Many people look to fad diets in hopes of achieving quick weight loss with minimal effort. Perhaps that is the initial appeal of a diet where you are encouraged to eat lots of popcorn. So on the popcorn diet, you can just head to the movies and enjoy endless amounts of crunchy, buttery goodness? Not quite.
About the Popcorn Diet
When you eat popcorn on this diet, it must be naked. That's right, no salt, no seasoning and definitely no butter is allowed on the popcorn.
What must be understood about the popcorn diet is that popcorn is not the only food you are allowed to eat. Eating foods high in quality protein, such as lean meat, chicken or fish, is encouraged. Fruits and vegetables are included as well. So where does the popcorn come in?
Every time you reach for a snack between meals, it must be popcorn. No sweets, no salty treats, only popcorn. So actually, this diet should be called the popcorn snack diet.
Why Eat Popcorn
Why is popcorn the key component of this diet? Perhaps the main reason is because popcorn is so high in fiber. Containing .9 grams of fiber per cup, popcorn is low in calories and in fat. Popcorn is sugar-free and has no sodium unless it is added.
The fiber in popcorn is what the success of this diet is essentially relying on. Eating fiber helps the stomach to feel full. It aids the body in proper digestion by sweeping out the colon. Eating fiber relieves constipation, prevents hemorrhoids and can prevent certain diseases while aiding weight-control efforts.
Sounds great, right? Perhaps, except for the fact that popcorn with no seasoning and no butter, also has no taste. Eating a food repeatedly throughout the day that has virtually no flavor could make sticking to this diet a difficult task.
Some may wonder if they decided just to cheat and add a little butter, if the diet would still be effective. The answer is, not likely. Cooking popcorn in oil and topping it with salt and butter would add a heap of calories and fat to your diet, which would essentially be counterproductive to losing weight.
A diet that encourages exercise and eating a balance of lean protein and fresh fruits and vegetables is not an unhealthy choice. Adding flavorless popcorn to the mix wouldn't make a diet any less healthy, just a little harder to stick to.
How the Popcorn Diet Began
Dr. Joel Herskowitz, author of "The Popcorn Plus Diet," discovered how beneficial popcorn could be for dieting purposes when he tried it himself. Herskowitz was over 50 pounds overweight and enjoyed eating large quantities of food. Herskowitz wanted to lose weight without having to feel hungry.
Herskowitz noticed that he was able to exercise more control when eating meals when he ate popcorn as a snack. He lost 20 pounds effortlessly "with the help of a written goal statement and a big bowl of popcorn in the evening." His success led him to share his results with others.
With the help of nutritionist Debra Kaplan, he constructed a 21-day meal plan designed to take weight off at a rate of one to two pounds per week. Herskowitz says those who are between 10 and 50 pounds overweight have had the best success with his diet.
Tags: this diet, diet Popcorn, diet that, Eating fiber, fiber popcorn, Popcorn Diet