You may love it or you may hate it, but I am very sure, if you are seeking for weight-loss methods, you can never ignore it. General Motors Diet or popularly known Gm Diet, ranks top in the most-sought diet charts. Surprisingly, I have yet not found any facts about Gm Diet on any of the valid sites of General Motors (update me if I have missed any).
Various sites, blogs and forums have discussed about Gm diet, but in a scattered manner. My former intention behind this post is to recite discrete facets of this diet plan and to give a thorough overview, based on the experiences of my own as well as of my friends.
17 Day Diet
Background:
This diet plan was introduced at a General meeting of General Motors Corp. On 15th August 1985, initially intended for the use of the employees of General Motors company, to facilitate wellness and fitness. It was granted by the United States Agricultural group and the Fda, further tested by the Johns Hopkins study Centre.
It was designed as a 'De-toxification diet program', to heighten ones metabolism straight through its cleansing systemic effects, reflected by an improved habit and a feeling of well being. As an end-result, a weight loss of 4-6 kgs was incredible within the program-week.
The Plan:
Here is the day-wise diet plan and its dietary significance. I have added few things from my sense and experiments, which worked.
Day 1:
Fruits of any kind (except bananas) in any quantity. The most favorite fruits are the melons and cantaloupes, due to their high water content. In addition, you should drink at least 10 glasses of water.
By eating fruits, you are preparing your law for the upcoming program. Fresh fruits are nature's exquisite food, providing all primary elements needed to withhold life. Fruits are also a good source of antioxidants and are fiber-rich. Fruits are also carefully as a negative-calorie food, thus burning more fat for its digestion than those provided.
Believe me, I have done Gm diet twice and have found this day the most difficult one. Firstly because of the sweetish taste of all fruits, and further due to an intense craving for bread or spices, that one develops towards the end of the day. The clarification for this is the Soup to break the monotony of the fruity taste.
Day 2:
The day can start with a large baked potato with one pat of butter for breakfast. It certainly fills you with complicated carbohydrates to start your day after the first sweety-fruity day.
For the rest of the day, you should eat all sorts of vegetables of your choice, raw or cooked. Vegetables have very less calories, high in nutrients and fiber. There is no limit on the amount. This should be added with drinking at least 10 glasses of water.
One can also mash a baked potato, add some onion & curd, and spice it up with chaat masala & red chilli powder and pinch of salt.
Day 3:
This day consists of a aggregate of fruits and vegetables of your choice, except banana & potato. In addition, you should drink at least 10 glasses of water. Potato is avoided on this day since the carbohydrates are ready from the fruits that you eat.
One can do varieties of salads mixed with fruit slices. If you take more cucumber and melons, it's more likely to lose weight than any other vegetables or fruits. Adding a curd to vegetable salad, in a 'raita' form will make it more palatable towards the evening, when it gets monotonous.
Day 4:
A day when you can eat nothing but eight bananas coupled with three glasses of milk. It is not mandatory to eat 8 bananas; you can have less as well. In fact, you might feel satisfied within 4-5 bananas within the whole day. This is the day when you can clearly feel your food-craving diminishing significantly. It feels divine, to get over your 'desires'. Do not forget to drink at least 10 glasses of water, as always.
Bananas will act as a supplier of carbohydrates that is easy to digest, coupled with sodium and potassium reserve.
Day 5:
This is carefully as a 'Feast day', where you should eat up to two portions of lean beef (10 oz.) combined with six whole tomatoes - as a source of fiber. On this day, you should increase your daily water intake to at least 14 glasses. This is to cleanse your law of the uric acid getting produced. You will sense colorless urine on this day.
Beef is a source of proteins & iron, and thus an alternative can be paneer (tofu - soya paneer for better results) coupled with mushrooms for the vegetarians. Many population have recommended rice as a change to beef, but if one considers the nutritive contents, rice can not be the right surrogate.
Day 6:
Another day with beef and vegetables. Today you can eat any amount of beef combined with cooked or raw vegetables. Keep your daily water intake to 14 glasses. You can add the Soup to add some spice to your day.
Iron and proteins from the beef or paneer-mushroom combination, while fiber and nutrients from the vegetables. Till this time, you must have experienced an energetic feeling and an awareness of the power of natural food items.
Day 7:
The food intake on this day should consist of a bowl of brown rice with fruit juices and any vegetables you want to eat. Drink 14 glasses of water.
The juices will break the fast (?) providing the primary nutrients along with the vegetable stuffing. The brown rice provides the carbohydrates.
Now you must be at least 4 kgs lighter than day one, yet more energetic and free from the cravings for high-calorie stuff.
The Soup:
The following soup is a modified version of the Gm Wonder Soup since it is not inherent to get the Lipton Onion soup mix everywhere, as recommend in Gm Soup. The modified soup goes parallel to the 'rassam' or 'saaram', served in south India. This soup is allowed to be consumed in large quantities throughout the program. It is intended as a supplement to your diet.
Boil few large-cut onions, tomatoes, cabbage, and celery in water. Add the sambhar masala for the taste. You may also add tomato-puree (but with the skin) instead of tomatoes to make it thicker. One can season it with herbs and flavorings. You may also add: asparagus, peas, corn, cauliflower, green beans or finely chopped mushroom.
General instructions for all days:
You may squeeze a lemon to flavor the water that you drink every day.
No alcohol of any kind since it adds empty calories.
Salt should be used as less as possible.
Use synthetic sweetener, in case you can't stay away from the sweet taste.
No fruit juices till day seven.
Black coffee or tea is allowed.
You may repeat the schedule, if you want further weight loss, but it is recommend that you should take a gap of at least two weeks in between two schedules.
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Now the most leading part: the doubts, accusations and myths.
"It works just by losing the water article of the body and not categorically a fat loss."
a. Firstly, there is no mention of restricting the water intake on any day. How can one lose only water if we are spellbinding at least 10-14 glasses of water every day, added with the unlimited quantity of soup and the water contained in the melons, fruits and vegetables?
b. It basically acts on the principle of 'negative calorie foods' where you are spellbinding confident foods that inquire more fat to burn themselves than what they supply themselves. High-fiber food stuffs you but doesn't supply the required calories, instead demands more fat to burn themselves, which is derived from the stored energy-deposits.
"Skin gets dry and you may lose your hair while and after the Gm diet."
a. At least I have not met whatever in my acquaintance complaining of this, but found this on few blog-posts. The reckon can be insufficient amount of water intake and not supplying adequate protein sources on specific days.
"It is a temporary loss and you gather all lost weight in consolidate of weeks."
a. Obviously, if you resume your high-calorie food once again. It is not difficult to lose weight, but to articulate it. Malvika, my wife who is a dietician, all the time recommends a maintenance diet agenda after the Gm diet agenda as follows:
i. Only liquids in the form of soups, buttermilk or fruit juices for supper on three consecutive days in a week. This should be followed endlessly, until you want your weight to bounce back.
ii. Drink abundance of water as if you are on Gm diet.
iii. practice regularly.
"It's just a Crash-diet and a Fad, nothing else!!"
a. First of all, it is not promoted as a weight-loss diet, but a Detox diet that cleanses your law from within. Weight loss is just a by-product of it.
b. Even if one looks at it as a 'crash-diet', it categorically will not harm you, but will 'move' your weight in the least period, thus motivating many who tend to leave their quarterly diet and practice regimens within first month, for not getting desired results. Once you can 'see' your weight dropping, it boosts your will to try further.
c. As said above, it is futile unless you back it up with a maintenance program. You can not be on Gm diet for lifetime, nor you can or should do it every month. Instead use is as an initial-motivator and switch to a liquid-dinner procedure later.
My Own Experience:
I myself have done Gm diet twice. The first time I was very sincere in following it. Thanks to my wife and my mother, who made all arrangements for the foods on each day. I lost 4 kgs towards the fifth day. I could not lose any further on the last two days and I reckon that to the rice I ate, as a substitute to the beef. The lost weight remained there for a month, in spite of not maintaining it actively. I could have lost at least half a kilo more, if I would have stayed away from the rice, which in any case I do not like to eat.
The next time I started it, but had to leave it in between due to some confident circumstances. But had seen primary change in my weight and the vigor level for the four days that I followed it.
The most primary gain has been with my lipids advent down to normal. I have had categorically bad lipid levels for two years and after following Gm diet twice, being on statins and taking self-prescribed homeopathic medicines for the same, the newest levels of lipids were perfectly within General limits. The credit goes to the high-fiber rich Gm diet as well.
The Conclusion:
If followed sincerely, Gm diet has a specific confident follow of its own on our metabolism. I agree that it is not an end in itself, and one needs to articulate the metabolism by acceptable food habits and practice regimen. Gm diet can not be a 'quick & easy' substitute to 'efforts', but categorically can be a booster for those who have never seen their weight going downhill, providing a 'kick-start'.
As Malvika says, 'one should take a diet that s/he can follow for the lifetime...' and that's true! You can never have Gm diet for everyday, since there are so many delicacies nearby to enjoy, but for that we need to have a balanced metabolism, so that we can give them their due justice.
Gm Diet - My Experiments With the Truth
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