A Variation on the Grapefruit Diet for Weight Loss

The grapefruit diet is a popular crash diet that has been around for many years. There are many variations of the grapefruit diet out there. But all of them, like the Mayo Clinic Diet, revolve around the supposed fat burning properties of the grapefruit. Recently, physicians have questioned whether grapefruit burns fat at all. I don't know if it does, but I have tried the grapefruit diet and it works well for short term weight loss. I was on the grapefruit diet for 12 days (the recommended time, with two days between a second attempt) and I lost around 10 lbs, which isn't bad. Here's a quick outline of the vegan version of the grapefruit diet that I followed.

Meal Plan

The meal plan for the grapefruit diet calls for a substantial amount of meat, like the Atkins diet. But, while I wanted to try the diet I wasn't willing to eat any meat. In my version, I substituted a lot of high protein vegetables and tofu for the meat in the diet. I'll include the traditional version of the grapefruit diet, and make note of the vegan options.

Breakfast

½ grapefruit or 6oz of unsweetened grapefruit juice (be sure to check the label)

2 eggs

2 bacon slices

So, clearly bacon was out for me. I substituted it for Morning Star's vegan bacon. I'm not a vegan, but I'm not a big fan of eggs, and the grapefruit diet requires you to eat them every day. I substituted the eggs for a handful of almonds. They are high in protein and low in carbs.

Lunch

½ grapefruit or 6oz of unsweetened grapefruit juice

Meat (any kind, as much as you want)

Salad (any kind of dressing)

The signature feature of the grapefruit diet (besides the grapefruit) is the fact that it allows you to eat as much as you want so you never feel deprived. But, there is a lot of meat included. I substituted the meat for tofu and veggie stir fry. The grapefruit diet allows any kind of green, yellow, or red vegetable (although you are supposed to avoid white onions, potatoes and celery). I enjoyed being able to switch up the vegetables so even though I was eating stir fry several times a day, I still had some variety.

Whether you're trying the traditional, or vegan version of the grapefruit diet, have some fun with your salads. When most people think about salads they just think of leafy greens and dressing. On the grapefruit diet, you'll be eating at least one salad a day so spruce it up. Add nuts (high in protein), veggies, soy beans, or other tasty vegetables (but no croutons) to your salads so you'll look forward to eating the different combinations that you come up with.

Dinner

½ grapefruit or 6oz of unsweetened grapefruit juice

Meat or fish (any kind, as much as you want)

Vegetables (red, yellow or green cooked in butter - any type of seasoning is ok)

Again, I substituted the meat or fish with tofu stir fry. I really tried to use the grapefruit diet to explore different types of vegetables. If you eat broccoli everyday you're on the grapefruit diet, you're going to get bored with it very quickly. Browse the vegetable section of your grocery store and experiment with the different vegetables that they have available.

Bed Time Snack

A glass of skim milk or tomato juice

I don't particularly like skim milk or tomato juice, so I used my bedtime snack as an excuse to include a little more variety. I have a juicer at home, so I experimented with different types of vegetable juice. Carrot was especially good.

The Rules

The grapefruit diet isn't as restricting as many diets out there, but there are a few guidelines that are important to follow.

Rule #1

This is my favorite grapefruit diet rule. You can eat until you're full, until you're so full that you don't even have room for the doughnuts they keep in the break room at work.

Rule #2

Don't leave anything out. The amount of food that you're required to eat on the diet helps to keep your metabolism in calorie burning mode. Skipping breakfast or your snack will slow down your progress.

Rule #3

OK, I have to admit that I didn't follow this rule: limit the amount of caffeine that you intake. Supposedly, caffeine inhibits the fat burning process. On the grapefruit diet, you're allowed one cup per meal at mealtime. I definitely had more than that.

Rule #4

No between meal snacking.

Rule #5

You can have all the fat that you want, so slather those veggies in butter. Deep fry them even. It's ok.

Rule #6

No carbs! This was the hardest part of the grapefruit diet for me, but most of the reason that I decided to take on the challenge. I am in love with carbohydrates. But the grapefruit diet helped to put the amount of carbohydrates that I was eating in perspective. Since I've been off of the grapefruit diet, I'm more aware of it when my diet has a disproportionate amount of carbohydrates.