Review of the Grapefruit Diet

Review of the Grapefruit Diet
By William Messruther

The Grapefruit Diet has taken many different names and forms in the past such as The Hollywood Diets, The 48 Hours Hollywood Diet, The New Mayo Diet, the 10-day, 10-pounds off diet and Grapefruit Diet. It has been around since approximately 1930, although became really popular in the 1980's. Doctors and experts soon wrote this one off as another fad diet which was unhealthy and unsustainable.

There are many varieties of the diet but today it usually consists of eating half a grapefruit or drinking grapefruit juice with every meal. It is said that grapefruits are somewhat of a super fruit which contain fat-burning enzymes, however there is no proof of this and experts are undecided.

A number of studies have taken place on this diet where participants lost around 3-4lbs over a 12 week period and many lost more than 10lbs, This study was accompanied by a healthy diet and regular exercise so in my opinion and many others, the grapefruit probably played no real part in the weight loss.

Typically the latest version of this diet means eating 800 calories per day or less, limiting fruit and veg while encouraging eating meat. You must drink 8 glasses of water per day and having lots of caffeine drinks like coffee with no milk or sugar is recommended. It is said that the high fat, high cholesterol foods combined with the grapefruit are supposed to work together to burn fat.

The number of days this diet is followed varies but is usually around 10-21 days, followed by 2 break days and repeated continually if you so wish. You must follow the rules of this diet exactly and not doing so will seriously affect the end result. You can eat as much as you want at meal time and you are encouraged to fill yourself up and you must eat the minimum amount of food at each meal while not eliminating any food from the diet.

You are not allowed to eat in between meals and eating desserts, bread, pasta, fruit, cereal, potatoes and some veg are strictly prohibited. The meat portions at each meal can be doubled or even tripled and apparently, the more you eat the more weight you will lose.

Grapefruits are not bad for you although too much of something generally is, however at least with this diet you are getting some of you're recommended 5-a-day! 800 calories per day is very low with vitamin, mineral, complex carbohydrates and protein deficiencies, all of which could result in you feeling tired and weak and symptoms may show in the form of constipation, nausea, dizziness, dry mouth and problems with your immune and nervous system, bones and hair loss.

The diet gets very boring and monotonous due to the small selection of foods available and the weight loss will be mostly body fluids and water therefore you will probably gain the weight back upon resuming a normal diet. This diet is also not recommended if you are on certain medications such as antidepressants or have high blood pressure or high cholesterol as grapefruits can have a negative effect on your medication.

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