Grapefruit Diet

The Grapefruit diet, also known as the Hollywood diet and mistakenly as the Mayo Clinic diet, is a low-calorie, quick-weight loss diet which has no relation at all to any type of diet proposed by the actual Mayo Clinic. A notorious fad diet that has been in existence since at least the 1930s, the grapefruit diet supposedly works by stimulating weight loss via grapefruit’s “magical” fat-burning properties. Participants are told they can lose up to 10 pounds in a 12 day period by following the ingredients of the diet. Some plans encourage exercise as well, and they all require you to limit calorie consumption significantly, in some cases to fewer than 800 calories a day.
Adherents to this diet are encouraged to drink grapefruit juice or eat half of a grapefruit while consuming high-protein, low calorie entrees. For example, a normal lunch on the plan would consist of salad, unlimited meat or fish, and ½ grapefruit or grapefruit juice. It is a monotonous plan and very few types of foods are consumed, with starchy vegetables and breads completely excluded. Participants can use unlimited butter and salad dressing to flavour their foods, and snacking is allowed, but only after dinner. Those following the plan can only eat those foods or beverages allowed on the diet, and they can prepare these foods using any methods they desire.
Nutritional experts have an array of concerns regarding this diet; chiefly that it promotes short term weight loss that has been proven to be mostly water weight. It also is so low in calories that adherents run the risk of having a number of nutritional deficits if they try to stay on this diet on a long-term basis.