Dr. Nowzaradan, also known as Dr. Now, is a professional medical officer who is an expert in weight concerns. Moreover, he is also a tv personality who appears on the TLC show My 600-Lb Life. This features the lives of obese people who try to lose weight by following Dr. Nowzaradan’s methods.
According to numerous statistics, obesity is one of the leading medical concerns affecting millions of people worldwide. Though several health tips and exercises can subsidize this issue, very few of them are ever effective. So, in times of such hardship, most Americans often turn to Dr. Now.
About the show.
My 600-lb Life presents overweight people who have gained huge weight due to causes like genetic factors, emotional eating, loss, trauma. No matter the cause, the only thing that they all have in common is a desire to lose weight. This is why Dr. Nowzaradan is their only hope.
People love him because of his genuine care for the patients, especially patients whom other doctors might have rejected. Dr. Nowzaradan cares for those that may have even lost all hope of having a fit body. His no-nonsense and tough-love approach is what most patients need to make a real-life change.
It is true that he has a kind nature and wants the best for his patients. But above all, he wants his patients to survive. This is why he has effective ways of curing his patients. Normally, the patients need to have surgery to cut off bulky fat mass. However, before proceeding to this step, Dr. Nowzaradan provides customized diet plans and advises his patients to follow his diet rule strictly for better results.
Why follow a diet plan?
Weight loss surgery is not as simple as it may sound. Surgical knives alone cannot chop off a huge chunk of fat. Essentially, following a diet plan is necessary to reduce stress to the body and prepare for life after surgery.
Before undergoing surgery, patients require enough preparation time. Most people with severe obesity must lose a specific amount of weight before going under the knife.
According to Dr. Nowzaradan, this is important for two main reasons. Firstly, it is risky to have surgery when a patient is morbidly obese. This is because it puts a lot of strain on the body that it cannot withstand. Hence, dieting and losing weight helps to subsidize these risks.
The second reason is for psychological effect. After the surgery, patients must adjust and follow Dr. Now’s diet routine throughout their life. They must be able to adapt to their new lifestyle and forget about old ways of overconsuming foods. It is easy for obese people to gain weight again.
Dr. Now will only give the go-ahead for surgery after the patient’s body has adjusted to the intense diet routine. Moreover, he is also keen on significant weight loss beforehand.
Dr. Nowzaradan’s Diet Plan
Diet is one of the most important factors that affect the human body. As the old proverb dictates, you become what you eat. Those who suffer from obesity have to stay away from junk foods and processed foods as much as they can.
Other than this, we know that calories are the main reasons that contribute to weight gain. Keeping all these in mind, Dr. Nowzaradan has created a diet plan.
However, because the same diet plan cannot work for every individual, he provides customized diet plans to his patients to suit their individual health needs. Nonetheless, all of the diets have a few things in common.
First of all, the doctor urges his patients to restricts calorie intake to anywhere between 1,000 and 1,200 calories per day. Though it may sound extreme, it is necessary for Dr. Now’s patients.
In fact, reducing extreme calorie intake is the fastest way to lose weight quickly. It also helps to prepare the patient with appropriate food size intake in the future. So, all in all, the diet is practice for life post-surgery.
Forbidden foods on the Dr. Now diet plan
Dr. Now’s diet plan is not meant to focus on deprivation. However, there are several foods that Dr. Now forbids that can trigger weight gain.
They are anything that includes fats and sugars: candy, sweets, chocolate, crackers, potato chips, French fries, popcorn, nuts including peanuts, white and brown rice, pasta, cereal, fruit juice, and bread—also, natural sweeteners like honey and high sugar fruits such as watermelon.
One thing to remember is that this diet is for pre-surgery, but the patients must follow them even after surgery. There is more information available in his book.
Allowed foods on the Dr. Now diet plan
Though it may appear that Dr. Now has put a stop to eating every food that we consume daily, he also has left a few foods that the patients can consume but in a limited fashion.
Dr. Now’s diet plan recommends two main components: Eating real food and consuming small portions. They must be followed as follows:
- For breakfast, patients can consume egg whites, turkey sausage, beans, oatmeal, low-fat cottage cheese, plain Greek yogurt, or whole-grain bread.
- At lunch, bake, broil, or grill lean protein or have canned tuna, deli meat, non-starchy vegetables, and salads without dressing. For every meat, a portion of it should measure only 3 ounces or be about the same size as a deck of cards.
- Finally, at dinner, they can include the same types of food as lunch. For snacks, it may be a turkey or ham roll-up or plain Greek yogurt with no sugar.
Though the diet may sound overwhelming and difficult to follow, anyone who wishes to get good results has to follow them. Most of Dr. Now’s patients realize that in the end, it’s all worth it.
Dr. Now’s book, The Scale Does Not Lie, People Do
Anyone who has been following Dr. Now is well aware of his book; The Scale Does Not Lie, People Do. On his Instagram, he shared a page of diet plans from his book, which his fans have been asking for a long time.
Not only that, but the book covers everything from explaining how weight gain happens to the ways of making weight loss. Dr. Now is always focused on doing his best to keep his patients and fans healthy.