Weight Loss & Diet Plans

The Hallelujah Diet

What You Can Eat continued...

Foods prohibited on The Hallelujah Diet include: animal products; dairy; white or brown sugar and sugar syrups; refined flour; seasonings including salt or pepper; alcohol; caffeine; coffee; tea; cocoa; soft drinks; sports drinks; artificial fruit drinks or juices with preservatives, salt, and sweeteners; canned and sweetened fruits; and nonorganic dried fruits. Also off limits are cold breakfast cereal; white rice; roasted or salted seeds and nuts; peanuts (because they are said to be difficult to digest); margarine, shortenings and anything with hydrogenated oils; soups (unless homemade); candy and gum; cookies, donuts, cakes, pies, or any product made with refined sugars or artificial sweeteners; canned vegetables; and vegetables fried in oil.

Because the food choices are so limited, people who follow the diet for extended periods could end up with nutritional deficiencies, experts say.

The American Dietetic Association approves of carefully planned vegetarian and vegan diets, but notes that vegetarian diets can be lacking in protein, iron, zinc, calcium, vitamin D, riboflavin, vitamin B12, omega-3 fatty acids, and iodine. Gerbstadt recommends consulting a registered dietitian to be sure you're following a healthy, balanced plan that meets your nutritional needs.

How It Works

You'll lose weight on The Hallelujah Diet because the plan is extremely low in calories -- potentially too low to sustain energy levels, keep you feeling satisfied, and provide all the nutrients needed for health. 

Malkmus theorizes that by eating a "living" food diet and eliminating addictive foods such as sugar, animal products, salt, white flour products, and caffeine, you will no longer crave those foods and your body will rid itself of 90% of all physical problems. 

"Sugar neutralizes our immune system and knocks it out and prevents it from functioning, so if you eliminate it and give your body a pure, living diet, it has the building blocks to rebuild cells," he says.

When you eat living foods, you no longer have to deal with hunger pangs or cravings, according to The Hallelujah Diet web site.

"All animal flesh originated in the living plant it ate, so eating animal products is a secondhand source to the plant, and it is God's design for us to eat raw or living foods directly from the source," says Malkmus.

He also says that juicing helps to reduce the bulk and fiber in some otherwise difficult-to-digest raw plant foods such as sweet potatoes. 

Dieters are given the option to adopt the diet gradually or "cold turkey" but are warned that an abrupt change in dietary habits may cause symptoms of detoxification. They're also urged to use the supplements, including a thrice-daily serving of barley powder, which is said to be the most nutritionally dense food on earth.

Gerbstadt disagrees with many of these ideas.

"There is no one single food that is the most nutritionally dense, there are lots of supernutritious foods, and when you eat a wide variety of foods, you are assured of getting all of the phytochemicals and fiber for good health that are not found in a supplement," she says.

Variety and moderation are the hallmark of a healthy, balanced diet, which can easily meet all your nutritional needs without supplements, says Gerbstadt.