The 72 hour cranberry diet is another in a long line of single food diets that range from apples to cabbage to cranberries to the hot dog diet. While cranberry juice is good for you in many respects, a diet consisting of four days of cranberry juice and nothing else is at best foolish and at worst dangerous, especially if you embark on single-food diets on a regular basis. Even if you try a juice fast, 72 hours is too long. The Cranberry Juice.com website, which recommends the cranberry juice diet, says it should last "2 to 3 days tops." Everydiet is more cautious -- "you should not go beyond a one day juice fast without first consulting your doctor."
Cranberries
As the University of Maryland Medical Center explains, cranberries, native to North America, have been used for food and medicine for hundreds of years. They are high in antioxidants as well as vitamin C. Research studies are underway to determine if cranberries might be useful in protecting you from heart disease and cancer. It is well established that cranberries helps prevent urinary tract infections and they might protect against ulcers as well. While no side effects are associated with cranberries, they are quite sour, and cranberries juice often contains high levels of sugar. So diabetics and others concerned about their sugar intake should exercise caution and look for juice that is unsweetened or artificially sweetened.
Quick Weight-Loss Diets
The 72 hour cranberry juice diet fits the American Heart Association's definition of a quick weight-loss or fad diet. The AHA defines such diets as ones that overemphasize one food or type of food. Such diets claim you can lose up to 17 lbs. in one week, while health organizations such as the AHA and Mayo Clinic state a 1 to 2 lbs. weight loss per week is reasonable and safe. The cranberry diet, and other one-food diets, rarely recommend exercise, a necessary component for a weight loss plan. If you lose weight on a 72 hour cranberry juice diet, it likely will be water weight that will return when you go back to your former diet.
VLCD Diets
By consuming nothing but cranberry juice for 72 hours, you are putting yourself on a Very Low Calorie Diet, or VLCD, which restricts calories to 800 to 1000 per day. A VLCD, monitored by a doctor, is recommended to obese people whose weight creates serious health conditions. If you are in that category, you should talk with your physician about VLCD diets and not attempt one without proper supervision.
Dangers
If you use the 72 hour cranberry diet on a regular basis, you might be damaging your heart. Cardiologist Isadore Rosenfeld, author of a book about dieting and heart health, told CNN Health, "A crash diet once won't hurt your heart. But crash dieting repeatedly increases the risks of heart attacks." As the AHA stresses, the only sure way to maintain or lose weight in the long run is to eat a healthy diet and exercise on a regular basis..
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