Snack on the champagne diet

It not only allows you to consume alcohol, but also recommends a daily flute or two as part of your weight-loss plan!

With the holiday season just round the corner, everyone wants to look their best. However, it's hard to do so with so many events to attend, and all those sweet treats and alcohol binges to indulge in. Enter the Champagne Diet, a dream come true for those who love their booze!

How it works
The Champagne Diet allows you to consume alcohol and even recommends a daily flute or two as part of the weight-loss plan. According to US resident Cara Alwill Leyba, 31, who came up with the regime, the Champagne Diet is two parts healthy living, one part fun.

There are no forbidden foods and the focus is on eating high-quality, nutrient-dense and tasty things (totalling around 1,200-1,400 calories a day). "I encourage glamourising your meals," she says. "Don't order the fatty cheeseburger with fries and cola. Instead, get a smoked salmon bagel with a mixed greens salad and a glass of champagne. Start putting the best into your body." Cara's theory is that eating 'classy' foods makes you value your body more and you are less likely to overeat.

Pros and cons
Dr Pallavi Srivastava, a nutritionist, says, "This diet focuses on about 1,200 kcal/day, which is a healthy way to lose weight. It emphasises eating a nutrient rich diet that includes greens, having food that is smoked or grilled, which is encouraged in a balanced weight loss diet plan and is a healthy way to achieve weight loss."

For people who are habituated to alcohol, the diet happily allows you to drink a glass or two a day of champagne. Findings have shown that champagne can help protect the brain against neurological injuries during a stroke. It also protects the brain from the degenerative effects of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Consuming champagne is a health benefit because of the high level of polyphenols found in it. These antioxidants assist in avoiding cell death when there is oxidative stress. On the flip side, champagne is known to be more intoxicating than other alcoholic beverages.

Drinking too much will increase the risk of long-term damage to your health, including coronary heart disease and stroke. A healthy way to achieve weight loss is through a combination of a nutrient rich diet with proper carbohydrates, proteins, fat, vitamins, minerals, fibre and water and regular exercise with a consumption of safe limit of alcohol.
Melissa D'costa



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