Grapefruit Diet

For many people who lived during the 70s, the mere mention of the era may bring back images of All-Star Converse sneakers, disco music, and hippies. But to those people who were fighting off flabs during that decade, it calls to mind memories of consuming lots and lots of grapefruits.

The grapefruit diet plan, also called the Hollywood diet, began during the 1930s and became infamous during the 70s. Its popularity declined after Mayo Clinic expressed disapproval of its process, regarding it as unbalanced and unsafe. As a result, it became widely considered as a fad diet, and was shunned by many dietitians and other health-conscious individuals. However, in recent years, the grapefruit diet plan is slowly regaining its popularity after new findings revealed its effectiveness against weight gain.

What Grapefruit Diet is all about

Initially designed to last from 12 to 18 days, the grapefruit diet is comprised of accompanying every meal with a serving of fresh grapefruit or unsweetened grapefruit juice. A grapefruit diet meal is usually composed of protein-rich foods-- like bacons and eggs-- and veggies that are all low in complex carbs. This diet plan is supposed to help a person lose 52 pounds in a short amount of time. However, for this diet plan to be truly successful, a person is required to take up only 800 calories per day. This diet plan also requires drinking 8 glasses of water every day, as well as limitless amount of black coffee. Moreover, a person going through the grapefruit diet should avoid eating in-between meals.

The ccience behind the Grapefruit Diet

As with any type of food faddism, the grapefruit diet is backed by certain scientific evidences and several pseudo-scientific claims. The reason this diet plan has been so popular is the belief that grapefruits have excellent fat-burning properties. According to the claims, grapefruits contain special enzymes that help a person burn significant amount of fats in the body. However, many health experts believe that the weight-losing benefits of the grapefruit diet has more to do with the premeditated low-calorie intake rather than the so-called fat-burning properties of the fruit. As a matter of fact, this premise is one of the reasons the grapefruit diet is looked down on by dietitians and health experts.

But if you think that the grapefruit diet is just another hoax, think again. Recent findings by the Nutrition and Metabolic Research Center in 2004 revealed that there might be some truth to the old diet plan. A 12-week research conducted by Dr. Ken Fujioka at the Scripps Clinic in San Diego showed that grapefruits can really help a person drop weight. The researchers found out that grapefruits can lower a person's insulin levels, which in turn affects the blood sugar regulation. This is because grapefruits have low glycemic index (a half-slice of grapefruit has a GL level of 6 only), which is essential in improving one's metabolism against fats. As a result, grapefruits can curb a person's appetite while keeping fats from being stored in the body. So if you're planning to lose some serious weight, start making grapefruits part of your meals.

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