What Is The Grapefruit Diet?

The grapefruit diet is one of the earliest known Hollywood fad diets. It dates back to the 1930s, and many Hollywood stars of the time swore by it. It remained popular until the mid-1970s, when it became one of the diets that was faxed around from machine to machine, popularly known as xerox lore. The diet has been described as bad by the Mayo Clinic, often associated with the diet.

The grapefruit diet is essentially like the Atkins diet with the addition of a grapefruit before each meal. There was no cheating on this diet – only three meals a day and no in between meals snacks. The diet made astounding claims – lose a pound each day for 10 days. As wild as that sounds, this is wilder – the diet claimed someone might not lose weight for 9 days, but then suddenly drop 10 pounds in the last day. It was based on the claim that grapefruit contains fat burning enzymes, something that has never been proven.

In 2004 it was proven that the diet may work. Participants in the study lost 3.6 pounds on average in a 12 week span, eating one half grapefruit before each meal. Drinking the juice from the grapefruit led to only slightly less weight loss. Some people lost as much as 10 pounds in the 12 week study. Researchers attributed the weight loss to decreased insulin levels caused by eating grapefruit. But the weight loss may have also been due to increased levels of exercise.

Here are the rules for the grapefruit diet:

- Drink eight servings of water a day.
- Eat only until you are full at each meal.
- 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.
- One cup of coffee can be consumed at each meal.
- No snacking.
- Butter is OK.
- No starches or sweets can be eaten.
- Eat any amount of meat, salad and vegetables to make you full.
- It's important to eat into you're full because the more you eat the more you will lose.
- Skip two days between each 12 day diet period.
- Grapefruit comes before every meal - ½ fruit or 18 ounces of the juice.

The grapefruit diet may be for you.

1. Prev:South Beach Diet Recipes
2. Next:What Is A Diabetic Diet?