A real Mayo Clinic Diet does exist, but over the years, there have been many impostors. Donald Hesrud, medical editor-in-chief of the real Mayo Clinic Diet book, indicated to "U.S. News & World Report" that its release in January 2010 was the first time the Mayo Clinic put its name on any weight loss plan. The diet consists of two parts to address both short-term quick weight loss and weight maintenance.
Phases
Two components make up the Mayo Clinic Diet. The first, called "Lose It," is a two-week phase to help you lose up to 10 lbs. through setting realistic but ambitious goals for yourself. The second phase, "Live It," will help you continue to lose weight at the recommended rate of 1 to 2 lbs. a week until you reach your target weight, then maintain it. Both phases are based on the Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight Pyramid.
Foods
The Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight Pyramid is a diagram and chart that helps you know what you can eat and how much. Fruits and vegetables are at the bottom of the pyramid, the widest part, and you can have as many of these as you like. However, you must have at least four servings of vegetables and three servings of fruit each day. As the pyramid goes up and narrows, it includes foods that you must limit, starting with carbohydrate sources, protein sources, fats, and at the very top, sweets. The diet allows you up to 75 calories a day in sweets, but this is the only respect in which the diet counts grams or calories. All the other limits are per serving. For example, carbohydrates are limited to four to eight servings a day.
Exercise
The diet also consists of an exercise plan. The Mayo Clinic recognizes that both physical activity, such as you might get doing chores, and an exercise program can contribute to calories burned and better physical health. The Mayo Clinic plan helps you progress to the point where you get between 30 and 60 minutes of structured exercise on most days.
Tips
The real Mayo Clinic Diet, created by medical professionals, promotes healthy eating. The phony Mayo Clinic diets are quite the opposite, so you should be able to tell the difference right away. According to EveryDiet, which reviews diet plans, the impostor Mayo Clinic Diets are usually based on eating a great deal of grapefruit, salad and protein, and they tend to restrict carbohydrates. If you want to be positive that you've gotten the right diet, the Mayo Clinic offers a book, available through most retailers, that lays out the specifics of the real weight loss plan.
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