Grapefruit Diet

Is grapefruit a fad or a fat burner?

Like cottage cheese, grapefruit has long been a popular dieting food choice. And not without reason: despite continuing doubt regarding grapefruit’s power to trigger fat-burning, there have been medical studies in which participants experienced greater weight loss with the daily consumption of grapefruit than without.

One belief that many people have about the grapefruit diet, alternatively referred to as the grapefruit juice diet, is that it consists of eating only grapefruit and grapefruit juice, but this simply isn’t true. Many foods, especially protein sources like meat and egg, are grapefruit diet staples.

There are different versions of the diet, so you should compare them to see what you might prefer. Does one grapefruit diet menu allow for more of your favorite foods than another? Do you want to follow the well-known 12-day grapefruit diet, or is a longer or shorter period of time right for you? How much exercise does the diet recommend?

Who Should Use the Grapefruit Diet?

The answer depends on who you’re asking. Some experts say it’s effective for anyone who wants to lose a little weight in very little time; some health professionals say there are other good weight-loss solutions. But the grapefruit diet aims more for the kind of quick-fix weight loss that helps you look your best in a new going-out dress or bikini than the kind of weight loss that makes substantial lifelong changes to your body.

While the jury might still be out about grapefruit’s ability to rev up the body’s fat-burning, there is a very strong case for its ability to interfere with medication: grapefruit and grapefruit juice can decrease or, much more commonly, increase the effects of medication (including side effects). So if you’ve checked out several resources on the grapefruit diet and think you’ve found a version you’d like to try, have a chat with your doctor – it’s important to consult with a health-care professional before beginning any new weight-loss program.