Alicia Silverstone's Kind Diet

A good diet not only helps you lose weight and look great, but it also makes you feel your best. A GREAT diet does all that AND saves the planet in the process. That’s the claim of Alicia Silverstone’s Vegan Detox plan called The Kind Diet. Following The Kind Diet allows you to take steps to reduce your impact on the planet and preserve our precious resources. At the same time, you’ll lose weight, your skin will glow, you’ll have tons of energy and you will become more sensitive to all the important things in life like love, nature and your deepest truest self, according to Silverstone. In other words, this is one POWERFUL detox diet. Let’s take a closer look at how the plan works. First, the overarching theme of this vegan diet is to choose KIND over “NASTY” foods, which are defined as meat, dairy, white sugar and processed foods. Once you have a grasp on kind versus nasty foods, it’s time to move on to part 2 of the plan. Part 2 of The Kind Diet outlines 3 paths to becoming a vegan: Flirts, Vegans and Superheros. According to Silverstone, flirting is the first step to begin exploring a plant-based diet. The flirting process lasts a few weeks and includes eating at local vegetarian restaurants, shopping at the nearest health food store, buying organic brown rice and unrefined sea salt, taking a yoga class and finally going 4 weeks without beef, chicken or pork. When you’re finished flirting, you move on to the vegan phase. To begin the vegan plan, Silverstone suggests getting rid of any meat or dairy products in your home and focusing on building your meals using one quarter grains, one quarter protein and one half vegetables, but insists that having one serving of protein a day is enough. The third and final phase, Superheroes, is more restrictive than even Alicia Silverstone can follow every day. Superheroes avoid all processed foods, phase out soy milk and limit fruit, herbs, spices, nuts, nightshade vegetables such as potatoes, tomatoes and eggplant and “strong” sweeteners like maple syrup and salt. So does The Kind Diet really live up to its big claims? Research shows that a plant-based diet can be safe and may effectively lower rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and even some cancers. Following a plant-based diet may also decrease demand for certain natural resources, reducing your carbon footprint. But a few of Silverstone’s claims - like the Kind Diet’s ability to clear up acne -- don’t have any real scientific support. It’s also important to remember that any good weight loss plan should also encourage adequate physical activity. To learn more about popular diets and healthy ways to slim down, check out other videos on this site.