Like clothing and hairstyle trends, fad diets come and go, only to return in slightly new variations years later. Perhaps one of the best-known diets that somehow keeps returning to the mainstream is the grapefruit diet.<\/p>\n
Maybe you watched your mom or your grandmother religiously eat a grapefruit with one of those tiny spoons before every meal in an effort to lose weight. Or maybe you had a friend who would drink a glass of grapefruit juice each morning.<\/p>\n
Despite the fact that science hasn\u2019t proven the grapefruit diet to be effective, people continue to rely on this slightly sour citrus as a weight loss tactic.<\/p>\n
What Is the Grapefruit Diet?<\/h2>\n
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The grapefruit diet has been around in some form or another since the\u00a01930s<\/a> and endorses simply eating half a grapefruit before every meal. Other variations of the grapefruit diet will have you drink grapefruit juice instead of (or in addition to) eating the fruit itself. And then more restrictive variations require you to do that\u00a0and<\/em> stick to 800 calories per day, while cutting out most carbs.<\/p>\n Why grapefruit? Proponents believe that its enzymes can help you burn fat and magically help you lose weight. Some people (on the always-reliable Internet) even claim that it can help you lose 10 pounds in under two weeks.<\/p>\n You can eat pretty much anything on the grapefruit diet, as long as you eat half of a grapefruit beforehand. As far as diets go, whether it works or not, this one is pretty simple to follow!<\/p>\n However, if you\u2019re sticking to the low-carb version<\/a> of this diet, you need to eat your grapefruit\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0cut back on carbohydrates<\/a> such as:<\/p>\n But again, there aren\u2019t any super specific guidelines when it comes to this part of the diet.<\/p>\n So far, researchers haven\u2019t found any concrete evidence that the grapefruit diet can help you shed pounds; most results were correlative.<\/p>\n In a study from Louisiana State University researchers<\/a>, obese adults were given either half a fresh grapefruit, eight ounces of grapefruit juice, grapefruit capsules, or a placebo. The groups who consumed half a grapefruit or drank eight ounces of grapefruit juice before each meal lost about 3.5 pounds in 12 weeks. The capsule group only lost 2.4 pounds, and the placebo group saw nearly no change.<\/p>\n Although the grapefruit groups saw some promising results, the researchers ultimately concluded that the \u201cmechanism of this weight loss is unknown.\u201d<\/p>\n Another study conducted by British researchers<\/a> compared consuming grapefruit, grapefruit juice, or water before meals for 12 weeks. All three pre-meal options helped the study participants lose weight with no significant differences among the three, meaning the citrus was on par with the water.<\/p>\n Corroborating those results, a study from the journal <\/a>Metabolism<\/a><\/em> concluded that eating half a grapefruit before every meal for three weeks didn\u2019t lead to significant weight loss compared to a placebo.<\/p>\n The only other studies that have found a\u00a0direct<\/em>\u00a0connection between consuming grapefruit juice or extract and weight loss have been in\u00a0mice<\/a>. Unfortunately (in this very specific case), humans are not rodents.<\/p>\n \u201cGrapefruit is a big, filling thing. If you eat it, then you may eat less of your meal because your stomach is full of grapefruit,\u201d says Denis Faye, M.S. \u201cPlus, grapefruit has a weird taste and sort of blows out your taste buds, so you may eat less because things wouldn\u2019t taste as good.\u201d<\/p>\n In fact, you could replace the grapefruit with other foods and see similar results. \u201cIt\u2019s like having a\u00a0salad<\/a>\u00a0or vegetable\u00a0soup<\/a>\u00a0before your meal,\u201d says nutrition consultant\u00a0Keri Gans<\/a>, R.D.N., author of The Small Change Diet. It\u2019s all low-energy-dense food that can fill you up before the main course.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I don\u2019t buy that there are special substances in grapefruit [to help you burn fat],\u201d Faye says.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe in variety and not eating the same things over and over,\u201d Faye says. \u201cFront-loading with a healthy, lower-calorie food so you eat less\u00a0is<\/em>\u00a0a weight-loss strategy, but you still have to make smart choices after. If you eat a grapefruit and then go get fast food, you won\u2019t miraculously lose weight.\u201d<\/p>\n People who take statins or blood pressure medication such as calcium channel blockers should also avoid the grapefruit diet, as these medications can have\u00a0negative interactions with grapefruit<\/a>.<\/p>\n Weight loss aside, there are indeed some health benefits of grapefruit.\u00a0Half a medium grapefruit<\/a> is mostly water and contains 37 calories and 1.4 grams of fiber. It also provides 45 mg of vitamin C<\/a> (half the recommended daily value<\/a> for men and 60 percent for women), which helps support a healthy immune system<\/a>.<\/p>\nWhat Do You Eat on the Grapefruit Diet?<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nWhy Do People Think Grapefruit Helps With Weight Loss?<\/h2>\n
Drawbacks of the Grapefruit Diet<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nHealth Benefits of Grapefruit<\/h2>\n
The Takeaway<\/h2>\n