The Pritikin Program

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With the average weight of Americans continuously rising, fad diets seem to appear everywhere, each claiming that their participants will lose weight faster with their healthier option; however, diets are not at all, what they claim to be and without caution, they too will cause health problems. From high-fat, low-calorie, very low-fat, high protein, and everything else in between these trendy diets seem to cause enough confusion that they make sense, even if the dieter has no idea what he will be cutting from his diet or how any of the restrictions and requirements will affect his health overtime. Therefore, if careful research and close monitoring does not take place, diets like The Pritikin Program can be detrimental to a dieter’s health. In the 1970s, an inventor who had fought the odds of his own high cholesterol and cardiovascular disease began to test his theory that a lifestyle makeover would reverse and/or correct cardiovascular disease in his patients. The man’s name was Nathan Pritikin. Pritikin’s self-induced passion for a healthier lifestyle led him to create The Pritikin Program that he introduced to the public through multiple books and media presentations. In leading media, including 60 Minutes, he was among the first worldwide to assert that diet and exercise, not drugs and surgery, should be the first line of defense against cardiovascular disease (Monte & Pritikin, 1987). In 1975, Pritikin opened the Pritikin Longevity Center to advocate the entire lifestyle change that each patient would need to undergo, as well as give them around the clock care and support while they attempt to reduce or eradicate diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and heart disease from their lives. Months before Pritikin’s own death at the ... ... middle of paper ... ... eating plan. Retrieved from http://www.pritikin.com/home-the- basics/about-pritikin/how-pritikin-works/12-pritikin-eating-plan.html Monte, T., & Pritikin, I. (1987, October). Nathan Pritikin. Retrieved from http://www.pritikin.com/home-the-basics/about-pritikin/38-nathan-pritikin.html Strychar, I. (2006). Diet in the management of weight loss. Canadian Medical Association.Journal, 174(1), 56-63. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.gvsu.edu/docview/204858054?accountid=39473 Sullivan, S. and Samuel, S. (2006), Effect of Short-Term Pritikin Diet Therapy on the Metabolic Syndrome. Journal of the CardioMetabolic Syndrome, 1: 308–312. doi: 10.1111/j.1559-4564.2006.05732.x Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1559-4564.2006.05732.x/citedby Zabell, M. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/pritikin-diet-review

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