The Three Day Diet Trap
The "3 Day Diet" goes back to 1985 and today can be found all over the Internet and on book store shelves. The three day diet and its variants promise quick weight loss, a cleansing of the system, lower cholesterol and increased energy all through a "specific metabolic reaction" that no version of the diet has ever validated.
The diet goes on for three days and then off for four or five with lots of specific and cryptic steps so that when it fails the dieter can be pinned for doing something wrong.
First day breakfast includes coffee (no sugar), one half a grapefruit, and a piece of toast with 1 Tbsp peanut butter. For lunch, you are allowed a can of tuna, a piece of toast, and black coffee. Dinner consists of 3 ounces of chicken or lean meat, a cup of green beans, one cup of carrots, one apple, and one cup of regular vanilla ice cream. The other two days are pretty much the same but with some substitutions such as hot dogs instead of lean meat. Supposedly it's possible to lose as much as 10 pounds in only three days.
Hogwash is the answer. The question is what is a specific reaction to that claim? As stated the metabolic reaction has never been explained much less proven. Any weight loss would be mostly water loss due to a lack of carbs which help the body hold water. That could lead to dehydration.
Once the three days are over the weight will return, primarily because it's mostly water. But also because any weight lost from the missed calories will be regained when the starving diet victim returns to normal, or in this case heavier than normal, eating.
Furthermore, such water loss could result in some serious medical problems. But hey, then you'd lose some real weight in the hospital.
The 3 day diet is best treated as a no day diet. In other words, don't do it!
The diet goes on for three days and then off for four or five with lots of specific and cryptic steps so that when it fails the dieter can be pinned for doing something wrong.
First day breakfast includes coffee (no sugar), one half a grapefruit, and a piece of toast with 1 Tbsp peanut butter. For lunch, you are allowed a can of tuna, a piece of toast, and black coffee. Dinner consists of 3 ounces of chicken or lean meat, a cup of green beans, one cup of carrots, one apple, and one cup of regular vanilla ice cream. The other two days are pretty much the same but with some substitutions such as hot dogs instead of lean meat. Supposedly it's possible to lose as much as 10 pounds in only three days.
Hogwash is the answer. The question is what is a specific reaction to that claim? As stated the metabolic reaction has never been explained much less proven. Any weight loss would be mostly water loss due to a lack of carbs which help the body hold water. That could lead to dehydration.
Once the three days are over the weight will return, primarily because it's mostly water. But also because any weight lost from the missed calories will be regained when the starving diet victim returns to normal, or in this case heavier than normal, eating.
Furthermore, such water loss could result in some serious medical problems. But hey, then you'd lose some real weight in the hospital.
The 3 day diet is best treated as a no day diet. In other words, don't do it!
