Ways to Crash Diet

According to the Trust for America's Health, two-thirds of all American adults can, as of July 2009, be classified as either overweight or obese. Obesity rates are also growing in many states. Not surprisingly, more people than ever want to lose weight, and lose weight quickly. "Crash diets" are diets designed to be followed for a short time and which result in losing weight fast. Most involve severe restrictions in either food variety or in calories, and so should not be followed for longer than 7 to 14 days.

Grapefruit Diet

• A perennially popular crash diet is the grapefruit diet. The grapefruit diet is generally followed for 12 days, although some versions instruct you to do the diet for 12 days, take two days off, and then do the diet for another 12 days, until your weight loss goal is reached. Grapefruit forms the center of the diet, although you are allowed to eat and drink more than just grapefruit. In fact, black coffee and plenty of water are encouraged.

  The plan consists of three low-calorie meals per day, accompanied by either grapefruit or unsweetened grapefruit juice. A sample menu is:

  Breakfast
  1/2 grapefruit or 8 oz. of grapefruit juice
  2 eggs
  2 slices of bacon
  black coffee

  Lunch
  8 oz. juice or 1/2 grapefruit
  Salad, any style, with any dressing
  Meat, any kind, any amount, cooked in any way

  Dinner is similar to lunch, and your snacks are all either tomato juice or skim milk. Adherents claim that grapefruit has fat-burning properties, and there is some research which supports the idea that grapefruit may lower insulin levels.

Russian Air Force Diet

• Another popular crash diet is the Russian Air Force Diet. This diet has a set menu of very low-calorie meals, which takes the guesswork out of preparing your food every day and makes it easy to shop. It is quite restrictive, however. Care should be taken to not immediately overindulge in fatty foods and high-sugar snacks when coming off the diet.

  The diet lasts for seven days, each day having its own menu. You must drink at least four glasses of water per day and can use any herbs you like in your food, as well as vinegar, soy sauce, mustard, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Breakfast usually consists of coffee plus toast or saltine crackers. Lunches are combinations of vegetables, eggs, meats and fruits, dinners similar. The idea is for no one meal to be over 500 calories.

Warning

• Always consult with a doctor before starting any diet plan. Do not continue crash diets any longer than necessary, and do not keep dieting if you begin suffering from fatigue, depression, irritability, dizziness, bruising or hair loss. It is easy to regain weight after losing it on a crash diet, so embark on a sensible, sustainable eating program as soon as possible. Numerous health problems can arise from yo-yo dieting. Constant, steady weight maintenance is better than binging and then dieting.