The Grapefruit Diet

With so many fad diets available these days, it's hard to imagine any of them having the same staying power as the grapefruit diet has. The grapefruit diet has been around since the 1930s and became very popular around 1980s amongst many Hollywood celebrities. The diet, also known as the Hollywood diet, promotes weight loss that has been claimed to be very effective in cutting fat quickly. 

The essence of the Grapefruit diet is a claim that grapefruit contains a number of enzymes and when consumed before other foods, the enzymes can help with the process of burning off fat. The diet itself has several different variations and in most cases it is suggested to last between 10 to 12 days with a chance to lose as much as 10 pounds (4.5kg) at a time. 

The basic idea is to eat a grapefruit or drink fresh grapefruit juice before every meal. Further, you’ll also need to cut back on sugar and carbs (including rice, potatoes, and pasta), avoid foods such as white onion and celery, and introduce foods high in protein and fat to your diet (eggs, pork). 

One will also have to cut back on their calorie count and in many cases you might have to lower your calorie intake to as low as 800 kcal a day. 

The Grapefruit diet also does not require exercise and it should also have you drinking around eight glasses of water and one cup of coffee daily. 

Conclusion

Although this nutrition plan can be seen as a great jumpstart for losing weight quickly, Grapefruit does not contain any fat-burning enzymes.  

Some variations of the grapefruit diet that are too low in calories (roughly 800–1,000 calories a day), too low in carbohydrates, or too low in essential micronutrients are considered unhealthy and potentially dangerous.

If you are still tempted to give this diet a go, try to introduce more variety in the pieces of fruit you consume before every meal. Water content of the fruit might help you feel fuller sooner and, therefore, consume fewer calories during your meals. Combine this with regular training and you will have better chances of obtaining long lasting results.