The Three Day Diet, Essay Example

The fad diet I have selected to review for this assignment is “The Three Day Diet”, which is also known as the “Military Diet”. This diet claims that with extreme diet and exercise, one can lose up to ten pounds per week (FadDiet.com, n.d.). Unlike many fad diets, this plan is supposed to be followed short term. Individuals who wish to follow the diet are presented with a specific meal plan that they are supposed to follow for a three day period. It emphasizes very low calorie consumption during the first three days of the diet, and dieters are recommended to consume less than 1500 calories for the remainder of the diet week.

The menu provided to dieters explains that they will be able to “add herbs, salt, pepper, lemon, vinegar, Worcestershire, soy sauce, mustard, and ketchup” to their foods and recommends they drink at least four glasses of water or diet soda per day. On the first day of the diet, dieters are expected to drink black coffee, eat half ½ of a grapefruit and a slice of toast with one table spoon of peanut butter for breakfast. For lunch, dieters consume a ½ cup of tuna, one slice of toast, and drink a black coffee. For dinner, they eat three ounces of lean meat or chicken, one cup of green beans, one cup of carrots, one apple, and one cup of regular vanilla ice cream. For the next day, they are expected to drink black coffee with breakfast in addition to eating one egg, a ½ banana, and one slice of toast. For lunch, they will eat one cup of cottage cheese or tuna in addition to eight regular saltine crackers. For dinner, they will eat two beef hotdogs, one cup of broccoli or cabbage, ½ a cup of carrots, ½ a banana, and ½ a cup of regular vanilla ice cream. On the last day, dieters will drink black coffee for breakfast, in addition to consuming five regular saltine crackers, one ounce of cheddar cheese, and one apple. For lunch, they will consume one boiled egg, one slice of toast, and drink black coffee. Lastly, for dinner, they will consume one cup of tuna, one cup of carrots, one cup of cauliflower, one cup of melon, and ½ a cup of regular vanilla ice cream (Military Diet, n.d.).

Although this diet plan boasts success among its users, it has many flaws. Firstly, it claims that dieters will lose ten pounds a week overall. This cannot be true for every individual, as the reduced caloric intake will impact individuals with different body types differently. For example, an individual who is obese and participates in the diet can potentially lose more than ten pounds, while someone who is considered to have a normal weight will likely lose less than five pounds in the diet week. Furthermore, recommending individuals to eat 1500 calories in the days after the diet also does not consider the weight and body type of the dieter. 1500 calories will be too much to consume for lesser weight individuals who wish to lose a few pounds, while this caloric intake will be appropriate for individuals who are slightly overweight according to their BMI.

An additional flaw that is obvious in this diet is that dieters will not be getting enough nutrition from the foods they consume. It does a good job in ensuring that each food group is covered, but the recommended daily intake for each of these are significantly higher, even for individuals who are dieting. Overall, it is recommended that people who need to lose weight do so slowly in order to ensure that are being healthy throughout the process. If individuals who are obese attempt to complete this diet, they may find themselves dizzy and hungry a majority of their day. Rather than engaging in this type of diet practice, it is ideal for people to lose weight by practicing portion control in a manner that allows them to still feel full. Furthermore, they should do so slowly so they remain motivated throughout the weight loss process and are able to continue dieting until their weight loss goal is met.

References

FadDiet.com. (n.d.). 3 Day Diet. Retrieved from http://www.faddiet.com/3daydiet.html

Military Diet. (n.d.). About the Military Diet. Retrieved from http://themilitarydiet.com/