Side Effects of the Hollywood 48 Hour Miracle Diet

The Hollywood 48-Hour Miracle Diet is a fad diet that claims you can lose up to 10 lbs. in just two days by drinking 4 oz. of the special "juice" mixture combined with 4 oz. of water every four hours, four times a day. But this diet is far from miraculous — in fact, it's quite dangerous. Each serving of the juice contains 100 calories and no other food or beverages besides water are allowed, so your daily caloric consumption is a dangerously low 400.

The only thing you consume on this diet is the juice, which is concentrated and must be mixed with an equal amount of water. You'll have four 8 oz. glasses of juice each day and can drink additional water. No food of any kind and no other beverages -- especially alcohol -- are permitted. Because the Hollywood 48-Hour Miracle Diet also claims to be a detox, it's suggested that you don't smoke, at least during the 48 hours you are "detoxing." The juice contains water, pineapple, apple, orange, grape, peach, apricot and banana juices combined with vitamins and a blend of essential oils, including bergamot, tangerine, lemon and orange.

You will be hungry on this diet and might experience low blood sugar, or hypoglycemia. Signs of hypoglycemia include headache, fatigue, weakness, dizziness, shakiness, anxiety, irritability, mood swings and confusion. The only way to treat hypoglycemia is by raising your blood sugar, either with food or a glucose tablet, but these are not permitted on the diet. The National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse warns that if you are at risk for hypoglycemia, you should be careful driving, because you might be confused and reaction times can be delayed.

You might lose weight on the program, but not fat. You'll lose mostly water weight, which will be quickly regained when you resume your regular eating habits. You also might lose some muscle mass, which is not beneficial. When you don't eat enough calories, your body needs more energy and can convert either fat or muscle tissue to usable energy. Ideally you want to use fat, but without adequate protein intake it's easier for your body to convert muscle. Because your body is starving, it's going to do whatever requires the least amount of effort, conserving energy for survival. The energy conservation also will slow down your metabolism.

When you don't consume enough calories to support basic metabolic function, your body goes into "starvation mode" and everything slows down -- it's a biological survival mechanism. Although reducing calorie intake is necessary for weight loss, you need to consume at least 1,200 calories daily. This detox diet allows only one-third of the minimum amount of energy your body needs. Slowing your metabolism actually will make to easier to gain weight when your 48-hour "miracle" diet is over. Additionally, because muscle uses more energy than fat, losing muscle mass also slows down your metabolism.