Review: Mayo Clinic Diet
Before I begin with the review of the Mayo Clinic Diet, you should know upfront that this diet is not endorsed by the Mayo Clinic Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota. Yeah, it’s a bit misleading, I know.
The Mayo Clinic Diet was developed some 30 years ago, but the real impetus for the diet is unknown. While the Mayo Clinic Diet may come in a number of varieties, it customarily includes grapefruit at every meal. The diet is also high in protein and low in carbohydrates.
Perhaps the Mayo Clinic Diet’s major claim to fame is the fact that it appears to be a catalyst for rapid weight loss. The grapefruit included at meals is supposed to help your body burn fat (grapefruit contains naringin, a citrus flavonoid long thought to have weight loss properties).
The diet is short in duration, lasting only three to seven days. With this diet plan, you are permitted as much grapefruit, meat, and poultry as you want. By consuming a great deal of meat, you are supposed to keep hunger at bay.
Interestingly enough, you are permitted fried foods under the Mayo Clinic plan—something that is strictly banned under other diets. Some health experts say that while you can lose weight for the short-term under the Mayo Clinic Diet, you will have difficulty keeping the weight off over the long haul. Critics also note that the diet is not necessarily nutritionally balanced, and that grapefruit does not necessarily burn fat.
While advocates of the diet maintain you can lose more than 50 pounds in just a few months, critics are not so sure. If you do try the Mayo Clinic Diet, you might follow it up with a general low-carb diet that can help you maintain weight loss over the long term.
In addition to the immediate weight loss it offers, the primary advantages of the Mayo Clinic Diet are that you can eat until you are satiated and that you can eat foods with a fair amount of fat. It is also more affordable than other diet programs.
Major disadvantages of the diet plan are that it is low in complex carbohydrates; it can lead to tiredness and a lack of focus; and its high fat content is potentially unhealthy.
If you follow the Mayo Clinic Diet, you will have to reduce your coffee consumption, since coffee can affect the insulin balance that may hamper fat burning. You will not be able to eat between meals, and you will have to avoid certain foods such as bread, potatoes, potato chips, and fruit.
However, you can eat double or triple portions of meat, salad, and vegetables. The idea is to eat until you can eat no more—so hunger is not a problem under the diet program.
The Mayo Clinic Diet also recommends consuming eight glasses of water each day, which can be a key to weight loss. Any soft drinks you consume must be sugarless and caffeine-free.
Followed in short spurts, the diet can be highly successful in helping you lose weight. However, the diet’s restrictions might be difficult to follow over the long run.
