The Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLC) diet is the form of diet in which the main focus of the doctor or the dietician is toward the total consumption of calories throughout the day. The consumption of calories will be mainly based on the total requirement of the calories in your body. This can be determined by the examination of your body type, gender, weight, height, the activities performed by you, and various other factors. By the proper investigation of all of these factors, the doctor or the nutritionist will take a decision about the ideal calorie intake for your body.
How does the TLC diet work?
As we all know, the TLC diet mainly focusses on the lowering of the low-density lipoprotein (LDL). Thus, if you have started this diet primarily to reduce the level of LDL, then your goal should be 2500 calories per day if you are a man and if you are a woman the total calorie intake should not be more than 1800. And if you are following this diet to lose some extra weight as well, then you should target for 1600 calories if you are a man and 1200 calories if you are a woman. Additionally, you must reduce the consumption of saturated fats to about 7% of your daily calorie intake. This implies that you should avoid consuming high-fat dairy products like butter, as well as you must stop eating fatty meats like salami. Also, you have to keep a watch on your daily intake of dietary cholesterol as it must not increase more than 200 milligrams every day. There are several food items that you should eat in the TLC diet and there are also various food items that you should avoid while following it.
Fats– The first step in following the TLC diet should be maintaining the intake of fat content in your diet as it increases more than 35% of the total calories in your meal. This is because of the fact that you should eat those food items that are good for the health of your heart. You must avoid consuming saturated fats that are mostly found in various food items like egg yolks, butter, fatty meats, whole milk dairy products, and many more.
Trans fats– Trans fats are considered as the main culprits for increasing the level of cholesterol in the body. So, you should avoid eating food items like fried foods, shortening, stick margarine, and sweets.
Monosaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats– The 20% of the calorie quotient comes from the Monosaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats, also known as the good fats. These fats are good for lowering the LDL level. Some of the food items that have good fats are olive, avocado, canola, and almond oil.
Dietary cholesterol– When you are following the TLC diet plan, you must restrict the consumption of dietary cholesterol in the daily diet plan.
Protein– It is necessary to consume about 20% of proteins in your daily intake of calories as they are essential for building muscles and growth.
Carbohydrates– You must consume the right kind of carbohydrates and the daily intake of carbs should be 50% to 60% of the total calorie intake.