ITG Diet Blog

What is the B vitamin complex?

A group of nutrients that the body uses to help turn food into energy, breaking down carbohydrates and proteins.

Why do you need B vitamins?

As a supplement, B vitamins can help treat and even prevent deficiencies due to a poor diet, during pregnancy, alcoholism, and certain illnesses. They're important to help keep the body in good health and are the building blocks of many enzymes, hormones, and DNA.

When we think about our options for protein sources, meat usually comes to mind. Nowadays, there are a lot more options for plant-based proteins that can give your body the nutrients it needs without a lot of the fat, cholesterol, and calories of many animal protein counterparts.

The most popular and well-known plant-based protein source is tofu or tempeh which is made from soy beans by fermenting and culturing soy and soy milk and then pressing the curds into solid blocks. However, if you are allergic to soy, or you are trying to avoid eating too much of it, here are some other popular plant-based protein sources to incorporate into your daily diet.

You're starting the ITG Diet, or have been on it for a little while. You're learning something new about foods, nutrition, and how your body reacts to the foods you eat by gaining, maintaining, or losing weight. You can really feel when you have a bad day, and you know when you're doing well because the clothes get looser and your energy levels increase.

There are many tips and tricks that we teach during the initial consultation for new ITG dieters. Some may become new habits for life, and others will be helpful ways to combat hunger, help you stop yourself from overeating, and general tips to stay successful while on all Steps of the ITG Diet Plan.

As we continue to face a future of global pandemics and a plethora of health-related issues around the country, proper immune system function has become an extremely important topic in 2021. By properly supplementing, the body is better able to defend itself from chronic disease. There is evidence that supplements can even reduce the severity and sometimes eliminate those health issues altogether that could arise in the future.

As we continue to face a future of global pandemics and a plethora of health-related issues around the country, proper immune system function has become an extremely important topic in recent years. By properly supplementing, the body is better able to defend itself from chronic disease. There is evidence that supplements can even reduce the severity and sometimes eliminate those health issues altogether that could arise in the future. 

Back in the days before I lost my weight and changed my habits with ITG, I wasn't a big believer in using supplements as part of a healthy diet and lifestyle. Rightfully so, as I had done a lot of research on the quality of over-the-counter supplements in vitamin shops and drugstores. Since supplements aren't regulated by the FDA, there can be ingredient and quality issues; you aren't always getting what you think. For example, some protein supplements do indeed contain protein, but that protein was absorbed and utilized by animals, and not humans. There are other supplements that have been tested off the shelves and they contain nothing but dried and ground grass and weeds, with no benefit whatsoever to the human body. Other supplements contain nutrients, but not in the levels listed on the bottle. However, when I started with ITG and learned the importance of proper supplementation, good manufacturing practices (GMP), and medical grade quality ingredients, my eyes were opened as to what a good supplement can do for the body. Want to know my favorite supplements? Keep reading!

Ready to warm up with some... cheese!? Try ITG Cheesy Cheddar! Finally, you can say "Cheese Please!" and enjoy that aged cheddar taste you crave over your favorite vegetables, proteins, and more. Cheesy Cheddar is a delicious way to enjoy great cheese flavor with the ITG Diet Plan each day. With 15 grams of satiating protein, 3 grams of fat and only 6 grams of carbs, Cheesy Cheddar is a healthier and more satisfying way to enjoy your cheesy dishes.

If you’re like one of many people we speak to each day who wants to start the ITG Diet Plan, but you exercise quite frequently and are worried about your routine, then this information is for you!

The ITG Diet Plan is a low-calorie diet. When you exercise vigorously, your body requires many more calories than the plan provides you with. The calories from ITG Foods, combined with whole foods from the store, falls into a range which is perfect for losing weight and maintaining muscle mass. However, while on the plan, exercise can change the way your body processes foods as it adjusts to lower levels of sugar and converts to using your stored body fat for energy.

In light of the new year and "dieting season," there are many articles and news pieces published every day comparing a typical keto diet to other weight loss plans. On average, about 6,000 articles, documents and reviews are posted daily dealing with health and weight loss. Sifting through all that material on the internet can dig up a lot of information, both educational as well as misguided.

While the ITG Diet Plan does get you into a light state of ketosis, there are differences between ITG and simply eating foods according to a keto lifestyle. A typical keto diet is a way of eating rather than a weight loss plan, allowing many foods that we restrict while on the ITG Diet Plan. 

“I do great during the day - it’s when I get home, that I struggle.” I hear this a lot!

It’s true - at the end of the day, we’re tired, we’re a bit stressed, we have a whole set of tasks still to do or we’d like to relax - food and alcohol can bring comfort. 

We’d like to have a drink, we snack on our kids food or maybe we’re snacking on the dinner that we’re making for our family, or it’s the couch and some ice cream - It’s all a struggle.

We know this time of year is full of holiday cheer, and holiday cookies, and holiday cakes, and cocktails... the list goes on! How do you make it through without indulging, or if you are in Step 3, overindulging in those sugary filled little treats?

I was recently asked how a woman can easily shed 10 pounds quickly in a healthy manner.  Great question, yet those parameters will be difficult for most programs to meet.  From a scientific perspective there is only one program type that can meet those listed conditions of:  (1) easy, (2) drop 10 lbs, (3) quick, and (4) healthy.  One can lose weight on almost any diet yet doing so quickly and in a healthy way eliminates nearly all except a ketonic body program. 

It's that time of year again and the holidays are rapidly approaching! First, there's Halloween with lots of candy, caramel apples, and other junk foods (don't forget the alcohol and mixers for the adults!) Right around the corner is Thanksgiving, a huge feast of anything and everything you can think of. Shortly thereafter is Christmas with more candy, cookies, and desserts to enjoy.

We have helped so many people reach their goal weight and more importantly, maintain that goal weight over the years. Once you learn how you can lose weight and keep it off with ITG by following the program, it is much easier to notice a few extra pounds creeping back here and there as is natural with our busy lives, vacations, holidays, and more.

The biggest takeaway would be recognizing when those pounds start creeping back and how you can use the knowledge you learned with your ITG Coach to help you reboot, tune-up, and get back to that goal weight quickly and efficiently. Life happens - but significant weight gain doesn't have to be a part of that!

We recently interviewed one of our successful Step 3 dieters who has been able to maintain his weight with a few tune-ups along the way. Continue reading for excerpts from his interview about Step 3 - Success For Life!

Even those of us with the strongest willpower seem to have periodic lapses in judgement when it comes to indulging in snacks and junk foods. American reliance on these processed foods is a big reason for the obesity epidemic today. It seems scary to realize that we depend on foods with no good nutritional value to get us through everyday life. We then find ourselves craving more and more of those foods just to feel better, even if the feelings only last a short time with the rush of sugar in our systems. Ultimately, these foods affect our health in a negative way. Why is it so hard to give up junk food and fight the urge of salty and sugary cravings?

We've been told time and again that water is very important to our health and extremely important while on the ITG Diet Plan. Water helps flush out the fat we are burning while in ketosis, and too little of it will cause dehydration and stall our weight loss. Every basic function of the human body takes place in water so it is important to stay hydrated, but what if you just don't like water?

Cauliflower has been gaining quite a following recently! A couple years ago when I was on the ITG Diet Plan, my cravings for pizza and rice were satisfied with the substitution of cauliflower. I began buying heads of cauliflower to try recipes in the ITG Recipe Section: Cauliflower Flat Bread Pizza, Cauliflower Fried Rice, and Buffalo Cauliflower, among others. I still to this day use this versatile veggie long after I reached my goal weight, especially since I never felt weighed down or "puffy" after eating several cups of it, which tends to happen with regular rice and dough!

Soy based food products have attracted some controversy.  There are past claims that soy protein is responsible for decreases in testosterone or that estrogen induces man breasts, and even that eating soy can cause cancer.  Most of this has been debunked yet there are always some pros and cons involved in any protein conversation.  Now that we’ve had the chance to analyze these claims it’s clear that soy protein is a good choice for weight loss and muscle growth.

The AHRQ concludes there is no evidence of a negative effect for either soy protein or isoflavones.  Soy products range from whole soy to fermented soy to the protein isolates which ITG uses and are in the group referenced positively by the AHRQ.

Soybeans were added to the American diet in various forms in the 1880s and today they’re used in countless food products around the world.  In the USA it’s hard to go a day without eating a soy product, just because of its abundance. 

Everyone these days seems to be so busy between careers, school, kids, and so many other things. One of the problems I usually faced as so many others do is that I sacrificed my diet for convenience of ready to eat foods from the store, fast food dining and restaurants. Even when I cooked for myself, I used items chock full of carbs and unhealthy ingredients instead of sticking with the basics. How could I pull off cooking for myself when I started the ITG Diet so that it would be easy for me to stick with?