What is Ornish Diet? Myths & Facts About Ornish Diet

The Ornish Diet is a low-fat, high-fiber, vegetarian program developed by Dean Ornish, MD. This diet not only helps one to stay healthy or at least get one on the right track to being healthy, but also helps one lose weight. The diet emphasizes on removing cholesterol and fats from one's diet, and consuming more of whole grains, fruits, vegetables and legumes.

While the Ornish Diet was originally designed as a lifestyle modification that aimed to reverse existing heart disease, many follow this program for weight loss purposes.

Understanding the Ornish Diet

An average American's diet is made up of 40% fat, 20% protein and 40% carbohydrates. Ornish recommends one's diet to be made up of 10% fat, 20% protein and 70% carbohydrates.

Ornish suggests two varieties to this way of eating in order to address different health concerns-the reversal diet and the prevention diet. The reversal diet is suggested for people who have been diagnosed with heart disease, and who would like to avoid further complications. The prevention diet, on the other hand, is recommended for individuals without heart disease who have a ratio of total cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein (HDL) that is less than 3.0, or those with levels of LDL cholesterol that are greater than 150mg/dL. Both varieties of diets are vegetarian.

Ornish Diet Facts

The foundation of the Ornish Diet is based on several principles on the relationship between diet and heart disease:

? Each gram of fat contains nine calories. Protein and carbohydrates, on the other hand, contain four calories per gram. Essentially, a person can eat more food while on a very low-fat diet, because one will still consume fewer calories per meal.

? Eating a lot of fat will make a person fat. Eating a lot of fat will also increase a person's risk of heart disease. Fat that the body ingests can easily be converted to body fat. Complex carbohydrates are a low-fat diet's staple because these are harder to convert to body fat.

? The liver converts saturated fat to cholesterol, which raises one's blood cholesterol level. Saturated fat is found mostly in animal products, although high amounts of saturated fat can also be found in nuts, seeds and avocados. Monounsaturated fat and polyunsaturated fat on the other hand, do not raise one's cholesterol level.

Protein and Fat Myths

Ornish dismisses the myth that a low-protein diet is harmful. There are 22 amino acids that combine to form proteins in the body, nine of which are essential. Plant based foods contain three of the critical amino acids, and one can eat a variety of foods to obtain these necessary amino acids. Furthermore, Ornish states that the protein found in plants is identical to protein that can be found in animal products.

Ornish also dispels the myth that an individual has to consume a sizeable amount of fat in order for the body to ingest the correct amount of essential fatty acids. An average person only needs to consume less than 14 grams of fat daily in order to satisfy the daily requirements of essential fatty acids.

The Diet Plan

Ornish suggests eating many little meals throughout the day instead of eating three big meals. He breaks down foods according to what one should eat all of the time, what one can eat some of the time, what one should never eat.

As mentioned earlier, individuals who wish to follow the Ornish Diet may eat unlimited quantities of whole grains, fruits, vegetables and legumes. One can eat these foods when they are hungry until they are full.

The Ornish Diet also allows non-fat dairy products, although these should be eaten in moderation. Non-fat dairy products include skimmed milk, egg white, non-fat yoghurt, non-fat cheese and non-fat sour cream.

Examples of food to be avoided at all costs are meat products and dairy products not mentioned above. Individuals must also restrict the consumption of plant foods that are high in fat, such as vegetable oils, seeds, nuts and avocados. Although caffeinated beverages are prohibited, moderate intake of salt, sugar and alcohol are allowed.

Individuals are expected to engage in regular exercise aside from following the diet plan. Ornish recommends at least 30 minutes of moderate activity a day, or exercise for at least an hour three times a week. Stress-management techniques such as meditation and yoga are also recommended. In order to improve one's cardiovascular health, smoking cessation is strongly encouraged.

This Article is written by Lena Butler, the author of TestCountry Articles a longer version of this article is located at What is Ornish Diet? Myths & Facts about testcountry.org/what-is-ornish-diet-myths-facts-about-ornish-diet.htm Ornish Diet, and resources from other home health and wellness testing articles are used such as testcountry.com/categories.html?cat=398 Diet DNA Test.