What Is the Dubrow Diet, and Can It Really Help You Lose Weight?
The Dubrow Diet was created by Heather Dubrow of The Real Housewives of Orange County and her husband, Dr. Terry Dubrow of Botched.
The diet claims to be as effective for weight loss as keto but more sustainable.
The Dubrow Diet is based off the concept of intermittent fasting.
So you probably know all about the trendy ketogenic diet, which calls for eating a ton of fat and barely any carbohydrates. Although keto boasts a number of celebrity fans like LeBron James and Halle Berry, there's a new diet angling to steal its spotlight.
The Dubrow Diet was created by married Bravo stars Heather Dubrow (of The Real Housewives of Orange County) and Terry Dubrow, M.D. (of Botched). The goal of the diet is to foster weight loss and increase energy - the same things keto devotees are looking to achieve. The difference between the two diets? Instead of eliminating carbs, The Dubrow Diet recommends interval eating-or fasting for different periods of time-which the Dubrows say is more sustainable than eating mostly fat.
“As opposed to the keto diet that aims to get you to a ketogenic state of using fat as fuel, which isn’t healthy or sustainable in my opinion, interval eating helps you go into a fat-burning state that leads to increased energy and cell renewal-a process called autophagy, the toxin-eating phase,” Terry Dubrow told Prevention.
The couple published their method in a book called The Dubrow Diet: Interval Eating to Lose Weight and Feel Ageless.
What is The Dubrow Diet?
Terry based his recommendations for interval eating on the intermittent fasting concept, which entails not eating for periods ranging from 16 hours to an entire day. Although intermittent fasting is one popular weight loss strategy, the results are mixed about whether it's more effective than just counting calories.
The Dubrow Diet calls for eating in three different phases. Each phase has a different recommended fasting period.
According to the Dubrows, phase one is meant to shock your system and reset your internal hunger meter. To do this, you'll need to fast 16 hours a day-for example, only eating from noon to 8 p.m.-for about five days. Alcohol is not allowed during this phase, Prevention reported.
Then, you'll transition to phase two, which includes three fasting periods for slow, medium and quick weight loss:
Fast 12 hours per day and eat during a 12-hour window to lose .5 to 1.5 pounds per way. You also get one cheat snack for the week.
Fast 14 hours per day and eat during a 10-hour window to lose 1 to 2.5 pounds per week. You also get one cheat meal for the week.
Fast 16 hours per day and eat during an eight-hour window to lose 2 to 4 pounds per week. You also get one cheat day for the week.
This is what you can eat on The Dubrow Diet
What you eat is just as important as when you eat, and the Dubrows recommend consuming plenty of green vegetables and lean proteins, including:
Spinach
Arugula
Kale
Chard
Green beans
Leeks
Seaweed
Chicken
Fish
Nuts
Beans
Is The Dubrow Diet healthy?
Jenna A. Werner, R.D. says there's a lot of positives to the plan.
“This book is promoted as a lifestyle change, which I like. Eating is encouraged and I like that too,” Werner told Prevention. “They talk about the importance of being prepared, of having good and healthy foods around you, and eating for energy. All these things I support!”
But Werner says that the diet is a little too "one size fits all" to get a complete thumbs up.
“The best way to really make a lifestyle change that will last for you is to get custom advice from a registered dietitian," Werner says.
Of course, the best diet is one that works for you. "A healthier type of diet is something you can do every day of your life," Andy Yurechko, MS, RD, of Augusta University Medical Center in Georgia, previously advised MensHealth.com.
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