A short-term diet for fast weight loss that centers around grapefruit has several versions, but all are similar. The diet requires eating grapefruit for breakfast every day, eggs for breakfast or lunch every day and a salad with tomatoes most of the days. The diet is purported to help you lose 10 lbs. in 10 to 14 days.
Menu
The Lucille Roberts website provides one version of the egg, grapefruit and tomato diet. The menu covers seven days and varies on each of the days, but breakfast always consists of half a grapefruit, one or two boiled or poached eggs and coffee or tea. On some days, lunch is the same as breakfast, and on other days, you'll eat lean meat or fish and vegetables or fruit. Four of the seven days require a salad including tomatoes for dinner.
Substitutions
The diet generally does not allow for substitutions because the exact blend of foods is theorized to be important for weight loss. The Lucille Roberts version of this diet allows some substitutions for the eggs, but only during the second week. Instead of eggs, you may eat 3 oz. of lean beef, a half-cup of salmon, 8 oz. of sardines, a small can of tuna, two nonpork hot dogs or a half-cup of cottage cheese.
Rules
Numerous rules apply to this diet. You must drink at least six glasses of water daily and take a daily multivitamin. Coffee and tea cannot have cream or sugar, although you may add an artificial sweetener. Vegetables must be eaten without butter and salads without dressing except for vinegar or lemon juice. Meat and fish must be boiled or broiled. Do not eat between meals and do not skip any meals. Alcoholic beverages are not allowed.
Expert Insight
The egg, grapefruit and tomato diet qualifies as a fad diet because it provides inadequate nutrition and is not recommended for a long-term plan. Nevertheless, research has indicated that grapefruit does help people lose weight. A study by the Scripps Clinic appearing in the Spring 2006 issue of the "Journal of Medicinal Food" evaluated the effects of grapefruit on obese participants. After 12 weeks, those who had added half a fresh grapefruit, grapefruit juice or a grapefruit supplement to their daily food intake lost about 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 lbs., while the control group lost about half a pound. Those eating fresh grapefruit lost the most weight on average.
Considerations
Because it does not provide adequate nutrition and has an extremely low-calorie menu, this diet is intended to last only for two weeks or less. Fad diets tend to have a low success rate since they don't provide guidelines for long-term healthy eating. If you return to your old eating patterns, you'll likely gain back any weight you lose, comments Chet Day at his Health and Beyond Online website.
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