We’ve said it a thousand times. We don’t like gimmick diets. When we heard that the Human Being Diet was the newest hot trend, some of our staff members rolled their eyes just at the name. Isn’t a human being diet anything a person eats?
Of course, as always, we wanted to learn more about it. Some people benefit from diets. And, we want to be able to help you decide if a diet might be a useful tool or something to avoid. The Human Being Diet (HBD) is a three-month eating plan. You eat fresh, nutrient-dense, minimally processed foods with anti-inflammatory properties.
The diet removes ultra-processed foods and aims to create metabolic balance. By following it, you are supposed to be able to control your hormones, insulin and cortisol levels. While removing ultra-processed food and balancing insulin sounds like a good aim, the diet can be intense.
You eat nothing but vegetables for the first two days of the diet. In addition to only eating vegetables, you do not eat oils — including vegetable oils — to cut out calories. That step is where alarms start sounding in our heads. This sounds less like a meal plan and more like a crash diet. For 14 days after that, you can only eat 700-900 calories a day. While you can eat more than just vegetables, you cannot eat dairy, wheat, nightshades (like tomatoes and eggplant) or sugar. You can drink coffee or tea with meals but only water the rest of the time.
For 10 weeks after that, you eat vegetables, eggs, fish, healthy fats and some fruits. You aren’t supposed to have any complex carbs at all. And, you must fast for at least five hours between meals.
While we are open-minded toward diets, this is not a good one. Some people medically need to follow an ultra-low calorie fast. But they should only do so with their doctor’s guidance.
“I’d really discourage anyone from doing a very low calorie or detox type diet,” said registered dietitian Sophie Medlin. “The reason for this is because, ironically, when we undereat in this way, and particularly skip important nutrients like protein, what actually happens is our body goes into a starvation mode, which increases stress in the body, thus increasing toxins that occur as a result of normal metabolic pathways that happen during starvation.”
Getting enough protein from vegetables is difficult unless you’re an expert. If you don’t get enough protein, your body will break down your muscles for the protein it needs.
Highly restrictive diets like these can lead to unhealthy relationships with food. They can also negatively impact your health if you aren’t getting the right nutrients. Plus, they are far more likely to “fail” than a normal eating plan that is less abrupt and hard to follow.
If you are very interested in the diet, you can buy a copy of the book. But we strongly urge you to discuss it with your doctor before following its instructions. While people talk about their successes with it, it’s not a safe plan.
