The first time I saw Jorge Cruise’s diet, I was thoroughly confused. It’s called the 3 Hour Diet – but what does that mean? Surely he can’t seriously be suggesting that anyone will be thin in three hours? Am I supposed to have lost weight in such a short time … which would be absurd even for the sometimes silly claims of the diet industry.
The #1 Rule Of The Jorge Cruise 3 Hour Diet
The title refers to Cruise’s rule that no longer than three hours is supposed to elapse between meals. This is a very popular notion these days … I even found a diet that insists we eat every 30 minutes! Whoa, dude! Take that, Jorge. :-)
The idea is that eating frequently keeps our metabolism furnace working on high so that it will more effectively ‘ignite’ our food and cause the weight to fall off.
This is, of course, in direct contrast with detox diets which insist that we should give our poor overworked digestive system a rest by drinking juices and refraining from eating much of anything.
How To Follow The Three Hour Diet
You are allowed three meals + snacks, so there’s no danger of going hungry.
Each meal has a calorie limit, which means you will have to pay attention to calories and portions. I went to Weight Watchers for many years and we had to weigh all our food. This is similar although it is, of course, possible to measure, rather than weigh. A meal is limited to 400 calories and snacks to 100. This means that with three meals and two snacks you will eat approximately 1100 calories each day.
If you weigh less than 200 pounds you can have a nightly snack of 50 calories. This is a toughie – I can’t think of much of anything that’s 50 calories or less that I want to eat. :-)
No food is forbidden as long as you adhere to the calorie restrictions. Of course, this can be an excuse to go nuts … a piece of chocolate candy may include your total calorie count for one meal, leaving you hungry for three hours. Most anyone can ‘hold out’ for such a short time.
Fortunately, the Jorge Cruise 3 hour diet recommends food from all groups: proteins, carbohydrates and fats. Clearly Mother Nature wants us to include items from all food groups in our diet and the unbalanced plans that are so popular today certainly can’t be good for the long term.
He also recommends low fat dairy as well. So you are allowed foods from:
* Lean meat, poultry, fish
* Nuts
* Yogurt
* Beans, lentils, peas
* Whole grains
* Healthy oils like flaxseed and olive
The program includes a picture called the “3-Hour Plate” whose purpose is to help dieters visualize servings of each food group at each meal. The more the practice and work with our meals, the easier it will be to recognize what we need to eat.
And obviously the plan makes menu and recipe suggestions.
Exercise doesn’t have much part in the Three Hour Diet, but obviously Cruise would like to sell us some of his other books, like 8 Minutes in The Morning to cover this aspect of fitness, wellness and a healthy body.
This diet plan firmly recommends limiting use of the scale to only one day per week which I applaud. I have had friends whose entire day went according to the numbers on the scale that morning. Silly and foolish – and ultimately a Really Bad Idea. Our weight fluctuates too much to matter on an every day basis.
Another point of the weekly weigh in is to see if your diet is working well. If it is – add 100 calories for snacks each day. When you weigh in the following week, if your weight has continued to drop, then your doing well and can add another 100 calories. If your weight has stayed the same, or you’ve gained (gasp! horrors!) then cut back 100 calories from your snacks. This is a cool incentive indeed and recognized that wide variety in the human body.
Our Evaluation Of The Jorge Cruise Diet
My reaction: I’m a bit uncomfortable with the idea of a raging metabolism. It reminds me of putting our foot on the gas constantly. I’m not sure it’s healthy to rub at top speed all the time. Nature clearly works in alternating cycles of activity and rest and this method might be going against nature? Your thoughts?
Having said that, though, this is a reasonable and sane program which allows freedom in food choices – a big element for staying on any diet. It offers sounds advice and accommodates individual differences. All in all, the Three Hour Diet is advised and if you feel it might work for you, go for it.
Check our diet reviews on popular eating plans
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