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Grapefruit Diet
The Grapefruit Diet is a weight loss diet built solely around the humble grapefruit.
The idea that a single item of food has miraculous weight loss properties seems a farce. The grapefruit is a marvelous fruit – a natural simple carbohydrate high in fiber and vitamin C. But to use it as the sole foundation of a weight loss program is unwise. However recent research has discovered that the grapefruit has more to it than meets the eye.
A lot of the grapefruit diet plans that have been circulating are very low calorie diet plans (VLCD’s) with a grapefruit thrown in. VLCD’s are not a good weight loss solution for many people. Most versions of the Grapefruit diet are identical to the Mayo Clinic Diet.
Grapefruit Diet – Meal Plan
Below is the outline of the fad diet – and it IS NOT RECOMMENDED. Note that there is also substantial evidence that grapefruit (unlike any other citrus fruit) can interfere with medication.
12 days on – 2 days off
| Breakfast 1/2 Grapefruit or 4 oz. Grapefruit Juice (unsweetened) 2 Eggs (any style) 2 Slices Bacon |
| Lunch 1/2 Grapefruit or 4 oz. Grapefruit Juice (unsweetened) Meat (any style, any amount) Salad (any kind of dressing) |
| Dinner 1/2 Grapefruit or 4 oz. Grapefruit Juice (unsweetened) Meat (any style, any amount) (fish may be substituted for meat) Vegetables (any green, yellow, or red vegetables cooked in butter or any seasoning) |
| Bed Time Snack 1 glass tomato juice or 1 glass Skim milk |
| Vegetables Allowed Red onions, green onions, bell peppers, radishes, cucumbers, broccoli, spinach, lettuce, cabbage, carrots, peas. |
| Vegetables to Avoid White onions, potatoes, celery. |
Look here for other meal suggestions.
Instructions
- At any meal you may eat until you are full – until you can’t eat any more.
- Don’t eliminate anything from the diet, especially don’t skip bacon at breakfast or omit salads. It is the combination of foods that burn fat.
- The grapefruit is important because it acts as a catalyst that starts the burning process.
- Cut down on caffeine- it affects the insulin balance that hinders the burning process. Try to limit to 1 cup per meal at mealtime.
- Don’t eat between meals. If you eat the combination of food suggested you will not be hungry.
- Note that the diet completely eliminates sugar and starches, which are lipids and form fat. Fat doesn’t form fat; it helps burn it. You can fry food in butter and use butter generously on vegetables.
- Do not eat desserts, bread, and white vegetables or sweet potatoes. You may double or triple helpings of meat, salad, or vegetables. Eat until you are stuffed. The more you eat of the proper combination of food, the more you lose.
Properties of the Grapefruit
The traditional grapefruit diet consists of a 7 or 21 day eating plan. 1/2 a grapefruit is consumed during breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Recently the Scripps clinic, based in San Diego carried out a clinical trial and discovered the following:
“The 12-week pilot study, led by Dr. Ken Fujioka, monitored weight and metabolic factors, such as insulin secretion, of the 100 men and women who participated in the Scripps Clinic “Grapefruit Diet” study. On average, participants who ate half a grapefruit with each meal lost 3.6 pounds, while those who drank a serving of grapefruit juice three times a day lost 3.3 pounds. However, many patients in the study lost more than 10 pounds….. The researchers speculate that the chemical properties of grapefruit reduce insulin levels and encourage weight loss.”
By all means include grapefruit in your diet – it may give you an edge. But for serious and sustained weight loss – look elsewhere.
See Also
The Super Skinny Grapefruit and Egg Diet which retails for $4.99.
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Well, I’ve read all the blogs and I’m really excited about starting the diet tomorrow. I’m looking forward to shedding the winter “fat” that I’ve accumulated over the last few years. I have about 20 pounds to lose and I’m curious to hear how Nina is doing because she’s similar to me in weight and goals. It took time to put on all the extra pounds (although I swear it happened overnight) and this is a good diet to “jump start” my weight loss and see results in a short period of time. Like some of you said, if you don’t change your eating habits and lifestyle you’ll end up gaining back all the weight you fought hard to lose. I’m tired of watching the scale go up and down (mostly up). The success of the diet depends on you. There are many that have lost 40 – 50 pounds and have been on the the diet for several months. Kudos to you!! I hope to be a success story too. I can hardly wait until I can fit into jeans that I haven’t been able to wear in several years
) Good Luck to you all!!
Hiya guys, I’ve been on this diet about 10 years ago and I lost a good deal of weight. I’m thinking of going on it again and I’m looking to lose about 30-40 lbs. Can somebody please post what type of meats you allowed to eat? It’s been so long that I forgot.
Evelyn,
Yes I try to walk at leat an hour a day. I have done the diet without exercising, but have found that I just don’t lose as fast.
Day 8: Finally I’ve lost 2lbs… really not easy to lose weight but I have 53 more days to go. Tomorrow is my Dad’s birthday so I’m going to make a little cheating lol… but seriously I’m not going to be full. Oats and grape fruit juice is still on my menu for tomorrow and I’m not going to sacrifice my 8 days of dieting.
My diet plan:
Meals: Oats, green vegetables, a tiny piece of lean meat, a glass of 8oz grape fruit juice and some grapes for desert. I will drink a lot water as prescribe.
Workout: I exercise by running and walking for half an hour or playing badminton or basketball every monday, wednesday and friday.
We must have the will, determination and sacrifice to achieve our goals. Good Luck!
i started the diet on monday today is tuesday i have a slight headache at night i dont feel hungry i want to know if it matters he u drink the milk at night because i have’nt someone plz let me know
Oh! and for anyone else who has successful stories in achieving there weight loss goal I would love to hear them, it keeps me motivated! I will also continue with updates on my progress as well. Good luck everyone!!!
Joy, I just started this grapefruit diet as of yesterday 10/05/08 and was wondering if you had been doing any exercise with this diet plan, being that you have lost a significant amount of weight ” good for you.” I hope I can achieve the same results being I’m 40lbs overweight. If you or anyone has any tips on this diet I would greatly appreciate to hear them. Thanks!!!
Started the diet on 9/22/08, today(October 3) is day #12 I’ve lost 9lbs. Boy am I ready for for something other than lettuce. It’s not been that bad, haven’t been hungry between meals. I’ve lost a total of 17 lbs since 09/08/08. I saw an article on a carb-cycling diet. Has anyone lost anything on a carb-cycling diet, where you eat low carb one day and high carb low fat the next?
Hi, I just called my husband and we are going to go on the diet, starting tomorrow 10/3/08. Have to go to the grocery store tonight. I have a friend that was on it last year and she swears by it. So I will keep ya’ll in formed until then. This is great thanks for all the info. Good luck to us!
Hi guys and congrats to the many of you who have done so well. It’s 2nd October 2008 and i have just scanned all the wonderful postings above. The grapefruit diet i initially read about, that Kylie Minogue reportedly uses to lose 7kg (15lb)in 2 weeks, calls for half a grapefruit to be eaten AT THE START of each meal. Previously, instead of going on the LOW-CARB HIGH-PROTEIN DIET, I used this approach to my everyday eating, having half a grapefruit (peeled & cut up into pieces) up to half an hour before each meal for about one and a half years and it worked really well for me as i continued to gradually lose weight despite not worrying about what I ate or drank (including champagne!). I have read that there is an insulin-lowering effect from eating this nutritious high-fibre fruit. Perhaps that’s the key. Actually, I also love eating large red or green fresh chillies when I’m dieting for getting those feel-good endorphins flowing and supposedly also helping the body get into fat-burning mode. As far as the grapefruits go, unfortunately I gradually forgot to pop them in my shopping trolley and focused more on cooking nice meals for my new family and I guess I’m paying the price now, needing to lose 20kg or 3 dress sizes. But for fast weight loss, yes, I have done the LOW-CARB dieting thing, even eating cheese as snacks, and one does lose quite a bit of weight but must be very careful when coming off it as the weight does tend to come back on quickly when you resume eating carbohydrates, even if exercising daily! I would like to give this GRAPEFRUIT DIET another try, having been inspired by all you’ve written above, and by my own experience eating half a grapefruit before each meal… only this time I will stick to it for 30 days or more and only gradually re-introduce low GI/high fibre carbs such as buckwheat crispbread (also great for many of us who are gluten-sensitive) when I come off it. I also believe that walking or cycling (I use the recumbant bike at the gym) at a pace where you are perspiring and have an increased heartrate, yet can still carry on a conversation, for at least 45 minutes most days is the key and I shall commit to doing this. Also, I have just finished reading The Fat Stripping Diet which is very scientific and, in a tiny nutshell, is all about keeping fat below 20g/day for women and below 40g/day for men in order to lose weight, in conjunction with daily exercise. (So I will be eating lean meats, soft* boiled eggs and not smothering my food with butter and oil, that’s for sure, just a little olive oil or flaxseed oil for me. [*A naturopath advised that eating soft boiled eggs does not raise cholesterol, but eating hard boiled eggs does! Also, drip-filtered coffee doesn’t raise cholesterol but espresso coffee, incuding the shots used in cafe lattes and cappucinos, does! The lady who loves green tea should probably drink decaffeinated green tea throughout the day so you’re still getting the anti-oxidants and enjoyment without all the caffeine, which also has an effect on raising blood pressure.) The daily exercise recommended in The Fat Stripping Diet book: brisk walking because that is the best for keeping you in the fat burning zone – it takes about 20 mins to get into the fat burning zone, so make it count and do 45-60 mins! – (and also helps bone density), whereas workouts that are too vigorous keep you in the cardio zone (great for heart and lungs, but calls on stored glycogen for fuel instead of getting the fat burning process going). I wish i knew this sooner cos I’ve been working my butt off (not literally lol) over the past few years doing 5 full-on cardio sessions per week including Les Mills’ Body Attack classes – plus Body Pump. It didn’t help me lose any weight – in fact I’ve only gained it. God bless the grapefruit and good luck to one and all in this continuous battle to keep our tyrant tastebuds under control and regain & keep our healthy, slender figures!
Hey! i started out at 180 pounds, and now i’m down 165.
This diet really works………hooray for me and anybody who try’s it.:-)
You can put vanilla extract in skim milk for bedtime snack.
my weight is 140 Lbs, 5’5 and my goal is to lose 10 pds and look fit for my wedding day on 11/30/08 so I have 2 months to fulfill it. My diet plan on each every meal is eating oatmeal, vegetables, a tiny piece of meat, a glass of 8oz grape juice and some grapes for desert. I will drink a lot water as prescribe. I exercise by running and walking for half an hour or playing badminton or basketball every monday, wednesday and friday. I have already started this plan 3 days but no loss of pounds yet… I understand it’s still early to expect. My only concern is the grape juice.. is it really safe drinking a total of 24oz a day? 3x a day on each meal.. Even though it’s 100% grape juice but it still have natural sugar on it ( but it’s still sugar ). I’m afraid to have diabetes for doing this for 2 months. I really do hope it’s safe to our health. I will post updates on my progress. Wish me luck. =)
my weight is 140 Lbs, 5’5 and my goal is to lose 10 pds and look fit for my wedding day on 11/30/08 so I have 2 months to fulfill it. My diet plan on each every meal is eating oatmeal, vegetables, a tiny piece of meat, a glass of 8oz grape juice and some grapes for desert. I will drink a lot water as prescribe. I exercise by running and walking for half an hour or playing badminton or basketball 3x a week. I have already started this plan 3 days but no loss of pounds yet… I understand it’s still early to expect. My only concern is the grape juice.. is it really safe drinking a total of 24oz a day? 3x a day on each meal.. Even though it’s 100% grape juice but it still have natural sugar on it ( but it’s still sugar ). I’m afraid to have diabetes for doing this for 2 months. I really do hope it’s safe to our health. I will post updates on my progress. Wish me luck. =)
HEY! i am 190 pounds and i would like to be 150.
how long do you think it will take?
also can you eat apples on this diet?
i cant believe you can eat any meat…so you can actually eat fried meats?? PLEASE help!! (:
i just started this diet today. in order to jump-start my weight-loss. i will do it for 2 weeks, then probably start re-introducing good/complex carbs slowly. SBD style. will keep you updated. good luck to everyone!
No yesterdays are ever wasted for those who give themselves to today. ~Brendan Francis
i have been on this diet for 10 days and i am so happy with this diet. i want to lose 50lb by christmas wish me well.and good luck to everyone!!!!
i just started this whole diet thing on 9-25-08 so i feel ya daniella!!!!i am hopein this works i am 5’9 and 230lbs i may not look it but i feel every pound of it i just had a beautiful 9 lbs baby girl 11 months ago so i am still tryin to loose all this exsess weight i gain allmost 100lbs and she is my first baby i really hope this diet works wish me luck and i am very open to any suggestions!!! Thanks!!!
157.2 today belly looks smaller….
Hello all,
Day 2:
I started this diet yesterday, so far so good,157.2 I walk about 2 mile a day. do u have to drink just water? I love green tea with no sugar? can I have this?
I started this diet today 09,25, 08, i weight 157.4, I’m 5’1 looking to lose 40lbs…. Oct 6th I should weight less,
good luck to all
keep u posted
can i eat avocado and tabassco with this diet?
Please some one let me know
ryansmom917@yahoo.com
hi
i am satarting this diet today and with the full assurance that i will lose fifty pounds, so with u people with doubts about this diet, whats worst, having fifty extra pounds weighing u down or giving de ting a try.its worth it so please bstop the doubting. will keep u posted
im given it a try wish me luck
The grapefruit diet does work…u first begin to loose inches, so make sure u start to measure yourself then you loose weight..It worked for me… I was very focused and dedicated to the diet and it worked..I see that my face and my thighs are smaller along with my waist line and after 3months I lost a total of 30pounds. The diet also helps with your eatting habit!!!!
Hey this diet works. I did this diet about 13 years ago and lost 54 pounds from February 13 to April 29. I walked every day rain or shine for an hour. I have tried this diet several times sinnce then, and can not lose anything without exercising but of coarse I almost 40 now. I started the diet back 09/22, and so far I have lost 2lbs. Before, I don’t remember losing anything until day 5. Somebody help me, I didn’t eat any cheese last time, but can you eat cheese which has no carbohydrates, and still lose weight. Also before, I ate 2 slices of bacon for breakfast, can you eat more bacon and still lose weight. Please respond.
what about sushi?
can you eat that?
HI everyone I just started this diet 9/18/08 I will be posting in 12 days and good luck to everyone!!!
I just started this diet last night(09/16/2008). So far so good. I am 5’3″ weigh 140lbs and I would like to get down to 120lbs by October 21,2008. Although 125lbs would be fine. Plan on starting to walk 1 hour everyday tomorrow. I will keep you posted!
starting this diet tomorrow 09/17/08 heading to australia at the end of October hoping to lose about 30lbs, fingers crossed anyway…best of luck to everyone who is on it!!!!