The Martha's Vineyard Diet

Every few months a new diet splashes across the media. There seem to be a few requirements for this treatment. The diet must have famous supporters, in this case Howard Stern’s associate Robin Quivers. The diet must have unusual components, like puree of chickpea. And the diet must promise remarkable weight loss, like a pound a day. The Martha’s Vineyard Diet Detox checks all the boxes. Here’s what you should know.

Roni DeLuz is the creator of the Martha’s Vineyard Diet. She says that she is a nurse, a doctor and a PhD. Closer scrutiny will show that she is not a “medical” doctor, but rather a “naturopathic” doctor, which is a somewhat lower bar to clear. Validation of her other titles is left to the reader.

This diet had its start at the Martha’s Vineyard Holistic Retreat. It was designed to cleanse the digestive system and improve cognitive abilities. As a side benefit, you don’t need to worry about wearing out your teeth because you won’t be chewing anything for three weeks.

The Martha’s Vineyard Diet promises that you will lose 21 pounds in 21 days. You will develop a high level of skill operating your juicer, because you will be on a strictly liquid diet. Think vegetable and fruit juices and purees of veggies that won’t fully turn into juice. You can keep your juicer on the counter, because you are going to have a lovely beverage every two hours, all day.

This is one of those cleanse diets that talks about clearing out an accumulation of gunk in your colon. This is pretty sneaky gunk, though, since it has never been seen by proctologists when they put that snaky-thing up inside your colon. Nevertheless, this diet will eliminate the gunk and put you back on the road to health.

One of the unique aspects of the Martha’s Vineyard Diet is the recommendation that you spend some time every day bouncing on a mini trampoline. This is supposed to help lymphatic draining (don’t worry, I will not provide more detail than that) and oxygenate your body. This must be why you never see an overweight kangaroo.

After 21 days of living on a thousand calorie liquid diet, you will lose weight. Nutritionists warn that most of the weight loss will come from losing water and muscle, but you will weigh less. Getting back on a solid-food diet can take some time, too, as your body has adjusted to this level of starvation.  Care must be taken to avoid some pretty uncomfortable (and embarrassing) side effects as you resume normal eating patterns.

Could this diet be for you? This is a crash diet that violates the FDA’s safe dieting guidelines. You will weigh less three weeks later, but most dieters find that the weight comes right back, once they resume their normal eating patterns. There are a lot of safe, sane diets (check out the sidebar) that can help you lose weight and establish a new way of eating that can stay with you for life. You can use PickMyDiet to help you find a diet that's perfect for you. On the other hand, you might just like having a mini trampoline.