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Functional Food Fad Diet Essay

Fad Diet Premise/Theory: Functional foods are all the rage nowadays. As such, a fad diet that focuses on those functional foods, which are usually fruits and vegetables (or involve them to some degree) would be a great cornerstone for a fad diet. The diet will be known as the "Functional Foods Diet."

Dietary Recommendations/Guidelines: A person who wants to partake in the Functional Foods Diet just needs a litany of what are known as functional foods and a blender. In practice, it will break down like this:

The meal system will basically mimic that of Slimfast in that a person will have a functional food "smoothie" for breakfast and then another one for lunch.

The person will then need to eat a responsible dinner to close out each day.

For snacks, people can eat low-calorie fruits and vegetables like carrots or a small salad. Again, there will be focus on functional food. For example, a functional food would include tomatoes so one could include cherry tomatoes on a salad.

The functional foods diet can be used in the regular meal portion of the day as well. One can even have the occasional glass of wine and not run afoul of the functional foods diet.

According to Cherry Creek Nutrition, the ten best examples of functional foods would be as follows:

Omega-3 Enriched Eggs

Oats

Fatty Fish

Fortified Margarines

Soy-Functional Components

Any sort of tomato product

Any sort of probiotic (e.g. yogurt)

Nuts

Grape Juice/Red Wine

Leafy...

However, the smoothies will be the cornerstone of the diet and that will obviously involve fruits and vegetables in particular. In particular, the diet would be rich in beneficial substances such as the following (along with examples of what fruits or vegetables contain them):
Beta-carotene -- Carrots, various other fruits

Lutein & Zeaxanthin -- Kale, collards, spinach, corn, eggs and citrius

Lycopene -- Tomato products of any sort

Flavanones -- Citrus fruits

Flavanols -- Onions, apples, teas, broccoli

Proanthocyandins -- Cranberries, cocoa, apples, strawberries, grapes, wine, peanuts and cinnamon

Sulforaphane -- Cauliflower, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale and horseradish

Caffeic Acid/Ferulic Acid -- Apples, pears, citrus fruits and a few vegetables

Whole grains -- Cereal grains (Food Insight)

Rules & Benefits

People on this diet should lose one to two pounds a week or more

Individual results will depend on how much "cheating" occurs and overall caloric intake

High-sugar drinks like sodas and sweets should not be consumed in any quantity except very sparingly.

If you follow the general rules, you should not have to count calories

You should lose weight even if you do not change your level of physical activity

Not only will you lose weight, but you will become healthier overall. Your risk of high…

Sources used in this document:
Works Cited

Cherry Creek Nutrition. 'Top 10 Functional Foods For Your Health | Cherry Creek Nutrition'. Cherrycreeknutrition.com. N.p., 2009. Web. 15 July 2015.

Food Insight. 'Functional Foods Fact Sheet: Antioxidants - IFIC Foundation - Your Nutrition And Food Safety Resource'. Foodinsight.org. N.p., 2015. Web. 15 July 2015.

WebMD. 'FDA Warns Cheerios On Health Claims'. WebMD. N.p., 2015. Web. 15 July 2015.
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