Diet & Fitness 

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Diets A-Z: The Beverly Hills diet

Celebrity followers
Jodie Foster, Maria Shriver

The plan
This diet says you'll lose 10 to 15 pounds (around one stone) in 35 days, by following rules on eating specific foods at the same time or in a certain order each day.

It recommends starting the day with fruit by itself. You should never eat protein foods (such as meat or cheese) with carbohydrates (such as bread or fruit). So meals would consist of, for example, either meat and salad, or pasta and salad, but never meat and pasta. You must leave enough time between eating one type of meal to digest before eating a different kind of meal. The idea is that by eating this way, your enzymes can work efficiently (we do actually have different enzymes for digesting proteins and carbohydrates) allowing food to be properly digested and not stored as fat. Sugars and sweeteners are eliminated.

They say it is not what or how much you eat, but when you eat and what foods you eat together that are important.

Almost any foods can be eaten on this diet, but they must be eaten in specific combinations. The approach is called Conscious Combining, but it is a take on the Food Combining approach which has been popular for at least as long as this diet.

Pros

• If you hate counting calories and are sick of eating low-fat foods, this plan may be for you.
• Initial weight loss can be rapid, and many people like following a very structured menu plan.

Cons

• The Beverly Hills Diet relies on extremely limiting meal guidelines and is not based on any scientific evidence.

Duration
A 35 days programme is provided but it is supposed to be a 'lifestyle choice' or a diet for life, so can be indefinite.

Checklist
Restaurants: Possible as long as you understand the rules
Alcohol: Most alcohol is considered carbohydrate and can only be drunk with carb meals. Wine is a fruit and only allowed with other fruit. Champagne is unlimited and can be drunk with any type of meal
Caffeine: Not allowed
Need to buy special foods: No, regular foods are used but in special combinations.
Family friendly: No - too limited
OK for vegetarians: Yes, as long as you stick to the combining rules

The pros say:
It can be encouraging to lose quite a lot of weight initially, but in people who are fairly overweight a greater weight loss often happens in the first week and this is due to water loss. This diet has little or no scientific evidence to back it up, however many people swear by food combining, finding that it helps digestion, bloating and weight loss. The lack of science is evident in the odd classifications of alcohol and the pseudo-scientific description of the effects of different types of fruit. But it will work for people who like this approach to eating.

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