I wrote about my skepticism toward grapefruit diet in the
last post. My skepticism was based to the fact that the diet did not put any
emphasis at all to portion control.
Therefore it will be hard for people who want to lose
weight. Especially if they end up overeating themselves.
However I also found that grapefruit juice is indeed good
for weight loss. Nutrition and Medical Research Centre at Scripps Clinic did a
research to analyze the effect of grapefruit in weight loss. Although the
result showed that grapefruit can indeed lower your wieght, a healthy diet
meals is still required in order to lose weight effectively in the long run. So
instead of doing it like the previous post, let's build a meal plan centered
for balanced life and weight loss purpose.
The study:
The study about the grapefruit was done by Nutrition and
Medical Research Centre at Scripps Clinic in San Diego, America. The study used
100 obese people as respondents. The first group of people ate half a
grapefruit three times a day before taking meals. While the second group drank
grapefruit juice instead of eating the fruit before taking meals. The third
group was told not to consume any grapefruit at all.
As quoted from this source,
"On average, participants who ate half a grapefruit
with each meal lost 3.6 pounds, while those who drank a serving of grapefruit
juice three times a day lost 3.3 pounds. However, many patients in the study
lost more than 10 pounds."
Explanation:
Grapefruit contains a unique compounds which reduce insulin
levels which prove to lose weight. High insulin levels can make people go
hungry thus making the people eat more and more. High insulin also prevents the
body from breaking away the fat.
The refined meals plan:
Let's use the healthiest and most balanced Diet meals that I
know. The 3 day diet meals plan.
Day 1
Breakfast: Coffee/Tea, 1 egg , 1 slice of toast and 1/2
banana.
Lunch: Coffee/tea, toast with 1/2 cup of tuna.
Dinner: 3 Oz. of chicken, 1 cup of green beans, vanilla ice
cream and carrots. And you can consume 1 cup of vanilla ice cream
Day 2
Breakfast: Coffee/Tea, 1/2 grapefruit and a toast.
Lunch: 1/2 cup of tuna, with 4 - 8 saltine crackers.A
saltine crackers is a thin cracker sprinkled lightly with coarse salt made from
white flour, yeast, and baking soda.
Dinner: 2 beef franks, a cub of cabbage, 1/2 cup of carrots,
1/2 banana and 1/2 cup of vanilla ice cream.
Day 3
Breakfast: Coffee/tea, 5 saltine crackers, 1 apple, 1 egg, 1
toast and just a little cheddar cheese.
Lunch: Coffee/tea, 1 slice of toast with 1 boiled egg.
Dinner: a cup of tuna, carrots, melon, cauliflower and
another 1/2 cup of vanilla ice cream.
However make sure you add either 8oz of grapefruit juice or
a grapefruit for each meals. This may proves hard to do since you are required
to eat a lot of grapefruit. The trick is to substitute your drinks during meals
times with grapefruit juice. That way you can be sure that you drink the
required amount every meals.
With balanced and regulated foods intake, I am sure this
grapefruit can be a useful addition to ANY diet methods.