General Motors Diet
GM diet is somewhat like cricket. Both were invented, in different centuries, by the erstwhile superpowers of the world to keep a check on the flab of their leisure loving populations. At present, Indians (from India) have taken up the duty of disseminating both across the planet. If you want to know how we are successfully spreading the game of cricket, read this. As for GM diet, just google. The first few results for General Motors Diet are exclusively Indian – coming to you from the servers of IIM Ahmedabad and IIT Bombay and the Blog of Parag! If you delve deeper you’ll see more Indianization of this calorie counting regimen supplied by Yahoo India Answers, NDTV and Rediff India.

parag's blog deserves a special mention because his live journal is where I first came across this diet. Reading his detailed account it instinctively crossed by mind that N would be a good scapegoat for this weight watch plan. So what's my excuse of not partaking? I usually have different reasons depending on seasons when it calls for abstinence from fried and fatty foods, currently the excuse goes by the name of nursing ze Boy.

The diet program was developed in conjunction with USDA and FDA. It was field tested at the Johns Hopkins Research Centre and was approved for distribution by General Motors Corp. on the 38th anniversary of India's independence (a coincidence.) From what I've seen I'd not call it a miracle fat burner, the way it works is like a cleanser for your digestive system, similar to a fast.


Day One All fruits except bananas. Your first day will consist of all the fruits you want. It is strongly suggested that you consume lots of melons the first day. Especially watermelon and a loupe. If you limit your fruit consumption to melons, your chances of losing three lbs. on first day are very good.
Day Two All vegetables. You are encouraged to eat until you are stuffed with all the raw or cooked vegetables of your choice. There is no limit on the amount or type. For your complex carbohydrate, you will start day two with a large baked potato for breakfast. You may top the potato with one pat of butter.
Day Three A mixture of fruits and vegetables of your choice. Any amount, any quantity. No bananas yet. No potatoes today.
Day Four Bananas and milk. Today you will eat as many as eight bananas and drink three glasses of milk. This will be combined with the special soup which may be eaten in limited quantities.
Day Five Today is feast day. You will eat beef and tomatoes. Eat two 10 oz. portions of lean beef. Hamburger is OK. Combine this with six whole tomatoes. On day five you must increase your water intake by one quart. This is to cleanse your system of the uric acid you will be producing.
Day Six Beef and vegetables. Today you may eat an unlimited amount of beef and vegetables. Eat to your hearts content.
Day Seven Today your food intake will consist of brown rice, fruit juices and all the vegetables you care to consume.
More on the diet here. If you want to follow a vegetarian version, you can look up Parag's post or here


N lost 5 pounds at the end of the week. I got to eat processed frozen foods, heat and serve stuff from the deli and even a couple of fruits because I am lazy to cook for myself. I also whipped up the famed General Motors Wonder Soup and few other dietary delicacies – photos and recipes below.

GM Soup




Soup Recipe: In a stock pot combine 3 onions, half a head of cabbage, few stalks of celery(diced), 2 tomatos(chopped), baby carrots(as many as you like), diced zucchini(I put one) and spice mix of your choice (GM diet suggest Lipton Onion Soup mix, I put celery seasoning and some Cajun seasoning – both veg.) Add water to cover the veggies and cook on moderate heat till it is done. I also added dried herbs like parsley, chives and thyme. For a diet soup it disappeared fast.

Day Five and Six are happy cow days. The non-beef version of the diet is more popular amongst Hindustanis due to the sacred status of cow (except among some heretics like us.) We had sheesh kebabs on skewers for Day 5 and Ground Beef Stuffed Bell Peppers on Day 6. Stuffed Pepper recipe as follows. Unleash you inner maniac and chop off the heads of all those glam peppers. Immerse them in boiling water – suffer, suckers suffer. Keep them in for 5 min, let 'em learn a lesson. You can sauté the beef in its own fat(even 7% beef will have some fat enough to keep it non-sticky) and add whatever spice mixture you like. I have a coffee-grinder which I use to dry grind spices to make custom garam masala or add store-bought seasonings.




Optional steps: Saute diced onions, mushrooms, garlic, ginger etc with the beef. When you are in doubt add Worcestershire sauce, always works with meat. I added cooked brown rice(or bread crumbs) to mine since I had no dietary restrictions.

Fill the beef mixture inside the bell pepper cups, pop in the oven for 20 min or till done. For presentation purposes jazz it up with scallions and take a picture. Let there be a record of rationed food week (or healthy living week, whichever way you see it.)