Although the New Beverly Hills diet does include
more foods than the original diet, which only allowed
fruit for the first 10 days, the diet still contains a
significant amount of fruit. Fruit is required as the
first food each day, and on many days only fruit is
allowed. In the first week of the diet there are two days
that only allow fruit: day three only allows grapes, and
day five allows pineapple, then papaya, then more
pineapple. Because of this excessive consumption of
fruit and the limited consumption of other foods, there
is a significant risk of diarrhea, which can lead to
severedehydrationand malnutrition. Dieters thinking
of beginning this diet should be extremely cautious.
Research and general acceptanceThere have been no significant scholarly studies
done showing the effectiveness of the food combining
theory of eating in general, or the effectiveness of this
diet in particular.
In 1981 theJournal of the American Medical Asso-
ciationpublished an article stressing the dangers of the
original Beverly Hills diet. It called the diet ‘‘the latest,
and perhaps worst, entry in the diet-fad derby,’’ and
said that the diet could cause severe enough diarrhea
to cause fever, muscle weakness, and in the most severe
cases might be able to cause extreme drops in blood
pressure that could lead to death. The article told
physicians to discourage their patients from trying
this diet.
Although the New Beverly Hills diet has been
updated, and more foods have been included, experts
are not much more enthusiastic. David W. Grotto, a
spokesman for the American Dietetic Association, is
quoted on WebMD.com as saying that ‘‘sustaining the
diet...would be a concern because of a lack of nutri-
tional adequacy,’’ and even went on to say ‘‘I would
almost lump [the] dietary program in with the obscure
and useless programs—like Alexander the Great’s
nothing-but-alcohol diet. It’s nutritionally incomplete
and there’s better programs out there.’’Resources
BOOKS
Mazel, Judy and Susan Shultz.The Beverly Hills Diet.New
York: Macmillan, 1981.
Mazel, Judy.The Beverly Hills Style.New York: Stein and
Day, 1985.
Mazel, Judy.The New Beverly Hills Diet.Deerfield Beach,
FL: Health Communications, 1996.
Shannon, Joyce Brennfleck ed.Diet and Nutrition Source-
book.Detroit, MI: Omnigraphics, 2006.
Willis, Alicia P. ed.Diet Therapy Research Trends.New
York: Nova Science, 2007.
PERIODICALS
Mirkin,G.B.andR.N.Shore.‘‘TheBeverlyHillsDiet.
Dangers of the Newest Weight Loss Fad.’’The Journal of
the American Medical Association(Nov 1981): 2235–37.
ORGANIZATIONS
American Dietetic Association.120 South Riverside Plaza,
Suite 2000, Chicago, Illinois 60606-6995. Telephone:
(800) 877-1600. Website:<http://www.eatright.org>
OTHER
Optifast.com<http://www.optifast.com>(March 26,
2007).
Skinny on Diets. ‘‘The New Beverly Hills Diet.’’ 2007.
<http://www.skinnyondiets.com/TheNewBeverlyHills
Diet.html>(April 22, 2007).
The Diet Channel. ‘‘Beverly Hills Diet.’’ 2007.<http://
http://www.thedietchannel.com/Beverly-hills-diet.htm>
(April 22, 2007).Tish Davidson, M.A.Binge eating
Definition
Binge eating an abnormal eating pattern in which
an individual eats significantly more food in a limited
time than most people typically would eat. The time-
frame for a binge is usually 1–2 hours.Description
Theeating disorders anorexia nervosaandbuli-
mia nervosaare considered psychiatric disorders and
have formal diagnostic criteria that are define in theQUESTIONS TO ASK THE
DOCTOR Is this diet safe for me?
Is this the best diet to meet my long term weight
loss goals?
Do I have any dietary requirements this diet
might not meet?
Would a multivitamin or other dietary
supplement be appropriate for me if I were to
begin this diet?
Are there any sign or symptoms that might
indicate a problem while on this diet?Binge eating