Dr. Now’s diet plan is a blessing for those obese people who want to lose weight to prepare for gastric band surgery. This article details how to proceed with it.
Ask any obese or fat person and he would tell you how they want to transform their body appearance. They would tell you the research they have done and how they have to start working on their goals only to stumble on seemingly insignificant bumps that later halted their transformation altogether.
Does the key to weight loss success lie in poor motivation? Or do we feel that our method is not good enough and wouldn’t bear the result? For most of us, de-motivation is the key stopping force that keeps us from reaching our weight loss goals. Connecting our goal with a knowledgeable person can help us overcome this barrier.
Enters Dr. Now’s diet plan! Being a doctor he knows what he is talking about. Being experienced in weight loss matters gives him a unique insight into the struggles of obese people. And because he knows the stats, he knows your potential to reach the goals.
So, the whole package of insider knowledge and expert opinion works with you when you get the services of Dr. Now. You can remain confident in your efforts and know your progress in real-time when you work with him.
If you are still skeptical about contacting Dr. Now for your weight loss journey, here is everything you should know to make an informed decision.
Dr. Now – A Background
Dr. Younan Nowzaradan is an Iranian-born doctor who specializes in weight loss. He is currently based in Houston, Texas after completing most of his studies in Iran. Before coming to America for his Rotating Surgical Internship at St. John Hospital, he completed his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Tehran in 1970.
Although he initially trained in cardiology, his later practice gave him experience as a vascular and bariatric surgeon. His career focuses on weight-loss surgeries. The most common surgeries he conducts include vascular surgery and bariatric surgery.
These surgeries allowed him to contact hundreds of obese people in his lifetime. He also focused on their pre-surgery diet to enhance the chances of success of these operations. Soon, he moved beyond advising diet as a preparation tool before surgical operations and started giving importance to using diet as a weight-loss tool.
His goal of improving the quality of life of obese people pushed him towards media platforms. His blog – MyDrNowcom – considers lifestyle issues and makes Dr. Now more approachable in the eyes of his patients.
He is most famous because of his appearance in the reality TV show, ‘My 600-lb Life.’ The show follows obese people as they try to lose weight and regain health. His appearance in this reality show has not only introduced the struggles of obese people but has also helped in finding a client base for his dietary help that aims at losing weight.
My 600-LB Life Doctor Now
Since starting in 2012, the reality show has maintained its likeability across six seasons. The critics cite the emotional struggles and traumatic background of the participants as the primary reasons that support this popularity.
Although the show focuses on rehabilitating the healthy weight of the participants, we often see the involved experts in supporting these patients with their emotions and their relationships with food.
The idea of this show was born in 2003 when Dr. Now’s son requested his father’s help to document the weight loss struggles of a woman weighing over 800 pounds. Soon the idea turned into the reality show ‘Last Chance to Live’ and then to My 600-lb Life The show presents the doctor to be helping patients with his surgical talents.
The surprising part of this show is that he doesn’t refuse those people who weigh more than 450 pounds – which is customary among other gastric and bariatric surgeons. Instead, he keeps them under observation with a specified diet plan and conducts surgery as soon as it becomes possible because of their progress.
Even in the reality show, the doctor emphasizes Dr. Now’s diet to attain fast results.
Dr. Now Diet Plan – Philosophy
Dr. Now offers a high-protein diet for his patients. His philosophy is simple – cut out as much as refined calories as you can and include fiber, protein, and micronutrients. He also makes sure that his patients are taking a low carb diet 1200 calories.
Note that taking 1200 calories a day is not healthy for healthy people with normal weight. It may also cause a problem for obese people if they take it as their caloric count continually. But this recommended caloric count is a treatment and can be observed for a relatively short period.
Also, note that Dr. Now only recommends this calorie count for obese people. In other words, if you are merely fat – and not morbidly obese – you shouldn’t cut your daily calories to 1200 to lose weight. It can harm your health.
Dr. Now also prompts people to not go below this 1200 count. Doing so will create a serious deficiency in various nutrients within the body. It will also seriously jeopardize the energy levels one should have during the day.
Foods to Eat
Like any other healthy diet plan, this also focuses on increasing – or maintaining – the portion sizes of proteins, fiber, healthy carbs, and healthy fats. You would want to keep the sources of these foods natural.
The primary sources of fiber include vegetables and fruits as well as whole grains. In Dr. Now’s diet, you should keep the bread and cereal portions of your diet minimal. Instead, the diet allows the aspirant to eat whole grain salads and snacks.
For proteins, Dr. Now allows fish, dry beans, quinoa, meat, cheese, yogurt, poultry, seafood, and seeds. Also, dark green vegetables contain high protein content.
Both of these food groups offer ample amounts of micronutrients including vitamins and minerals.
Although these are the foods that form a major part of a healthy diet, the portion size and frequency are the factors that result in the success of Dr. Now’s diet plan.
Unlike some other diets which focus on the timing of consuming certain nutrients as well as their portion size, Dr. Now’s doesn’t extend such limitations. When you consult with the doctor, he will devise a plan based on your eating timings.
So, if you habitually eat a heavy breakfast, the doctor will assign more calories to the morning food. On the other hand, if you feel hungry at the end of the day, he shall keep dinner heavier.
Foods to Avoid
Unsurprisingly, you have to avoid junk foods. The diet urges users to eliminate sugars and refined carbs. It’s so stringent that it bans not only energy drinks but also fruit juices because of their high sugar content. Other limitations include food supplements, honey, rice, and dried fruits.
It also forbids bread and cereals even if they are whole grain and unrefined. Similarly, under this diet, you cannot eat pasta.
Benefits
This diet evolved as a pre-surgery weight loss diet. Consequently, its focus remains on losing as much as is possible within the shortest period. For morbidly obese people, it can help them lose those extra 100 or so pounds so they can get bariatric surgery. So, the biggest benefit of this plan is its speed.
Secondly, this diet works. You will get guaranteed results if you are eligible for this diet.
Thirdly, it will help you lose weight without harming your energy levels. On the contrary, you will feel more productive and energetic because of this diet.
Risks
For those people who are eligible for this diet and use it for the prescribed time, there are no risks or drawbacks associated with this diet. However, it may help those people who are only fat or are looking for a diet plan for a lifetime.
If you use this diet beyond the recommended period, you may end up severely undermining your physical health. It can lead to a deficiency of more than one essential nutrient in the body. Lack of enough energy-producing nutrients will lead to poor absorption of vitamins and minerals.
Because of the excessive limitations presented by this diet, you can adopt it as a lifestyle. Later on, you will have to change your eating habits to accommodate a new plan that may or may not suit your taste.
This diet is a part of crash diets. Although helpful in the short term, these diets often result in rebound weight gain. It happens because, after a few days of practice, our metabolic rate adjusts to the caloric intake we are following.
During the period of dieting, this change in metabolism limits excessive calorie burn and limit weight loss. After you are done with dieting, the excess food you will put in will not be utilized because of this lower metabolic rate leading to sudden weight gain.
Take Away
Dr. Now’s diet is suitable for those obese people who are preparing for their gastric sleeve or bariatric surgery. It is a preparatory diet and shouldn’t be taken as a replacement for a healthy diet in normal settings.
Patients who take this diet do so under close medical supervision because of risks to health that may underlie this diet.
