What is the Mayo Diet
The Mayo ketogenic diet (not to be confused with the current diet of the prestigious Mayo clinic) is a weight reduction technique born about seventy years ago (you can see ...) and developed in the 80 '.
The Mayo diet consists of fourteen-day calorie restriction, of which there are only two days of rest. It is an unsustainable protocol that aims at the sudden drop of several kilos, including not only fat but certainly a lot of muscle mass and, in the worst case scenario, also bone and skin mass.
What to eat
The Mayo diet is not a grammatical scheme, however, it certainly cannot be said to be a "very flexible" strategy. The caloric amount is just under 1000 kcal, which are divided into three meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner.
According to the Mayo diet, the choice of foods must follow some indications:
- to abolish milk and derivatives, EXCEPT 1 YOGURT in 14 days
- to abolish cereals and derivatives EXCEPT ONE SLICE OF BREAD PER DAY
- to abolish added sugars and sweet foods
- to abolish legumes
- to abolish potatoes
- to abolish all other vegetables EXCEPT: celery, tomato, cucumber, salad and spinach, which can be eaten in the wild
- to abolish fruit EXCEPT GRAPEFRUIT
- consume from 6 to 36 eggs per week
- instead of eggs, grilled or steamed lean meat or fish
- abolish all condiments except those for the side dish
- COFFEE and TEA at will!
The management of the lunches and dinners of the Mayo diet is planned as follows:
- 11 egg meals
- 10 meat meals
- 3 fish-based meals
- 2 fruit-based meals
- 1 yogurt-based meal
See an Example of the Mayo Diet »
Does it work or does it hurt?
There is little to say ... the Mayo diet is certainly a diet plan made "with the feet", extremely difficult to follow, which induces a great deal of suffering and deficient in ALL nutritional aspects.
- The percentages of macronutrients prefer saturated animal proteins and fats, which are accompanied by a lot of cholesterol. Nevertheless, the very low caloric intake still determines an insufficiency of protein intake which, in the absence of carbohydrates and lipids (even essential), inevitably leads to an impoverishment of muscle mass.
- The Mayo diet does not take into account the need for micronutrients, therefore, in the period of restriction it is possible that saline and vitamin deficiencies of a moderate entity may occur.
The Mayo diet is an absolutely uneducational and ineffective technique in the long term, as the sudden weight loss and the absence of post-therapy tutoring cause the recovery of all the lost kilos; moreover, this determines an increase in the risk of prolonging an absolutely unbalanced diet, therefore dangerous to the maintenance of the health of those who practice it; ultimately, avoid the Mayo diet for weight loss!
