The Grapefruit (Mayo) Diet helps to lose weight using grapefruit as the focus food. The diet consists of eating grapefruit, salads and lean protein, but severely restricting carbohydrate intake.
The idea is to follow this diet for twelve days and then have a couple of days break before repeating.
Breakfast is two eggs, a couple of bacon rashers, a cup of black coffee, and half a grapefruit.
Lunch consists of salad with dressing, and any lean meat, plus half of a grapefruit.
Dinner can be fish, any kind of non-starchy vegetable, and half a grapefruit.
For supper, a cup of milk or tomato juice will suffice.
Grapefruit is the key. It has the botanical name Citrus paradisi and is easy to peel. It has a flavour between an orange and a lemon, with a little sweetness.
Grapefruit flesh can be blonde, pink, or red in colour. Some varieties are very bitter while others are quite sweet.
The riper grapefruits are, the more antioxidants they contain. They are sources of dietary fiber and vitamins A and C. Calcium, Magnesium, Phosphorus, and Potassium are the main minerals.
A cup of blonde grapefruit has only 76 calories; a cup of pink grapefruit has 97 calories. Red grapefruit contains more flavonoids and anthocyanins.
Red grapefruit contains lycopene, a carotenoid that fights free radical damage and protects against ultraviolet light.
Eating fresh grapefruit assists weight loss because it makes the body lose 'water' weight. But failing go back on the diet after the two-day break will cause the water weight to return!
With the Grapefruit Diet you basically eat until you feel almost full. You can have all the lean protein and fish you want, but never become bloated.
Never skip meals or eliminate any of the foods on the diet. Bacon and the salads are crucial because the exact combination of foods is what helps the body to burn fat.
Caffeine is limited to one cup of coffee in the morning because too much hinders the fat burning process.
Avoid snacking between meals. You should not feel hungry anyway because the diet plan prevents hunger.
Sugars and starch are absent in this diet. Harmful fructose is completely avoided as that quickly becomes stored as fat.
Fat does not form fat. Sugars turn to fat. You can fry food in butter or coconut oil, and use butter generously on vegetables, yet still lose weight with this diet.
Never eat desserts, bread, or potatoes when on the Grapefruit Diet.
You can eat two or three helpings of meat, salad, or vegetables, but no carbohydrates are allowed. Simply eat until sated.
Up to ten pounds can be lost in twelve days on the first round of the Grapefruit Diet because of the water loss. On subsequent rounds, less weight will be lost.
Always talk to your doctor before starting any diet if you have medical conditions.
