The Grapefruit Diet

What Sort of Diet is it?

The Grapefruit diet is an extreme diet which has been around since the 1930s and is often one of the first diets people ever try. It promises a quick weight loss for those who want to lose as much weight as possible in a short period of time. Due to its very low daily calorie intake, the grapefruit diet isn’t meant to be followed for more than one week at a time.



How Does it Work?

The diet is based on the theory that certain enzymes within grapefruits cause the body to burn off fat at a faster rate. You can certainly lose weight on the diet, but this is more likely due to the fact that you’re eating so little, less than 800 calories a day.

What Can You Eat?

Obviously, on this diet you have to like grapefruit. You’ll be eating it for breakfast, lunch and dinner! You can eat other foods, but not much. For example, at lunch you’re allowed an egg salad with tomatoes, carrots and a slice of wholemeal bread in addition to your half grapefruit. Dinner isn’t much more exciting. It’s another egg salad, but this time you can add lettuce, tomatoes and dressing (low fat, low sugar etc) along with the obligatory half grapefruit. Oh, and you can follow this with black tea or coffee. Absolutely no snacks are allowed.

Are There Side Effects?

Because the diet contains so few calories as well as very little in the way of fibre, essential vitamins and minerals such as calcium or iron, you probably won’t feel great on this diet. You may experience constipation as well as dizziness due to the low calorie intake.

Anyone sticking to this diet will almost certainly lose weight. However, much of this will be water loss rather than actual fat. This isn’t a nutritionally balanced diet and, although the weight loss will be encouraging, it’s virtually akin to a starvation diet and not recommended for any long period of time.

If you're interested in following the diet, you can buy a kindle edition of the The New Grapefruit Diet here.

And with all those grapefruits you'll need to cut open and eat, this grapefruit spoon with serrated edges is indispensable.

15cm Stainless Steel Grapefruit Spoon

Update November 2012:

Grapefruit may pose a health risk to people who are taking certain medications. Recent research by a team at the Lawson Health Research Institute in Canada said:

 'the number of drugs which had serious side effects with grapefruit had gone from 17 in 2008 to 43 in 2012. They include some drugs for a range of conditions including blood pressure, cancer and cholesterol-lowering statins and those taken to suppress the immune system after an organ transplant.'

To find out more, visit this link: BBC News.


© Diets and Calories 2012