Tammi Flynn’s 3 Apple A Day Diet
Posted by Monty on 02 Mar 2011 at 09:20 pm | Tagged as: Uncategorized
The 3 apple a day diet written by Tammi Flynn takes a very simple dietary concept and blossoms it into a full on philosophy of food. To Tammi’s credit, she does have some credentials in the field of diet, nutrition and fitness, not the least of which is a Master’s Degree in Nutritional Science from Texas A&M. She even operated a low-fat bakery and invented her own recipes. The 3 a day diet, for short, became a simple way for some of her clients to lose weight. If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, then three a day can shave off some calories.
The concept is simple. Eat more fruit. Fruit is nutrient rich but not calorie dense. Some vitamins and a lot of fiber and water is what is found in apples. Eating an apple before every meal fills an empty space in the stomach, allowing less to be eaten before the body feels full. It is also a way for some people to short circuit that sugar craving that can crop up from time to time. Eating more fruit, especially as a way to fill up before a meal is step one of the three apple a day diet, but it goes much farther than that.
Tammi Flynn conceptualized the three a day diet when she recommended a client of hers lost 1% of her body fat after following that advice for a week. She combined this cornerstone with her experience in food and nutrition and put forth the diet plan in a book that claims to address the following and more:
A. Why it is important to balance fat, protein, and carbohydrates
B. How to increase metabolism for long term fat loss.
C. How to overcome dietary barriers and excuses.
D. How to plan and prepare quick, nutritious meals
The 3 a day diet follows a number of reasonable dietary standards. Beyond apples, the diet encourages more servings of fruit and vegetables each day. Four to five meals and a couple of snacks are spaced evenly throughout the day, and even the snacks are designed to provide protein. In addition this diet works with the glycemic index in an effort to reduce fat production through too much insulin in the blood. In fact it virtually eliminates white sugar. Rounding it out is the call for regular exercise, a blend between weights and aerobics. Understanding that some of her clients begin at “level 0” the 3 Apple A Day diet book includes a 12 week beginner exercise program.
If any complaints arise about the three apple a day diet it is that it doesn’t allow for cheat days and that people get sick and tired of eating apples three times per day. There is nothing wrong with a dietary regimen but the dieter should never be a slave to it. If real weight loss (fat loss) is being achieved on a diet then it should be virtually impossible to derail a diet on a single cheat day. One pound of fat contains 3500 calories. If the dieter were to cheat a single day on their diet, say at the end of the week, they would have to consume 3500 calories in addition to whatever calories were deficient in the previous days to gain a pound in that week. And the scale does lie. Studies have shown that water weight can fluctuate an average of 4 pounds in a week, and eating fattier foods can lead to water retention since they are almost always higher in sodium.
Of the many diet plans available this one truly attempts to tie several pieces together. This diet certainly is not for everyone, and no diet is intended to be a one-size-fits-all key to unlock the secrets to perfect health. But it does attempt to incorporate more fruits and veggies into a daily menu, teach the importance of balanced nutrition, and set the framework for a healthier life through balanced eating and exercise. The 3 apple a day diet certainly has many a good idea behind its concepts.