by Victoria Gates
The "3 Day Diet" dates back to 1985 and today can be found all over the Internet and on book store shelves. The three day diet and its variants boast quick weight loss, a cleansing of the system, lower cholesterol and increased energy all through a "specific metabolic reaction" that no version of the diet has ever proven. The diet is to be followed for only 3 days, with an off period of about 5 days in between diet times.
All the versions of this diet share in common detailed steps that must be followed and foods that must be eaten in order for the diet to work. What better way to blame the dieter when it doesn't work than "you botched the formula."Breakfast on the first day begins with coffee (no sugar), one half a grapefruit, and a piece of toast with 1 Tbsp peanut butter. For lunch, you are allowed a can of tuna, a piece of toast, and black coffee.
Dinner consists of 3 ounces of chicken or lean meat, a cup of green beans, one cup of carrots, one apple, and one cup of regular vanilla ice cream. The following two days of the diet are pretty similar in meal quantity, though the specifics change, for example Day 2 recommends two beef franks for dinner in place of three ounces of lean meat. The diet crows that weight loss of 10 pounds is achievable over the 3 days that the diet lasts.
Baloney! How's that for specific? And no baloney is not found on the diet. As stated the metabolic reaction has never been explained much less proven. Any weight loss would be mostly water loss due to a lack of carbs which help the body hold water. That could lead to dehydration. Once the three days end the weight will return, primarily because it's mostly water. But also because any weight lost from the missed calories will be regained when the starving diet victim returns to normal, or in this case heavier than normal, eating.
Furthermore, such water loss could result in some serious medical emergencies. But hey, then you'd lose some real weight in the hospital. The 3 day diet is best treated as a no day diet. In other words, don't do it.
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