Anyone doing The Galveston Diet?

The OP was last on over a year ago--Jan 14, 2022. Too bad, wonder how it all worked out.

mborzone123 wrote: »

I started the Galveston Diet two weeks ago. I got the book out of the library and applied the simple framework. It's the only thing that has moved the scale in over 5 years. I'm post menopausal and for people to suggest that it's caloric deficit is simply ignorant of the impact of menopause on weight gain and loss. The combo of IF and the 10/70/20 ratio and high fiber has helped me drop 5 lbs in one week. I only have a total of 15 to lose and the last 15 are the hardest. I'm excited to lose all the weight I gained from menopause and an ankle injury (no exercise). I'm a big fan of this eating plan.

so, the combo of IF and xyz ratio and high fiber have helped you create a calorie deficit - along with the usual one-off drop many people experience when first going low carb and sometimes even when first starting a new diet

that first one week is not going to be representative of every week.

if this is a way of eating that suits you and you continue it in a calorie deficit - yes, you will lose the weight over time.

as would anyone else, menopausal woman or not, with this style of eating or any other style that gets them into a calorie deficit.

I’m not sure what the paid plan refers to either. I bought the book. There’s a meal plan in it.

lemurcat2 wrote: »

I'd never heard of it before, and found this interesting: https://abbylangernutrition.com/the-galveston-diet-review-menopause-is-the-new-diet-cash-cow/

Most of it seems like some nutrition misinformation (outlined at the link) plus a decently healthy diet (although restricting fruit for any reason other than simply personally enjoying low carb is a pet peeve). If one's diet doesn't already include 25-30 g of fiber, lots of veg, fatty fish, and lean meat, adding in those foods could cause one to lose. In that a lot of it is basically like how I eat anyway, I can't imagine just focusing on eating those foods would help with weight loss, but there certainly are people who could benefit and would improve the nutritional content of their diets.

It seems like she's not too unreasonable on the IFing -- she thinks there may be some hormonal benefits but acknowledges cals are what cause weight loss and there's no evidence that IFing with the same cals has any weight loss benefits.

My main issue is that it seems awfully expensive for a meal plan that one could easily create on one's own, but eh. Each to their own.

The link above referred to the version of the diet before the book came out and no longer works; here is a new link to an article from the same site written after the book was published January 2023:

https://abbylangernutrition.com/galveston-diet-book-review/

I dug up the original article. As a 57 year old woman, I wanted to pull out what she had to say about targeting menopausal women:

https://web.archive.org/web/20210207195213/abbylangernutrition.com/the-galveston-diet-review-menopause-is-the-new-diet-cash-cow/

The Galveston Diet Review: Menopause Is The New Diet Cash Cow

...Developed by an OB/gyn named Mary Claire Haver, the Galveston Diet is specifically for menopausal women. I’ve seen a recent trend in which the focus of the diet industry is now weight loss for perimenopausal and menopausal women.

I guess a lot of people who have been chronic dieters since the 80s and 90s, are moving into this stage of life, and the diet industry has decided to milk them of more money by pandering to their fear – and reality – of menopausal weight gain.

On one hand, I of course hate the fact that people are making money off of womens’ insecurity and cashing in on what is a completely normal process in life.

On the other hand, I’m glad that people are starting to realize that life does go on after 40. That women don’t just shrivel up and die once our periods stop. I just wish that the focus would shift off of weight, and on to how awesome we are.

Haver is a rather intense-looking person who loves using TikToks to talk about all things Galveston diet. This is just my opinion, but I find it really annoying when professionals use TikTok. Pointing at captions and making faces, it’s rather infantile and takes away from their message. Haver also claims that she has done plenty of research in her development of this diet, but none of that is available to the public. I’m wondering if it even exists. [See Langer's quibbles with Haver's conclusions from the research in the above article ~ K]

The Galveston Diet is a low-carb plus intermittent fasting program. And apparently, Dr. Haver has ‘cracked the code’ to post-menopausal weight loss with it.

I’m not sure about code-cracking, but it’s safe to say that any time you cause a caloric deficit, you’re going to lose weight. And whether that caloric deficit comes from a low-fat diet, a low-carb diet, or intermittent fasting, the results should be the same.

I read through this thread hopping one of the advocates for this diet would come back and report on how it's going, sadly not.