Dietitian slams '$8 ALDI Christmas diet'

There are often two sides to Christmas – on one hand, you can’t wait to indulge in all of the pudding, treats, and festive meals but on the other hand, your waistline suffers as a result.

Given this, it’s not uncommon for people to turn to quick-fix diets over the holiday break and this year New Idea is claiming that one Aussie dad’s budget-friendly ALDI diet is the way to go.

“Everything is available from ALDI, and if you stick with it for 10 days with no mistakes you will lose as much as 10kg,” the dad reportedly posted to Reddit.

“And for the 10 days, it’ll only cost you around $80 or just $8 a day which is awesome,” he added.

The simple meal plan – which the man claims helped him lose 12kg – involves starting with a berry and banana smoothie for breakfast, made with skim milk and 99% fat-free yoghurt.

Morning and afternoon tea is either one carrot or one apple, while lunch is a Slim & Trim meal replacement bar.

For dinner, it is an easy Greek salad with ham, made up of cos lettuce, carrot, cucumber, olives, feta, and triple smoked ham dressed with olive oil and red wine vinegar.

“This actually looks like a diet I can do!” New Idea claims commenters praised.

However, it seems the experts aren’t convinced, with accredited practising dietitian Alex McClelland slamming it as ‘never sustainable’ and ‘extremely repetitive’.

“Rapid weight loss with a highly restrictive diet is never sustainable, as we (as humans) generally like to eat a variety of foods over the course of a week,” Alex told Yahoo Lifestyle.

Alex was particularly hesitant about the use of meal replacement products which she claims, ‘should not be marketed or suggested for use of rapid weight loss’.

“They are often used inappropriately and set up expectations of dramatic weight loss without considering overall nutritional intake.”

“Dinner is very low in carbohydrate and meals likely to be low in carbs often lead to over-compensational intakes particularly of foods/snacks high in added sugars,” Alex added.

And when that happens, Alex says it can lead to feelings of ‘guilt and failure’ that are only counter-productive.

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