GM Diet | General Motors Diet Plan, Reviews and Tips

GM Diet | General Motors Diet Plan, Tips and Reviews

The level of awareness about health and fitness has risen to such a level that it has become one of the hottest topics of discussion at any gathering.

Today, people proudly admit of being on a special diet plan and readily share its results with others. Thus, it’s no wonder that one keeps hearing about new diet plans and exercise regime every other day.

One such diet plan that has been ruling the roost for the past few years is the GM Diet Plan. It is deemed the most searched plan on Google in 2015.

Thus, we would explore the various facets of this diet plan here.

What is the GM Diet Plan?

Incepted in the 1980s by General Motors for its workers and families, the plan in simple terms is an accelerated fire weight loss program to be followed for a week that can help you lose anything from 10 to 17 pounds in that period.

Initially aimed to keep families in shape, the GM diet is believed to be developed using a special grant from the US Department of Agriculture and the FDA.

Tested by John Hopkins University, it was given recognition by General Motors in 1985. Today, diet plan has become a worldwide phenomenon.

How does the GM Diet Plan Work?

Giving your body an intensive detox as well as providing nourishment mainly through liquids, the diet plan leaves you more energetic and vibrant by the end.

The diet is limited to eating just fruits, vegetables, brown rice, and chicken. You lose weight by consuming complex carbohydrates and low calories in fruits and vegetables.

It follows certain set rules like:

  • No alcohol during the seven days.
  • Drinking at least 10 to 15 glasses of water every day mandatorily.
  • Supplementing your 7 day diet with special GM soup which could be taken as often as desired.
  • Regarding drinks, you can add lemon to water and even have club soda. Tea or coffee can be consumed with any cream and sugar or its substitutes. Fruit juice is only allowed on the seventh day and not before that.

The GM Diet Plan

Now let’s see what this seven-day plan constitutes of day-wise.

GM Diet Plan
GM Diet Plan
  • Day One

This is the fruits day when you eat fruits to your heart’s content. You can have any fruits except bananas, grapes, mango, and litchi.

You are advised to have more melons and cantaloupe since they are high in fiber. Even apples, oranges, kiwis, and papaya would be good options.

Water consumption should be a minimum of 8 to 10 glasses.

This is the day when you are actually preparing your body for the rest of the days by flushing out toxins. Moreover, you are not starving and eating unlimited quantities of fruits.

  • Day Two

The second day is the only vegetable meal plan day. Here, for breakfast, you can have one potato that has been baked with a dash of butter.

You should not eat any more potatoes. While raw vegetables like cucumber, tomato, carrots, etc, can be eaten raw, you can cook vegetables like beans, broccoli, etc. preferably without oil or with sparse use of olive oil.

The potato at breakfast gives you the carbohydrate boost to keep the day energized as well as replenish your carb stores for the rest of the diet plan.

Veggies give you protein, fiber and essential minerals, and vitamins which do not let you feel weak.

You can also prepare cabbage or tomato soup for lunch or dinner. Some people can start feeling weak here due to a low intake of carbohydrates but this is completely ok.

Many claim the second day as the hardest of the seven days.

  • Day 3

This is the day when you eat a combination of fruits and vegetables. Again potatoes and bananas are to be avoided. One to two mangoes can be consumed.

Recommended fruits and vegetables remain the same. Here, not only does your body replenish itself but you also get the essential fibers and nutrients.

Again fruits help you get the taste and flavors back after a vegetable’s day whilst breaking the monotony of the first two days.

You can also have special GM soup here for lunch or dinner. Because of fruit sugars and carbs from veggies, your weakness of the second day disappears here and you start feeling energized and healthy.

  • Day 4

This is the day when you finally get to eat the prohibited fruit- the bananas!  Your whole day’s diet should be eight bananas and four big glasses of milk.

You can even make a delicious banana shake and sip them throughout the day. In case you still feel hungry, you can prepare yourself a soup of garlic, tomatoes, onions, and capsicum.

You can always substitute bananas with figs and milk with soy milk. Bananas provide you with plenty of energy and you end up feeling revitalized and energized.

Remember to keep drinking your water. The day might feel boring due to just bananas and milk but thinking about our weight loss goals and probably talking to other people who had lost weight would keep you motivated.

  • Day 5

This is the day when you have more eating options. You can give yourself a treat by using overnight sprouts and eating them with some onions, tomatoes, lime juice, and a pinch of salt.

Other options are paneer tikka of just paneer, onion, tomato, and capsicum. You can also have a serving of brown rice.

Non-vegetarians can opt for anything that is a lean protein like about 500 gm of chicken breast or fish.

You must have six large tomatoes on this day and increase your water consumption to a minimum of 15 glasses.

This is to help flush out the excess uric acid that is being produced in the body. Again minimal oil for cooking is recommended. This is the day that feels like a feast after the previous four days.

Vegetarians actually have a diet of complex carbohydrates and high fiber while non-vegetarians consume more lean protein.

The high fibers of tomatoes help in the digestion. Here you can also have six eggs and six tomatoes as your diet. Remember not to take high carbohydrates like potatoes, and bananas, or proteins like beef, turkey or pork.

Processed foods, white rice, bread, full-fat milk or yogurt, ice cream, cheese, etc. should be avoided. The fifth day leaves you in an upbeat mood with a good amount of protein, carbs and fruit intake.

  • Day 6

This is the day when you can have a number of vegetables, soups, and one cup of brown rice or a lean protein source like 500 gm of skinless chicken.

Vegetables should be boiled and cooked in minimal to no oil. You can even have the GM diet soup in the mornings and the evenings.

You can opt for alternatives like Quinoa, boiled Bengal gram, ground turkey, mushrooms, lentils, beetroot cucumber, etc.

This is the highest food intake day so far. This is also the day when you look visibly slimmer and feel much lighter.

  • Day 7

The final day of the diet plan is similar to the previous day with an addition of a glass of fruit juice. No sugar should be added to the juice. The juice here helps to flush out the toxins from the body.

Throughout the seven days, you can supplement your effort with light exercises to boost the metabolic and fat-burning process of the body.

Again, it should not be continued beyond seven days as this may cause weakness if the immunity system, muscles, and bones. You can do this every alternate week.

GM Diet Sample Chart

Now that you know what you can eat and what you should not eat, we present a sample diet chart that you can follow for both vegetarians and non-vegetarians.

This is just for your reference purpose and you can make any adjustments following the GM diet guidelines. Check the diet charts

GM Diet Soup Recipe – The Wonder Soup

Touted as GM wonder soup, you have been advised to consume this in an unlimited amount from day 4 onwards.

A master detox, the soup is extremely easy to make and is quite flavorful as well. To prepare it, you require

  • 500 ml of water
  • One cabbage
  • Three medium-sized tomatoes
  • A bunch of celery
  • Six large onions
  • Two green peppers
  • Chicken soup stock/vegetable stock
  • Salt and pepper to taste though as to minimum as possible

All you need to do is chop all vegetables first. Now sauté the onions and bell pepper with little olive oil till they turn mild brown.

Now add, the rest of the chopped vegetables along with water in a pan, bring to a boil, and simmer for till the vegetables get cooked.

This might take anything from 30 to 45 minutes.

The Scientific Explanation behind the GM Diet

The basis of the GM diet plan is to take fewer carbs and fewer calories than required by the body to force it to burn fat to meet requirements.

The fruit diet on the first day prepares your body by detoxifying it and giving it the required fibers to aid digestion and stop you from feeling hungry in short spans.

The second day of vegetables ensures all essential vitamins and nutrition is provided to the body.

Foods like brown rice or chicken are low in fat and are complex carbohydrates or lean protein.

They keep you filled for longer hours and enhance your metabolic rate which facilitates fat burning.

The diet does not restrict the amount that you can eat which saves you from starvation or hunger pangs. Instead, the diet limits the food items that you can eat.

Frequent small meals along with increased water intake help eliminate fats as well as toxins.

Moreover, the recommended 10 to 15 minutes of light exercises keep your body energized and in top condition.

Those who are into intensive exercise are advised to tone it down during the week.

Benefits of the GM Diet Plan

There are many scientifically based plans available but the success of the GM diet plan has been unparalleled. Let’s look into some distinct benefits of this diet plan:-

  • Detoxification

The biggest benefit of the GM diet is the intense detoxification it provides to the body.

This comes by eating low-carb fruits and vegetables and cutting off any unhealthy proteins and excess carbs during the first there days.

The rich fibers of fruits and vegetables, plenty of water, and essential vitamins and minerals cleanse the body thoroughly by flushing out all toxins.

This is the reason that you are required to drink over 2 to 3 liters of water per day.

  • Improved digestion

Thanks to high fiber intake, the digestive system gets completely cleaned out. Moreover, they are low in calories and sugar which helps the body to digest them easily and become easily absorbed by the body.

All this cumulatively de-stresses the digestive system, gets it’s intensely cleaned and thus makes it more robust and healthy.

  • Regular bowel movement

One of the major causes of obesity is irregular bowel movement. This makes the wastes trapped inside the body and adds unnecessary weight as well as making all systems of the body malfunction.

GM diet gives intense detoxification that regularizes the bowel movement and you start feeling lighter and more agile.

  • Timespan

If any diet plan is for a long period, it is likely that you might get tempted to leave it in the middle.

However, the plan is off for just a week with no hunger pangs and starvation makes it easy to stick to and thus come out it, a winner.

Side Effects of the GM Diet

The GM Diet can cause a few side effects as well. A few of them are:

  • Because of the severe cut-off of calories, you might never feel filled during the first two to three days. Thus, you might feel hungry and mentally crave your normal food. You need to withstand these psychosomatic symptoms to successfully reach your goal target.
  • Because of sudden reduction, you might show symptoms like dizziness, irritability, headache, cramping, and even thirst. However, drinking abundant water is the key to eliminating all these side effects. Adding lime to it would help to a great degree.
  • The lack of adequate proteins in the first three to four days may cause sudden muscle weakness. However, this gets reversed once you start the intake of proteins.
  • The diet is not recommended for pregnant women, for females undergoing menstruation and for diabetic patients.

Do’s and Don’ts while on GM diet

Now that we know all about the diet and its pros and cons, we can maximize its benefits by doing certain things and abstaining from certain things for maximum benefits.

Let’s looks first at all the Do’s

  • The success formula of the diet lies in drinking as much water as possible. This is something that you must consciously do.
  • Olive oil should be used as sparingly as possible. Extra virgin oil is the most preferred.
  • Try to use herbs, vinegar, and ultra-low dressings to make your vegetables taste delicious.
  • The instructions of the GM diet should be strictly adhered to.
  • Wonder soup should be consumed in good amounts from day four to maximize the benefits.

Now let’s create a list of things that you must not do under any circumstances during the week of the GM diet.

  • You must not consume any alcohol as it facilitates fluid retention and completely disrupts the detoxification process.
  • Do not use more than one teaspoon of oil throughout the day for your vegetables.
  • Salad dressing needs to be avoided
  • High-calorie beans like kidney beans, lima beans etc. should be avoided.
  • You should not deviate even for one day from the plan as it would throw the results down the drain. Thus no cheating is allowed.

The GM Diet Reviews

The diet plan has some features like

  • Low salt and sugar intake
  • High intake of fibers and complex carbohydrate

This causes a reduction of serum cholesterol levels.  However, one has to realize that once the diet plan ends and you are eating your normal food, you might gain back the weight.

This is because the weight that you are losing initially is water weight which is likely to relapse.

Thus, even after the plan ends, you need to keep on eating healthy food and actually watch your calories for sustained results.

People claim to have mixed results with the diet plan. I loved the review of a lady who actually went through the diet plan where she lost 4 kgs but her friend did not lose any weight though lost inches.

Check out the following link:

http://www.mouthshut.com/review/Weight-Reduction-Programme-review-slrrsmqrlm

Another user of this diet shared his experiences at

http://www.inhouserecipes.com/gm-diet-results/

This thread of conversation was very interesting to read at

https://www.quora.com/Are-there-any-success-stories-of-weight-loss-with-a-GM-diet

Final Word on the GM Diet

We all want to see results fast. GM diet is a great way to kick-start your weight loss endeavors but it should not be followed for the long term.

The diet is extremely restrictive in nature which can lead you to binge immediately afterward and thus you stand to lose all that you had gained in the first week.

It’s important to have a well-balanced diet and plenty of exercise to sustain the results of the GM diet and even take it further!

Have you tried the diet? What were your results? Do share your experiences and thoughts on it?

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