What Is Optavia Diet?
The Optavia diet is an effective weight program that enables people to control weight gain. It is also known as Take Shape for Life or Medifast. This diet offers a range of diet plans that provide nutritionally rich pre-packaged and processed foods with other health supports. The Optavia diet focuses on the consumption of a controlled variety of foods on a daily basis — these meals are called fuelings. What these fuelings do, among other benefits, is to ensure moderate food intake.
Optavia’s diet plans help you stay filled up for a long period. This helps you burn off excess body calories and reduce body mass. Unlike some other weight control options and diet plans, Optavia diet helps you burn off excess calories by improving digestion and ensures controlled calorie intake. This translates to a healthier life for you.
Optavia Diet Plans
To get on an Optavia diet plan, you would need to select from three options. These options are tailored in line with your specific diet goals and needs.
5 and 1 Plan
On this plan, you will eat five Optavia fuelings. You will also get a healthy green diet of veggies and proteins. Fruits, dairy products and starch-based foods are excluded from this plan. The 5 and 1 plan nourishes your body with nearly 1000 calories every day.
Three and Three Plan
This plan combines three fuelings with an equal proportion of lean and green diets. You`ll eat this daily.
Four-Two-One Plan
This plan merges four fuelings with two lean and green meals. In addition, you get a big chunk of healthy food that you can snack on.
There are nearly 66 fuelings in an Optavia diet plan. Also, all Optavia diet plans are rich in high-quality protein and probiotics. What`s more? They are gluten-free! Fuelings may include shakes, bars, stews, cookies, and also brownies.
How Does the Optavia Diet Work?
Anyone who stays true to the Optavia diet plan is likely to lose two to five pounds within two weeks. Then, they will consistently lose nearly two pounds every other week. After this time, the body will move into the transition phase. Typically, this phase involves controlled weight gain. You will regain some amount of lost calories gradually over a period of six weeks. The transition phase occurs after you must have attained your desired body weight. Optavia diet experts recommend that you adopt the three and three diet plan in order to control weight gain.
How Flexible is the Optavia Diet?
Optavia diet plans are made up of meal substitutions with about 70 possible meal replacement options. These replacement options differ based on the diet plan you choose. Optavia diet plans offer some sort of flexibility too. You can choose from a wide range of options in line with your diet plan. Optavia diet plans don’t expressly stipulate exercise hours or prescribe a specific workout plan, nevertheless, exercising regularly even as your diet is a great idea. Optavia diet experts encourage persons dieting to engage in regular, daily exercises. It is advised that you choose a workout plan that is not intense.
Optavia Diet for Vegans and Vegetarians?
Optavia diet provides flexible diet plans, yet, there are a few restrictions for vegetarians. Vegetarians who wish to subscribe to the Optavia diet plan have to keep some things in mind. While on the diet, especially the 5 and 1 plan, they must avoid high-carb legumes. These include beans, lentils, and peas. For vegans, the Optavia diet plans are somewhat tricky, since many of the meal replacements options are dairy-based or egg-based foods.
How Safe is the Optavia Diet?
Optavia diet is relatively safe for a number of health conditions. The diet may be able to regulate blood sugar levels, according to experts. On the flip side, however, combining this diet with your usual diabetes drugs could be dangerous. Because the diet radically reduces your daily calorie consumption, your blood sugar levels will drop drastically if you pair Optavia diet with any diabetes prescription. If you are diabetic and choose to subscribe to the Optavia diet, ensure that you visit your physician regularly in order to monitor your blood sugar levels.
Optavia Diet and Fertility for Women
Optavia diet can improve fertility in women by helping them get rid of excess body calories. Weight loss in women translates to better fertility and consequently, healthy pregnancy and childbirth. Excess body calories result in obesity. Obese women are less likely to achieve success with fertility treatment and artificial insemination. They’re also more likely to suffer a miscarriage in the first trimester of pregnancy. Babies born of obese mothers may suffer birth defects. Childbirth complications resulting in Caesarean Sections (CS) or other artificial birth methods are likely to occur with obese women.
Some experts advise that people stay on the Optavia diet, especially because its plans prevent excessive weight gain. Obesity during pregnancy can cause a series of complications like heart palpitations, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular problems. However, pregnant women are advised to consult their physicians first before subscribing to any Optavia diet plan.
Health Benefits of Optavia Diet
Apart from weight loss, staying on any Optavia diet plan will yield numerous health benefits for you. Let’s discuss some of them.
It Prevents and Manages Diabetes
Staying on an Optavia diet plan will help diabetics manage the condition better. Optavia diet offers a range of meal plans that are perfect for blood sugar levels control. It does this by regulating the overall number of calories in your body.
Optavia diet plans are structured so that there is a gap period between proteins and carbohydrates consumption. In addition, Optavia diet fuelings contain low-fat and controlled carbohydrates. This makes it a perfect dietary option for persons living with diabetes.
Findings by researchers reveal that Optavia diet may also be able to prevent diabetes; especially type-2 diabetes. Obesity is a major risk factor for type-2 diabetes. Since Optavia diet plans prevent obesity, it follows that Optavia diet may be able to reduce your chances of suffering type-2 diabetes.
In addition, a typical Optavia diet plan offers a number of calories with lean and green meals; making it a healthy diabetes diet.
It Regulates Blood Pressure
Optavia diet may also help regularize your blood pressure. A typical Optavia diet plan is made up of foods that reduce high blood pressure risks. This includes lean and green meals, fruits and vegetables. Optavia diet meal substitutions have low-salt content. According to experts, high blood pressure is aggravated by the consumption of diets and meal plans with high salt content.
It Aids Digestion
Because the Optavia diet contains some amount of roughages, it aids healthy digestion. Optavia diet helps to free your bowels; aiding healthy bowel movement. The diet also prevents a number of gastrointestinal conditions such as constipation and indigestion.
Optavia Diet and Weight Loss
There are some advantages that come with the weight loss benefits Optavia diet offers. Let’s discuss them.
It Prevents Arthritis
Obesity and excessive weight gain affect your joints negatively. Weight gain may damage your bone tissues through inflammation. With a weight loss plan like Optavia, you will get rid of excess body calories. This translates to healthier bones and joints. By extension, this reduces your risk of developing arthritis in the future.
It Lowers Cancer Risks
Cancer is caused by uncontrolled cell division of malignant body cells. Experts suggest that weight loss may lower cancer risks, especially in women. Weight loss through Optavia diet slows down your body’s rate of secretion of cancer-causing hormones like estrogen and insulin.
It Supports Heart Health
Burning up excess body calories directly translates to a healthier heart. Optavia diet slows down the secretion of unhealthy body cholesterol. It also speeds up the secretion of healthy body cholesterol. This keeps your heart healthy. In addition, the diet may also prevent a number of heart conditions like cardiac arrests.