The Beyond Diet is a new diet plan that was created by Isabel De Los Rios, who also created the Diet Solution Program. The key elements of the Beyond Diet approach is to focus on combining sensible eating with living a healthier lifestyle. The diet is also a Gluten Free diet, which means that all wheat products are eliminated or eaten in moderation. This is really how people used to stay slim before the world was introduced to processed meals and fast food.
The only way to really effectively do the Beyond Diet Program is to use the official website, BeyondDiet.com. Through the website you will be taught more about the diet approach and also have access to the support community, meal plans, recipes and an online journal to help track your progress. Here we provide some of the main parts of the diet along with our review of the Beyond diet program:
Stop Eating Bread
Isabel calls our obsession with bread as bread-sanity! While bread is undoubtedly a vital staple food and has helped society to move from a state of subsistence farming and hunting / gathering, it is no longer required in the volumes that the average family consume it in. Bread is very high in calories. One thin slice of white bread contains around 100 Calories.
“I whole-heartedly believe that the high consumption of bread is one of the leading contributors to America’s increased incidence of heart disease and type 2 diabetes.” – Isabel De Los Rios.
White bread is also high-GI, which means that your body converts the carbohydrate into sugar faster, and this sugar is often stored as fat. The relationship of bread and obesity is certainly not new.
Even in the post-war period people were advised to not fill up on bread at each meal. Doing so means poor nutrition and excess energy. The Beyond Diet also takes this simple but effective approach.
The main suggestion is to eat “breadless sandwiches“, which really means eat salads! Just about any sandwich filling can make a healthy salad, just mix your usual cheese, ham, chicken, egg or tuna with some salad leaves and vegetables and you have a tasty and nutritious meal.
Not all bread is bad though. Breads made from sprouted whole grain (SWG) are low GI, which means they do not cause spikes in blood glucose levels, so help you control hunger and weight better. Bread is just one of the key 5 things not to eat on the Beyond diet.
One of the key goals of Isabel De Los Rios’ Beyond Diet is to make simple changes to the way you eat and the way you think about food. Why do we eat sandwiches? For convenience – but you did not need that convenience when preparing food at home. See, the system goes Beyond Diet.
Good Fats
Gone are the days that nutritionists advise us to eat less fat. Now the advice is to eat healthier fat. Some sources of saturated fat are still thought to be unhealthy (although some primal dieters will say otherwise) as it leads to elevated bad cholesterol levels.
However, omega 3 and omega 6 fats are very healthy and actually help to keep the internal organs healthy and arteries clear. These fats are found in nuts, seeds, green leafy vegetables and deep-sea fish such as salmon, mackerel and sardines.
Also, the saturated fats found in dairy are now considered healthy – so cheese is back on the Beyond Diet menu.
Oils can also be healthy. Sunflower, vegetable and olive oils, along with coconut oils, all make healthy replacements for saturated oils from animals, which again raise cholesterol levels. Olive oil also makes the perfect salad dressing.
As well as being better for your internal health and helping to control appetite, the good fats are vital for the healthy functioning of the nervous system, which includes improved brain function and muscle responses.
Fish is good for both brain and brawn! The Beyond Diet aims to introduce you to tasty and nutritious foods which will help you to lose weight and stay in great shape.
Organic Eating
Isabel De Los Rios’ Beyond Diet also favors organic eating. While this is not actually essential to weight, going organic does reduce your exposure to agricultural chemicals, and this may help to improve health.
“Organic foods should not be optional; they should be mandatory and should grace every table” – Isabel De Los Rios.
It is interesting that Dr. Robert Atkins was also saying this about 40 years ago. His main reason for going organic, particularly with meat, was to reduce intake of nitrogen in the form of nitrates and nitrites.
Best Foods To Aid Weight Loss
It always seems a little contradictory to talk about food to aid weight loss, but healthy foods (instead of unhealthy foods – not in addition too) can help you to lose weight. Our bodies need food, so fad starvation diets really will never work.
Some of the foods that Beyond Diet recommends above others are spinach, lettuce, asparagus, strawberries, apples, mango, almonds, peanut butter, organic eggs, raw milk, wild fish, shrimp, grass-fed beef, free-range chicken, Ezekiel bread, quinoa, wild rice, oatmeal, buckwheat, lentils, avocado, raw organic butter, coconut oil, extra-virgin olive oil, unsweetened cocoa, erythritol, stevia, organic red wine. This is just an example of some healthy food options.
Sample Meal Plan
- Breakfast – Greek yogurt with fresh berries and sliced almonds
- Lunch – Fast and Easy Tuna Salad Sandwich
- Afternoon Snack – Homemade humus with raw vegetables
- Dinner – Beef, snap pea, asparagus and mushroom stir-fry
- Dessert – Pumpkin in Coconut Milk
Nitrates and Nitrites
Nitrates and nitrites can cause decreased functioning of the thyroid gland, increased cancer risk and a reduction in the oxygen capacity of the blood – which will affect your fitness, and ability to get fitter.
Again, the Beyond Diet is teaching you how to construct a health meal plan without making any major changes to what you eat.
Is Beyond Diet a Good Program?
To follow the Beyond Diet program fully you need to become a member, which costs around $47.00. While this is certainly pretty good value, as you receive great support from the website community, a large selection of recipes and meal plans, you can follow a similar diet without investing such a large sum. [please note, this was written in 2013, but judging from some of the more recent comments below, the level of support is no longer as good].
Really the Beyond Diet is very similar in its approach to a low GI Diet plan. This mostly involves eating carbohydrates which are unprocessed, i.e. fresh fruits and vegetables, and avoiding all processed foods and alcohol. Re-educating yourself about food is the key. This plan will certainly do that, but then so will a book on healthy eating from your local library.
If you are the type of person who prefers to have your weight loss plan set out for you, and wish to have the additional peace of mind of being able to ask Isabel (or her team of advisers and the community) for additional help and advice, then this plan will suit you. If you are confident in reading and self-teaching, then you can live without the plan.
The Beyond diet reviews we have seen have all mostly been positive, so this is a good sign that this is a good product that may stand the test of time. Of course, as with any weight loss plan, you need to exercise too, so aim to go Beyond diet alone!
As with Isabel’s other product, the Diet Solution Program, the emphasis here is on the food. You also must remember to start exercising on a regular basis to speed up and help maintain weight loss. While exercise is not essential, it makes the process much easier. To really go Beyond Diet you need to look beyond what is put on your plate and consider your entire lifestyle. Which is what we at MotleyHealth also advocate!
References and Research
“Consumption of drinking water with high nitrate levels causes hypertrophy of the thyroid” by Johannes M.S. van Maanen (and others). Toxicology Letters Volume 72, Issues 1–3, June 1994, Pages 365–374
“A vegan diet free of gluten improves the signs and symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis: the effects on arthritis correlate with a reduction in antibodies to food antigens” by Hafström, B. Ringertz (and others). Rheumatology (2001) 40 (10): 1175-1179.