As the name indicates, liquid diet provides all or most of the calories from the healthy drinks. While some liquid diets replace all the meals with fruit juices or vegetable shakes, taken 3-4 times a day, others substitute only 1-2 meals with healthy nutritious drinks.
By carefully following this liquid diet, you can lose your weight with little effort. Aside from weight loss, liquid diets are often recommended for certain surgeries, tests, or medical procedures.
Moreover, these liquid diets are also for those who are suffering from mouth, gum, teeth, throat, and esophageal cancer, as well as Crohn’s disease.
Types of Liquid Diet for Weight Loss
1. Clear Liquid Diet
The name implies, these are the drinks which are free of food residues/fragments and dietary fiber. Foods such as plain water, gelatin, and broth, they do not leave any undigested residue in the intestinal tract and are thus easily digestible.
Since these drinks will provide sodium, potassium, and other electrolytes, they will give you energy.
Foods allowed on Clear Liquid Diets are
- Flavored, Carbonated, or plain water
- Pulp-free fruit juices, including white grape or apple
- Coffee or tea without cream or milk
- Lemonade or other fruit-flavored beverages
- Strained vegetable juice, such as tomato
- Fat-free broth
- Popsicles without seeds, nuts, bits of fruit, and milk
2. Sample Clear Liquid Diet Plan
Breakfast
- One glass of fruit juice which is pulp-free.
- A bowl of gelatin
- A cup of coffee/tea without cream or milk.
Mid-morning Snack
- One glass of fruit juice which is pulp-free.
- A bowl of gelatin.
Lunch
- A glass of pulp-free fruit juice
- One glass of water
- A cup of broth
- One bowl of gelatin.
Mid-afternoon Snack
- One popsicle (pulp-free)
- 1 cup coffee/tea without milk or cream
Dinner
- One cup of water or pulp-free fruit juice
- A cup of broth
- One bowl of gelatin
- A cup of coffee/tea without milk or cream
3. Full Liquid Diet
Full liquid diets generally contain all the drinks and beverages which are allowed on a clear liquid diet along with small quantities of fiber and milk.
They are used on a short-term basis during the transition from a clear liquid to the solid food diet. Full liquid diets which are carefully planned give you sufficient amount of protein, fat, and calories but lack in minerals, fiber, and vitamins.
Foods allowed on Full Liquid Diets
- Cereals pureed or blended oatmeal, Oats/rawa kanji cooked cereals with refined grains.
- Juices and nectars of fruits and vegetables.
- Milk and dairy products as all types including cow’s, soy, buttermilk; custard, milkshakes, frozen yogurt, smooth ice cream; avoid cheeses.
- Vegetable soups, chicken soup, soups with pureed meat or vegetables.
- Few beverages tea, coffee, cocoa, lemonade, sports drinks, carbonated beverages, milkshakes with smooth canned fruits or peanut butter.
Sample Full Liquid Diet Plan
Breakfast
- A glass of fruit juice
- Pureed pears
- One bowl of oats kanji
Mid-morning Snack
- A bowl of custard, applesauce
- One serving of tea/coffee with honey or sugar.
Lunch
- A serving of strained tomato soup
- One cup of tea/coffee with 2 tsp milk
- One bowl of pudding, gelatin (sugar free)
- Popsicle
- 1 glass thick buttermilk
Dinner
- One bowl of vegetable soup with pureed vegetables
- A serving of pureed peaches
- One cup of coffee/tea with 2 tsp milk
- Fruit ice.
Liquid Diet Results
Liquid diets are generally designed to provide you lesser calories per day than solid foods and are thus beneficial in controlling obesity.
It helps keep your stomach clear, limit stress on your digestive system, hydrate your body, and retain electrolytic balance. Furthermore, it aids in detoxification by ridding your body of excess toxins through urination.
However, make sure that you are not going on a liquid diet for more than 2-3 weeks. Since it lacks some essential nutrients, its prolonged use might cause fatigue, weakness, hair loss, dizziness, heart damage, constipation, and gallstones.
If you are overweight or obese, you will certainly find these liquid diet plans are good to help. This liquid diet, which will quickly, leads to a large loss of weight, and it is useful for long lasting good health. More specifically, it is not particularly useful if you over do it.