What Can You Eat on Michael Thurmond's Diet?

Michael Thurmond's diet is a weight loss program designed to help you reshape your body in six weeks. Unlike many other diet plans, however, you are not required to purchase prepackaged meals and shakes. Instead, the diet is tailored according to your body type. In fact, your metabolism “blueprint” determines what you can eat on Michael Thurmond’s diet.

Professional Profile

Michael Thurmond is a weight loss guru who describes himself as a “master body sculptor.” For more than two decades, he has worked with celebrities to help them achieve their optimum weight. Michael Thurmond’s “blueprinting” method reached a national audience when he was asked to lend his expertise to the ABC reality series "Extreme Makeover." The diet, also known as the Six Week Body Makeover, was officially launched in 2000 as a collaborative effort between Thurmond and Provida Life Sciences of Encino, Calif.

Blueprinting

Canada's Food Guide and Calorie Counter

Learn More

The first step to learning what you can eat on Michael Thurmond’s diet is to create a blueprint for your body type. This is done by completing a self-assessment in which you answer a series of questions about your eating habits and activity level. For instance, Body Type E, also referred to as ectomorph-endomorph, is defined by a difficulty in building and keeping lean muscle, which leads to a decrease in burned calories. Once you know your body type, you can determine which foods will help you to maintain lean muscle, boost your metabolism and promote calorie utilization.

Food Patterns

In contrast, if you are an endomorph with a type A body, you have a very slow metabolism and have likely had weight issues most of your life. To increase metabolism, this body type should also avoid simple carbohydrates in favor of the complex, such as:

• potatoes
  
• yams
  
• berries
  
• other low-sugar fruits

Meal Planning

Eating Plan for Type B Metabolism

Learn More

The diet plan comes with customized recipes as determined by your blueprint. Again, there are no special foods or beverages involved, and meals are intended to be suitable for the entire family. Sample recipes include stir-fries, fruit smoothies, casseroles and grilled meats and vegetables. The diet program is also equipped with a menu planner to enable you to modify recipes or to create new ones using foods that are specific to promoting weight loss for your body type. The program also includes a guide to dining out so that you can enjoy your favorite Italian, Mexican or French dishes without hijacking your diet.

Considerations

Although Michael Thurmond’s diet provides advice for people with food sensitivities, high blood pressure or high glucose levels, you should check with your physician before embarking on this or any diet if you have a chronic condition or are taking medications. Even though this diet is dubbed a “six-week makeover,” it is designed to teach lifelong habits of healthy eating and should not be mistaken for a crash diet.