Military Diet

Hi there!
When I hear the word 'diet' my mind automatically thinks of restriction and limited food choices. And more times than not this would be accurate. There are just too many fad diets out there confusing intelligent people and convincing others there's something wrong with them. One in particular has crossed my path recently. Making claims like, you can lose 10 pounds in 3 days, I'm talking about the Military Diet.

Below is a link to the website where I found the 3 day menu for this diet, as well as a video summary. 

3 Day Meal Plan http://themilitarydiet.com/military-diet-plan/

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufuKbmm8Z8o

From just reading part of the introduction, the writer even admits it's low calorie, in other words, it's a restricted diet. This diet is comprised of very specific food items with few options of substitutes or alternatives. The substitutes they do provide, I'm not sure if they are better or worse than the original set foods. Everything just seems really gross. When it requires you to drink tea or coffee it's followed by 'with caffeine' (and they don't even spell caffeine correctly). It claims that 1 cup of coffee contains about 5 calories and that's it's okay to sneak a cup here and there, as long as you eliminate those whooping 5 calories somewhere else, meaning you must restrict your food intake even more. Truth is most coffees contain less than 5 calories (more like 1) and they are making 5 calories seem like a huge deal. When actually it's not. They put such an emphasis on caffeine because this diet makes you rely on stimulants to keep you functioning. Everything you're allowed to eat on this diet is, for the most part, very long in fat and carbs; low fat is, yes a good thing but low carb, no thank you, in my book. And I should remind you: you shouldn't be ALLOWED to eat, you should just eat. With that being said let's jump into this meal plan...

Calorie Count

1 cup of coffee or tea (with caffeine) = I'll give them their '5' calories for the coffee. 0 for tea.

1 slice of toast = about 100 calories

2 tablespoons of peanut butter = about 200 calories

1/2 grapefruit (YOU DON'T EVEN GET A WHOLE FRUIT) = about 40 calories

BREAKFAST TOTAL = 345

345 calories is not nearly enough for any size human to start off the day and keep them functioning and awake throughout the whole day as well. If breakfast is really the most important meal of the day  then when it comes to this diet the word 'important' isn't very significant. This diet is already starting out on a bad foot with me.

Any diet that requires you to eat tuna from a can should be the first red flag this diet is way off. This lunch is literally nothing. It's bland. It's disgusting. Without even calculating the calories in this meal I would say it's again about 300. And that is nothing!

Moving right along to dinner. Firstly, you shouldn't be eating the flesh of another creature but that isn't actually going to be my main focus for now. It's actually the amount. 3 ounces is about the size of a pack of playing cards which is incredibly restrictive because meat is calorifically dense. Even when you get fruit or vegetables it's still restrictive and the amount is limited. Vegetables and fruits should be eaten in abundance not sparingly. Eating meat has long term repercussions. You should be focused on putting the best possible options into your body not the most harmful. Even with the meat and the ice cream, this meal is barely anything which in turn makes the day calorie total = nearly nothing. 

On to DAY TWO!!! (doesn't get any better...only worse but that's just me)

It's hard to tell the exact amount of calories for the breakfast due to the fact that depending on how you cook the egg will influence the calories. I hate that you're not allowed while fruit, only half. Again I repeat, that's nothing! And you don't even get coffee that day.

You're going to notice my responses to each meal are going to get shorter and shorter because I would be repeating myself a lot only because THIS DIET IS BORING! ALL THE SAME! AND NOT A GOOD IDEA!!!!!

YAY! You get to eat white, mushy, SHIT! Cottage cheese has to be one of the nastiest foods on the planet. 1) because it comes from dairy; one of the cruelest industries on the planet and 2) because, well, just look at it! Wait, another egg?! That's just adding unnecessary cholesterol and fat to your body, not to mention supporting murder and cruelty, yet again. And saltines are just sad, delicious but still sad.  

This meal looks like you get the most in comparison to the other meals but that's not saying much because, hotdogs? Really? Can you really call hotdogs food when you can't even tell exactly what it is they put in them? You probably have to eat them plain too, which is sounding just bland. Again you only get half of a fruit (gotta limit those carbs) and while you do get vegetables the amount is very few. Even the amount of ice cream is cut in half. It's like what's the point at this point?! You starve yourself all day and then you don't even get a full serving of dessert. Not to mention is plain, old vanilla. Now I shouldn't be getting on the flavour of ice cream when really it's the amount of everything I have a problem with but honestly, since everything else is so bland and boring I feel like you should get to live a little with the ice cream flavour. And I feel like I should also mention: it better be dairy free ice cream ;)

YES! You finally get a full fruit, granted it's a small apple which doesn't have enough sugar or carbs to get you running in the morning but I guess it's something. And why cheese? I guess the makers of this diet didn't want people to think this is starvation so they had to throw in a high fat food. But that is what this diet essentially is, it's starvation. 

I don't think I even have to say anything about this abomination.

This just seems like very little. As each day goes by each meal seems to get progressively less and less and worse and worse. 

This diet is pushes your body to the point of starvation. Everything is bland and boring. Maybe the rumors are true, maybe you can lose 10 pounds in 3 days. But do you really want to, like this? This diet trains your body to starve and it creates a mindset where you have an unhealthy relationship with food and an unrealistic view of food. Food is fuel, it is nourishment and this diet doesn't show that, instead it lies to you about what food is meant for. So what if you lose those 10 pounds, it's all just gonna be gained back the moment you return to normal, healthy eating habits. 

I just have to throw in my stance on calorie counting because normally I don't think it's a good idea, I've focused on it so much for this diet however only because I want to emphasis the minuscule amount of food you are limited to. 

Conclusion: The Military Diet is BLAH.

Until next time.

Peace & Love,

The Punk Rock Vegan