The Mayo Clinic Diet Plan

A calorie is a calorie is a calorie. The idea behind The Mayo Clinic Diet Plan is that if you eat fewer calories than you burn, you will lose weight. The plan tackles weight loss by having you count the daily food servings you need. Diets that omit foods or food groups leave you feeling deprived. You won't succeed in the long run on such a diet. Instead, The Mayo Clinic Diet Plan encourages variety from the servings allotted within each food group. The 10 Steps in The Mayo Clinic Plan focus on assorted issues, not just weight, because this plan is designed as a way to improve health. Important guidelines include using The Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight Pyramid to plan your meals and adding exercise to your day.

What makes The Mayo Clinic Diet Plan different from other weight loss programs?

This diet is a member of the calorie-counting diet family. You don't count calories, but you do control calorie intake by counting food servings. To be certain that you are eating appropriate amounts from every food group, you use The Mayo Clinic Healthy Pyramid to plan your meals. This is not exactly a diet, but rather a plan that includes advice and tools to help increase health (which happens to include a weight loss plan).

What is The Mayo Clinic Diet Plan?

The Mayo Clinic Diet Plan has a weight loss component, but good health is the goal of the overall plan. Step 4 on this plan does discuss weight loss in detail and works by following these steps:

• Weighing yourself
• Determining a weight goal
• Identifying a calorie level for weight loss
• Learning daily servings of each food group appropriate for your calorie level
• Adding exercise when you are ready

Maybe you've feared that you need to start carrying a calculator. Not on this diet. Unlike other similar diets, all the calculations have already been done for you. Just by knowing your weight and gender you can figure out your calorie level and food servings by consulting a comprehensive chart in the book.

The Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight Pyramid, the basis for the plan, includes six food groups. You can eat fruits and vegetables, with virtually no restrictions. You will want to consume only limited quantities of juice and dried fruit. The remaining groups are carbohydrates, especially unrefined whole grains; lean and low-fat protein and dairy; fats; and sweets. You may have sweets, but you must limit yourself to no more than 75 calories daily in that category. That's about one small oatmeal raisin cookie a day.

The Mayo Clinic Diet Plan teaches you what a serving size should be for you. Yes, you'll start by using measuring cups and teaspoons to portion your food. And you'll use visuals for estimating serving sizes--such as picturing a hockey puck to estimate the right amount of carbohydrates. As you practice these skills, you won't have to measure everything. You'll need to develop a daily eating plan to make sure you are eating the right number of servings from each food group. If you enjoy planning, organizing, and tracking, this is the plan for you.

For weight maintenance, you increase your calories slightly by increasing your daily food servings.

What are the weight loss expectations?

No weight loss expectations are provided on the Mayo Clinic Diet Plan.

Is exercise promoted?

You can lose weight just by following the eating plan. You should aim to achieve about 30 minutes of daily physical activity, but adding a few minutes of activity to your normal day is beneficial. This plan encourages you to set reasonable exercise goals, choose exercise you enjoy, and identify barriers that prevent you from exercising. Walking is a good choice.

Are supplements recommended?

If you aren't sure whether you are getting the key nutrients from your food, consult with your doctor to determine whether you need supplements on The May Clinic Diet Plan.