. Green
Light foods, of course, have plenty of nutrients for only a low amount of
calories.
The basic idea is to eat as much Green Light food as you like, eat some Yellow
Light foods and only touch Red Light foods once in a while, when the urge
becomes unbearable. The less Red Light foods you eat, the more successful your
weight loss process is going to be. We all know that sticking to a diet is hard,
but if you really want to lose weight, then there are ways of motivating
yourself and going through the whole diet. Not to mention that Red Light foods
are not banned outright, but accepted in small amounts. This means that, yes,
it’s OK to have some cake once in a while.
The list of Green Light foods includes vegetables, fruits, fish (white meat
only), seafood, yogurt and low-fat milk. Yellow Light foods are potatoes, cheese
(the low-fat version), oily fish, lean meat, bread and cereals (high-fiber),
pasta, rice, seeds, nuts, beans and poultry. Red Light foods are everything
else. Buying the book describing the diet will get you some helpful 7-day eating
plans grouped according to lifestyles and information on portion sizes for many
of the foods listed in the three categories. There’s also a large section of
answers to frequent questions, recipes and exercising advice.
The best thing about this diet is the fact that it’s easy to understand and also
easy to follow. It’s not based on any kind of complex reasoning that requires
the help of a trained professional every step of the way and it’s not based on
foods that no store from your neighborhood has ever thought to market. If you
manage to stick to the diet’s principles you can expect to lose at least 1 pound
a week, which means that you will probably shed the actual fat and not the water
stored in your body. Don’t overdo it, though, because trying for 2 pounds a week
can prove to be a major health risk.
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