Will Dr. Oz’s Three Day Fat Flush Help You Lose Weight?

Dr. Oz, through Dr. Mark Hyman, is recommending a three-day fat flush diet.

Initially, I thought this was a diet for reducing fat intake. It turns out that no, it’s a diet that increases your fat intake.

The fat flush broth doesn’t have any fat, and you can definitely have that without gaining weight. If you just drank the broth you might lose a pound or two from the lack of other food.

The fatty-acid smoothie isn’t really full of fat either. Just nuts and berries. If you did the smoothies and the broth, you might lose a pound or two over a week.

Things get interesting when Dr. Hyman/Dr. Oz tells us to ingest a tablespoon of coconut oil in water to induce bowel movements. I’m not sure if either of the good doctors has tried this experiment. Since oil and water do not mix, ingesting a tablespoon of coconut oil and then a glass of water is more the case. If you live in a colder climate, you need to heat up the water to even get the coconut to mix at all. And if you have a sensitive palate, you might well find this particular recommendation involves the Dr. Oz projectile vomiting weight loss plan. Honestly, mixing your coconut oil in with a little heated oatmeal or even heating it and pouring it over nuts and seeds or adding it to the smoothie would be an improvement.

The rest of the diet plan is a variation on calorie restriction and healthy eating. There’s nothing wrong with it, it just isn’t particularly fat flushing.

A magic moment occurs when Dr. Hyman/Dr. Oz tells us: “After three days, your body will reset. You can keep going or slowly start to reintroduce the foods you eliminated. Just be sure to focus on food quality and your body will naturally regulate the quantity it wants.”

Wow! I really wished this worked! After three days you might also be so hungry you will eat at a buffet and empty them out. The idea that your body resets every three days is based on the new lining the gut generates every four days. But expecting a lifetime of habits to resolve after three days is like watching for pig flying maneuvers above your cornfield. It might happen, but it’s highly unlikely. If you followed the same diet for twenty-one days and then added unlimited vegetables and no sugars, you might have a better chance (twenty-one days is generally thought of as the minimal time it takes to break a habit).

Will three days of fat flushing help you lose weight? 

Yes, but only if you’re constipated.

Otherwise, not so much.