The headlong rush for spectacular results generates all sorts of elaborate diets, each with extraordinary claims. The 3 day diet, one of the most unrealistic of all, promises unbelievable results in three days. To permanently lose 10 lbs in three days is outside the realms of possibility.

Permitted Foods

The 3 day diet, literally based on starvation, drastically cuts calories to subsistence level. The food pattern is similar on all three days: fruit (grapefruit or apple or banana), vegetables (beets or green beans or broccoli, or cabbage or cauliflower or carrots), a little toast, a little peanut butter (on the first day only), saltine crackers, eggs, meat and some vanilla ice-cream.

Weight is lost naturally, mainly through water loss, as first happens with any diet. It is unnecessary to say that weight will climb back at least at the same speed as it fell.

Diet Plan

The three-day diet plan is designed on a pattern of 600 calories a day. Although the diet cannot last more than three consecutive days, it can always be resumed on condition that there is a four-day break between diet periods.

Day 1

• Breakfast: black coffee or tea or water, half a grapefruit, one slice of toast with peanut butter
• Lunch: half a cup of tuna with one slice of toast, coffee or tea
• Dinner: two slices of meat, one cup green beans, one cup beets, one small apple, one cup of vanilla ice-cream.

Day 2

• Breakfast: coffee or black tea, one hard-boiled egg, one slice of toast, half a banana
• Lunch: one cup of cottage cheese, eight saltine crackers, coffee or black tea
• Dinner: two hot dogs, one cup of broccoli or cabbage, half a cup of carrots, half a banana, half a cup of vanilla ice-cream

Day 3

• Breakfast: black coffee or tea or water, five saltine crackers, one slice cheddar cheese, one small apple
• Lunch: one hard-boiled egg, one slice of toast, coffee or black tea
• Dinner: one cup of tuna, one cup of cauliflower, half a cantaloupe, half a cup of vanilla ice-cream

Only artificial sweeteners are permitted. Snacks are not.

Drink four glasses of water per day. Diet soda is permitted in moderation.

Spices permitted: herbs, lemon, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, mustard, ketchup, salt and pepper.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages

You may very well lose up to 10 lbs in three days.

Disadvantages

The diet has short-term results. It is based on unhealthy deprival. Weight loss mainly results in the loss of body fluids. The weight lost is very likely to be regained very quickly.

Conclusion

The 3 day diet is an illustration of artificial weight loss. It is certainly not to be recommended. People suffering from health problems should especially avoid the 3 day diet. The diet has no scientific foundation. There is no guarantee that, after three days of deprival, you will lose the 10 lbs promised.