The Mayo Clinic Grapefruit Diet - A Good Fad Diet or Not?

The Mayo Clinic Grapefruit Diet is a popular fad diet that has been around for many years. It was around long before the internet, and, in fact, I remember my mother being on it nearly 40 years ago. I'm sure it was around long before then in one form or the other. It actually has nothing to do with the Mayo clinic and can also be called the Hollywood Grapefruit Diet. These were names given to the diet simply to make it more popular or to give it more credibility.

Lately, the program has taken the form of a 12 day diet. It is said to help you lose 10 or 15 pounds in that time, so it's a quick way to lose lots of weight in minimal time. The diet is actually a very low calorie diet. My mother's doctor so many years ago, actually put all his patients on a 1000 calorie or less diet when they wanted to lose weight. Very few doctors today will go that low, but the grapefruit diet fits the bill for a low calorie diet weighing in at somewhere between 800 and 1000 calories. You definitely need your doctor's approval for this one as you don't want to endanger your health. You also need to avoid grapefruit and grapefruit juice when you take certain medications, so

As you may have guessed, the 12 day grapefruit diet will have you eating grapefruit or drinking grapefruit juice with every meal. Grapefruit happens to be high in vitamin C and low in calories. There is a compound that has been researched in grapefruit that has been found to reduce insulin. This is a good thing and can make it easier to lose weight, so there may be something to the grapefruit diet after all. Research has also found that grapefruit can reduce cholesterol. So, there are many health benefits of grapefruit -- in addition to its vitamin C, potassium, folic acid, fiber and low calories, grapefruit has other vital properties that can help you lose weight.

So, this diet, although a fad diet, definitely has a lot of health benefits and could be a good boost when you are planning a weight loss diet. You just need to be aware that this is not a long term plan, but a 12 day diet to help you lose significant weight quickly. You can certainly also incorporate grapefruit into a more reasonable dieting program for its health benefits after the 12 days is over, but only stick to the very low calorie diet for a limited period of time.

If you want to know more about the grapefruit diet plan, including a menu, visit weightlossdiet411.com/grapefruit-diet-plan.html weightlossdiet411.com/grapefruit-diet-plan.html.

Valerie has vast experience with her own weight loss journey and enjoys researching diets, supplements, and techniques that can assist in losing weight. A lifelong love of reading, writing, and research on weight loss has resulted in her site, weightlossdiet411.com weightlossdiet411.com, a growing resource for those seeking information on a variety of diets and dietary needs.