The Grapefruit Diet - A Fad of Four Decades

The Grapefruit Diet is a fad diet that has been shedding pounds for four decades.

The Grapefruit Diet is also known as the Mayo Clinic Diet, even though they didn’t create it, nor do they endorse it. This fad diet has been around since the 1970’s, and goes in and out of popularity with the seasons. Since it claims quick weight loss, it picks up speed before and during swimsuit season. Many scientists, nutritionists, and even the Mayo Clinic believe it can be dangerous.

The Inside Skinny

The Grapefruit Diet works by eating a half of a grapefruit or drinking 8 ounces of grapefruit juice with every meal. By doing that, and following the “rules,” you will lose approximately 50 pounds in a couple of months. The list of foods you cannot have is extensive and includes potatoes, celery, peas, cereal, peanut butter, pasta, fruit, low fat salad dressing, starchy vegetables or white onions.

How the Grapefruit Diet Works

Scientists believe the grapefruit juice works to lower insulin levels in the body, thus allowing the body to metabolize faster. When your body metabolizes fast, the fat and sugar in your system is burned faster, helping you lose weight. With carbs being on the no-no list, the complex sugars made from carbs are lower, resulting in less sugar for your system to burn, equaling rapid weight loss.

Grapefruit Diet Risks

Since the Grapefruit Diet rules out fruit and a lot of vegetables, experts believe it to be unbalanced and unsafe. A test was done by a Doctor at the Nutrition and Metabolic Research Center at Scripps Clinic in 2004. He ran a test group of individuals who followed the regime for 12 weeks. He found their weight loss to be much lower than the 50+ pounds claimed.