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The Cambridge Diet, also known as the “last chance” diet and the “powder diet”, is a nutritional program designed for obese people who have not worked with other diets. The Cambridge Diet is useful for those patients who need to lose weight significantly in a short time, for example due to surgery. It is also a “last chance diet” for those people in whom overweight poses a significant threat to health and life, while obesity is not accompanied by other diseases.
What is the Cambridge Diet?
The Cambridge diet is a nutrition program based on a significant reduction in calories provided with food. The daily dose of calories in the Cambridge diet is only 400-500 kcal. Due to the reduction in calories, the Cambridge diet is intended for healthy (and only obese) people. The caloric deficit forces the body to use the accumulated reserves and burn fat. The nutritional program of the Cambridge diet is designed in such a way that, despite the low caloric content of meals, they are properly balanced, i.e. the food is provided with an appropriate daily dose of nutrients, including vitamins and mineral salts. The patient loses weight without exhausting the body and leading to a vitamin deficiency.
If the Cambridge diet is used as the sole source of food, it allows an average weight reduction of 3 kg per week. If it is used with other diets or combined with traditional meals, the weight reduction is correspondingly lower.
The meals with the Cambridge diet are in the form of drinks and soups in sachets. The powder dissolves in water – one sachet is one meal. The content of the sachets is composed in such a way that each of them contains ingredients necessary for the proper functioning of the body: vitamins, minerals, proteins, carbohydrates and fats. You cannot consume sugar while following the Cambridge diet, and most dietitians recommend supplementing this nutritional program with one traditional meal a day.
How long should you follow the Cambridge diet and who can eat it
In order to achieve optimal results, it is recommended to follow the Cambridge diet for 3 weeks. Then, for 2 weeks, you should eat your Cambridge diet meals (two sachets a day) and one traditional meal (low-calorie, sugar-free).
The Cambridge diet is recommended for people who suffer from the yo-yo effect, for slimming patients who do not use the 1000 calorie diet, for overweight patients before surgery and before rehabilitation, for obese people (BMI over 30).
The Cambridge diet should not be used by people with heart attack and stroke, patients with type 1 diabetes, patients with anorexia and bulimia, and patients with renal and hepatic insufficiency.
Is the Cambridge diet effective?
Scientific and clinical studies have shown that the Cambridge diet is effective and safe for the patient’s health. Of course, it should not be used by people with serious diseases, but for healthy people, only obese or those who need to lose weight quickly, it does not pose a health risk. Using the Cambridge diet allows you to quickly and effectively reduce the amount of fat, especially around the abdomen, and get rid of the feeling of hunger. Following this nutritional program allows you to lower blood pressure and normalize blood glucose, insulin, triglycerides and LDL cholesterol levels.