I love the Jello diet. Okay, I like the premise behind the Jello diet, not the Jello diet itself. What are the pros and cons of the Jello diet? If you follow the Jello diet correctly, you can lose a lot of weight. How much weight can you lose on the Jello diet? Anywhere from 5 to 20 pounds in just a few weeks. Some people claim that you can even lose twenty pounds in 20 days on this diet, but I think that’s unrealistic.
Unfortunately, the list of cons for this diet is longer than its potential benefits. The Jello diet calls for eating nothing but the sugar-free Jello all day long for at least a week and in some cases for as long as two weeks. Depending on the flavor and the kind of Jello you choose, you get as low as 35 calories to 70 calories per serving.
Since you need at least 1,200 calories per day to function normally, assuming you go with the 70 calories per serving version, you would need to eat 18 servings of Jello to supply your body with about 1,200 calories per day.
Even if you could eat 18 servings of Jello each day for seven consecutive days, the Jello diet is not sustainable. Why not? Because it contains very little nutrients. The good news is that there is a way to make the Jello diet work, sort of.
How to improve the Jello diet I do not know if what I am about to say can legitimately be called an improvement, but I think the Jello diet is in desperate need of something other than processed chemicals and artificial color additives. So what can you add to the Jello diet to make it a bit more nutritious?
The answer is protein, fat and fiber. I am talking about a quality, slow-digesting protein powder (think casein protein), fish oil (you can take fish oil capsules with each serving or add liquid fish oil to the mix) and a quality fiber supplement (think Benefiber or milled flax seeds).
Put a serving of Jello in a medium size container, add one serving of protein powder, one serving of fiber, and one serving of fish oil – mix well with a spoon and if you are brave enough, eat it. Oh, and do not forget to chase it with a glass of regular water.
It is worth noting that even with this so-called improvement, the Jello diet is still potentially dangerous and not sustainable. If you need to lose weight, find a diet that uses real food; I do not recommend using the Jello diet for weight loss or for any other purpose for that matter.