Reduce Epileptic Seizures With an Atkins-based Diet
October 10, 2009 by Weight Loss Diets and Exercise Tips
Filed under Popular Diets & Pills
The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Researchers Report describes the astonishing results of a study on how a low carb diet may reduce epileptic seizures. In the report, Dr. Eric H. Kossoff discusses the results of testing, which show a 50% reduction of epileptic seizures in a third of the participants after only three months on the diet.
Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder that is known for it’s main symptom, seizures. The seizures come unprovoked and there is no cure, but certain medications and diet can help reduced the number of seizures in certain patients. About 50 million people have epilepsy worldwide.
Previous studies on children show that a Ketogenic diet can help control the numbers of seizures. A Ketogenic diet, like the Atkins diet, reduces the amount of carbohydrates in your daily food intake. The goal of such diets is to ensure that 80 percent of calories are from fat instead of carbs.
The report stated that 30 participants spent six months on a reduced carb diet, where carbohydrates were reduced to 15 grams a day. The participants were required to have failed two other forms of anti-convulsive medicated treatment for people who have epilepsy to partake in the study. Each candidate had their meals controlled, eating mostly fatty foods like eggs, meat and heavy creams.
An Atkins-like diet is simple to do. There are many programs out there that are designed to reduce the number of carbohydrates you take in each day. As a diet, it is said that the reduction of carbohydrates helps people with weight loss because the diet encourages to burn more fat rather than carbs. Additional benefits, like the study on reducing seizures, has become a topic of research over recent years.
What Happened In The Study?
Roughly two thirds of the candidates described a reduction in the number of seizures. Nearly half of the patients continued the diet after the study was over as a method of controlling the seizures. The studies revealed that patients needed to stay on the diet in order to continue getting the results.
Is it promising? Yes, however, the results also showed that the diet wasn’t so easy to follow. 30% of the patients stopped the diet, even when they had reduced seizures, because they claimed the diet was too tough to continue. The research into linking diets as a form of treatment is still relatively new. Still, studies like this one are showing how following a healthy diet can help, even after other treatments are unsuccessful.
Doctors Suggest Making Diets Easier To Follow
According to doctors involved in the study, an Atkins or Ketogenic diet can be simplified to make it easier for consumers to follow. They suggested one could find a diet that is less restrictive and without the need of a supervising dietitian.
This is true with any sort of diet that you would partake in, in order to find a change in weight loss or a change in health issues. Keeping with the program is very important. Also, making sure while you are on the program that you make it easy to follow and stick to. If you make it too tough on yourself, you could lose all that effort. You could gain weight back or start finding yourself with the same symptoms again.
An Atkins-like diet is sometimes considered hard to handle. Less sugar sometimes makes people more irritable, at least at first. Your body must work harder in order to get energy it needs. A person might feel a little sluggish on a diet like this in the beginning.
Any diet you might attempt should be talked over with your doctor before hand. While on an Atkins-diet, it can help to start out slow. Reduce your carbs a little bit each week, instead of doing it all at once. Once you are down to your desired level of carbs, stick with the program for at least three to six months to observe any improvements.
A diet journal might help. Write down the foods you eat, and how you felt that day. If you are using such a diet on your own to help with seizures, make sure to note if you ever have one in the journal. Keep track of how many might occur. Also keep note of any additional medications you might be taking during that time.
How A Low Carb Diet Works
After you have committed to the diet plan, and you talk to your doctor, the next step is to select what foods you can eat. For such diets, carbs are very limited, so things like caffeinated drinks and alcohol are not to be used. You should also limit many fruits, breads, starches (like potatoes) and certain types of vegetables.
The basis of the diet is to eat mostly protein. On most diet plans, you can eat as much meat as you would like. You can eat a limited amount of cheese and vegetables. The diet often works because you don’t often go hungry as you can eat almost as much as you want. As long as you are following the diet plan of limiting carbs, you often have freer choices.
Some say the diet is easier to follow because there is less to think about. You know right off you can eat so many meats. What becomes hard is letting go of all those carbohydrates. Carbs are addicting and in a lot of the processed foods that we eat regularly. Breads, cereals, fruits, all sorts of things have carbs in them. You need to read labels on foods a bit more carefully.
Once you learn which foods you can eat, you can easily stick to it. Obviously, letting go of addicting carb filled foods can be tough at first. While the some diets recommend starting by cutting it all out at once, going slow at first might help. Talking with a doctor and doing your own research can help you create a plan that is right for you.
Exercise is not a recommended as necessary for this diet. It does help to exercise to increase muscle mass and to help lose unwanted pounds. It would prove an additional benefit. Exercise is not needed and doesn’t appear to be a consideration in the case of the studies on epilepsy and the results of being on a low carb diet.
Cautions of Dieting
As with anything you are doing different to your body, you should pay attention to anything that doesn’t seem normal. This might include increased dizziness, too rapid of weight loss, increase tiredness without signs of improving after a few weeks. It is recommended that you stop and see your doctor if conditions don’t improve after being taken off the diet.
These warnings go double for people who are trying to use these benefits to improve health, like lessoning epileptic seizures. If your epileptic seizures become worse or increase in number, consult your doctor right away. If you have other serious symptoms, consult your doctor. Talk to your doctor if you find symptoms that are abnormal, even if they are not yet severe.
Stopping seizures or to be able to reduce the frequency of them can provide hope for a great many people. The results of the study on children and the most current study show a lot of promise. Be safe when trying out a diet and make sure to do plenty of research.
Thanks to Dave J. Davies for contributing this article to our Weight Loss blog:
Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder that is known for it’s main symptom, seizures. The seizures come unprovoked and there is no cure, but certain medications and diet can help reduced the number of seizures in certain patients. About 50 million people have epilepsy worldwide.
Previous studies on children show that a Ketogenic diet can help control the numbers of seizures. A Ketogenic diet, like the Atkins diet, reduces the amount of carbohydrates in your daily food intake. The goal of such diets is to ensure that 80 percent of calories are from fat instead of carbs.
The report stated that 30 participants spent six months on a reduced carb diet, where carbohydrates were reduced to 15 grams a day. The participants were required to have failed two other forms of anti-convulsive medicated treatment for people who have epilepsy to partake in the study. Each candidate had their meals controlled, eating mostly fatty foods like eggs, meat and heavy creams.
An Atkins-like diet is simple to do. There are many programs out there that are designed to reduce the number of carbohydrates you take in each day. As a diet, it is said that the reduction of carbohydrates helps people with weight loss because the diet encourages to burn more fat rather than carbs. Additional benefits, like the study on reducing seizures, has become a topic of research over recent years.
What Happened In The Study?
Roughly two thirds of the candidates described a reduction in the number of seizures. Nearly half of the patients continued the diet after the study was over as a method of controlling the seizures. The studies revealed that patients needed to stay on the diet in order to continue getting the results.
Is it promising? Yes, however, the results also showed that the diet wasn’t so easy to follow. 30% of the patients stopped the diet, even when they had reduced seizures, because they claimed the diet was too tough to continue. The research into linking diets as a form of treatment is still relatively new. Still, studies like this one are showing how following a healthy diet can help, even after other treatments are unsuccessful.
Doctors Suggest Making Diets Easier To Follow
According to doctors involved in the study, an Atkins or Ketogenic diet can be simplified to make it easier for consumers to follow. They suggested one could find a diet that is less restrictive and without the need of a supervising dietitian.
This is true with any sort of diet that you would partake in, in order to find a change in weight loss or a change in health issues. Keeping with the program is very important. Also, making sure while you are on the program that you make it easy to follow and stick to. If you make it too tough on yourself, you could lose all that effort. You could gain weight back or start finding yourself with the same symptoms again.
An Atkins-like diet is sometimes considered hard to handle. Less sugar sometimes makes people more irritable, at least at first. Your body must work harder in order to get energy it needs. A person might feel a little sluggish on a diet like this in the beginning.
Any diet you might attempt should be talked over with your doctor before hand. While on an Atkins-diet, it can help to start out slow. Reduce your carbs a little bit each week, instead of doing it all at once. Once you are down to your desired level of carbs, stick with the program for at least three to six months to observe any improvements.
A diet journal might help. Write down the foods you eat, and how you felt that day. If you are using such a diet on your own to help with seizures, make sure to note if you ever have one in the journal. Keep track of how many might occur. Also keep note of any additional medications you might be taking during that time.
How A Low Carb Diet Works
After you have committed to the diet plan, and you talk to your doctor, the next step is to select what foods you can eat. For such diets, carbs are very limited, so things like caffeinated drinks and alcohol are not to be used. You should also limit many fruits, breads, starches (like potatoes) and certain types of vegetables.
The basis of the diet is to eat mostly protein. On most diet plans, you can eat as much meat as you would like. You can eat a limited amount of cheese and vegetables. The diet often works because you don’t often go hungry as you can eat almost as much as you want. As long as you are following the diet plan of limiting carbs, you often have freer choices.
Some say the diet is easier to follow because there is less to think about. You know right off you can eat so many meats. What becomes hard is letting go of all those carbohydrates. Carbs are addicting and in a lot of the processed foods that we eat regularly. Breads, cereals, fruits, all sorts of things have carbs in them. You need to read labels on foods a bit more carefully.
Once you learn which foods you can eat, you can easily stick to it. Obviously, letting go of addicting carb filled foods can be tough at first. While the some diets recommend starting by cutting it all out at once, going slow at first might help. Talking with a doctor and doing your own research can help you create a plan that is right for you.
Exercise is not a recommended as necessary for this diet. It does help to exercise to increase muscle mass and to help lose unwanted pounds. It would prove an additional benefit. Exercise is not needed and doesn’t appear to be a consideration in the case of the studies on epilepsy and the results of being on a low carb diet.
Cautions of Dieting
As with anything you are doing different to your body, you should pay attention to anything that doesn’t seem normal. This might include increased dizziness, too rapid of weight loss, increase tiredness without signs of improving after a few weeks. It is recommended that you stop and see your doctor if conditions don’t improve after being taken off the diet.
These warnings go double for people who are trying to use these benefits to improve health, like lessoning epileptic seizures. If your epileptic seizures become worse or increase in number, consult your doctor right away. If you have other serious symptoms, consult your doctor. Talk to your doctor if you find symptoms that are abnormal, even if they are not yet severe.
Stopping seizures or to be able to reduce the frequency of them can provide hope for a great many people. The results of the study on children and the most current study show a lot of promise. Be safe when trying out a diet and make sure to do plenty of research.
Thanks to Dave J. Davies for contributing this article to our Weight Loss blog:
Yes Weight Loss is a leading source for diet and weight loss related information. From articles and resources to product reviews visit YesWeightLoss.com for the information you need to make the right choices for your health.
Top 4 Diet Plans For Successful Weight Loss
September 30, 2009 by Weight Loss Diets and Exercise Tips
Filed under Popular Diets & Pills
There are thousands of different diets all over the internet and some of them are so confused with others that no wonder why you can get so lost and eventually end up in total despair and frustration.
Not to talk about what can happen if you decide to follow some diet and instead of losing weight, you get the opposite result - gain weight. That’s reality - some diets may work for you, others can end like a complete disaster for you.
There is no dieter who wants to achieve the negative effect of dieting. But the truth is that if you don’t know what exactly you are doing, you are most likely to fail your diet and give up in the end. Well, here’s why we are here to help you make the right choice for a diet plan.
First steps in dieting
The very first thing any diet should do for you is to prevent you from further weight gain. Next is to set your future weight loss goals. Set realistic goals! Do small steps to reach your goals and to achieve your target weight.
Don’t expect fast results - anything you do in a rush for rapid results may end uglier that you thought (that means lose weight gradually to succeed).
You should remember - there is no easy and fast way to lose weight and you should deal with that. Dieting is hard, takes time, often separates you from your family, as far as it comes to counting the calories, the carbohydrates and fats in your meals.
Can’t resist the temptations?
It gets even worse if you can’t resist the sweet and delicious temptations all around you after the first or the second week on your diet. Probably while you’ve been doing the shopping for your diet you happen to pass by the sweet, delicious and so unhealthy foods, that make you crave for them like never before.
The solutions
I know it’s hard from my personal experience, but there is a solution, and that is why I want to share it with you here in this article:
Believe it or not I lost weight not by following some strict don’t-eat-this-don’t-eat-that diet, but by eating only delicious, healthy and great looking meals with less calories and never really felt starving to death.
It’s simple not to get hungry if you eat about 5 times a day very delicious meals and lose weight safely at the same time. The only problem here is that you either have to prepare those delicious meals yourself, or you can order them from a specialized diet food delivery service that will cook them for you.
Which one is better?
In the first case when you prepare your meals yourself, you spend a lot of time shopping and cooking. What’s more you may forget some of the products or even get bored with all that cooking healthy meals and eating them afterwards. I myself find the shopping and cooking a little bit exhausting, not to mention that I may lose my appetite while I am doing all this stuff. If in any part of your diet anything like that happens, then don’t expect any positive results. You won’t save money, you will lose time.
However, if you choose a Diet Food Delivery Service to supply you with healthy and delicious foods and meals at the beginning of every week - well, that’s another story. All you need to do is heat the meals in the microwave and enjoy their great taste by following the diet plan, cause every service of that kind has a diet plan you should stick to.
Well, of course these services are not cheap, but if you are really serious of getting rid of all extra pounds, it’ll nice to think of this diet food delivery service thing as for a small investment for your good health and happier life. You do want to prevent you from getting high blood pressure, heart attack or else?
Here are the Diet Food Delivery Services We Recommend:
Diet To Go Diet Food
Diet To Your Door / BISTRO MD
And the Protein Diet Plans and Meal Replacements that work and we also very heartily recommend:
Medifast Diet and the 5 & 1 Plan
Diet Direct and the WonderSlim Starter Kits
Don’t be surprised that we also recommend those two diet plans. We are doing this cause they are good and can help you in a way you might not imagine.
With these types of diets you take more proteins, lower carbohydrates and absolute no fat. So you lose weight successfully and keep it off for good.
While on the protein diet you replace one or more meals with fat free shakes, puddings, soups and bars, which is why they are called meal replacements.
Protein diet - when should you start it?
When you are on a low budget, cause these types of diet are cheaper than diet food delivery services.
Another reason could be if you really really like protein diet shakes, bars and puddings, then you will definitely enjoy the meal replacement diet plan very much.
In conclusion
No matter what type of diet you choose, you must be serious about it and your weight loss. Stay focused on your goals! Use wisely the diet plan, information, recipes and motivation articles from the diet service or diet plan you choose.
Thanks to Galia Ivanova for contributing this article to our Weight Loss blog:
Not to talk about what can happen if you decide to follow some diet and instead of losing weight, you get the opposite result - gain weight. That’s reality - some diets may work for you, others can end like a complete disaster for you.
There is no dieter who wants to achieve the negative effect of dieting. But the truth is that if you don’t know what exactly you are doing, you are most likely to fail your diet and give up in the end. Well, here’s why we are here to help you make the right choice for a diet plan.
First steps in dieting
The very first thing any diet should do for you is to prevent you from further weight gain. Next is to set your future weight loss goals. Set realistic goals! Do small steps to reach your goals and to achieve your target weight.
Don’t expect fast results - anything you do in a rush for rapid results may end uglier that you thought (that means lose weight gradually to succeed).
You should remember - there is no easy and fast way to lose weight and you should deal with that. Dieting is hard, takes time, often separates you from your family, as far as it comes to counting the calories, the carbohydrates and fats in your meals.
Can’t resist the temptations?
It gets even worse if you can’t resist the sweet and delicious temptations all around you after the first or the second week on your diet. Probably while you’ve been doing the shopping for your diet you happen to pass by the sweet, delicious and so unhealthy foods, that make you crave for them like never before.
The solutions
I know it’s hard from my personal experience, but there is a solution, and that is why I want to share it with you here in this article:
Believe it or not I lost weight not by following some strict don’t-eat-this-don’t-eat-that diet, but by eating only delicious, healthy and great looking meals with less calories and never really felt starving to death.
It’s simple not to get hungry if you eat about 5 times a day very delicious meals and lose weight safely at the same time. The only problem here is that you either have to prepare those delicious meals yourself, or you can order them from a specialized diet food delivery service that will cook them for you.
Which one is better?
In the first case when you prepare your meals yourself, you spend a lot of time shopping and cooking. What’s more you may forget some of the products or even get bored with all that cooking healthy meals and eating them afterwards. I myself find the shopping and cooking a little bit exhausting, not to mention that I may lose my appetite while I am doing all this stuff. If in any part of your diet anything like that happens, then don’t expect any positive results. You won’t save money, you will lose time.
However, if you choose a Diet Food Delivery Service to supply you with healthy and delicious foods and meals at the beginning of every week - well, that’s another story. All you need to do is heat the meals in the microwave and enjoy their great taste by following the diet plan, cause every service of that kind has a diet plan you should stick to.
Well, of course these services are not cheap, but if you are really serious of getting rid of all extra pounds, it’ll nice to think of this diet food delivery service thing as for a small investment for your good health and happier life. You do want to prevent you from getting high blood pressure, heart attack or else?
Here are the Diet Food Delivery Services We Recommend:
Diet To Go Diet Food
Diet To Your Door / BISTRO MD
And the Protein Diet Plans and Meal Replacements that work and we also very heartily recommend:
Medifast Diet and the 5 & 1 Plan
Diet Direct and the WonderSlim Starter Kits
Don’t be surprised that we also recommend those two diet plans. We are doing this cause they are good and can help you in a way you might not imagine.
With these types of diets you take more proteins, lower carbohydrates and absolute no fat. So you lose weight successfully and keep it off for good.
While on the protein diet you replace one or more meals with fat free shakes, puddings, soups and bars, which is why they are called meal replacements.
Protein diet - when should you start it?
When you are on a low budget, cause these types of diet are cheaper than diet food delivery services.
Another reason could be if you really really like protein diet shakes, bars and puddings, then you will definitely enjoy the meal replacement diet plan very much.
In conclusion
No matter what type of diet you choose, you must be serious about it and your weight loss. Stay focused on your goals! Use wisely the diet plan, information, recipes and motivation articles from the diet service or diet plan you choose.
Thanks to Galia Ivanova for contributing this article to our Weight Loss blog:
For more free info about dieting and how to choose the perfect diet plan for you, you can visit our new diet plans and weight loss pills website or read the full diet plans article in our “diet plans” section
What are some diets for a a lactose intolerant vegetarian?
August 7, 2009 by Weight Loss Diets and Exercise Tips
Filed under Popular Diets & Pills
Can you answer ’s question about Weight Loss?:
I’ve been having a lot of stomach pains for about 3 years now and I never noticed a pattern in it. Well I’ve finally found it. After I eat or drink a dairy product my stomach hurts. But I’m also a vegetarian. What are some foods I can eat and some diets to lose and keep the weight off?
Diets To Lose Weight Fast
I’ve been having a lot of stomach pains for about 3 years now and I never noticed a pattern in it. Well I’ve finally found it. After I eat or drink a dairy product my stomach hurts. But I’m also a vegetarian. What are some foods I can eat and some diets to lose and keep the weight off?
Diets To Lose Weight Fast
*diets.*?
August 4, 2009 by Weight Loss Diets and Exercise Tips
Filed under Popular Diets & Pills
Can you answer k???i’s question about Weight Loss?:
this is a dumb question but i just HAVE to know. are teens )ages 12-15) supposed to be on diets? i hear both sides, one thats its ok to be on a diet as long as you get enough nutrition, and others say you’re not because it’ll mess up your growth. all i wanna be is skinny but my mom says i dont need to lose weight (long long long story short, i was bulimic. i loss wieght but i wasnt really, just looked leaner and more toned) and so yes, are “growing bodies” alright to be on diets???
How To Lose Weight Naturally
this is a dumb question but i just HAVE to know. are teens )ages 12-15) supposed to be on diets? i hear both sides, one thats its ok to be on a diet as long as you get enough nutrition, and others say you’re not because it’ll mess up your growth. all i wanna be is skinny but my mom says i dont need to lose weight (long long long story short, i was bulimic. i loss wieght but i wasnt really, just looked leaner and more toned) and so yes, are “growing bodies” alright to be on diets???
How To Lose Weight Naturally
What are the craziest diets you have ever heard?
August 2, 2009 by Weight Loss Diets and Exercise Tips
Filed under Popular Diets & Pills
Can you answer “C”atty’s question about Weight Loss?:
I have heard of the water diet, jolly rancher diet and the not eating ‘diet’!
I have heard of the water diet, jolly rancher diet and the not eating ‘diet’!
Lol i think that these are all nuts!
Any other weird diets that you have heard of?
Weight Loss Using Hypnosis
