The Galveston Diet has emerged as a popular eating plan, particularly among middle-aged women experiencing the hormonal shifts of perimenopause and menopause. Developed by board-certified OB-GYN Dr. Mary Claire Haver, the diet aims to address weight gain and other symptoms associated with this life stage by focusing on when to eat, what foods to eat, and what foods to avoid in order to reduce inflammation in the body. Instead of simple calorie restriction, it emphasizes the importance of when to eat, what foods to eat, and what foods to avoid to reduce inflammation in the body. This article provides a comprehensive review of the Galveston Diet, exploring its principles, potential benefits, drawbacks, and overall effectiveness.
What is the Galveston Diet?
The Galveston Diet is a weight loss program aimed at middle-age menopausal women. It is an online program, and there is no set time period within which you have to finish it. The diet program also offers dietary supplements and an exercise regimen called the Move Mini-Course, all at an additional cost.
It combines intermittent fasting with a high-fat, low-carb diet that emphasizes anti-inflammatory foods. The Galveston Diet is actually not all that different from the Mediterranean diet. “Both focus on reducing added sugars, processed foods, and refined grains,” says Gaby Vaca-Flores, RDN, an education specialist at HUM Nutrition. But the Galveston Diet is a little bit different, because there’s more of a focus on lean protein, whereas the Mediterranean diet emphasizes legumes, whole grains, and nuts and seeds as healthy fats over lean protein. The Galveston Diet is slightly more restrictive than the Mediterranean diet. “It only allows low-glycemic fruits like berries, whereas the Mediterranean diet is inclusive of most fruits,” Vaca-Flores says. The Galveston Diet is also a gluten-free diet, as compared to the Mediterranean diet, which allows whole grains, including whole-wheat pasta and whole-wheat bread. Both the Galveston diet and keto diet are high fat and low carb, explains Vaca-Flores. When diets are low in carbs and whole grains, that can disrupt your fiber intake overall. In addition, Greek yogurt is the sole recommended dairy product because it has twice as many amino acids as other yogurts. Lastly, it’s worth noting that quinoa is the only grain-like food allowed on this diet. This diet advises that you do a daily version of intermittent fasting. Most importantly, the diet advocates consuming whole foods, healthy fats, and lots of vegetables. Another key point is that as we age, our metabolisms slow down.
The Galveston Diet Signature Program
The Galveston diet signature program is an online program. There’s no set time period within which you have to finish it. You choose from three main programs:
- Signature: This program costs about \$59 and includes a series of educational sessions, videos, other resources, shopping lists, 5 weeks of meal planning and recipes, lifetime access to all online material, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
- Gold: This level costs around \$124 and includes everything from the Signature package, plus a guide, the Move Mini-Course, a daily recharge journal, and a recipe collection.
- Platinum: This level includes everything from the other packages, plus ongoing coach support, live coaching sessions, a downloadable workbook, progress tracking, weekly bonus content and more, and costs \$24.99 for the first month, then costs \$49.99 per month. You can cancel anytime.
Core Components of the Galveston Diet
The Galveston Diet is built upon three key components: intermittent fasting, anti-inflammatory nutrition, and "Fuel Refocus."
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Intermittent Fasting: The Galveston Diet incorporates the 16/8 intermittent fasting method. This involves eating all your daily calories within an 8-hour window and fasting for the remaining 16 hours. During the fasting window, you must not consume any calories. Zero-calorie beverages like plain water, unsweetened tea, and unsweetened coffee are allowed.By limiting the time that you’re allowed to eat, people tend to eat fewer calories overall. This calorie deficit promotes weight loss. In addition to promoting weight loss, intermittent fasting has been linked to other benefits, including reduced inflammation, improved insulin resistance, and decreased heart disease risk factors, such as high blood pressure.
Anti-inflammatory Nutrition: The diet emphasizes consuming foods that combat inflammation while limiting those that promote it. Chronic inflammation is associated with various health problems, including obesity, heart disease, cancer, and arthritis. The Galveston diet encourages the intake of foods like vegetables and fruits, which are rich in plant compounds that help fight inflammation. It also limits foods and ingredients that can contribute to inflammation, such as foods high in saturated fats, sugar, and artificial ingredients,” says Vaca-Flores.
'Fuel Refocus': The Galveston diet is ultimately a high fat, low carb diet. It resembles the standard keto diet in its macronutrient distribution, as most daily calories come from fat. In comparison, the Galveston diet advocates getting about 70% of your daily calories from fats, 20% from protein, and 10% from carbs. The idea behind this shift is to get most of your calories from fat instead of carbs, or what the diet refers to as “Fuel Refocus.” In general, carbs are your body’s preferred energy source. Yet, under low carb conditions like fasting or low carb diets, your body breaks down fat for energy.
Foods to Eat and Avoid
The Galveston Diet encourages the consumption of whole, nutrient-dense foods while restricting processed items, added sugars, and unhealthy fats.
Foods to Eat:
- Fats: olive oil, coconut oil, MCT oil, butter, ghee, avocado oil, and sesame oil
- Proteins: lean ground beef, chicken, turkey, eggs, lean pork, salmon, trout, tuna, and shellfish
- Fruits: avocado, strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries
- Leafy greens: spinach, kale, lettuce, dill, and mustard greens
- Other vegetables: cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, tomato, bell pepper, cucumber, onion, and carrots
- Nuts: cashews, pistachios, almonds, and peanuts
- Seeds: pumpkin, sesame, sunflower, flax, and chia seeds
- Dairy: heavy cream, cheese, sour cream, plain greek yogurt, and nut milk
- Tea: black, green, oolong, and chamomile teas
- Fresh herbs: ginger, garlic, parsley, thyme, and basil
Foods to Limit or Avoid:
- Sweeteners: added sugar and artificial sweeteners
- Food additives: artificial additives (flavors, colors, and preservatives)
- Alcohol: beer, wine, and spirits
- Processed foods: refined grains, fried foods, and processed meats
- Vegetable oils high in omega-6 fats: soybean, sunflower, safflower, and corn oil
- Sugar-sweetened beverages: sweet tea, colas, soft drinks, and juices
Potential Benefits of the Galveston Diet
The Galveston Diet promotes healthy weight maintenance if you adhere to the plan and may be a good eating plan for metabolism changes during menopause because of that.
Read also: Galveston Diet: A comprehensive review
Weight Loss: The diet's combination of intermittent fasting and a low-carb, high-fat approach can be effective for weight loss. Intermittent fasting helps create a calorie deficit, while a low-carb diet encourages the body to burn fat for fuel. One 3-month study in 40 people showed that a 16/8 intermittent fasting diet reduced belly fat and cut waist size by an average of 2.1 inches (5.3 cm). In a 40-week study in 36 men with obesity, the group following intermittent fasting experienced 53% more weight loss than the group following a traditional calorie-restricted diet - and was more successful at maintaining weight loss over the following 6 months.
Reduced Inflammation: By emphasizing anti-inflammatory foods and limiting processed foods, the Galveston Diet may help reduce chronic inflammation in the body. Research indicates that low carb diets may help reduce inflammation and combat inflammatory conditions like fatty liver disease, Parkinson’s, and multiple sclerosis.
Improved Blood Sugar Management: Intermittent fasting and low-carb diets have been shown to improve insulin sensitivity and blood sugar control, which can be particularly beneficial for individuals with type 2 diabetes or insulin resistance. In one online intervention among adults with type 2 diabetes, 55% more people placed on a very low carb keto diet showed improved blood sugar management than those following a diet based on the diabetes plate method.
Potential Reduction in Disease Risk: Intermittent fasting and low-carb diets have been shown to protect against various lifestyle illnesses, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and insulin resistance. They’re also associated with a reduction in visceral fat, fasting insulin, and insulin resistance. All three of these are risk factors for type 2 diabetes.
Potential Drawbacks of the Galveston Diet
Despite its potential benefits, the Galveston Diet also has some drawbacks to consider.
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Potentially Low in Fiber: Very low carb diets tend to be low in dietary fiber. Most dietary fiber comes from high carb foods like fruits, whole grains, beans, and vegetables. Thus, drastic carb cutting affects your fiber intake. Fiber is important for regular bowel movements, heart health, and gut health. Therefore, it’s important to include lower carb, fiber-rich foods like nonstarchy vegetables, avocados, and berries when following a low carb regimen like the Galveston diet.
Restrictive Nature: People who find extremely low carb diets restrictive may be unable to follow the Galveston diet long term.
Lack of Specific Research: As mentioned before, the Galveston diet has not been studied specifically. As a precaution, if you have a medical condition or history of an eating disorder, speak with a healthcare professional before following any restrictive or extremely high fat diet like this one.
Cost: While limiting animal proteins to grass-fed options is a nice ideal, the price tag isn’t attainable for everyone.
The Galveston Diet: A Success Story
Sometime in late 2021, Diana Johnson was having a bad time. She was experiencing hot flashes and knee and hip pain from carrying more weight than usual in her midsection. Johnson’s primary care physician told her she was experiencing symptoms of menopause. Johnson tried dieting and exercising to lose weight, to no avail. Her doctor then told her about some of Haver’s educational videos she’d seen on social media. Intrigued, Johnson watched the videos and read some of Haver's blog posts. She called Haver’s office, met her, became a patient and adopted the Galveston diet. Online, she worked with a Galveston diet coach who helped her through the program.
About a month into the regimen, Johnson began seeing results. Johnson notes that inflammation is also associated with weight gain, and she believes her weight loss is another sign that her inflammation has been going down since she started the diet.
Before adopting the diet, Johnson hit the scale regularly. Although she’s no longer obsessed with weighing herself, Johnson has dropped 25 pounds and hopes to lose another 40 or so. “In general, I just feel so much better,” she says.
Is the Galveston Diet Right for You?
The Galveston Diet may be a suitable option for middle-aged women seeking to manage weight and alleviate menopausal symptoms through a combination of intermittent fasting, anti-inflammatory eating, and macronutrient balancing. For instance, I reviewed Mary Claire Haver’s TGD download (I joined TGD several years ago and struggled with my discipline with it) and decided to commit to the challenge. Well, let me tell you, I am amazed at the results. I lost 8 pounds (even with a ten-day beach trip during the challenge!), my skin looks amazing, I have had zero processed sugar (I am a sugar addict), and I feel like a new person.
However, it's essential to consider the potential drawbacks, such as the restrictive nature of the diet and the risk of low fiber intake. As with any dietary change, consulting with a healthcare professional or registered dietitian is crucial, especially if you have underlying health conditions or a history of eating disorders.