The GM diet, also known as the General Motors and Sacred Heart diets, is a meal plan based around a vegetable soup that promises quick, significant weight loss. There is no official author of the diet, although a July 2009 "New York Times" article gives a popular description, whose variations are largely accepted among individual American dieters. This 1-week soup diet actually evolved from a 1950s fad, and not from any corporate-endorsed program for employees to lose weight. Because it limits types of menu foods, and therefore sources of essential fatty acids, health-conscious dieters may want to add more avocados, a fruit allowed on certain days of the program.
Features
Diet directions published informally on the Internet revolve around unlimited portions of a cabbage soup, with additional menu items required daily for a week. Some foods are all-you-can-eat, such as fruits and vegetables, and some are controlled, such as a call for 8 bananas or 20 oz. of beef. Because avocados fall under the fruit group, it is possible to increase your nutritional intake by eating them on 2 days of this soup diet when fruit variety is allowed.
Nutrition
Calorie counts and nutrient intakes shift sharply during the weeklong program. Critics at Sacred Heart Medical Center denounce the General Motors diet for this fluctuation in nutritive value, which places stress on body equilibrium. Avocados, however, can contribute important nutrients, adding significant fatty acids, potassium, calcium, vitamin A and vitamin C to 2 days of the soup diet.
One avocado contains about 240 edible calories and 15 g monounsaturated fat, 3 g polyunsaturated fat and 3 g saturated fat---all essential fatty acids present in higher quantities than in other allowed food sources on those days.
Time Frame
Avocados fit into the GM diet time frame on days when unlimited fruit is allowed: Day 1 and Day 3. The menus on the remaining days include vegetables, beef, brown rice and fruit juice, but omit whole fruit. Dieters should take advantage of the nutrient infusion that avocados can provide on the fruit days.
Effects
Anecdotal weight loss claims of 7 to 14 lbs. lost in 7 days are common. While the soup diet's minimal calorie count may cause you to drop a pound or more per day, eating too many avocados can upset this balance. Taking in fewer calories per day than you burn is essential to the plan. In order to incorporate avocados into the GM diet effectively, you may need to set some calorie boundaries based on your weight and activity level.
Considerations
The nonspecific and changeable nutrient levels provided on different days cause nutritional authorities, such as the American Dietetic Association (ADA), to denounce such weight loss fads. The GM diet plan is considered unhealthy because it limits when you can get essential vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. ADA experts also note that no single "super food," including avocados, can reverse weight gain patterns that you've developed over the years.
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