GM Diet Plan In-Depth Review: Benefits & Side Effects

The GM diet or General Motors diet is a diet plan, which was designed for the employees of General Motors in the year 1985. This diet plan promises to help you lose 6 to 7 kilos of weight in just 7 days. Let’s throw some light on what exactly the GM diet is:

How Does GM Diet Work?

The GM diet plan is divided into 7 days and on each day,  you need to eat from different food groups. The main aims of this diet are:

• Promoting weight loss of 6-7 kilos in just 7 days
• Enhancing the ability of your body to breakdown fat
• Getting rid of toxins and impurities
• Improving gut health

The GM diet helps in weight loss because the main food components of this diet are low in fat and high in dietary fiber. Your caloric intake is also reduced, which further helps in giving you positive weight loss results. The diet also recommends a high-water intake, which helps in detoxification.

The main food components of the GM diet are:

• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Whole grain cereals

What Do You Eat on The GM Diet?

This diet is divided into 7 days, where you eat different foods on each day. It also recommends you to drink 10 to 12 glasses of water daily, to keep you hydrated and to flush out toxins and impurities from your body.

While you are on this diet, whether you exercise or not, it is completely upon you.

Day 1:

• On day 1 all you can eat are ‘fruits’
• You can eat all fruits except banana
• The diet encourages you to eat fruits that have high water and dietary fiber content, such as melons
• The amount of fruit to be consumed on day 1 is not mentioned or specified. It is completely upon you, how much you wish to eat

Day 2:

• You can consume only vegetables in cooked or raw form, without oil
• If you wish to eat potatoes, GM diet suggests that it’s best to eat them during breakfast only
• The amount of vegetables to be consumed on day 2 is not mentioned or specified. You can decide the quantity of vegetables as per your appetite

Day 3:

• You can consume only fruits and vegetables on day 3
• Eat all kinds of fruits and vegetables, except banana and potato
• The amount of fruits and vegetables to be consumed on day 3 is not mentioned or specified. You can decide the quantity of fruits and vegetables as per your likes and dislikes

Day 4:

• On day 4 you must consume only bananas and nut milk
• You can either eat 8 small bananas or 6 large ones’ maximum

Day 5:

• On day 5, you can have cereals in the form of brown rice
• Tomatoes and sprouts are the other two important food components of day 5.

Day 6:

• On this day you can plan your diet around brown rice and loads of vegetables
• You can consume unlimited vegetables of your choice, except potatoes

Day 7:

• This is the last day of your diet. You can consume brown rice, fresh fruit juices and vegetables in raw or cooked form, but without adding oil to it
• Avoid intake of banana and potatoes

Additional Guidelines

Intake of black coffee and green tea are permitted, but the addition of sugar or any other sweetener to it is not allowed.

The diet also recommends that one should not stay hungry. The foods mentioned for specific days can be consumed in any quantity.

During the diet, do not replace water with any other aerated beverage, alcohol or sugar-laden syrups that can be mixed with water.

The GM Diet Soup

The GM diet soup is a special soup that can be consumed in unlimited quantities on any day of the diet. Below mentioned are the ingredients of this special soup:

• Onion- 1 small
• Tomato- 1 small
• Cabbage- 1/4 cup
• Green pepper- 1/4 cup
• Celery- 1/4 cup
• Water- 1.5 cups

Method of Preparation

• To begin with, finely chop the onion and green pepper.
• In a vessel, heat few drops of olive oil and sauté chopped onion and green pepper, till they turn light brown
• In the next step, add chopped celery, tomatoes and cabbage to the mixture along with water
• Bring it to a boil and cook it on a slow flame till all the vegetables are tender. This process will take around 60 minutes
• At the end add salt, pepper powder or dried spices of your choice for seasoning

Benefits of The GM Diet

Here are a few health benefits of GM Diet Plan:

Quick Weight Loss

As mentioned above, the GM diet helps one lose weight quickly, within a short span of 7 days. Fruits with high water content and low-starch vegetables are a huge part of this diet, which promote weight loss by creating a calorie deficit.

The diet also recommends one to limit the intake of sugar-laden beverages and alcohol. This further helps in weight reduction.

Detoxification

Drinking a lot of water is an important part of GM diet. Drinking water helps in flushing out the toxins, impurities and microbes that otherwise have a negative effect on the health. Eating water-filled fruits and high fiber vegetables further help in cleansing the system.

Additional Benefit

The diet allows you to choose fruits and vegetables of your choice. This makes the diet plan less restrictive and more doable.

Disadvantages & Side Effects of GM Diet

No scientific research has been carried out on this diet. The long-term effect of this diet plan on weight and overall health is unknown.

Even if weight loss occurs after following this diet strictly for 7 days, you will gain the weight back once you return to your normal eating habits.

The GM diet plan does not encourage exercise and intake of certain foods, such as nuts and oilseeds, which contain essential nutrients and healthy compounds, required by the body. The first 3 days of this diet are very low in fat, proteins, iron, vitamin B12 and calcium. In other words, the diet is not well-balanced and lacks essential nutrients.

Sample GM Diet Plan

Here is a sample menu:

Day 1:

Day 2:

Day 3:

Day 4:

Day 5:

Day 6:

Day 7:

Final Verdict

Do not start with this diet without asking your Registered Dietician.

To achieve sustainable and long-term weight loss follow a well-balanced and wholesome diet paired with regular exercise.

Though this diet encourages you to consume fruits and vegetables, many food groups are missing on different days of this diet. The GM diet is just a quick-fix and not a permanent solution for weight loss.

With the help of a Registered Dietician incorporate a healthy diet into your daily life.