Fixed Menu Diets

Fixed menu diets are diet plans in which you either choose from a limited list of food options or in which the entire menu is decided for you. The most popular reason why people choose fixed menu diets is to lose weight, but they may also need a fixed menu diet because of another physical condition. Fixed menu diets make losing weight and developing healthier eating habits easier by limiting choice and taking away the temptations to consume high-calorie or other forbidden foods.

Scarsdale Medical Diet

• One type of fixed menu diet is the Scarsdale Medical Diet. Created by Doctor Herman Tarnower in the late 1970s, the Scarsdale Diet (named after the location of Tarnower's clinic) is a low-fat, low-calorie, low-carbohydrate diet with a limited list of both foods and beverages and a strict meal plan for each day of the week.

  The Scarsdale diet is meant to be followed strictly for two weeks, then alternated with two weeks of a less limited menu. Persons following the diet can only drink tea, coffee (no cream, sugar, although a noncalorie sugar substitute can be used), water, club soda and diet drinks. Breakfast is the same every day: half a grapefruit and a beverage. Only carrots and celery are allowed for snacks. Lunch and dinner menus are planned out, and although some substitutions are allowed, it is highly encouraged that you stick to the plan as written, with no switching days and no substitutions.

  There are four official variations of the Scarsdale Medical Diet: the gourmet diet, the vegetarian diet, the international diet and the money-saver diet. The calorie, fat and carb counts do not differ dramatically, but the choice of foods does, especially in the vegetarian diet. There is also some variation in preparation among the diets.

Cabbage Soup and the Master Cleanse

• The Cabbage Soup Diet is another fixed menu diet used to lose weight quickly. Information on the Cabbage Soup Diet usually includes the caveat that the diet should not be followed for more than seven days. This is due to it being extremely restrictive. For seven days, one mostly eats cabbage soup, with certain other foods allowed during each of the seven days.

  The Master Cleanse is hailed as a detoxifying and cleansing diet but should not be followed for more than 10 days. The most restrictive of all, for 10 days the dieter consumes nothing but a drink made of water, cayenne pepper and maple syrup.

Warnings

• While fixed menu diets can be effective for losing weight and creating a more healthy set of eating patterns, it is easy to become bored with such a limited menu. The food offered on fixed menu plans has been criticized for being bland and unexciting. People on fixed menu diets often deviate dramatically from their diets after some time due to feeling deprived. Critics also say that fixed menu diets are not the best choices to teach better eating habits since those who only follow a strict menu developed by others never learn how to make healthy choices for themselves.

  There is also concern that fixed menu diets can be deficient in calories and nutrients. The Scarsdale Diet has been criticized for having too low of a calorie count. The Cabbage Diet and the Master Cleanse do not provide enough nutrients and should only be followed in the short term.