What is the three-day diet? Is the three-day diet healthy? |

In this article you will learn, among others:

• What is the three-day diet?

• What are the effects of the three-day diet?

• Is the three-day diet safe?

You will lose weight on the weekend – this is the promise of the 3 Day Diet. Why wait weeks for the effects when 3 days is enough to lose up to 4 kg? Is it really so? What is the weekend treatment and what are the risks?

What is the three-day diet?

The diet is based on 3 breakfasts, lunches and dinners. It is low in calories. One day is about 1000 kcal or less. The meals they propose are equally controversial and far from the principles of healthy eating. They are designed to be simple and build on the essentials you have in your kitchen. For example:

• 1 Day – breakfast: half a grapefruit, toast with peanut butter, coffee or tea, lunch: ½ cup of tuna, toast, coffee or tea, dinner: a portion of meat, a glass of beans or peas, a small apple, ½ a banana, a glass of ice cream.
• 2 Day – breakfast: a hard-boiled egg, toast, ½ banana, coffee or tea, lunch: a glass of cottage cheese, 5 crackers, dinner: a sausage, a glass of carrot or turnips, a glass of broccoli or cabbage, ½ banana, ½ glass of ice cream.
• 3 Day – breakfast: a slice of cheese, 5 crackers, a small apple, coffee or tea, lunch: toast, hard-boiled egg, coffee or tea, dinner: a glass of tuna, a glass of carrots or beetroots, a glass of cauliflower or green leafy vegetables, ½ banana, ½ glass of ice cream.

Vegetables planned in the diet can be eaten raw or cooked. Season with salt and pepper only, no herbs and spices should be used. You cannot eat anything except the proposed dishes. Between meals, you can drink water, Diet Coke, any caffeine-free teas and other sugar-free drinks.

What are the effects of the three-day diet?

The diet holds a promise weight reduction of up to 4 kg in 3 days its application. However, it may turn out that the greatest success you will achieve is not eating anything but the proposed products. The treatment is not varied and contains little food, and thus it is not properly balanced. There is not enough cereal products, vegetables, dairy products in it, but there is refined sugar in the form of ice cream. Diet promoters write about it ‘chemically and enzymatically balanced’. Whatever it means, it is not confirmed by anything, so it stays in the realm of wishful thinking. What’s worse, one page says that the amount of energy on this diet is decreasing, so exercise is not necessarily encouraged at this time. The diet is not suitable for vegetarians or the sick. It is neither low in sodium, nor low in carbohydrate, nor low in fat, just low in calories.

Is the three-day diet safe?

This treatment seems to be a whim of a fan of dietary restrictions and extreme taste experiments, because it is difficult to call a tasty dinner consisting of tuna combined with a banana and pushed with ice cream. It is definitely not a diet balanced by a dietitian. One site proposing a three-day diet warns:

Neither 3daydiets employees nor management have the experience, license or knowledge to recommend or evaluate the value or safety of this diet. We do not necessarily endorse it, and recommend that you consult your physician or other licensed healthcare professional before adopting this or any other diet. Use at your own risk.

An excellent summary of the three-day diet is the opinion of the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: First, if the diet’s promises sound too good to be true, they probably are. Second, if you don’t see yourself adhering to the principles of a particular diet for years, it is most likely not for you.

Did you follow a three-day diet? What are your opinions on the three-day diet? What diet do you recommend? What diet has brought you lasting results? 

Main photo is from flickr.com