The one thing that puts many people off most diets is their restrictiveness. There is nothing more frustrating than craving for a chocolate after a stressful day at work, only to realize that your low-calorie diet does not allow it. If you have been through this conundrum before but still want to thin your waistline, the Cruise Control diet might do the trick for you. Here are a few reasons why it is different from other diets.
General Facts and How the Diet Functions
The Cruise Control Diet was developed by James Ward in the early 2000’s out of a desire to offer a flexible dieting program in a market dominated by draconic, strict diets. According to defendyourhealthcare.us, the author promotes the Cruise Control as a laid-back, all-encompassing diet that can help people lose weight and control it on the long run by building controlled, healthy eating habits.
The Cruise Control rejects well-established dieting essentials such as food diaries, calorie counting and excessive culinary restraint in favor of a more structured, inclusive list of dos and don’ts. Instead of struggling to resist the temptation of eating, this particular diet program recommends responding to these signals immediately by eating healthy foods that are rich in calories and nutrients.
The Cruise control diet is built around four important rules that every dieter has to follow for this program to work:
- Boost the body’s ability to burn fat by consuming natural, healthy foods.
- Avoid any packaged and processed foods that might lead your body to store up fat. This includes bottled drinks with added sugars, juices and smoothies. However…
- To alleviate the psychological burden associated with dieting and culinary restrictions, you are allowed to plan the occasional cheat day. If you feel like ordering a pizza, drinking five pints of beer in a row or downing a whole bottle of soda, more power to you. This will prevent you from dropping the program and falling back into your old, destructive habits. Obviously, just make sure you do not turn every single day into a cheat day.
- Avoid, or at least do your best not to count calories, frequently check how much weight you have dropped and portion your meals to the point of obsession.
As you can see, there are no hidden gimmicks attached to this diet. The most important thing you have to do is being careful about what you eat and drink.
Dieting Process
The Cruise Control Diet is split up into three distinct phases that deal with weight loss and maintenance. The first one is called the ‘’Metabolic Reset Phase’’. This stage is focused on easing the user into dieting and regulating the levels of blood sugar. Since foods that contain high amounts of simple carbohydrates stimulate the production of glucose, which in turn raises the rate at which the body generates insulin, regulating the levels of this hormone is essential to prevent any fat buildup on the tissues.
The second phase is called the ‘’Cruise Control’’. During this stage, the dieter learns how to respond to the body’s hunger signals by consuming healthy foods. In fact, this exact phase represents the core essence of this dieting program, as it prevents you from binge eating by helping you develop responsible habits.
The third and final stage of the diet is called the ‘’Rapid Fat Burning Phase’’. As the name suggests, this is when the effects of the previous to phases will start to show. Since you have taught the body how to regulate the insulin levels and how to handle your new eating habits, it will start to burn fat at an accelerated rate. For more information on healthy eating habits, we recommend reading at Vivotion.
This is how the Cruise Control Diet works. If you are wondering if there is any physical exercise involved, you might surprised to find out that there isn’t. You can lose weight just by following the guidelines and being careful what you eat. However, there is nothing stopping you from hitting the gym for once in a while to speed up the weight loss process. And since this program is so permissive in terms of what you are allowed to eat, you will surely have the necessary energy to exercise on a regular basis.
What Kinds Of Foods Are You Allowed To Eat?
Since we have already established that you are not allowed to consume processed foods (cheat days notwithstanding), there is no use in focusing on this subject. The list of permitted foods is quite varied, at includes many types of vegetables, fruits, and meats:
- Vegetables – cabbage, avocado, leeks, onions, tomatoes, spinach, Brussel sprouts, carrots, asparagus, broccoli, potatoes, squash, cauliflowers, green beans, chard, mustard greens, romaine lettuce, mushrooms.
- Fruits – lemons, prunes, limes, raspberries, figs, cantaloupe, apricots, blueberries, bananas, watermelon, pears, strawberries, oranges, apples, limes, pineapple, peaches.
- Grains – barley, rye, brown rice, wild rice, quinoa, millet, spelt, oats, buckwheat.
- Seeds and nuts – walnuts, pumpkin, sunflower and sesame seeds, cashews, peanuts, flaxseed, almonds.
- Lean meats – turkey, salmon, sardines, prawns, shrimp, halibut, cod, tuna, chicken, lean beef.
- Others – Milk, yogurt, eggs, feta cheese.
To spice up this already very inclusive list of foods, you might be happy to find out that herbs and spices are also allowed. The list of permitted herbs ranges from chili, cloves, ginger, basil to oregano, turmeric, peppermint, and rosemary.
On top of all that, the ingredients presented above can be used to prepare a wide variety of healthy and easy recipes. Here are a few tasty suggestions:
- Quick Cornish Hens
- Pork With Cabbage Casserole
- Eggplant Parmesan
- Spring Lamb Steaks
- Beef Pot Roast
- Roast Pepper Salad
- Greek Village Salad
- Guacamole
Conclusion
The Cruise Control Program is one of the most inclusive and permissive diets on the market. There are no gimmicks and supplements involved – all you have to do is to stay away from processed foods and follow a few simple guidelines, and you will start seeing the first results in about eight weeks. On top of all that, you will not feel guilty about eating the occasional ice cream, since the diet allows cheat days.
