"Single-Item Diets - Are They Any Good, Or Are The Celebrities Wrong?"

"Single-Item Diets - Are They Any Good, Or Are The Celebrities Wrong?"," And we're supposed to sympathize with them over their 'diet hell' while we struggle with our own expanding waistlines. If nothing else, boredom will ensure that you eat less than you would if you were allowed a choice of foods. Our bodies are wonderfully adaptable though, and they will adjust to the restricted intake. And just when you are fed up (or not) with the regime, and begin to eat other things, your body grabs onto every bit of fat in the food and stores it! Is it healthy to eat only one thing? Only if that one food is a balanced combination of sufficient vitamins, minerals and nutrients. Here are some of the most enduring single-food diets around -- with a few of the pros and cons. Celebrity fans include Sarah-Michelle Gellar, and probably many other celebrities in the week before the Oscars. Some additional vegetables and fruit are permitted, and taking a multivitamin supplement is recommended. Against: halitosis, flatulence, the lingering smell of boiled cabbage. Celebrity fans include Beyoncé Knowles, who used the diet for 14 days to lose one-and-a-half stones (21lb) for her role in the film 'Dreamgirls'. More relaxed versions replace one or more meals a day with the drink, and ban processed foods and red meat for the remaining meals. Against: hunger pangs, irritability, lack of energy, blood sugar swings, constipation, can interfere with the balance of potassium, sodium and fluids in your body, can make teeth more vulnerable to decay (from the acid and sugar in the drink). Celebrity fans include Charles Saatchi, who used the diet for 10 months and lost four stones (56lb). Some versions allow other high-protein foods such as meat, which makes it a variant of the Atkins diet. Against: halitosis, constipation, flatulence, burping, sulphurous smells, weight gain if you add carbohydrates. Recently, some even more strange diets have appeared, together with a new crop of celebrity adherents. The craze was started by Hedi Slimane, formerly head designer at Dior, and current celebrity fans are said to include Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Marcia Cross. Great if you have no teeth. Against: lack of fibre, nutritionally balanced for newborn babies not adults. Not that popular with celebrities. Pineapples contain Vitamin C, thiamine, potassium and manganese, as well as an enzyme called bromelain (a protein-digesting enzyme used in the food industry to tenderise meat). Against: lack of protein, pineapple should not be eaten by people with blood glucose problems or diabetes, can make teeth more vulnerable to decay (from the acid and sugar in the fruit). Kylie Minogue is supposed to be a fan of the grapefruit diet, where you begin every (very small) meal with half a grapefruit. Regimes that concentrate on the intake of protein foods, such as the egg diet and the Atkins diet (although not a single-food regimen), and the lack of carbohydrates (all of the above), will also cause ketosis after several days. But we don't really need any extra detoxing -- our liver and kidneys do that for us 24/7 unless we're really sick (and then we'd need more than a one-food diet to fix our problems). The theory is that because you have no choice over what you are going to eat, you are less likely to stray into the territory of 'forbidden' foods. And in the meantime, you also have more time to do other things if you are not using up time planning and cooking meals. But once you are 'clean' -- or thinner anyway -- you could just go right back to the same old unhealthy eating habits that caused the flab in the first place. So what is the thing you'd do as soon as the diet's over? Of course, have a big helping of your secret fantasy food! But before you slump on the sofa with a bowl of chips/popcorn/pasta and vow to drink only lemon juice tomorrow, don't give up hope! When it comes to lasting weight loss most experts agree that a varied and balanced eating plan is by far the most effective route to take. Hooray! Being slimmer doesn't mean you have to be a picky eater. THIS COULD CHANGE YOUR LIFE AND GIVE YOU PEACE OF MIND