As fad diets go, the green grape diet is fairly simple -- just eat nothing but green grapes and reap the fruits' health benefits while you lose weight. Another twist on this diet is that it is purported to cure cancer, if you are so afflicted. Always talk to a health care professional about the pros and cons of any diet plan you are considering, especially if you have a health condition, take medicine or plan to severely restrict calories. Delaying medical treatment for a serious condition can have dangerous health consequences.
History
Models seeking to lose weight have followed the green grape diet to shed pounds for big shoots, says Cleo Glyde in the "Marie Claire" magazine article, "My 11-Grape Diet." Glyde's plan went like this: three grapes for breakfast and two for snacks. Six grapes are allotted for "binges."
For those who are worried more about health than weight, the grape diet has been promoted during various times during the 20th century as a treatment that will protect your body against cancer. It's meant to flush toxins from your body. South African dietitian Johanna Brandt proposed the grape diet in 1925, claiming she cured herself from stomach cancer with it. She published a book about the diet in 1928 that has been republished numerous times since. However, since there was no scientific evidence to back her claims that the diet cured disease, Brandt and followers who prescribed the grape diet as cancer cure became targets for legal action and intense criticism, according to the American Cancer Society.
Significance
Various websites and books still tout the green grape diet, in which you consume nothing but the fruit, as a way to cure cancer. This diet supposedly will cure your cancer within a month to six weeks, according to "The Detox Mono Diet," by Christopher Vasey. However, scientific evidence does not support the theory that a diet that consists solely of grapes is effective for treating cancer or other diseases, according to the American Cancer Society.
Chemicals in grapes may be helpful for preventing cancer as well as heart disease. For example, proanthocyanidins, the chemical in grape seed extract, are powerful antioxidants. However, as of 2010 research was still preliminary and consisted mainly of laboratory studies, the experts at the society note. Research in people is necessary to understand possible benefits. Resveratrol is another compound in grapes that is being studied to determine how it affects progression of cancer and heart disease. The bottom line, according to the society, is that little reliable scientific evidence exists to back the theory that the grape diet is effective for cancer prevention, though some substances in grapes do hold promise against cancer.
Features
If you are following the grape diet to cure disease, you'll begin by fasting and using enemas for a couple of days. During the next two weeks, you consume only grapes and water. After that, you get to add sour milk and fresh fruits, then salads, raw veggies, nuts, honey and olive oil. In the diet's final stage you get one cooked meal daily.
Considerations
If you are using a grape diet to shed pounds, you should know that following a starvation diet such as the green grape diet can actually backfire in the long run. That is because your body compensates for the lack of calories it's getting by slowing down bodily processes and conserving calories to enhance chances of survival. Your body automatically balances your metabolism to meet your needs when you drastically cut calories, according to the Mayo Clinic. Also, you are more likely to lose muscle and water than fat, and you are unlikely to keep the weight off after the diet ends.
Warning
Following a dramatic, low-calorie diet in which you only eat a few grapes each day also can lead to constipation, nausea, bad breath, hair loss, disrupted menstrual cycles and diarrhea. Some of these symptoms are due to nutrient deficiencies that you suffer from restricting your diet so tightly. According to the American Cancer Society, an exclusive grape diet is unhealthy because you don't get enough protein and other important nutrients.
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