The Beyond Diet Program – Worth The Hype?
A simple google search for the word “diet program” gives us about… wait for it… 25 million results!
Now, sure, there probably aren’t 25M diet programs out there, but it goes to prove how many options we have when you want to lose the jiggly around your belly!
One would think that the entire world is jammed with diet programs! You switch the TV on, and at least 4 out of 5 infomercials are for diet programs, pills or DVD’s.
More media sources mean more alternatives, but it also means MUCH more noise.
How is the average consumer supposed to take a decision when he/she is constantly hit with ads (an average person is exposed to over 950 ads every single day!), and that too with contrasting techniques, all aimed at losing weight?
What separates the wheat from the chaff is science and proof!
But we are not talking of the almost always fake before-after pics shown in the infomercials, we are talking about actual written proof, testimonials and case studies from REAL BUYERS.
One such diet program that has stood the test of time is the rapidly growing online program called Beyond Diet. But just like the ‘noise theory’ we mentioned above, if you go search for the keywords “beyond diet” in google, there are literally thousands of articles we call “noise”, but not many personal reviews from women. We could only find a couple of individual beyond diet reviews, which were neutral-to-positive.
The Beyond diet gets its name from the fact that it tries to “go beyond your diet” and fix the root cause of your obesity problems – your lifestyle.
Of course, it might seem that they might have done the same thing they did with the Paleo diet (Paleolithic diet or what is popularly known as the caveman diet).
You only need to guess what sort of foods you would be allowed on this diet program.
So What Is The Beyond Diet About?
Beyond Diet is a membership based diet program, but unlike most others where the consumer pays a monthly fee for access, this one’s just a one-time payment for lifetime access (currently $47).
On the surface, Beyond Diet definitely looks like a legit, “real foods” based diet program, teeming with an enormously huge community (over 890,000 members). It’s a paradox how so few people know about it and at the same time there are so many members in there!
To better understand how Beyond Diet works, we need to understand it’s 4 phases:
Phase 1- Induction: This phase last for approximately two weeks. In this phase you restrict carbohydrates consumption to about 20 grams each day, obtaining carbohydrates primarily from salads and other non-starchy vegetables (salad greens, pumpkin, turnips, tomatoes, etc.) …
Phase 2- Ongoing Weight Loss: In this phase you increase carbohydrates in the form of nutrient-dense and starchy, fiber-rich foods by 20 grams daily in the first week and then 30 grams daily in the next week until you gradually come close to your weight loss goal. You increase 5 grams of carbohydrates intake each week in your daily intake so that you can continue unremitting your weight loss.
Phase 3- Pre-maintenance: During this phase you have almost reached your target weight. Now you increase the carbohydrates intake by 10 carbohydrates every week. And also the weight loss slows down in the preparation for weight maintenance. You can start eating a few starchier foods such as bread and pasta, though the carbohydrates levels are still way below standard levels.
Phase 4- Lifetime maintenance: This is the last phase, which aims to help maintain your eating habits and avoid gaining the weight you shed off. You can select from a wide range of foods while controlling carbohydrates; if you begin to gain weight, you have an option to return to an earlier stage.
IN short, you would be eating a lot of natural, organic foods on this program. The beyond diet stresses on replacing your bad foods with good ones first before trying to cut back on calories.
Simply making this one change will change your body a lot more than trying different pills or shakes!
Also, this means consumption of processed foods, which are the creations of the last few decades, are a strict no-no. As in the Paleo diet, the beyond diet is based on the premise that though our bodies have evolved, they can still only adapt to those foods found during the Paleolithic Age.
Hence according to this statement, our body is capable of digesting foodstuffs like fish, meat, nuts, fruits and vegetables.
Foods like grains and milk were not initially consumed by our ancestors and came into existence only with the onset of agricultural cultivation that happened only a few thousand years ago. Hence our bodies still cannot properly digest food products made from these. This could be quite true for lactose intolerant people who cannot consume milk or milk products.
It is necessary to know exactly what our ancestors ate, their diet. They ate quite a lot of meat which was procured by hunting down animals.
At most, they could roast the meat over fire; there were no spices or salt with which they could flavor the meat.
They could use some herbs found in the wild, though. Fruits and vegetables were available in abundance which they could get from trees.
But grains and milk were only a result of rearing domestic animals that provided these foods. In the present day this diet has been slightly modified for the sake of our palettes.
For instance, we wouldn’t just plainly roast the meat without any salt or spices.
Hence now the diet does allow for some changes like adding very limited amount of salt to our food or only when absolutely necessary. So it does not mean that you are cutting down on calories because you are supposed to eat lean meat, nuts and the like which are rich in proteins.
In this way, the Beyond diet is way better than most other starvation and fad diets.
In fact, the beyond diet is adored by many independent bloggers. We checked out a couple of reviews of the beyond diet (read this and this), and they were very positive about it.
However, there’s one little problem with this diet – losing out some vitamins and minerals, found in specific foods which you can’t eat on the diet.
Milk is the richest source of calcium and if you are staying away from it, then where else do you get calcium from?
What this diet does not explain is why you need to avoid certain foods which are important in making up for a wholesome balanced diet.
Most dietitians will advise you to eat less from the unhealthier food groups and show you how to blend the other food groups to provide the necessary nutrition to your body. In the case of a present day Beyond diet, cooked food loses out on the natural salts that would have otherwise sufficed for the Stone Age man.
They didn’t necessarily cook all of their food and so they could manage without salt. But over the time we have gotten used to having salt in our food and so carrying on this diet for more than a few days will seem torturous.
Another problem with this diet is that vegetarians will literally have to live on fruits, veggies and nuts. This makes up for one of the most boring diets one can come across. Imagine chewing on a handful of nuts every time you feel bored with eating fruits.
Your protein intake is curbed since legumes and beans which are excellent sources of vegetarian protein are disallowed. But one good thing is that you won’t face a deficiency of certain vitamins which are found abundantly in berries and some citric fruits.
This will ensure that your immune system is not troubled in any way. But on the whole if a diet has to keep you completely away from carbohydrates, which is the main food group, then it is something you should not go for. In any case, most reviewers are of the opinion that this diet cannot be carried on for more than a week or so.
Pros of the Beyond Diet program:
- Steady (and sometimes rapid) weight loss. So you are motivated to continue.
- Reduces appetite. As you will be eating in every two-three hours.
- You can consume foods containing fats and proteins.
- Reduces intake of sugars and processed grains.
- You can continue this diet life time, turn it into a lifestyle.
A Few Cons of Beyond Diet You Should Be Ware Of:
- As the intake on fats and cholesterol is high, the risk of heart disease increases. Although this is being disproven in many recent studies [1][2][3].
- Not ideal for vegetarians or vegans as it is a meat-heavy (protein) diet. Vegans would need to supplement to keep up with the program.
- If you do not supplement with Calcium, there is a low chance of being exposed to risks such as osteoporosis, and renal disease (low on calcium levels due to low dairy intake).
- Your body goes in a state of ketosis for fat burning, which comes with a few undesirable side-effects which include tiredness, weakness, dizziness, bad breath, nausea and insomnia.
In short, as with any other good diet program, the beyond diet is also not without its shortcomings, but the pros outweigh the cons by miles and if you are honestly looking for a solution that will NOT wreak havoc in your body, we highly recommend this diet program!
Resources and further reading:
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