I love the names of some of these fad diets. We’re going to talk about the Grapefruit & Caveman diets in this entry. I’ll tell you a little bit about what they recommend for you to eat and what they recommend you avoid. I’ll give you the theory behind it and the dangers they pose.
The Grapefruit Diet
The Grapefruit Diet is named for eating grapefruit, of course. The diet is based around a 21 day cycle and promises to help you shed weight fast – as much as 10 to 20lbs in as little as 21 days.
On the Grapefruit Diet you would typically eat half a grapefruit for breakfast with some black coffee. Half a grapefruit for lunch with a little salad, 1 egg, a piece of toast and again, black coffee or tea. Finally your dinner would be another half of grapefruit (what a surprise!) 2 eggs, half a head of lettuce with a tomato and a little more black coffee or tea.
Now imagine eating just that for 21 days.
If you think you would be starving, you’re right. This is a diet that promises you less than 800 calories a day. Of course you will lose weight. You’ll lose muscle mass too. You’ll probably be so hungry that you’re nauseas and chances are good you’ll want to blow this diet before day 1 is over. This is also nutritionally unbalanced and while you may lose weight rapidly (more muscle than fat most likely), you will not be able to sustain that weight loss.
The Caveman Diet
Um Ugga Bug. The Caveman diet urges us to go back to our roots in the days long before we used preservatives to take care of our food. The belief is that modern processing is the underlying cause for modern obesity. Supporters of this diet believe that cavemen maintained their lean physiques because of their natural diet.
So, dieters following the Caveman theory will eat a lot of vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, and berries, lean meat and lean fish. You eliminate sugars, cereals and most types of bread. If you have guessed that this is a low-carbohydrate diet, then you have guessed correctly. The idea is that excessive carbohydrates lead to obesity because of an overabundance of insulin.
The diet is very high in fat and the elimination of processed foods does lead one to a more healthy diet containing more nutrients and vitamins. Unfortunately, like other fad diets – the weight loss is not sustainable if you do not stay on the diet. Like other low or no carbohydrate diets – when carbs are returned to the diet – the weight usually comes back with them.