Dr. Joseph Mercola developed the Mercola Diet, also called the No-grain Diet. Mercola claims that eating grain causes your body to release too much insulin and make you hungry again right away. He states that eliminating grains from your diet can help lower your risk for obesity, high blood pressure, bloating, fatigue, low blood sugar, high triglycerides and depression.
Foods to Avoid
When you first start the No-grain Diet, you need to avoid all types of grains, sweets, starchy vegetables and fruits. Fruits, honey, starchy vegetables and certain approved grains are only added back into the diet after you achieve your weight loss goals, and only in small amounts. Mercola recommends avoiding most grains, dried fruits, fruit juice and bananas even on the maintenance phase of the diet.
Foods to Eat
While on the diet, you can consume organic and grass-fed meat, organic poultry, limited amounts of dairy, preferably raw and made from sheep or goat milk, organic eggs, non-starchy vegetables, raw nuts and seeds, legumes, tempeh, protein powder and olive or coconut oils. During the start up phase, you eat every two hours and during the stabilize phase, you consume three snacks and three meals per day.
Risks
This diet isn't balanced because it eliminates whole food groups. It can also be too low in calories for some people. With a diet this restrictive, you may have trouble meeting all of your vitamin and mineral needs, especially if you don't take supplements. A healthy diet should be balanced and flexible, allowing you to eat the foods that you enjoy, according to MayoClinic.com.
Considerations
Vegetarians probably will not be able to follow this diet, as it is too restricted to allow for sufficient calories and nutrients if you further restrict the foods you consume. The very low amount of carbohydrates allowed will make it hard for many people to stick to this diet. The Mercola Diet may also involve a lot more time for preparing meals, as well more money to purchase the organic food and supplements that Mercola recommends. On the plus side, this diet does recommend 30 to 60 minutes of exercise per day and limits unhealthy processed foods.
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