With recent trends in obesity and increasing body size, nutrition and weight loss have become popular topics in everyday conversation. The ever-expanding diet industry has spawned a host of products and trendy nutrition tricks to capitalize on our growing obsession. Many of these “fad diets” make pseudoscientific claims that attract people looking to drop a few pounds. The focus on a particular food group or secret health food is the secret of many of these diets’ popularity. In recent history, one of the most popular of these diets has focused solely on grapefruit consumption.
The Grapefruit Diet, also known as the Hollywood Diet, originated in the United States in the 1930s. The diet centers on the claim that grapes have extraordinary weight-loss properties, such as fat-burning enzymes. The grapefruit diet is considered unhealthy by most nutritionists due to the absence of essential vitamins and minerals and the low number of calories (less than 1,200 calories per day). On the other hand, including a grapefruit with each meal may prove beneficial to a healthy person’s diet, provided the dieter is not allergic to grapefruit or is taking medications that interact with citric fruits.
The grapefruit diet is a low-carb diet that typically occurs in two-week cycles (12 days on and 2 days off the diet) that are repeated until desired body weight is achieved. Proponents of the diet suggest that grapefruit helps burn body fat when eaten with foods high in dietary fat. Accordingly, the diet includes consumption of meat, eggs, and fish, while limiting intake of sugars, sweet fruits, grains, and other carbohydrate sources. For best results, the diet requires three meals that are rich in fat and protein, supplemented with a grapefruit, and a daily caloric intake of less than 1,200 calories.
The diet gained popularity in the 1970s after being mislabeled the “Mayo Clinic Diet”. Although the clinic had no affiliation with the diet, the name-branding helped propel the diet to popularity. In the 1980s, the diet was shortened to only 10 days with 2 rest days, earning the nickname “10-day, 10-pound-off diet”. A 2004 study by the Florida Department of Citrus analyzed whether grapefruit could aid in weight loss. Participants were encouraged to eat half a grapefruit with each meal and to exercise regularly. The results were encouraging: Many participants lost more than 10 pounds in 12 weeks. Note that the study focused on including grapefruit in a healthy diet, not adopting a general grapefruit diet. Nevertheless, many people claim short-term success with the diet, but long-term weight loss maintenance still requires adopting a healthy lifestyle.
Source by Bryan D Holekamp
