In 1985 the famed three day diet first came on the scene. It boasted creation of a ?specific metabolic reaction? to cause quick weight loss and the system to be cleansed. This reaction has never been validated or even attempted to be explained.

The diet goes on for three days and then off for four or five with lots of specific and cryptic steps, so that when it fails the dieter can be pinned for doing something wrong.

First day breakfast includes coffee (no sugar), one half a grapefruit, and a piece of toast with 1 Tbsp peanut butter. For lunch, you are allowed a can of tuna, a piece of toast, and black coffee. Dinner consists of 3 ounces of chicken or lean meat, a cup of green beans, one cup of carrots, one apple, and one cup of regular vanilla ice cream.

The other two days are pretty much the same but with some substitutions such as hot dogs instead of lean meat. The diet claims that weight loss of 10 pounds is achievable over the 3 days that the diet lasts. Baloney! How's that for specific? And no baloney is not found as part of the diet! No evidence has been raised for the so-called ?specific metabolic reaction.?

The only reason this diet would help you lose pounds is because of the reduction of calories in the diet. In fact, because the diet is so low in carbohydrates a person could lose ten pound in three days. Of course most of that would be water weight because carbohydrates help the body to retain water. By the way, losing that much weight from not retaining water is dangerous as the body needs water to survive.

As stated the metabolic reaction has never been explained much less proven. Any weight loss would be mostly water loss due to a lack of carbs which help the body retain water. This could easily lead to dehydration. In addition, because of binge eating after such starvation, and because most of the weight lost is from water, the weight would quickly return after the three days. Furthermore, such water loss could result in some serious medical emergencies.The 3 day diet is best treated as a "no day" diet. In other words, don't do it.

I would recommend reading some of my other articles in this series for more useful information on specific dieting techniques, particularly to help you avoid dangerous or inappropriate diets.