The New Beverly Hills Diet has nothing to do with the ritzy California community or the popular TV cult classic. In actuality, it is a weight-loss plan based on food combining principles. The program maintains that it is when you eat and what you consume together that decides if you lose weight or stay fat. It's "Conscious Combining" that will allow you to shed your extra weight.
According to creator Judy Mazel, an actress, eating certain kinds of food together destroys digestive enzymes, ending in obesity and poor digestion. Her original Beverly Hills Diet goes back to the "80s. Although there are updates to the 35-day plan, questions about the veracity of the diet still linger.
To avoid consuming enzymes - and contributing to weight gain - followers should eat carbohydrates with carbohydrates and proteins with proteins. Fruit should be eaten alone. Mazel, who has no formal nutrition or medical training, claims that fruits have the necessary enzymes to break themselves into nutrients and move through the system. Carbs and proteins need special enzymes that slow the process. She explains these enzymes don't have the ability to "cross over" and break down other food groups.
She also claims that fat is a symptom of digestion. Medical experts dispute Mazel's assertions by pointing to evidence that shows these enzymes are found in the body, not foods. Also, when foods are not digested they cannot be absorbed. If they are not absorbed, they can't be metabolized into fat.
The first 10 days you will enjoy corn, baked potatoes with butter, pasta, fruit, steak, shrimp, salads with oil and vinegar and wine and champagne. You can eat as much as you'd like. Each day should begin with a fruit, but you must wait one hour before eating another fruit and two hours before eating from another food group. Those are just four of the numerous rules that must be followed with the New Beverly Hills Diet.
Red flags: aside from the obvious wealth of misinformation, there is no talk of portion control, serving sizes, maintenance and exercise, all crucial for long-term weight loss.
