Fruit has many understood and recognized benefits, so dieticians and personal trainers have harnessed its power to help people lose as much as nine to ten pounds in just three days as a jumpstart plan for long-term weight loss success.

The Fruit Diet has a few different incarnations with the same basic premise: eat a lot of fresh fruit and avoid most everything else. The plan has significant benefits for the body, but it does have some drawbacks, as well.

Fruit Diet Forms:

The Fruit Diet has a few different forms, but they each focus on the mass consumption of fruit at the expense of other food groups.

In a much-publicized form, the Fruit Flush Diet consists of eating fresh fruit, drinking protein shakes, and eating light protein over the course of three days. In this plan, dieters will not consume more than 1000 calories in a single day with about 50 grams of lean protein, which helps retain muscle while burning fat. According to the prescriptions in the Fruit Flush Diet, dieters should eat fresh fruit every two hours and drink protein shakes throughout the day.

In an altered form, the Fruit Diet consists of a fourteen-day plan, in which people consume unlimited fruit with a small dinner consisting of lean protein, fresh fruits and vegetables, salad, and light fats.

In either form, the diet prohibits the consumption of dairy, caffeine, coffee, tea, alcohol, diet or regular sodas, starches, cooked vegetables, juice, most fats, and all sweets. While on these diets, dieters should avoid exercise because of their low caloric intake. The Fruit Diet has some important benefits and can help some people jumpstart their weight loss program.

Choosing Fruits:

  • Sweet fruits – grapes, pears, bananas, figs and dates
  • Semi-sweet and acidic fruits – other fruits like strawberries, apples, mango, except melons
  • Watermelon and other Melons
  • Dinner fruits – cucumbers, blueberries, tomatoes and peppers

Fruit Diet Advantages and Disadvantages:

By following the Fruit Flush Diet or its other forms, dieters can enjoy rapid weight loss in a relatively safe form. Unlike some rapid weight-loss diets, the Fruit Diet entails the consumption of very healthy foods packed with tons of vitamins. According to its proponents, the fruit diet flushes the system of artificial ingredients, processed foods, alcohol, junk food, and other impure substances. They theorize that fruit and water act like a natural cleanser because its nutrients, especially fiber, help remove toxins from the body. The consumption of some light protein helps retain muscle, which other rapid weight-loss diets cannot claim. According to some dieticians, the diet does not work because of miraculous powers of fresh fruit. Instead, they insist that weight loss results from burning more calories than one consumes. As previously stated, the Fruit Diet recommends less than 1000 calories in a day, which will lead to rapid weight loss for most people. The Fruit Diet can help people achieve rapid weight loss, but it does have some important drawbacks.

The Fruit Diet has some disadvantages, but it does provide a relatively safe option for healthy people. Instead of focusing on a single food group, many dieticians simply suggest that a person follow a balanced diet. They assert that the Fruit Diet leaves its practitioners severely lacking in calcium, vitamin D, vitamin B12, and riboflavin. To secure these essential nutrients, they recommend dieters eat balanced meals. Instead of pursuing a rapid diet, they encourage people to commit themselves to lifestyle changes, which they hope will result in long-term weight loss success and a healthier life. Overall, they concede that healthy people can pursue the Fruit Diet over short periods of time because it does have many benefits and will not negatively affect a healthy person over the long-term, yet they recommend other options.

The Fruit Diet comes in many different forms, but they each focus on the mass consumption of fruit at the expense of other food groups. While its proponents theorize the fruit flushes the system of harmful and artificial products and results in weight loss, it has some skeptics, who note its benefits, yet encourage people to pursue more balanced options.