Eat Simply. Live Healthy.

I am constantly hearing about the GM diet— and the “GM” actually does stand for General Motors. My first thought, what does a diet and car company have in common? Well, General Motors Corporation designed this particular diet to keep its employees healthy and in tip-top shape. The weight loss plan instructs participants to consume specific foods on each day of the 7 day period. The main goal is a weight loss of 10-17 lbs. Personally, this doesn’t sound completely healthy  or even possible but I’m curious. I don’t have 17 lbs to lose, maybe 5 but I’m overall happy with my weight. I like a challenge so why not give this a try. 

The foods in the plan are ones I usually eat but I’m interested to see if the strategic planning of certain foods on certain days makes a difference. I also hate the “d” word so I’m referring to this as a cleanse, which really isn’t far off because it’s designed to flush toxins out and increase energy. Here’s the 7 day plan:

Day 1: All fruits except bananas. You are able to eat all the fruits you want. It is strongly suggested to eat lots of melon this day especially watermelon and cantaloupe.  If you limit your fruit consumption to melons then your chances of losing 3 lbs the first day are very good. Personally, eating melon all day would be difficult for me but if you’re able to then more power to you. On Day 1, you are preparing your body for the upcoming week. All fruits should either be raw or canned, no fruit juice and drink lots of water!

Day 2: All vegetables! Eat as much cooked or raw veggies of your choosing. For breakfast, you will start the day with a large baked potato which can be topped off with one pat of butter. This provides a complex carbohydrate  and an oil dose to sustain your body through the morning. You will be getting a lot of fiber this day so stay hydrated! Additional Comments: You can have your veggies as a salad but no dressings except malt, white or red wine, lemon juice, garlic/herbs or more than one teaspoon of oil.

Day 3: A mixture of fruits and veggies but no bananas or potatoes. Today your system is preparing to burn off extra pounds and cravings will start to diminish by tomorrow.

Day 4: Bananas and milk. You may have up to 8 bananas and 3 glasses of milk. Also today you will be able to feast on GM’s Wonder Soup (recipe posted below). You probably won’t eat all of the allowed bananas but be surprised how easy this day will be. Think banana milkshakes!

Day 5: You will feast on beef and tomatoes! Eat two 10 oz. portions of lean beef or chicken (you don’t have to eat a total of 20 oz. but that is the allowed amount) and combined this with 6 tomatoes. Increase your water intake by 1 quart to flush out all the uric acid from the tomatoes.

Day 6:  Eat all the lean beef/chicken and veggies to your heart’s content. Today you should start looking different from Day 1.

Day 7: Brown rice, fruit juices and all the veggies you want.

GM’s Wonder Soup Recipe: 28 oz. water, 6 large onions, 2 green peppers, whole tomatoes, 1 head of cabbage  1 bunch of celery, 4 envelopes of Lipton Onion Soup Mix, and herbs and flavoring to taste. This can be eaten in unlimited quantities. You can substitute veggies and choose ones you’d rather eat. I bought spinach instead of cabbage but stay away from beans of any type.

Beverages you’re allowed to consume during the plan:

• Water (can be flavored with lime or lemon)
• Club soda
• Black coffee
• Black tea
• No fruit juices before Day 7
• 2 glasses of white wine throughout the week
• Beer is allowed but only in small quantities

My GM Cleanse: Day 1

Weigh-in: 145 lbs

Height: 5’5 and 3/4 (I don’t expect to grow during this week but 5’6 would be fabulous)

I quickly realized that this program takes a lot of planning or I’d get bored and go hungry quick. I had an abundance of apples from apple picking with my boyfriend so I made homemade applesauce the night before in my crock pot. That served as my breakfast for Day 1. With the apples in the sauce and how many I ate throughout the day, I might have eaten a whole apple tree.

I wasn’t terribly hungry throughout the day and skipped the gym to take rest up for the week. For lunch I made a fruit smoothie which made me think why I didn’t do it all the time. It tasted like summer though it was clearly fall because I wrapped myself in a blanket burrito as I did homework on the couch.

However, by dinner time I was getting sick of apples. I didn’t prepare the greatest for my fruit selection and probably would not of felt so deprived if I had more fruit on hand. So I cheated. BUT, it was a reasonable cheat. I made a batch of Pasta-Zero, so really it was comparable to an apple in the calorie aspect. Shhh, don’t tell GM.

I survived Day 1! Tomorrow is veggies and I’ll lettuce know about it. 

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