Diet Plans
Beverly Hills Diet

The Beverly Hills Diet was a diet book originally published in 1981 by Judy Mazel. It has since been revised, and re-released as the New Beverly Hills Diet. The idea behind this diet centres on eating the right foods at the right time.

The initial Beverly Hills Diet began with a restrictive 42 day induction phase. The new one is far less extreme and according to the author meets the recommended standards for a weekly balanced diet.

The New Beverly Hills Diet focuses on Conscious Combining, a food combining theory that suggests that maintaining or losing weight is controlled by the times you eat and your food combinations.

The author suggests that when certain foods are eaten together it leads to poor digestion and an result in people gaining weight. In the new Beverly Hills diet, proteins go with proteins (and fats), carbohydrates go with carbohydrates (and fats), and fruit stands alone.

Important things to know about the food groups are:

Fruit – Fruits are known as “mini-carbohydrates” but are a group on their own. Fruits are self digesting; their enzymes begin converting them to nutrients within 15-20 minutes.

Carbohydrates- Carbohydrates can take up to 3 hours to digest starting in the mouth with saliva. It is essential when eating carbs to chew as much as possible.

Proteins – Proteins can take 10 hours or more to digest, and need the help of the stomachs acid.

Fats- Fats are believe to slow digestion but fats are rarely eaten by themselves so it is hard to know how they act in our digestive system.

Mazel says that we shouldn’t trap faster digesting foods like carbs behind slower digesting food like protein. Mazel says that while your body works on digesting the protein with stomach acids, it's neutralizing the saliva enzymes necessary to digest the carbohydrates and that this poorly digested food is what leads to weight gain.

A typical day begins with any one of the enzymatic fruits, such as pineapple, strawberries, grapes, or watermelon. You can enjoy unlimited amount of this fruit but must wait at least an hour before switching to another fruit, and you must wait at least two hours before eating carbohydrates, fat or protein.

Once you do eat one of these food groups fruit is banned for the rest of the day. If after the fruit you have carbohydrates you can eat carbohydrates without restriction until you consume protein. Once you have consumed protein even the smallest amount eighty percent of what you eat for the rest of the day should be protein.

As for drinks fruit juices and wine would be considered as fruit, most other alcohol drinks come under carbohydrates except for champagne which is considered neutral, and can go with anything.

One meal a day can be considered "open," where carbohydrates and protein can go together. However, if that open meal occurs at lunch, once again eighty percent of the food you eat for the rest of the day should be strictly protein.

How much weight will I lose?

The diet claims a weight loss of around 10 – 15 lbs in the 35 day programme.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Initial weight loss can be substantial, any many enjoy following a structured plan
• No need to count calories or cut out any food group.
• Alcohol is not prohibited

Cons

• It doesn’t allow you to eat a balanced meal
• It is not based on any scientific evidence
• Extreme amounts of fruit can act as a laxative

Summary

The Beverly Hills diet can cause rapid weight loss, especially in its early stages. It is easy to start, as it does not feature calorie counting.

There are some problems with the diet. Weight loss on the Beverly Hills diet is mostly from fluid and muscle, and any weight lost on the Beverly Hills diet can be easily regained. Due to the lack of scientific evidence it may not be the best option however if you give it a go make sure you do consume all food groups to get all the essential nutrients.