It is common knowledge that America is one of the most overweight nations in the world. Everyone knows someone trying to lose weight for as many reasons as there are diet options. In addition, the variety and quantity of diets designed for fast weight loss serve as primary examples of the American obsession with quick fixes. These extreme diets are generally considered safe for healthy adults, but a doctor should be consulted prior to beginning. If you decide to try one, use it as an opportunity to examine your eating habits and establish a starting point for a healthy lifestyle.
The Lemonade Master Cleanse Diet
The Master Cleanse diet, a detoxification diet once endorsed by high-profile celebrity dieter Beyoncé Knowles, hit its peak in 2007-08. Originally developed by Stanley Burroughs in 1941, the diet was revived by Peter Glickman in his book "Lose Weight, Have More Energy and Be Happier in 10 Days." The Lemonade Master Cleanse is basically a 10-day water fast that relies on extreme calorie restriction for weight loss. The diet consists of drinking "lemonade" concocted from water, lemon or lime juice, maple syrup and cayenne pepper. Since you are not consuming any solid food or fiber for the duration of the diet, you must take some type of "natural laxative" each morning and evening. Although you can expect to lose 10-15 pounds during your 10 days on the diet, expect to lose muscle and accumulate fat due to the lack of nutrition and balanced food intake.
The Grapefruit Diet
The Grapefruit Diet, based loosely on the metabolic-enhancing properties of grapefruit, is also known as the Hollywood or Mayo Diet. The underlying notion of this diet is that eating grapefruit in combination with protein triggers the fat-burning properties of the grapefruit. The 12-day high-fat, high-protein diet works on calorie restriction, promising to help you shed 10 pounds. The diet entails consuming four meals a day that each include grapefruit and total 800-1,000 calories per day. Aside from not including sufficient calories to be healthy for the long-term, it is not a particularly harmful diet, except for the monotony of eating grapefruit with each meal.
The Three-Day Diet
The Three-Day Diet consists of a very low-calorie three-day diet plan that claims to help you lose 10 pounds in three days. While very calorie restrictive, the diet does retain a balance of carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Due to the low amount of calories, you will experience hunger often, putting you at risk for reaching for junk food. There are no snacks built in to the meal plans, so expect to experience extremely high and extremely low energy levels. Staying on this plan for longer than three days is extremely dangerous as your body will enter starvation mode, beginning a cycle of yo-yo dieting as you likely will not keep the weight off long-term.
