Grapefruit Diet - An Example of A Fad Diet

Despite what you may have heard about the grapefruit diet, its origins actually started somewhere in the 1930s. It was basically a quick weight loss diet plan that is also known widely as the Hollywood Diet or the Mayo Diet. Although called by different names over the progress of time, the basis of the diet has been much the same. It has lasted until today where there are still people who would actively use this diet to lose weight fast.

The whole idea behind the grapefruit diet is that grapefruits have a certain special ingredient in them that allows the burning of fats and proteins in the human body at an increased rate. Theoretically, the difference in a diet with grapefruits and one without grapefruits is quite substantial in terms of the weight loss that you will see at the end. The diet is said to be specially engineered in such a way that maximum amounts of fat is lost at the minimum levels of effort.

Most of the time the Grapefruit Diet is sold on the virtue of the grapefruit being the miraculous fruit with fat loss properties when the actual parts of the diet aren’t really anything to do with the grapefruit at all. Most of the time the Grapefruit Diet is actually a combination of a low carbohydrate diet together with a severe calorie restricted diet. It is these two elements of the diet that make it successful. You will notice in any diet that uses the grapefruit, that the levels of carbohydrates and sugars are greatly reduced, it is also no coincidence that grapefruits have very little sugars too.

Most Grapefruit Diets offer promises like a loss of 10 pounds in 12 days etc. The problem is that none of the losses that you have made over the few days will ever stay on. Most of the losses that you will see are from water weight as your body tries to adjust to the new diet. When you return your diet to status quo, your body will return its metabolism back to normal and you will slowly but surely see your weight creep back on. Long-term weight control is never the main idea for this diet.

Grapefruit Diets are generally low carbohydrate, protein rich but vitally calorie restriction diets. By restricting your diet to these required attributes and maintaining the low amount, you are guaranteed to lose weight as your body is forced to feed off its own reserves in order to survive. Most people have a daily caloric intake of between 2,500 to 3,500 calories depending on what you do and your body make-up. Most Grapefruit Diets will reduce your daily caloric intake to between 800-1000 calories only. In most cases that is halving the amount of food that you take in.

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