A Milk & Fruit Diet for Weight Loss

Milk and fruit are often both lower in calories than grain products, high-protein items and processed foods, but limiting your diet to only one or two types of food is not a healthy way to lose weight. Although milk and fruit have phenomenal nutritional benefits as part of a more balanced eating plan, they cannot provide all of the essential vitamins, minerals and nutrients that your body requires to function at its best.

Fruit and milk are a low-calorie pair, but they don't make a healthy diet on their own. (Image: fired1991/iStock/Getty Images)

Foundation

A milk and fruit diet is essentially a fruitarian eating plan that includes milk as well as water and fruit juice. A strict fruitarian diet may limit what you eat to only fruit, but the Fruitarian Worldwide Network notes that many fruitarians also eat some vegetables, nuts and seeds.

Advantages

You may lose a lot of weight rapidly on a milk and fruit diet, especially if you choose low-calorie fruits and low-fat or nonfat milk. According to the USDA, 1 cup of skim milk has just 85 calories and no fat. A medium apple has about 95 calories, a medium banana has 105 calories and 1 cup of watermelon pieces has just 45 calories. If you can manage to cut 1,000 calories daily from your normal diet by eating such light foods, you'll lose about 2 lbs. per week. There are also nutritional advantages to drinking milk and eating more fruit. According to ChooseMyPlate.gov, lean dairy protein builds and repairs muscle and bone tissue and furthers osteoporosis prevention, while fruits can help prevent cancer, diabetes, bone loss, kidney stones, heart attack and stroke.

Drawbacks

Quick weight loss may seem like a worthy goal, but it's not always lasting or healthy. MayoClinic.com preventive medicine specialist Donald Hensrud, M.D., points out that losing more than 2 lbs. per week may indicate loss of water weight or lean muscle tissue, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention note that people who lose weight quickly are less likely to keep it off long term than those who drop pounds gradually. Another issue is that milk and fruit don't fulfill all nutritional needs. To get enough healthy fats and variety among vitamins and minerals, you must also eat vegetables, grains and lean proteins.

Considerations

Consult your physician before starting any new diet or weight loss plan. If you do choose to try a milk and fruit eating plan, it's advantageous to stick to it for just a few days or a week to prevent nutrient deficiencies, fatigue, dizziness and other potentially negative side effects.