The Cambridge Diet is a diet whose menu is based on industrially prepared and powdered drinks and soups, low in calories. Its rules are simple, and the effects are weight loss by up to 2.5 kg per week. However, is the Cambridge diet he althy? What are the contraindications to its use?
Contents:
- Cambridge diet - rules
- Cambridge diet - products indicated
- Cambridge diet and slimming
- Cambridge diet - impact on he alth
- Cambridge diet - contraindications
- Cambridge diet - menu
The Cambridge dietis a commercial weight loss method in which only ready-made meals with a specific calorific value are eaten. These are drinks, soups, porridge, bars and ready meals that can only be purchased from a consultant working with the Cambridge meals distribution company. Meal sachets cannot be purchased in pharmacies or supermarkets.
The Cambridge dietis very low in calories. You can qualify it for high-protein and largely liquid diets. The Cambridge Diet was very popular in the 1980s, especially in the United States and Great Britain.
The Cambridge Diet was developed in the 1960s by Alan Howard - a researcher at the University of Cambridge. He de alt with the subject of overweight and obesity.
Together with Ian McLean-Baird, a doctor at West Middlesex Hospital, they tried to come up with ready-made meals that allow people to lose weight quickly without losing muscle mass, while maintaining mild ketosis, a state in which the body uses fat instead of carbohydrate as an energy source, and at the same time providing the right amount of minerals and vitamins to maintain he alth.
- Diet for muscle mass: rules, effects
Powdered dishes by Howard and McLean-Baird were initially used to treat obesity in the hospital. Their originators began working with food technologists and manufacturing companies to obtain ready-made meals with an acceptable taste for slimming people.
Then the products began to be introduced to the wider market. In 1980, Cambridge ready meals could be purchased in the United States, since 1984 - in Great Britain, since 1985 - in Germany, France,Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway, and since 1990 - in Poland and the countries of Eastern Europe.
Cambridge diet - rules
The basic principle of the Cambridge diet is to eat only ready meals - drinks, soups, oatmeal, etc. The diet cannot be carried out without contacting a representative of the Cambridge Program, because only him can buy sachets with meals.
There are two versions of the Cambridge diet: American and British. Both are very low calorie, low fat, high protein diets.
Cambridge British Diet
- Before starting the proper weight loss for 7-10 days, you should limit the amount of food you eat
- followed by a 415kcal to 550kcal calorie diet for up to 4 weeks. Small women eat 3 Cambridge meals, and tall women and men eat 4 meals
- after a period of weight loss, stabilization takes place, during which Cambridge meals are replaced by 2-3 conventional meals. The caloric value of the diet increases gradually from 1000 kcal to 1500 kcal per day
- weight maintenance is to ensure consuming a little over 1500 kcal and replacing one conventional meal with a Cambridge sachet
Cambridge American Diet
The US version offers 5 separate weight loss programs.
1. Regular - designed to lose weight from 1 to 2.5 kg per week. The diet provides 820 kcal per day from 3 Cambridge meals and one regular meal with an energy value of 400 kcal. You need to drink 8-10 glasses of water a day. Coffee and tea are allowed, but are not substitutes for water. The program does not impose any time limits for its use. 2. Quick Start - a program similar to the British version of the diet. It can be used for a maximum of 2 weeks. 3. Controlled by a doctor - recommended for people who want to lose 15 kg and more or are under medical supervision due to their he alth situation. This is actually the British version of the diet, in which it was pointed out that 5-7 kg before reaching the goal you must follow the regular program. Stabilization - Conventional meals are gradually added to Cambridge meals to stabilize your weight gain 5. New eating habits - in order to maintain weight after weight loss, one of the meals is to be replaced with a Cambridge sachet. This type of nutrition is not recommended by any nutrition institution.
Cambridge diet - products indicated
The meals in the weight loss phase on the Cambridge diet are ready-made meals:
- caloric soups144 kcal per serving in tomato, vegetable, leek, mushroom, chicken with mushrooms, oriental flavors
- drinks (144 kcal / serving) in 9 flavors, incl. cappuccino, strawberry, vanilla, cocoa
- porridge (148 kcal / serving) with apple-cinnamon and nut flavors
- bars (168 kcal / serving) in 7 flavors, e.g. cranberry, nut
- rice pudding (177 kcal / serving) with vanilla flavor
- spaghetti bolognese (208 kcal / serving)
- meals ready for dinner, e.g. curry chicken (approx. 300 kcal / serving) - only in the phase of stabilization and weight maintenance
Water, pure coffee and tea are recommended for drinking. You cannot drink fruit juices, no drinks with sugar, alcoholic drinks, coffee and tea with milk.
- Slimming cocktails - recipes for dietary vegetable and fruit cocktails
During stabilization, i.e. expanding the diet and limiting meals, Cambridge introduces vegetables, poultry, white fish and cottage cheese to achieve the appropriate caloric content of the diet.
Cambridge diet and slimming
Can you lose weight on the Cambridge diet? The Cambridge diet is a diet that provides very few calories - even 8 times less than the body needs. So losing weight while following it is very real. The promised effects are up to 2.5 kg per week.
However, with such caloric deficits, it's hard to lose weight he althy. In addition to adipose tissue, the body uses muscle mass, which serves as a source of energy, to a large extent.
- How to lose weight he althily? 10 rules for he althy and safe weight loss
With such a restrictive plan, it is also difficult to persevere and carry out the diet to the end, which reduces its effectiveness.
The Cambridge diet is a very low-calorie diet with a huge risk of the yo-yo effect. Scientific research agrees that you can lose weight on this type of diet, but the effects do not last long-term.
Very low-calorie diets (less than 1000 kcal a day) do not bring better weight loss effects than low-calorie diets.
- 1000 kcal diet: what you can eat, a sample menu
According to the "Diets in Review" ranking, where diets are assessed by people who used them before, only 35% of people who were on the Cambridge diet assessed the effects of the diet positively and would recommend it to others. According to users, the diet is monotonous, very difficult to follow for a long time and expensive.
We recommendAuthor: Time S.A
An individually selected diet will allow you to lose weight easily,eat he althy and tasty while avoiding the pitfalls of "miracle" slimming diets. Use JeszCoLisz, the innovative online dietary system of the He alth Guide and take care of your he alth and well-being. Enjoy the perfectly selected menu and the constant support of a dietitian today!
Find out moreCambridge diet - impact on he alth
The Cambridge diet belongs to the "miracle diets" and is criticized by the scientific community, doctors and nutritionists. It is a diet that greatly limits the caloric intake during the day, which allows you to lose weight, but weight loss applies not only to body fat, but also to a large extent to muscle mass.
What does it involve? Muscle mass is metabolically active, which means that the less it is in the body, the less calories a person burns. By completing the "miracle diet", you usually gain weight quickly and it is fatty tissue.
The ratio of muscle mass to adipose tissue deteriorates, the internal organs are more fat, the body functions worse and it is more difficult to lose weight.
A few weeks on a diet containing 400-500 kcal can be dangerous to your he alth. It is difficult to predict how the starved organism will behave and what the negative effects of the diet will be on the internal organs.
- GŁODÓWKA - truths and myths
Although Cambridge meals cover the body's need for vitamins and minerals, there is no substitute for these valuable elements in the diet, if they are not of natural origin.
Cambridge diet - contraindications
The Cambridge diet is intended for he althy adults. It should not be used by teenagers under the age of 18, the elderly, pregnant and breastfeeding women. The diet is not recommended for people with arterial hypertension, kidney and liver diseases and diabetes.
Without medical supervision, do not use it for more than 15 kg of excess body weight. Representatives of companies selling Cambridge diet meals have prepared a long list of cases that exclude the use of this method of losing weight. These include:
- age: under 14
- addiction to psychotropic substances, drugs, alcohol
- pregnancy, breastfeeding and the postpartum period
- MAOI drugs (monoamine oxidase inhibitors)
- obesity medications
- BMI<20
- heart attack or stroke in the last 3 months
- anorexia
- porphyria
- schizophrenia or other mental disorders
The doctor must consent to the application of the Cambridge diet, in the case of: BMI>40,use of infertility drugs, anti-arrhythmic drugs, coronary heart disease, gastric ulcer disease, anemia, Crohn's disease, gout, psoriasis, diabetes insipidus, use of strong painkillers, tendency to develop gallstones, ulcerative colitis, diverticulitis of the large intestine, constipation, dizziness, diuretics for heart, kidney or liver disease, epilepsy, kidney stones, anticoagulants, cancer, surgery or an accident in the last 3 months, back problems or injuries, kidney, heart, nervous system or muscle problems, medical conditions liver, stomach reduction.
Cambridge diet - menu
Day I
- Breakfast
Cocoa-orange drink
- Second breakfast
Cranberry bar
- Lunch
Vegetable soup
- Dinner
Strawberry drink Day II
- Breakfast
Peanut porridge
- Second breakfast
Vanilla drink
- Lunch
Chicken-flavored soup with mushrooms
- Dinner
Cocoa drink Day III
- Breakfast
Cappuccino drink
- Second breakfast
Chocolate bar
- Lunch
Leek soup
- Dinner
Strawberry drink
Sources: 1. Thomson-Gale, The Gale Encyclopedia of Diets, Cambridge Diet, 2008, pp. 152-1572. https://www.dietsinreview.com/diets/Cambridge_Diet/3. New York Times Archives, 1983, Medical researchers urge caution in use of Cambridge diet, https://www.nytimes.com/1983/11/25/us/medical-researchers-urge-caution-in-use-of-cambridge -diet.html4. Tsai A.G. et al., The evolution of very-low-calorie-diets: an update and meta-analysis, Obesity, 2006, 14, 8, 1283-12935. https://www.diet.com/g/cambridge-diet6. http://cwpgulf.com/