When you're desperate to lose weight, you may be willing to try anything -- even eating canned tuna fish every day. Although tuna is a good source of lean protein, any diet that involves eating the same foods repeatedly is a crash diet. Crash diets do not provide healthy or sustainable weight loss. Speak with your doctor before trying one or making any other changes in your diet.
Nutrition Facts
Canned tuna is a healthy, high-protein food and a nutritious option for breakfast, lunch or dinner, but only if you eat it without mayonnaise. One can of tuna contains 150 calories, 1.4 g of fat, 83 mg sodium, and 42.1 g protein. Add 1 tbsp. of mayonnaise, and you add a whopping 100 calories and 11 g of fat to your meal. Although canned tuna may be a healthy source of lean protein, it's not so healthy when you add fattening condiments.
The 3-Day Diet
The three-day diet is a weight-loss plan with unknown origins that circulates around the Internet. The diet involves consuming very low-calorie meals, including canned tuna, for three days to drop pounds quickly. The diet recommends small meals, like half a grapefruit and toast with peanut butter for breakfast, 1/2 cup of plain tuna for lunch, and 1 cup of plain tuna with 3 cups of fruit and vegetables for dinner. The three-day diet is a crash or a fad diet, because it restricts calories in an attempt to starve the body and does not provide a variety of healthy foods.
Health Risks
Following a crash diet that includes tuna may help you lose weight, but it's an unsustainable way to drop pounds. Eating the same foods every day may cause nutritional deficiencies. Additionally, unless you're willing to eat small portions of tuna every day for the rest of your life, the weight loss will not be permanent. When you start eating a variety of foods again, you'll regain the weight.
Healthier Weight-Loss Options
Instead of restricting your diet to tuna, incorporate it into a varied diet of other nutritious foods, with fresh fruit, vegetables, lean protein and whole grains. When you do eat tuna, eat it on a slice of whole-grain bread with a handful of carrot and celery sticks on the side. Add tuna to cooked whole-grain pasta and veggies like green beans and broccoli. Sprinkle a small amount of low-fat cheese on top for a quick stovetop tuna casserole that will keep you full and satisfied. Exercise every day to burn more calories and maintain your weight loss.
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