Detox diets have been all the rage for years now, with some people saying that they don’t work while others have sworn by them. No matter which side of the fence you are on, there are always a lot of people willing to give these types of diets a try for quick weight loss. Most of the detox diets around claim that they will help you lose a lot of weight in a short amount of time, though how much of that weight is actually fat varies greatly by person.
Another detox diet that is making these bold claims has picked up a lot of popularity in the past couple of years. It’s known as the Martha’s Vineyard Detox Diet, and the creators says that you will be able to lose 21 pounds in just 21 days. So what makes this detox diet different from all of the others, and will it really help you lose that much weight in such a short amount of time? Let’s take a deep look inside of the Martha’s Vineyard Detox Diet to see what it includes, and what type of results you can realistically expect.
Behind the Martha’s Vineyard Detox Diet
The Martha’s Vineyard Detox Diet was created by Dr. Roni DeLuz, a graduate of Fairfield University that started off in the nursing world. DeLuz started a holistic retreat back in 1996 that she has been in charge of ever since, and the retreat has been a big promoter of detox diets. DeLuz says that she has tried many detox diets herself, and that hers is the one that has had the best results.
Not only that, but DeLuz also says that people come to her because they are tired of trying to exercise and diet to lose weight. After getting some clients from the world of athletics, DeLuz decided to write several books on the topic. In the years since, DeLuz has appeared on all sorts of television programs and radio shows promoting her diet. As for her clinic, there are many different avenues to get into contact with them.
The first program of the Martha’s Vineyard program allows you to stay at home and contact someone at the clinic over the phone every two hours while still getting a detox plan. There is also the program that allows you to walk into the clinic but stay at your own hotel, showing up to meet with coaches daily and participate in light exercise.
There are also more strict detox plans where you stay at the clinic for seven, 14 or 21 days where you get coaching and spa treatments. The one that we want to focus on is the stay-at-home program, since the others can cost up to thousands of dollars. Unless you are dead serious about detox diets or have a ton of money, you’re probably not going to go with those options.
What to Know About the Martha’s Vineyard Detox Diet
Get used to drinking a lot of water while on the Martha’s Vineyard program, as you will be drinking up to 48 ounces per day. Not only that, but you will also consume up to 40 ounces of tea and 16 ounces of soup with 32 ounces of green smoothies as the icing on the cake (that you won’t be eating). There is no processed food, any other soft drinks (including coffee), meat or basically anything that’s not a vegetable.
During the 21 day program, there is a strict schedule to adhere to. DeLuz suggests that you use the Martha’s Vineyard supplements, with the 21-day pack costing around $200. You can technically do this plan without the supplements (we’ll just say supplements in the schedule). As for the vegetables you will be consuming, think of leafy greens for the most part. Outside of that, you can have carrots, eggplant, onions, sweet potatoes, tomatoes and garlic. You can also have berries if the smoothie calls for it.
- 8 AM – Supplements, one ounce of berries mixed with water and one cup of herbal tea.
- 10 AM – An eight ounce glass of water blended with vegetables.
- 12 PM – Eight ounces of juiced vegetables and four supplements.
- 2 PM – An eight ounce glass of water blended with vegetables.
- 4 PM – An eight ounce glass of water blended with vegetables.
- 6 PM – One cup of vegetable soup (pureed), one cup of broth, four supplements and a cup of herbal tea.
- Bed – Three supplements, one ounce of aloe and a warm six ounce glass of water.
For most, that seems like the type of schedule that you would stick to if you were sick, not trying to lose weight. Keep in mind, you have to repeat this every single day for 22 days. Not many people will be able to stick with the plan of drinking vegetables, tea and water without really eating anything. You can’t chew anything as part of this diet, however.
Throughout this time, you are also encouraged to not exercise (likely because of the large calorie deficit that you will be facing). There is also one more little aspect of the Martha’s Vineyard Detox Diet, though you might not be comfortable with it. That’s because the plan calls for a weekly coffee enema. Not only that, but water enemas are also encouraged several times throughout each week.
What’s After the Detox?
Even after you have finished the 21-day program, you are not completely done with the detox. Since your body still needs to time to recover from drinking only blended vegetables and fruit for three weeks, you have to ease back into a normal life. For nine days, you do what is known as the maintenance phase, and it requires you to stick to the same schedule as before, except you will be adding protein powder to your morning drinks. So technically, this is going to be a 31-day program in the end.
DeLuz says that the Martha’s Vineyard plan is “not a starvation diet,” though your stomach is almost certain to shrink after 31 days of not eating solids. While she says that following all of the rules for the diet are good for your metabolism, not eating enough calories will cause your metabolism to grind to a screeching halt for losing weight too fast, which will make regaining weight too easy for most people.
So how much weight could you lose while on the Martha’s Vineyard Detox? Let’s look at this way; if you are not going to be exercising at all, you’re going to be sedentary. If a 5’5” sedentary woman who weighs 180 pounds is going to burn 1,473 calories per day just from being alive and sleeping, that’s 10,311 calories in a week, which translates to around three pounds of fat per week, assuming no calories are eaten.
Throughout the course of the program, you are only going to be consuming around 400 calories per day from the small amount of fruits and vegetables. That means you will be losing around two pounds of fat per week, if one pound is equal to 3,500 calories. So where are the other 15 pounds that you will potentially be losing coming from? Muscle loss is a part of it due to lack of exercise and nutrition, but a lot of it comes from water. Seeing the number on the scale go down might be satisfying, but it comes at a cost.
Summing it Up
Losing six or seven pounds of pure fat in a few weeks can seem very enticing, but you need to have proper balance. It shouldn’t come at the expense of draining your body of water and nutrients while also trading in exercise for enemas and colonics. Overall, Martha’s Vineyard Detox Diet isn’t a very healthy way of losing weight, and claims of losing one pound per day are very dangerous, even if they are true.
Even if you are tempted to rush into this diet, having any pre-existing condition could lead to some very dangerous side effects. The length of this detox plan is perhaps the most glaring, as most of the detox diets that we’ve seen usually last no longer than a week. If you need to take a day and reset your system with water and smoothies, there’s nothing wrong with that, but don’t expect to be able to stick with that for an entire month.
Sticking directly to the plan is also going to be expensive, with some of the detox programs costing into the thousands. Even at the cheapest with all of the supplements and smoothie mixes, it’s still going to be a few hundred dollars. Doctors have also been quick to criticize the diet and the claims, especially as DeLuz is not actually an MD, but a holistic doctor. This might be a plan that attracts some people in the holistic world, but for a better approach to long term and healthy weight loss, plans like the Mediterranean Diet are going to be more beneficial.