Devised by William Howard Hay, The Hay Diet is an influential diet program which will render you trimmed waist and flat belly. The diet program which came into existence after years of research is based on self experience of Hay. While sharing his personal experience with the plan, Hay tells that by the time he discovered the diet solution, he already had become victim of numerous diseases. His weight too had bulked up like anything. However, after embracing the plan, radical changes began happening in his life. Not only did he torch several pounds but his health condition too grew better and over a period of time, he became a hale man. The plan being accentuating the consumption of right mixture of foods considers the consumption of protein with starch as the main reason accountable for several weight related and other problems. Hay contends that we eat so many wrong combinations of foods in our meals which disrupt our digestion by making our body acidic in nature. Among all, the most harmful combination is that of proteins and carbs.
Salient Features of The Hay Diet
Let’s have a look at the salient features of The Hay Diet.
- The program points up three square meals over several meals in a day. Since the habit of snacking perks up your chances to consume unwholesome snacks, you shall be immune from sporadic rise in weight.
- Breakfast has been deemed as the most important meal of the day, which needs to be followed by carbs in second, and protein in third meal of the day.
- The plan has replaced highly acidic foods such as cranberries, cheese, white flour etc. with foods having lower acidity such as plums, eggs, spinach etc.
- The program considers fruits, veggies, nuts (except peanuts), butter, egg yolk, cream olive oil etc. as neutral and nutrient packed foods. Consumption of these foods not only fire up your digestion but also render you lean and fit body.
- Acid forming foods such as concentrated carbs, concentrated proteins have been discouraged in the program.
Concentrated Proteins – Fish, poultry, eggs, meat, cheese
Concentrated Carbs – Bread, grains, sugars, foods containing flour, crackers, biscuits
- Consumption of alkaline foods such as asparagus, bananas, mangoes, peas etc. have been pointed up in the plan.
- There has to be a gap of minimum four hours between the intake of protein and carbs.
- Neutral foods such as fats, veggies, dairy, nuts, seeds etc. can be consumed with proteins. Since nuts and seeds are dense in healthy fats which trim down your chances of cholesterol and heart diseases, you are allowed to eat nuts and seeds with chicken.
Why is The Hay Diet against Carbs-Protein Combo?
The Hay Diet opposes the combo intake of carbs and protein in meals. Reason being, different chemical and enzymatic reactions are activated in your body with joint consumption of both carbs and proteins. Chemical reactions occurring in your body being converse are not friendly to your body. For instance, for the metabolism of carbs, alkaline environment is formed in your body. Contrarily, acidic base is formed for the metabolism of protein rich foods. Since both acid and alkaline processes are simultaneously instigated, they are very likely to disrupt the normal functioning of your body and make your body highly acidic in nature. Acidic body not only bulk up unsolicited pounds, it also becomes house of plentiful degenerative diseases.
Benefits of The Hay Diet
The Hay diet has numerous benefits, let’s have a look at some of them.
- The program is effective in dealing with the health issues such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), acid indigestion, blood pressure, arthritis, allergies, diabetes, and myriad other ailments.
- You won’t feel deprived while moving along with the plan because low calorie foods such as fruits, whole grains etc. are opulent in fiber and nutrients. Aside from bestowing proper nutrition to your body, they also keep you contented for longer duration.
- If you religiously abide by the diet chart, you can shed significant weight in restrained period of time.
- Instead of shedding weight abruptly, you will melt away weight in a systematic way and since weight loss will be gradual, there won’t be any fall in your energy levels.
- The diet program insists on consumption of protein in isolation, so you will witness dramatic change in your muscle mass too.
Limitations of The Hay Diet
No matter how perfect a diet plan is, some limitations are inevitable. Let’s have a look at some of the limitations of this diet.
- The diet program has not bothered to tell about the portion size of foods required to be consumed.
- Since the program has restrained the consumption of food items such as starchy vegetables, dieters are likely to suffer from the dearth of vitamins, minerals, fiber, and other vital nutrients.
