Promising substantial weight loss in just 48 hours, the Hollywood Diet Plan makes some tall claims. It's not hard to understand why such claims have proved popular with many people. In theory followers could expect to lose between 5 and 15 pounds (that is about one stone) and up to two inches off waist measurements in just two days.
Often described in marketing information as a miracle method of clearing out the body, the Hollywood diet plan could be seen as a variation of a detox plan as while on it drinking alcohol, consuming caffeine in all its forms and smoking are prohibited.
Food is also banned. Instead, a special Hollywood Diet plan drink - usually commercially prepared and sold - is sipped, together with plenty of water, throughout the two-day period.
Newspapers and magazines have carried recipes for a homemade version that contains equal parts of low-fat soy milk, orange juice, cranberry juice, and live yogurt blended together with small quantities of wheat-germ oil (or wheat germ) and flaxseed oil.
While it is claimed that this drink is not only extremely low in calories but also contains 100 percent of the vitamins and minerals needed, in effect the plan is a form of starvation. The body's response is to conserve energy which is a basic survival instinct. When normal eating resumes the body then becomes greedy for the extra calories - there could be another famine around the corner - and it is quite usual to find that someone weights more after a crash fast of this nature than they did before.
