Starbucks Diet: Woman Loses 85lbs Through Coffee Chain Diet
Who knew Starbucks could help you lose weight?
That was the case for a Virginia law librarian, who says she lost a whopping 85 pounds on the "Starbucks diet," a diet she designed herself by only eating food from the coffee chain. Christine Hall, who is 5 foot 4 inches tall, said she went from weighing 190 pounds to 114 pounds from the diet, according to NBC. During a two-year period, the 66-year-old tracked the calories online for food she bought at her nearby Starbucks. She planned her meals one day in advance because she memorized the calories for everything on the Starbucks menu.
Hall said she's eating a healthy variety of foods - a mix of protein, fruit and vegetables with her doctor's approval. An example of a daily meal consists of oatmeal for breakfast with a 5-calorie cup of coffee, a "bistro box" with fruit and cheese for lunch and panini for dinner.
One may question how healthy a panini can be, but the Roasted Vegetable Panini at Starbucks has only350 calories and is chock full of vegetables, such as roasted zucchini, eggplants, red peppers and baby spinach. Registered dietitian Amy Jamieson-Petonic said there's no doubt Hall was successful losing weight when she often ate as little as 876 calories a day.
However, the "Starbucks diet" isn't as healthy as one may think. Although Hall looks and feels great, she is eliminating whole foods from her diet, including fresh fruit. Some dieticians have argued that she is likely to be severely deficient in vitamins and minerals essential for good health.
Jamieson-Petonic told NBC's TODAY.com that as important as it is to choose low-calorie foods, it's also important to choose foods that are nutritionally balanced. The diet is also not budget-friendly. She suggested preparing meals at home using legumes, brown rice, whole grains and frozen fruit and vegetables to "stretch your food dollars" because eating out can be costly.
