The Grapefruit Diet
Hollywood loved the grapefruit diet. It dates back to the 1930s, and many Hollywood stars of the time swore by it. Then in the 70′s it became a piece of fax junk, sent from machine to machine, commonly known as xerox lore. The diet is attributed to the Mayo Clinic, which clearly states that it has nothing to do with diet and that the diet is not good.
The grapefruit diet is a lot like Atkins, but with a grapefruit eaten with each meal. There are no snacks allowed on this strict three meals a day diet. Supposedly a person on this diet could lose 10 pounds in only 10 days. It is also commonly claimed that a dieter might not lose any weight on the first four days but then 5 pounds would magically drop off on the fifth day. The claim that grapefruit contains enzymes that burn fat has never been proven.
Researchers showed that the diet may work in a 2004 study. 1/2 grapefruit with each meal helped people lose 3.6 pounds in only 12 weeks. Those who drank the serving of grapefruit juice at each meal lost just slightly less weight in the same period of time. Some people lost as much as 10 pounds in the 12 week study. It was believed that eating grapefruit resulted in decreased insulin levels, which in turn resulted in less stored fat. But the weight loss may have also been due to increased levels of exercise.
Here are the rules for the grapefruit diet:
- Dieters must drink eight eight ounce glasses of water daily.
- Eat until full.
- Eat everything listed for each meal, do not skip foods, they are specifically formulated to help burn fat.
- Grapefruit is a catalyst that starts fat burning. Do not change the amount of grapefruit.
- Try to avoid coffee, but if drunk consume only three cups a day.
- Never eat between meals.
- Butter is OK.
- No starches or sweets can be eaten.
- Meat and vegetables are fine.
- Eat until full in order to maximize weight loss.
- Follow the diet for 12 days, skip two days, then start again.
- Eat one half grapefruit, or drink 18 ounce glass of grapefruit, with each meal.
Now you can go try the grapefruit diet.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 28th, 2009 at 5:27 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.