Behold the Power of Grapefruit: In the 1980’s diet fanatics swore by anything that included grapefruit, but for many individuals the idea of living day in and day out with little more than grapefruit, toast and hard-boiled eggs left them anxious to explore other dietary options.
The grapefruit diet offered fewer than 1,000 calories per day, which meant that virtually anyone on the diet lost weight. Your body will burn more than 1,000 calories per day so simply mathematics demonstrated that less was going in than being used. The net effect is weight loss.
The biggest problem was no one could seem to stand a steady diet of the tangy juice. Did that diminish the potential of grapefruit? Absolutely not.
Recent studies at the Nutrition and Medical Research Center at Scripps Clinic in San Diego, California suggest that grapefruit still is one of those wonder fruits that hold meaning for individuals who are seeking weight loss. What’s more this fruit may be an especially important ally to diabetics. Even better news comes when we discover that grapefruit can be an add on to a diet plan instead of a replacement of other foods you may enjoy.
The research was conducted on 100 people listed as obese. The participants were separated into three different groups. The first group ate a half a grapefruit prior to every meal of the day. The second group consumed a glass of grapefruit juice before each meal. The third group was offered no changes to their diet. All three groups were then monitored.
One report indicates, “After 12 weeks, those participants who ate grapefruit with each meal lost, on average 3.6lb. Only a third of a pound a week, but pretty good considering they didn’t make any other changes to their diet. Meanwhile, those who drank grapefruit juice three times a day lost 3.3lb in the 12 weeks. By comparison, the grapefruit-free participants lost, on average, only 0.5lb.”
If these findings hold true over an entire year there is a potential weight loss of around 15 pounds for those who simply add grapefruit to their daily diet. Without grapefruit the loss comes to 2 pounds.
This same report suggests, “The link between raised insulin levels and excess weight is complicated and multifaceted. To start with, high levels of insulin may indicate that sugar isn’t efficiently utilized for energy with the result that it’s more likely to be stored as fat. Secondly, high levels of insulin can make people feel hungry so that they eat more. And finally, high levels of insulin prevent the body from breaking down fat. Add these together, and it’s easy to see why lower levels of insulin may promote weight loss.”
Diabetes UK is quoted as responding to the research this way, “If grapefruit does significantly lower insulin levels this could be a potentially exciting discovery. We will be following any further research in this area closely to establish if grapefruit could provide genuine benefits.”
No one is saying that diabetics should automatically add grapefruit and expect their symptoms to abate. However, the potential of a fresh, cost effective means of managing blood glucose is worth note and celebration.
Ongoing tests have been requested.
You should know that if you are being treated for depression or other medical conditions the medication you are taking may interact negatively with grapefruit products. If you are taking medications prescribed by your health care provider you should contact them to see if grapefruit could be safely added to your diet plan.