3-Hour Diet

The 3-Hour Diet was designed by Jorge Cruise, author of 8 Minutes in the Morning and The 3-Hour Diet: How Low-Carb Diets Make You Fat and Timing Makes You Thin. Jorge emphasizes eating every three hours to reset the metabolism and burn fat, eating within one hour of waking, and abstaining from food three hours before bed. Cruise claims that the body goes into “starvation mode” when not fed often enough, and therefore conserves calories, burns muscle instead of fat for energy, and stores fat.

He encourages eating five times a day, including a small dessert. Foods like carbs and sweets are allowed as long as you stick to the eating schedule. It’s recommended that meals are around 400 calories, snacks around 100 calories, and dessert about 50 calories. This brings dieters to about 1,450 calories per day.

Jorge’s system is said to stabilize blood sugar and control appetite while increasing energy and alertness. With this program, he claims that people can increase their baseline metabolic rate (the amount of calories one burns at rest) and jump-start weight loss, losing 10 pounds in the first two weeks, then two pounds per week on this diet alone.

 Foods to include:

  • Vegetables

  • Fruits

  • Whole grains

  • Meat

  • Poultry

  • Fish

  • Eggs

  • Beans

  • Dairy

  • Nuts and seeds

  • Healthy oils

Foods to avoid:

  • Trans fats

Pros:

  • No food is off-limits

  • No restrictions on calorie intake

  • Teaches portion control

Cons:

  • Does not teach proper nutrition habits

  • Frequent eating could lead to over-indulgence

  • No emphasis on exercise

  • Does not honor internal hunger cues

  • Recommended calorie counts may be too low for some

 Sources:

Jorge Cruise’s The 3-Hour Diet: How Low-Carb Diets Make You Fat and Timing Makes You Thin
Jorge Cruise www.jorgecruise.com
What is the 3-Hour Diet? www.webmd.com
Jorge Cruise on The 3-Hour Diet www.harpercollins.com