From cabbage soup diets to juice cleanses, grapefruits to vegetables, for a long time now people have been looking for the best weight-loss diets.
In the recent past, one diet food that has sparked a lot of interest is grapefruit. Its a smartly tart fruit that even has fans raving about it for its numerous health benefits and weight loss properties. The question is, is grapefruit keto and is there a way to take advantage of this super fruit?
What is grapefruit?
Grapefruit is one of those fruits that you either hate or love. Since it has a tingy sour taste it might take you some time to get used to.
But with all this, there is no doubt that it’s packed with lots of benefits for the human body. Unlike other diets, the ketogenic diet is usually built on medium protein, high fat, and low carbohydrate nutrients.
Those who go on this diet do everything to cut down on the carbs. This is just about cutting back on the bread, but also cutting back on high carb vegetables and fruit.
While this is good if it contains a lot of sugar it might not be the best for keto.
To feel fuller faster, kick start your weight loss process and burn belly fat you may just stat eating some grapefruit before every meal.
The grapefruit diet together with other diets has now found its way into the mainstream diet as more and more people are resorting to them.
With over 78 million people in the US affected with obesity, it’s no wonder that a majority of people are looking for a way to overcome this.
The Science behind Grapefruit
While no one knows exactly when grapefruit came into the picture, it’s believed that people started using it as a tool for weight loss in 1930.
While there are different kinds of grapefruits, the most common grapefruit diet looks like this
- Reduce refined sugar, cut back on starches and carbohydrates
- Bacon and eggs for breakfast
- Salad with proteins for lunch
- Protein and non-starchy vegetables for dinner and lots of water
So the whole idea about this is you eat more grapefruits before every meal and lose weight.
Grapefruit Nutrition
When you start to follow a keto diet for weight loss you should analyze the foods that you are eating to see whether they have the nutrients that you need for your weight loss.
Here is what you should know about grapefruit.
The grapefruit micronutrient profile contains
- 42 calories
- 8 grams of proteins
- grams of fat
- 11 grams of fat
On the contrary, the juice has the following
- 97 calories
- 25 grams of carbs
- 3 grams of fat
- 8 grams of proteins
As one of the best fruits out there the sweetness of grapefruits tends to vary with the color.
As compared to lighter pulps, deeper colored grapefruits tend to be sweeter. On the same note the deeper the color the richer the fruit.
Featuring a weight of between 42 and 100 grams grapefruit is a low-calorie fruit that’s suitable for weight loss.
It’s also one of the best fruits to use for your hunger pangs. Whether taken whole or in juice form grapefruit comes with several health benefits.
The Benefits of Grape Fruits
It Helps Strengthens Your Immune System
As compared to other fruits, grapefruits are super rich in vitamin C. According to studies, vitamin C has the best antioxidant properties.
What’s more, this vitamin can help you recover easily from the common cold.
Grapefruit also contains vitamin B and minerals that all work together to improve and boost your immune system.
It Curbs Your Appetite and Promotes a Healthy Gut
Grapefruit contains a healthy dose of fiber. 1 cup of grapefruit contains around 3.7 grams of dietary fiber.
Fiber is not only important for keeping your cells healthy but also ensures that your bowel movements are soft and regular.
So eating fiber-rich fruit such as grapefruit can make you have a healthy gut. Furthermore, fiber is known to make you satiated. Since it improves digestion it reduces the rate at which your stomach is emptied.
Grapefruit and weight loss
It’s been shown in several studies that grapefruits can help you lose weight. What makes grapefruit one of the best fruits for weight loss is the fact that it controls the release of insulin.
By balancing the release of insulin it help stabilize blood sugar and control your appetite so you don’t eat a lot.
Apart from promoting fluctuations in blood glucose levels, insulin also acts as a fat depositing hormone.
Controlling its release will, therefore, help you prevent the storage of calories. Moreover, grapefruit contains an enzyme known as AMPK that helps you burn more calories during the day.
The effect of these hormones is just the same as working out. Overall it’s low in calories hence can significantly help you with your weight loss procedures.
Is Grapefruit Keto Friendly?
We’ve just learned that grapefruits are very healthy food products full of vitamins and minerals for your body.
But is it keto-friendly? Although you could go as far as 50 grams of carbs while on keto you are likely to achieve ketosis quickly if you consume only 20.
With this in mind eating a diet of grapefruit can actually affect your keto diet. Your body might find it difficult to enter into keto since it’s sustained with sugar to burn as energy.
But just because it contains high carb content doesn’t mean that you cannot enjoy grapefruit. You can still eat it but in moderation. While eating it’s important to know the portions that you are eating.
A half slice of grapefruit should be enough to satisfy your needs.
Why Grapefruit Might Not Be the Best for weight loss
Losing fat Is Not the Same as Losing Water Weight
Although crash dieting might lead to weight loss, most of this weight generally comes from water.
When you reduce the amount of calories that you take your body will use all the stored fuel more rapidly.
When this happens one of the first fuel sources that will go is glycogen. Since each glycogen molecule is linked to the water molecule when you burn kit burn you are likely to lose water as well.
When you check your weight after a few days and see a significant drop you should know that some of that loss has originated from water.
This means when you resort to your normal diet the weight will soon come up. This simply means that losing water is not the same as losing fat.
Crash Dieting Cannot Succeed In Long Term
When you start to shedding weight too quickly while following a crash diet your body will sense and it will start holding more fat and reduce the process of metabolism.
Although this might be frustrating it’s something that your body does to shield you from starvation.
According to studies crash dieting may also boost your mental health and moods. You experience this when you skip lunch and feel hungry because of that.
Further, you may experience severe disturbance and rapid weight loss with crash dieting.
When you start losing weight fast, your body will definitely fight back. This may, therefore, lead to anxiety, hormone imbalance, mood swings, and depressions.
Serious Calories restrictions May Affect Your Hormones
Your body tends to store starch for future use as it doesn’t want to get rid of it. One of the ways it does this is through the hormones.
When you are satisfied your body will release hormone leptin
Also known as satiety hormone Leptin does a very good job when it comes to weight loss routine.
It generally takes stocks of how much food you are using, how much you are taking, and how much you have in store.
When your brain cells release these hormones it’s just telling your brain that you don’t require any more food.
When you restrict your calorie intake your body will not get any signal that you are satisfied.
This means the hormone will encourage your body to keep on taking food. On the same note, it also signals your body to reduce the metabolism process.
Even after one year of doing this, your appetite will remain high
So if you are looking for a long-lasting weight loss you should eat enough food so that this hormone gets the right signal.
Grapefruit is Not The Best For Blood Sugar
When your blood sugar is high your body will not break down fat for fuel.
Since grapefruit contains around 8.5 grams of sugar if you start your meal with a grapefruit you’ll be adding a lot of sugar into your meal.
This might not take you where you want to be if you are on keto.
Who Should Eat Grapefruits
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Those concerned About Aging
Grapefruit has a brilliant pink pigment that shows it has lycopene, an antioxidant that prevents the body cells from aging.
Since it may also lower the risk of several kinds of cancer including colon prostate and lung it’s the best fruit for those looking to stay young and healthy. ALWAYS check to confirm it doesn’t interfere with any medications before eating.
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It’s Good for those Who Frequently Suffer from Cold
While loading up on vitamin C and citrus may not prevent cold if you rake high doses you are likely to lessen the symptoms and shorten the duration.
So if you frequently suffer from cold then you need to take grapefruits.
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If you want To Lose Weight
Studies have confirmed that grapefruit is one of the best weight loss foods out there.
In one study done by John Hopkins University, women who eat grapefruit daily shed up to 20 pounds within 2 weeks. They did this without doing anything in their diet.
Who Should Not Eat Grapefruits
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If You Are on Certain Medications
Due to some of the constituents of grapefruits, it can amplify the effects of certain medications.
It does this by preventing the production of the enzyme that normally breakdowns some drugs before it enters into your bloodstream.
This may not only damage the liver but also lead to serious side effects.
It may also interfere with medications such as Buspirone, Zocor, Procardia, Sandiamminue, uceris, Nextterone, and Allegra.
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If You Are Suffering From Kidney Stones
If you are suffering from kidney stones you should not eat grapevines.
According to studies if you take 250 ml of grapefruit juice a day you are likely to increase the risk of developing this condition or aggravate it if you already have it.
Given that the diet allows 4 ounces of grapefruit, you’ll be taking more than the limit.
Takeaway
While grapefruit may contain some healthy compounds that support weight loss, no compelling research has been done on its relationship with keto.
It’s, therefore, more likely that your weight loss process using grapefruit may not be sustainable.
Since the grapefruit diet focuses on calorie restriction and does not involve a lot of physical activity, it’s not that sustainable.
If you want to achieve a long-lasting weight loss you must engage in workouts.
Because it’s high in carbs, it’s a food that you should not eat when you are low carb diet, Instead, focus on the ketogenic diet and improve your health in the long run.