Obesity has become one of the biggest challenges today. It is affecting people worldwide, posing great health risks, in addition to the extra weight being a problem in itself.
Both children and adults alike are victims of this disease. It is believed that if this trend continues, by the year 2015, more than 700 million people around the world will be obese. A sedentary lifestyle, lack of exercise and most importantly, an improper diet are the primary causes of obesity. There is an utmost need to maintain a balance between the calories consumed and the calories spent. Hence, the diet that you intake is crucial. You may have heard of the Atkins diet which is a diet low in carbohydrates meant to resolve overweight issues. Well, now it’s time for us to illuminate you on another equally renowned diet plan.
General Motors, the American corporate giant that builds cars, has created a worldwide phenomenon by introducing the General Motors Diet plan, more popularly known as the GM Diet. This was mainly devised keeping in mind the needs of the employees of General Motors and their families. It was field tested at the Johns Hopkins Research Centre and thereafter secured the approval for distribution from the Board of Directors on August 15, 1985. This entails a wellness program designed to cleanse the system so that one can experience a change in their attitudes and emotions in addition to the weight loss it brings about.
This diet can be followed by any person of any age. This raging phenomenon claims to make a person lose up to 8 kilograms in one week of following a miracle diet. But does it?
I have to confess that I am a bit on the plumper side and would like nothing more than to get those extra kilos off my body. I have tried exercise, yoga, Pilates, diets and what not. Sadly, my body has a mind of its own. It doesn’t seem to want to lose weight. Well actually, I don’t want to lose weight either. It’s the bulk I am more worried about. I do not want to be affected by any nasty disease due to those extra kilos. So when I heard of the GM diet, as usual, I was eager to try it out. Millions of people around the world claim to have benefited from this weight loss diet program. People say that unlike some complicated diet plans, this is doable and which is why, so many vouch for it. After reading this, I clearly saw a silver lining in the clouds.
GM Diet Chart: The Beginning:
The GM diet is a week-long diet with a specific food intake for each of the seven days. If followed exactly, the GM diet claims to make the follower lose 5-8 kilos in the duration of the diet. Moreover, the GM diet is said to be safe and one can try it without the fear of complications. It helps to flush out all the impurities from your system so that you experience a sense of overall well-being and good health.
It is claimed that once the diet is over, that is, after seven days the person will feel a lot lighter as his weight goes down. He or she will be high on energy and will be endowed with a positive approach towards life. The trick of the GM diet is to not go hungry but to fill yourself with so much food that you don’t go hungry at all.
My curiosity was further aroused. This is a diet in which we actually eat! It’s a diet which doesn’t make us starve! I had never heard of this before. Hence, I surely wanted to try it out as soon as possible. So I began my preparation. So let’s read about the procedure on how to lose weight in 7 days.
1. GM Diet – Day One:
The first day of the GM Diet is your preparation for the upcoming program that you have enrolled yourself in. Day one is an all fruits day. The GM Diet Chart instructed me to eat all the fruits we possibly can with the exception of bananas. Any fruit can be consumed any time except bananas. The suggestion was to intake more of watermelon and cantaloupe. Also, we were supposed to drink 8-12 glasses of water throughout the day. If one feels hungry, that person is not doing the diet properly. Moreover, it is suggested that if one consumes just melons on the first day of the diet, one can lose about a kilogram of weight which is massive!
I followed day one to the T. I crammed myself with fruits. I had oranges, papaya, watermelon, cantaloupe, pomegranate, apples, peaches, pears, strawberries, custard apples and all else. And of course, water as advised. I did not experience hunger. Whenever I was hungry, I had more fruits. And thus went day one, peacefully.
2. GM Diet – Day Two:
Day two was an all vegetables day. We could eat any cooked and uncooked vegetables of our choice. Make sure to use no oil while cooking the vegetables. In fact, there is no limit on the type or amount of vegetables you can eat! My day happily started with a large boiled potato (for the complex carbohydrates it contains) for breakfast. And again, 8-12 glasses of water throughout the day.
By day two, I was feeling very enthusiastic. I had not experienced any hunger the day before. So I was pretty sure I could manage day two as well. I started off with the boiled potato. It was funny having the potato with nothing, but I somehow got it down. The rest of the day I spent eating veggies. I downed cucumber, carrots uncooked as well as boiled, boiled beans, raw lettuce, boiled bottle guard and water. By evening I was feeling a bit uncomfortable. The fiber in the vegetables had me rushing to the toilet again and again. But ultimately my digestive system was being cleaned up. So I was fine with it. Again, no hunger on day two.
3. GM Diet – Day Three:
Day three of the GM diet plan is a fruit and vegetable day. Any quantity of it is allowed. No potatoes on this day and no bananas yet. Same with the water – 8-12 glasses of water throughout the day.
By day three, my system got used to all the food I was giving it. I had a happy day with the variety of fruits and vegetables the market had to offer. Except the toilet situation, I was happy with the diet till now.
4. GM Diet – Day Four:
The fourth day of the GM diet chart and plan is the bananas and milk day! Did that catch you by surprise? We are supposed to have as many as 8-10 bananas and 3-4 glasses of milk throughout the day.
I was a little worried about day four. I wasn’t sure whether 8-10 bananas and 3 glasses of milk would be enough to last me through the day. I started off with one banana and a glass of milk for breakfast. By mid-morning, I was hungry enough for two more bananas. For lunch, I had one more glass of milk with two more bananas. I was surprised. Five bananas and half a day was already over. I had one more banana in the evening with another glass of milk. And for dinner I had two bananas. By the end of the day I was really surprised. I managed the day with just three glasses of milk and 8 bananas, and no sign of hunger! I was so full with all the bananas I was having. That was truly amazing!
5. GM Diet – Day Five:
Day five is a feast day on the GM Diet plan. We can have one cup of rice for lunch and have to have six large tomatoes throughout the day. By day five, we would be producing a lot more of uric acid in our body, so the water intake has to be increased to 15 glasses throughout the day.
Here came the problem. I hate tomatoes. No matter in which form, raw or cooked, I just cannot eat tomatoes. They do not go down my throat. So I was a little worried about how I was going to handle the tomatoes. Then my mom suggested, why not puree the tomatoes, cook them, add coriander, cumin, and pepper, salt and make it into a soup. Well, I can drink tomato soup. And thus, my tomatoes were ground and eaten up as soup. I had this soup throughout the day. Not the ideal way may be, but I surely got the tomatoes down.
6. GM Diet – Day Six:
Day six is another feast day in the GM Diet. We could have one cup of rice for lunch and all the vegetables we can eat throughout the day. Again the water intake was to be 8-12 glasses throughout the day.
By day six, I was definitely feeling lighter. I did not weight myself at any point during the GM Diet, but I was feeling much lighter. I had no trouble with the vegetables on day six as my body had gotten used to the diet already. I drank the required amount of water. I realized, whether or not I was losing weight, I was definitely improving my digestive system.
7. GM Diet – Day Seven:
This is the last day of the GM Diet. Day seven consists of one cup rice, all the vegetables we care to consume and any fruit juice.
Day seven is a perfect finale to the diet. We eat all the vegetables we can possibly eat and flush out everything with fruit juices.
I was so happy that I managed to stick to the diet and complete it. My face was glowing with all the nutrients I gave my body. My digestion was back on track after the superb cleansing I put it through and I was definitely looking less round. I had noticeably thinned down after the diet.
I got onto the scales to see how much weight I had lost during the course of the diet. To my horror, I had lost only about 3 kilos. I was so disappointed for not having achieved the 5-8 kilos mentioned. Then I realized all my dresses which weren’t fitting earlier, were now comfortably sliding down me. I had lost three inches off my body which is quite an achievement.
My body is grateful to me that I put it through such a wonderful wellness diet that it rewarded me with the required inch loss rather than the weight loss.
So for all you enthusiasts who are starving yourselves to achieve a slimmer and trimmer you, please stop. There is a much healthier way to get what you want. The GM Diet is really a miraculous diet. Try it for yourself and share your experiences with us. Wish you good luck!
