GM Diet- a bit too effective

by Anita

I went on the GM (General Motors) Diet for about 2 weeks. I took quite a bit of will power.

The first two days were just fruits and then just vegetables. The day with "just vegetables" was tough, and I found it difficult to concentrate on work, went on imagining all sorts of yummy food to eat.

The day with milk and bananas was good and the final day with a steak was wonderful -- this food had never tasted so good before.

All in all it was a positive experience. I had to force myself to drink the glasses of water recommended.

It seemed to be a well balanced, nutritious diet. I lost a lot of weight.

By the second week I lost more weight than i wanted and had to stop the diet. I was not very overweight when I started.

What was good that, by the end of the week the diet allows you to eat whatever you want, so I could eat out on the weekends.

The diet made me very conscious of what food I should put into my stomach though and had improved my will power a bit. I still eat lots of fruits and vegetables instead of other foods whenever I binge.

Note from Dr. Dan

Anita,

Your story brings up some very interesting points.

First, you mention that the "diet made me very conscious of what food I should put into my stomach." Most overweight people are not really aware of what they are eating.

They don't really realize the quantity of the food they are taking in. And they have no clear idea of what the food is made of. Is it protein? Carbohydrate? Good fat? Bad fat?

It's not so much about overeating. If you don't give your body the proper nutrition -- meaning proper building blocks -- you'll have an unhealthy body.

And unhealthy bodies have diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and are overweight.

By the way, the "GM Diet" really has no connection to General Motors. Here's what Tom Wilkinson, a G.M spokesman told Roger Cohen, a columnist for the New York Times:

“We’ve concluded it’s an urban myth. It’s a fairly unconventional diet, and in the 1980s G.M. was the most conventional of companies.”

Dr. Dan