Salad and Fruit Diets to Lose Weight

Fruit diets and juice detox plans, while temporarily effective, are fast, healthy, and the most preferred way of losing weight in a jiffy. In this blog post, I talk about some of the diets and plans I have come across during my career.

General Motors (GM) Diet

The General Motors Diet is considered one of the fastest and most preferred diet programs across the globe. Developed by General Motors, Inc. in 1985, it was originally intended for the exclusive use of its employees and dependents. The diet targets a loss of 10 to 17 pounds in a single week, and is often adapted as a body cleansing alternative.

Along with 10 glasses of water each day, the prescribed diet is as follows:-

Day One: All fruits except bananas. This helps the system prepare itself for the significant diet change.
Day Two: All vegetables. Carbohydrate consumption is usually served by eating baked potato. The vegetables provide essential nutrients and fibre.
Day Three: A mixture of fruits and vegetables, barring bananas and potatoes.
Day Four: Eight bananas and three glasses of milk.
Day Five: Two 10 oz. portions of lean beef and six whole tomatoes. Eat two 10 oz. portions of lean beef. Water intake must be increased by one quart, to cleanse the system of the uric acid produced.
Day Six: Unlimited amount of beef and vegetables.
Day Seven: Brown rice, fruit juices, and vegetables.

Apple Fruit Fast

An apple fruit fast, also sometimes called an apple cleanse, is an easy fast to begin, or sustain, your internal cleansing routine. It’s easier to do than many of the other fasting methods because you are eating something. Fasting on apples alone will give you all the benefits of any other fasting method. Your digestive and other bodily systems can slow down and rest and heal, allowing the chance for stored toxins and waste materials to be expelled.

Ideally, this fast should last anywhere between one and three days. If this will be your first fast of any kind, start with one day. Of course, there are those who go much longer, but it is recommended you do a lot of cleansing and detoxing with short fasts and/or cleansing diets before attempting long-term fasting. Short fruit fasts can become a regular routine. One day per week and/or three days per month is a good ongoing routine for this purpose.

You can work a three day fast around a work schedule and squeeze it into the weekend, by starting on Friday with a normal, but light, breakfast. This should give you sustenance for the day’s work. Begin apple fasting at Friday’s lunch. Reserve Saturday and Sunday for rest and quiet. Break the fast Sunday night with a light meal of cooked vegetables or a salad and resume a normal light breakfast Monday morning.

You actually begin the day before, by eating a light dinner, a salad or vegetables or rice. Don’t stock up on food out of fear of being without the next day or you’ll just be making it harder on yourself. And, if you’re a coffee or caffeinated beverage drinker, cut those back as far as you can; you won’t be drinking them during your fast.
Plan on three to four ripe apples per day, organically grown if possible. Take time for your meals: sit down, enjoy the apple, savor the taste, be quiet and notice your bodily reactions, chew slowly and well.

Drink at least two quarts of water throughout the day. It should be room temperature or warmer. You can add fresh lemon to the water if you like; it will help with cleansing and give you a little flavor. If you feel chilled or crave something warm (maybe because you’re missing your coffee), gently warm the water.

Rest and exercise are essential in this diet. Take naps whenever you feel like it. Light exercises like a slow walk or yoga are recommended.

The day you break your fast, ease into food a bit slowly. Perhaps some other fruit besides apples for breakfast and salad or soaked brown rice and vegetables for lunch, and then normal eating after that if it was a one day fruit fast.

For a three day fast, continue eating lightly throughout that fourth day, only resuming normal foods around midday to evening of the fifth day. Once you’ve returned to normal foods, continue to be aware of what you’re choosing to eat and why.

Juice Fasting

Also known as juice cleansing, juice fasting is a diet in which only fruit and vegetable juices are consumed. In addition to a desire to lose weight, juice fasting is also taken up to stop addiction to substances like nicotine and caffeine, detoxification, or even spiritual or religious reasons.

7 Lbs in 7 Days

7 Lbs in 7 Days is a juice detox by UK-based Jason Vale, who is also known as The Juice Master. In addition to consuming juice, the diet needs to be supplemented with exercise sessions throughout the day. The recipes for the juices are all available here. The day – by – day breakdown of this fast is as follows:-

DAY 1

7 AM (i.e. on waking): Hot water with lemon, lime or mint
8 AM (breakfast): JM’s Super Juice
11 AM (mid-morning): JM’s Super Juice
2 PM (lunch): JM’s Super Chute Juice
5 PM (tea): JM’s Turbo Express
8 PM (dinner): JM’s Lemon/ Ginger Zinger
9 PM (before bed): Fennel or mint tea or JM’s Hot ‘ n’ Spicy

2 EXERCISE SESSIONS

Morning: 20-30 minutes
Evening: 20-30 minutes

DAY 2

7 AM: Hot water with lemon, lime or mint
8 AM: JM’s Super Juice
11 AM: JM’s Super Juice
2 PM: JM’s Super Chute Juice
5 PM: JM’s Turbo Express
8 PM: Turbo Express and 1oz Wheatgrass Chaser (add a small spoonful of wheatgrass powder to juice)
9 PM: Fennel or mint tea or JM’s Hot ‘ n’ Spicy

3 EXERCISE SESSIONS

Morning: 20-30 minutes
Afternoon: 15 min (run, walk, bounce)
Evening: 20-30 minutes

DAY 3

7 AM: Hot water with lemon, lime or mint
8 AM: JM’s Lemon/Ginger Zinger or JM’s Super Juice
11 AM: JM’s Super Juice
2 PM: Passion 4 Juice Master
5 PM: JM’s Turbo Express
8 PM: Turbo Express and 1oz Wheatgrass Chaser
9 PM: Fennel or mint tea or JM’s Hot ‘ n’ Spicy

3 EXERCISE SESSIONS

Morning: 30-40 minutes
Afternoon: 15 min (run, walk, bounce)
Evening: 30-40 minutes

DAY 4

7 AM: Hot water with lemon, lime or mint
8 AM: JM’s Super Juice
11 AM: JM’s Super Juice
2 PM: JM’s Super Detox Juice
5 PM: JM’s Turbo Express
8 PM: Turbo Express and 1oz Wheatgrass Chaser
9 PM: Fennel or mint tea or JM’s Hot ‘ n’ Spicy

3 EXERCISE SESSIONS

Morning: 30-40 minutes
Afternoon: 20 min (run, walk, bounce)
Evening: 30-40 minutes

DAY 5

7 AM: Hot water with lemon, lime or mint
8 AM: JM’s Super Chute Juice
11 AM: JM’s Super Chute Juice
2 PM: JM’s Super Detox Juice
5 PM: JM’s Super Juice
8 PM: JM’s Super Juice
9 PM: Fennel or mint tea or JM’s Hot ‘ n’ Spicy

3 EXERCISE SESSIONS

Morning: 30-45 minutes
Afternoon: 20 min (run, walk, bounce)
Evening: 30-45 minutes

DAY 6

7 AM: Hot water with lemon, lime or mint
8 AM: Passion 4 Juice Master
11 AM: Passion 4 Juice Master
2 PM: JM’s Pure Green Super Juice
5 PM: JM’s Boost Juice
8 PM: JM’s Boost Juice
9 PM: Fennel or mint tea or JM’s Hot ‘ n’ Spicy

3 EXERCISE SESSIONS

Morning: 30-45 minutes
Afternoon: 20 min (run, walk, bounce)
Evening: 30-45 minutes

DAY 7

7 AM: Hot water with lemon, lime or mint
8 AM: JM’s Super Juice
11 AM: JM’s Super Juice
2 PM: Passion 4 Juice Master
5 PM: JM’s Homemade Lemonade Sherbet
8 PM: JM’s Boost Juice
9 PM: Fennel or mint tea or JM’s Hot ‘ n’ Spicy

3 EXERCISE SESSIONS

Morning: 30-45 minutes
Afternoon: 20 min (run, walk, bounce)
Evening: 30-45 minutes

7 Day Juice Fast Plan

Another juice fast plan is the 7 Day Juice Fast Plan from Just on Juice. This juice fast does not require any exercise, and remains the same for each day of the duration of the plan. The juices for each day are as follows:-

Here are some things to remember when conducting the 7 Day Juice Fast Plan:-

1. If a certain recipe is not according to your liking, make substitutions that are similar. For example, if a recipe has kale in it, but you can’t get or don’t like kale, then replace it with any leafy green vegetable. It is okay to replace, substitute, or change recipes.

2. You should not eat any solids during the fast. It defeats the purpose of it.

3. If you get headaches, or strong cravings, it is normal for the first 2-4 days. Stay focused on the plan. Make an extra juice to drink if you feel like you want to consume something solid.

4. Drink at least 16 oz of water after each juice meal. Make sure you are drinking plenty of water throughout the day.

5. Start each day off by juicing half a peeled lemon, and mix it with 12-16 ounces of warm to hot water. It helps to cleanse your digestive system, and give you a good boost of energy.

6. It’s recommended to have between 4-6 juices per day each consisting of 16-20 ounces. You can interchange the juices for each day as per your preference.