Become the Hero

For many health professionals, "Cambridge Weight Plan" is synonymous with very low-calorie diets (VLCDs).

Cambridge Weight Plan was developed by Dr. Alan Howard, who previously named "The Cambridge Diet" as a VLCD formula, and indeed, the low-calorie intake remains the hallmark of the diet method to this day.

However, approximately ten years ago, the method evolved into more flexible series of dietary energy intake levels (1,500, 1,200, 1,000, 810, 615, 415 kcal/d), allowing for energy intake dosing tailored to each client's or patient's physical response.

This is an interesting historical fact, as in the late nineteenth century it was proposed to gradually administer a higher dose of energy to diabetes patients following a fasting diet to lower glucose levels in the urine.

Today, this extraordinary and precise dosing process (precise because it includes formula food products offered by Cambridge rather than food alone) can be applied by gradually reducing or increasing energy intake as required.

Adherence to a diet with a very high energy intake level does not usually produce such good results, and patients tend to feel hungrier; however, energy intake levels above 800 kcal/d can yield good results.

The scientific evidence documenting the efficacy of VLCD diets indicates it is far more likely that the potential supply of VLCDs and low-calorie diets that combine food with formula food products [LCDs above 800 kcal/d] will be widely recognised.