The grapefruit diet became popular in the 1920s and 1930s. It makes you eat-restricted plan to be a by-product of the Depression Era when it became popular among celebrities, eventually got popularity as The Hollywood Diet.
What Is Grapefruit Diet?
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The grapefruit diet is one of the many famous diets that have been sold as the secret for quick weight loss. The grapefruit diet has got more popularity than some TV doctors and famous social media personalities have gone on to try and convince the public to try this. However, before you rush to the grocery store or local farmer’s market in search of grapefruit, let’s discuss more.
The grapefruit diet is a low-calorie eating plan that needs participants to get half a grapefruit before or during each meal of the day. As the name recommends, people should be on this diet and can push it up to 10 days.
How to Follow The Grapefruit Diet?
There are different versions of guidelines for the diet, but different sources claim it should remain for 2 or 3 weeks. Every version is low in calories, carbohydrates and high in protein.
In some versions, the diet calls for eating no more than 800 calories every day.
Commonly, people following the grapefruit diet can make their foods however they include salad dressing, spices, and butter.
Sample Of Meals Plan Include:
Breakfast
Two boiled eggs
Half grapefruit
2 slices of bacon
8 ounces of grapefruit juice
Lunch
Salad with dressing
Half grapefruit
Any meat
8 ounces of grapefruit juice
Dinner
Any meat
Salad or green and red vegetables
tea or coffee
8 ounces of grapefruit
half grapefruit
Bedtime snack
8 ounces of skim milk
The grapefruit diet saw a renewal in the 1970s and different interactions of the diet continue to circulate. Over the years, it also became linked with the Mayo Clinic. In 2004, a book titled The-Grapefruit-Solution recommended that eating grapefruit could increase the success rate of the weight loss plan of your choice.
The focal point of any adaptation of the grapefruit diet for the most part involves eating a couple of portions of grapefruit daily and will in general be incredibly prohibitive with different food varieties. The greatest guarantee of the grapefruit diet is critical weight reduction in a brief timeframe.
While it is true that grapefruit is very nutritious, but it does not provide magical powers for weight loss.
For many years, this eating plan has got many variations to it. They include:
The Egg and Grapefruit Diet
The grapefruit and egg diet menu needs you to eat 2 eggs and half of this citrus fruit once or 2 times a day. Followers of this diet tend to get this specific combination for breakfast. All other meals have this fruit or one glass of juice and more eggs or meat in uncertain amounts.
The 3-Day Grapefruit Diet
A shorter and very low-calorie variation of the grapefruit diet. You must eat this fruit at every meal.
A 3-Day Diet with Grapefruit
It is a military diet that needs one to eat this citrus fruit at their breakfast on the 1st day of eating plan. You follow the diet for 3 days and then do not diet for 4 days. and continue this pattern till you get your desired goal.
The Apple Cider Vinegar and The Grapefruit Diet
This version got popular by a TV doctor who claimed that it would help females slim down. It needs people to drink one glass of grapefruit juice with 2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar and one tsp of honey before each meal. Like all the above variations, it is a fad diet that can cause side effects like dehydration, teeth loss, headaches, and overall weakness.
Grapefruit Detox Diet
This type of detox claims to promote weight loss from nootkatone and fiber present in this citrus fruit. This grapefruit diet variation needs you to eat half of this fruit with each meal and 4 ounces of protein in breakfast and dinner.
What Can You Eat?
While different versions of the diet exist, the grapefruit diet basic proof is eating grapefruit whole, though few types permit for powdered grapefruit supplement before all 3 meals a day, for a time of 7-10 days or more. Also, there is a restrictive eating plan for those 3 meals.
While there can be some variation in the grapefruit diet guidelines, all call for consuming the grapefruit or drinking its juice before meals, most versions consistently call for 3 meals a day, no snacks, and 4 meal or bedtime snack usually a glass of skim milk or tomato juice.
Snacks ideas for Grapefruit Diet
Different variations of this eating plan do not have snacks in their grapefruit diet plan. They call it 3 meals with very low calories every day.
Healthy snacks are encouraged in this diet to have an energy boost in the mid of the day to lower hunger and overeating. As long as you can choose a healthy option, you can enjoy the below snacks.
Mixed seeds and nuts
Rinsed canned fruit in natural juice
Mixed berries and plain greek yogurt
Hummus and assorted veggies
Veggies or fruit smoothies
Fresh and frozen fruits
Rice cake and wholegrain crackers
Unsweetened coffee or tea
One glass of plant-based milk with sweetener
Zucchini or cucumber or bell pepper slices.
How Much Weight Loss Can Happen with A Grape Diet?
There is no single assent about how much weight decrease one can have with a grapefruit diet. A few sources guarantee that it assists with shedding 9 pounds in 7 days, different sources say it lower 10 pounds in 12 days, while others guarantee that you could even decrease 50 pounds if you followed this eating plan for 10 weeks.
Despite these large numbers, it is essential to remember that these results are evidence-based. Also, variations have low calories, which increase the weight loss process.
Remember that rapid weight loss can be harmful and cause side effects like fatigue, mood swings, dizziness, nutrient deficiencies, menstrual irregularities in females, and muscle loss.
For healthy and long-term weight loss, it is recommended to try losing only 1-2 pounds every week. It can be done from a calorie deficit diet and workout. A calorie deficit needs you to lower 500-1000 calories per day from a typical diet.
What You Need to Know About Grapefruit diet
While nutrition specialists do not suggest the grapefruit diet, it can be particularly doubtful for people who take some pills as eating grapefruit in especially huge amounts or frequent with some medicines can have unsafe health effects.
More than 50 medications are known to interfere with grapefruit, but some of the most common medications that are not safe to combine with grapefruit or its juice include:
Thyroid medications:
People taking thyroid hormone replacement therapy should skip consuming more grapefruit, which can make the thyroid medications less effective.
Statins:
Statin medications include Zocor (simvastatin), Lipitor (atorvastatin) to treat high cholesterol and grapefruit can affect the medication level in the blood also increase side effects.
Antidepressants
Many medications utilized to cure depression, treat bipolar disorder, and other mental health conditions can influence by some enzymes present in grapefruit.
Grapefruit Diet: Is It A Healthy Choice?
The grapefruit diet shares different characteristics with other fad diets with restrictions that claim to provide easy and quick weight loss, such as the 3-day military diet and egg diet. However, the grapefruit diet consists of a kernel of beneficial advice for people wanting weight loss.
The US department of agriculture’s dietary guidelines recommends eating a balanced diet of vegetables, fruits, proteins, grains, and dairy products. The USDA also suggest eating around 1600 to 2400 calories for female and 2000-3000 calories every day for male for weight control. This calorie level need for weight loss can differentiate based on sex, age, weight, and physical level.
Health Benefits Of Grapefruit Diet
Grapefruit is a tropic citrus fruit popular for its sour and sweet taste. It has rich antioxidants, fiber, and nutrients, which make it a very healthy citrus fruit for you. Research indicates that it may provide good health benefits such as:
Low in Calories, and High in Nutrients
Grapefruit is a very healthy food for diet. That is because it has high nutrients, but low calories. It is one of the low-calorie fruits.
It provides a good amount of fiber, in addition to more than 15 helpful minerals and vitamins. Here are some major nutrients present in half of medium-sized grapefruit.
- Calories: 52
- Protein: 1 gram
- Vitamin C: 64% of the RDI
- Potassium: 5% of the RDI
- Magnesium: 3% of the RDI
- Carbs: 13 grams
- Vitamin A: 28% of the RDI
- Fiber: 2 grams
- Thiamine: 4% of the RDI
- Folate: 4% of the RDI
Promote Immune System
Eating grapefruit regularly may be helpful for the immune system. It is known for its vitamin C content, which provides antioxidant properties known to help your cells from harmful viruses and bacteria.
Additionally, many studies have shown vitamin C to be helpful for quick recovery from the common cold.
Several other minerals and vitamins present in grapefruit are known to increase immunity and its vitamin A helps to prevent infection and inflammatory diseases.
The presence of vitamin B, copper, iron, and zinc also boost immunity and prevent infection.
Improve Appetite Control
Grapefruit consists of a decent quantity of fiber that is 2gm in half of a medium-sized fruit. Research shows that a diet with high fiber fruit is helpful for a fullness feeling. It is due to fiber slows the rate at which your stomach empties, and raises the digestion time. Thus, eating enough fiber automatically helps to consume fewer calories in the whole day by controlling appetite.
Aid Weight Loss
Grapefruit is also good for weight loss. It has many traits related to weight loss like fiber content helps to increase fullness and lower calorie consumption.
Additionally, grapefruit consist of some calories but more water, which is another known point to benefit weight loss.
According to an analysis of 91 people found that those who use half of a fresh grapefruit before meals decreased more weight than those who did not. Those in the group that utilizes fresh grapefruit decreased an average of 3.5 pounds for 12 weeks, while the participants in the group that did not consume grapefruit had lowered 1 pound on average.
Other studies have discovered the same weight-lowering effects. For example, one study discovered that participants felt a low waist size when they ate grapefruit every day with their meals.
Prevent Diabetes and Insulin Resistance
Regular consumption of grapefruit may provide benefits to prevent diabetes and insulin resistance, which can cause diabetes. Insulin resistance occurs when the cells unable to give respond to insulin. Insulin is an important hormone that controls the different processes in the body. For example, it is involved in different aspects of metabolism, but it is more commonly known for its role in controlling blood sugar levels, two primary risk agents for type-2 diabetes.
According to one study, people who consumed half fresh grapefruit before meals had a reduction in both insulin resistance and insulin levels, compared to the group that did not eat grapefruit.
Improve Heart Health
Regular eating grapefruit is believed to increase heart health by lowering risk factors for heart ailment, such as high blood pressure and cholesterol.
According to one study, people who consumed grapefruit 3 times every day for 6 weeks felt low blood pressure over the study course. They have also shown improvements in complete cholesterol and bad cholesterol level.
These effects are likely because of essential nutrients that grapefruit have, which play an essential role in normal heart functioning.
First, grapefruit have high potassium, which is a mineral responsible for different aspects of heart health.
Half a grapefruit offers about 5% of the everyday potassium requirement.
Enough potassium consumption is linked with a low risk of high blood pressure. Additionally, it has been indicated to reduce the risk of death from a heart ailment.
Second, the fiber present in grapefruit may also promote heart health, given that high fiber consumption is linked with lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
Overall, the study claims that adding antioxidant-rich fruits and fiber-like grapefruit as part of a healthy diet helps to save against conditions like stroke and heart disease.
High Antioxidants
Grapefruit consists of different antioxidants that allow different health benefits, including a lower risk of many illnesses.
Antioxidants help to save cells from damage that happened by free radicals, which are sensitive particles that may cause adverse reactions in the body.
Here is a summary of the various crucial antioxidants in grapefruit:
Vitamin C:
An incredible, and water-solvent cell reinforcement is available in high amounts in the grapefruit. It might serve to protect cells from harm that can cause malignancy and heart disease.
Beta-carotene:
It is converted into vitamin A in the body and is believed to help to lower the risk of some chronic conditions, including cancer, heart disease, and eye-linked disorders such as macular degeneration.
Lycopene
Lycopene is the potential ability to avoid the growth of some type of cancer, especially prostate cancer.
May also help to lower the tumor growth and reduce the cancer treatment side effects.
Flavanones
The grapefruit has anti-inflammatory properties that have been shown to reduce cholesterol levels and blood pressure, lowering the heart disease risk.
Lower Risk of Kidney Stones
Eating grapefruit may lower the risk of forming kidney stones, which leads to the development of waste material in the kidneys.
These waste materials are outcomes of metabolism that are commonly filtered from the kidneys and removed from the body through urine.
Be that as it may, when stones structure in the kidneys, they are changed over into stones. More significant kidney stones may begin to blockage in the urinary framework, which can be especially excruciating. The most well-known kidney stones are oxalate stones. Citrus extract, a natural corrosive found in grapefruit, perhaps great at halting them by blending in with calcium in the kidneys and kill it from the body.
Very Hydrating
Grapefruit has more water and therefore, it is very hydrating. Hydration occurs from fruit weight. There are almost 4 ounces of water in half of a medium grapefruit, which for about 88% of its total weight. While drinking more water is a good way to keep yourself hydrated.
Diet-Friendly
Grapefruit does not need much preparation, so it is easy to include in the diet.
Even if you stay busy, on the go lifestyle, you can still feel good about this fruit regularly without any worry.
Here are some ideas to enjoy grapefruit:
Slice grapefruit
Eat with other dessert foods
Try for salad and combine avocado and kale
Combine with a smoothie with other fruits
Add it with other healthy breakfast
Everyone cannot have Grapefruit
There are some purposes why some individuals should be cautious about this fruit and avoid it.
Medication Interactions
For some individuals, eating grapefruit and its juice may cause medication interactions. It is because of substances lower cytochrome P450, an enzyme your body uses to metabolize some medications. If you consume grapefruit at the time of these medications, your body may not be able to convert them, which could lead to an overdose and cause risky effects.
The medications that interact with grapefruit include:
- Benzodiazepines
- Immunosuppressants
- Indinavir
- Some statins
- Calcium channel blockers
- Carbamazepine
If you are using you are taking any of these medications, take your doctor’s approval before adding fruit to your diet.
Tooth Enamel Erosion
For example, consuming grapefruit may also induce tooth enamel erosion. The citric acid present in this fruit is a natural cause of tooth decline if you take more.
Citrus extract, which is found in citrus natural products, is an overall reason for enamel erosion, particularly on the off chance that you eat it in gluts. On the off chance that you have explicit delicate teeth, you might need to avoid acidic organic products. In any case, there are a few things you can take to secure your tooth polish while yet appreciating grapefruit:
Try not to suck grapefruit or other acidic products of the soil putting them straightforwardly on influenced teeth.
Wash your mouth with water after eating this fruit and wait 30 minutes before brushing your teeth.
Eat cheese and fruit, which help to reduce acidity effects and promote saliva production.
What Do The Experts Say?
While grapefruits are best for you, the fat-burning promises of the grapefruit diet are not proof-based. The small portion and fewer food options are not sustainable, and grapefruit has a high risk of interfering with different conditions and medications.
There is no indication that grapefruit has fat-burning enzymes and it is not magic for weight loss suggested by American-Dietetic-Association, previous president Connie Diekman.
There is no experimental basis to the claim that grapefruit is unique in this way. Grapefruit is the most excellent food, but so are other healthy foods like fruits and vegetables. Behind the nutritious grapefruit, specialists agree, the Grapefruit diet has many traps and should not be utilized by anyone looking for long-term and sustainable weight control. The restricted variety of foods is very limiting it does some help to enhance their eating behaviors and habits.
Like that limited foods variety of foods in small portions is a recommendation for monotony, boredom, and taste fatigue. It is exactly the formula that leads to boredom for weight loss.
On again or off again diets continue the misunderstanding about healthy weight loss. You will indeed lose weight, but it will be fluids and not the fat linked with health risks. And later you will regain it as fast they reduce it.
Healthy weight loss is a process and not a promise. If you wish for long-term success, do not waste your time on a diet with Grapefruit.
Does Grapefruit have Protein?
Yes, this citrus fruit has some amount of protein. According to the USDA database of food, one medium-sized grapefruit provides 1.6 g of protein, while its juice provides 0.98g of protein.
Pros and Cons
The Grapefruit Diet: Pros
- Grapefruit consist of rich vitamin C and certain phytochemicals, fiber, and micronutrients.
- This diet has low calories, more vitamin C, and beta-carotene.
- It can also prevent cancer and infection.
- The white pith provides bioflavonoids and pectin which makes the grapefruits a good antioxidant food.
- Early results from US researchers recommend that consuming grapefruit does benefit lowering the risk of diabetes.
- The grapefruit enzymes help to lower insulin levels and promote weight loss.
- This diet is very easy to follow.
The Grapefruit Diet: Cons
- The calorie shortage and caffeinated beverages can harm health and cause dehydration.
- This diet does not have much protein, fiber, and other essential vitamins and minerals.
- The diet lacking important minerals and vitamins, which may cause low energy and dizziness during the diet.
- This diet is very restrictive as it depends much on a single food.
- Since this diet lacks sufficient calcium, iron, and other vitamins, it might not healthy for all dieters.
- Grapefruit is only a winter fruit and it should be considered for the short term.
- The diet does not change the normal eating pattern, which is required to gain permanent weight loss, the weight you reduce now will in all possibility come again.
Reviews about Grapefruit diet
While the grapefruit diet is usually found on the internet may not suitable for everyone’s needs, but adding more grapefruit to your diet might help for weight loss. This fruit is nutritious and provides low calories. However, avoid if you are taking any medications for depression, thyroid, and high cholesterol to prevent interactions.
Generally try for an eating plan that does not reduce major food groups, provide possibly slow weight loss and highlight health goals with safety. Your physician or a registered dietitian can help to advise you about your health and grapefruit diet.
Note that following a short-term or long-term diet may not be necessary for you because it depends on other things like genetic blueprints, nutritional needs, goals, and budget.
Lastly, pay attention to your healthy sleep, hydration and avoid stress from life. You can not remove stress from your life but you can avoid it by focusing on different things and maintain a healthy lifestyle.