The chocolate diet works on 2 premises, one that chocolate is a healthy food source that contains antioxidants that help with heart disease and high blood pressure. The other premise is that most people love chocolate and it would be very difficult if not impossible to eliminate chocolate from their diet. This all makes sense, but surely people with a sweet tooth and who want to really lose weight can find a substitute for chocolate. As for the miraculous powers of chocolate, I am also sure that there are other foods that are just as helpful.

One important note is that the chocolate that you consume will be through a chocolate diet shake, not candy bars.

The calories allowed on this diet are around 1000, which isn’t much, you better hope that the chocolate shakes either fill you up or slow down your metabolism. There isn’t really any proof of that.

As always, it is never a good idea for a diet to concentrate on one type of food, especially if that food is chocolate.

The 3 day diet has been around since the mid 80’s. It promises quick weight loss up to 10 pounds although most of that weight will be water pounds. The proponents of this diet are quick to tell you not to go beyond three days with this diet. Eat your regular diet for 4 or 5 days before beginning another round of the 3 day diet.

The key to this diet is to make sure to exactly follow the diet, which in under 1000 calories a day. That’s not many calories. So after 3 days of it you will probably be very hungry and ready to pig out.

Here is the menu:
Day 1
Breakfast
Black coffee or tea, with 1-2 packets Sweet & Low or Equal
1/2 grapefruit or juice
1 piece toast with 1 tablespoon peanut butter
Lunch
1/2 cup tuna
1 piece toast
Black coffee or tea, with 1-2 packets Sweet & Low or Equal
Dinner
3 ounces any lean meat or chicken
1 cup green beans
1 cup carrots
1 apple
1 cup regular vanilla ice cream
Day 2
Breakfast
Black coffee or tea, with 1-2 packets Sweet & Low or Equal
1 egg
1/2 banana
1 piece toast
Lunch
1 cup cottage cheese or tuna
8 regular saltine crackers
Dinner
2 beef franks
1 cup broccoli or cabbage
1/2 cup carrots
1/2 banana
1/2 cup regular vanilla ice cream
Day 3
Breakfast
Black coffee or tea, with 1-2 packets Sweet & Low or Equal
5 regular saltine crackers
1 ounce cheddar cheese
1 apple
Lunch
Black coffee or tea, with 1-2 packets Sweet & Low or Equal
1 boiled egg
1 piece toast
Dinner
1 cup tuna
1 cup carrots
1 cup cauliflower
1 cup melon
1/2 cup regular vanilla ice cream

Walter Voegtlin developed the diet in 1975. His theory behind the Caveman diet is that our ancient ancestors were a healthy lot who ate mostly meat that they hunted and very little carbohydrates. Voegtlin argued that we like our cave dwelling ancestors are carnivores who are supposed to eat meat and food that can be gathered. Examples of the gathered foods are herbs, fruits, nuts and vegetables. What can’t be gathered is spaghetti and bread, in other words no grain products were eaten in the Paleolithic time and you shouldn’t eat them either. And you can forget about diary products like cheese, milk, sugar and no ice cream. I am sure that there isn’t any cave wall etching of cavemen eating ice cream.

The diet does provide for a lot of protein with all the meat that is consumed. And it is an interesting idea that we as humans are somehow connected genetically with the diet of the caveman. Another argument for this diet is that our modern diets open us up to disease like cancer that the caveman didn’t have to worry about.

But all this goes against eating a sensible diet consisting of the 5 food groups. Any over abundance of one particular group of food can’t be that healthy for you.

But surprisingly there is a lot of support for this diet. Ultimately you (and your doctor) would have to decide whether it was right for you.

The cookie diet was created by Dr. Sanford Siegal in 1975. Dr. Siegal is a physician and a weight loss expert. The diet is simply eating six ‘special’ cookies each day. Not just any cookies but ones that Dr Siegal developed and ones that he will sell to you. There is also shakes that work along with the cookies.

Back to the diet, six cookies each day and a reasonable dinner and that’s it. If you read The cookie diet website this particular way of losing weight has been a complete success. There are even rip off cookie diets that are trying to cash in on Dr. Siegal success.

One problem that I see is that the total calories for the day are only 800. You can lose weigh fast but that many calories is awfully low. Another problem is the lack of fruit and vegetables, any good diet should have lots of fruits and vegetables. And one website suggested that the cookies didn’t taste very good.

Cookies that don’t taste good! I couldn’t put up with that.

Like other fad diets the cookie diet loses the weight fast which means you will probably will put the weight back on fast.

As you probably guessed the consumption of grapefruits is prominent in this diet. Grapefruit juice along with breakfast, grapefruit juice along with lunch and for a little variety a half of grapefruit or grapefruit juice with dinner. But not grapefruit juice for the bedtime snack (I guess that would be a little too much)

As for what you eat with your grapefruit juice, meats, fish and fresh vegetables are okay, but starches are off limit. And you have to drink a lot of water each day along with that grapefruit juice. (Lots of trips to the bathroom)

Why grapefruits?

Apparently the reasoning behind the large amount of grapefruit juice is the theory that grapefruits are fat burners. There isn’t any evidence to this. But grapefruits are a good source of vitamin C and fiber.

It is never a good idea to go on any diet that promotes quick weight loss such as the grapefruit diet. You might loss the weight quickly but you will surely gain it back just as fast.

 Each morning you eat bananas and drink room temperature water. Why room temperature water? I don’t know. For lunch and dinner you eat whatever you like. After 8 o’clock in the evening you don’t eat anything. And you can’t drink alcohol; eat ice cream, eat dairy products or any kind of desserts after dinner.

 What do you drink with your meals? You guessed it, room temperature water.

 One of the reasons that this diet is so popular is that exercise isn’t encouraged. You can if you want but that is up to you.

 Why bananas?

Because bananas are supposed to increase your metabolism, it makes you feel full and it promotes fat burning.

A red flag should go up whenever a weight loss program concentrates on just one food and doesn’t encourage exercise.

I wouldn’t do it anyway because I don’t like bananas.