| Hello, I’m writing this so others can avoid MY awful experience with this “jump start” 48 –hour diet, sometimes called the Hollywood Diet. It’s Monday now and I’m almost feeling normal again, but still very weak. Ever have stomach flu? That’s what this was like. Saturday morning, full of determination, I mixed up a batch of the Woman’s World recipe of the diet. Since it had more protein, it sounded more healthy than the Hollywood version of the “jump-start” recipe. Besides, I don’t care for papayas or apricots, which may be the source of the bitter tang some users have complained about. It tasted just FINE, and I had my first shake at around 10 am, then went about my usual weekend activity, which was sewing. Not too strenuous. I worked steadily with a big container of water next to me, taking sips off that to keep hydrated as many have recommended. When I got hungry, I drank another fruit shake. Of course I used the toilet a lot more with all this liquid, but I’d expected that, after all, I was trying to clean out my system. In articles I’d read about this sort of diet I’d learned our bowels can hold from 2-7 pounds of waste—which accounts for most of the “weight lost” in this diet. Of course, once you’re back on regular food afterwards it all comes back, a little detail the TV infomercials leave out. Around 4pm my dogs came in and began staring at me. Not normal behavior for them. They are very perceptive pooches and their message was clear: “Are you feeling bad?” They were right. I was feeling woozy, and had a headache, which I attributed to the sudden diet shift. I drank more water and decided—after sewing a long seam up the wrong way—that I needed to compromise on this. My weakness was such that I couldn’t sit up to sew anymore, so I lay down on the bed and thought things over. As in the Slim Fast diet the idea of having one sensible meal for dinner made sense. So I had one (with some Tylenol) and felt a little better, but not much. I found I was too weak to sit at the sewing machine even then, and my trips to the toilet were becoming more frequent and cramp-ridden. Ditto for my between-runs rests. I dozed the rest of the slow evening, lurching up from bed to deal with bouts of out-and-out diarrhea, cursing myself for being so stupid. I got NO sleep that night, only catching short, shallow dozing between stumbling to the bathroom every 30 to 40 minutes, and groaning with cramp. Throughout all that my little dogs snuggled close, giving what comfort they could. I had chills, then the sweats like a fever victim, terrible cramps, and a thunderous headache that no amount of Tylenol would fix. I kept drinking water, knowing that if I didn’t keep hydrated I’d only feel worse. Finally I took a dose of Emetrol for the nausea. Exactly 30 seconds later I was bent over the tub with an uncontrolled case of the heaves, and remained there in abject misery for the next half hour. I crept back to bed, extremely weak, and went back to the chills, cramps, and sweats routine for the rest of the night. In the morning I still had the awful headache, and the shakes kept me from standing upright for more than a couple minutes. The cramps had abated, so I felt certain I was on the down side of the bell curve. I continued drinking water, and in the afternoon managed to keep down a couple finely chewed crackers. I remained bed-ridden the whole of the day. By evening I had dry toast and an egg. So, there it was: the 24-hour give yourself stomach-flu symptoms diet, and, NO, I did NOT lose ANY weight. The only jump-start to my system darn near burned out the battery, leaving me incapacitated for 2 days, weaker but wiser on the third. (And full of gas!) I will mention the one time I did lose weight a couple years back. I reduced my calorie intake to 1000-1200 a day, stopped drinking caffeine and anything fizzy (including diet fizzy drinks) and increased my walking to a mile a day. I lost 30 pounds. It’s the same old story, the quick miracle fads just don’t work. I was able to stick to this one for only 8 hours before my body violently rebelled against the abuse. Had I stuck to it for 48 as the regime calls for I’d have landed in a hospital with a bunch of health care workers shaking their heads over me, too polite to ask “What were you THINKING????” So you think about it now. As for me—I’m going back to the old routine. It’s slower, but more certain and 200% healthier. Pat Elrod |
