Everything You Need To Know About The Galveston Diet

The Galveston diet is a nutrition program designed for women in menopause. Creator of the program, Mary Claire Haver, M.D., explains on the Galveston Diet's website that she received complaints and concerns from patients about weight gain they were experiencing during menopause. However, it wasn't until Dr. Haver experienced menopause herself that she realized the "eat less, exercise more" motto wasn't making the cut. So that's when she created the Galveston diet to help women in menopause reach their health and wellness goals. Dr. Haver says the Galveston diet takes an anti-inflammatory and intermittent fasting approach to nutrition.

While the term "intermittent fasting" can sound scary to some, the Galveston diet ensures you eat, but it's during a specific timeframe. For example, the program goes by a ratio of 16:8, meaning you fast for 16 hours and then have an 8-hour eating window, Medical News Today reports. This ratio will vary person-to-person as health conditions and schedules can play affect the fasting regimen.

In addition to intermittent fasting, the Galveston diet also focuses on anti-inflammatory foods with natural antioxidants to help support gut health (via Medical News Today). There's also a "Fuel Refocus" component of the diet, meaning the diet focuses more on nutrient-dense forms of carbohydrates.

There are pros and cons to the Galveston diet, so it may not fit into every lifestyle. Pros of the Galveston diet include it being self-paced, meaning you go at your own speed and set your own schedule. The diet also doesn't focus on counting calories, Food Network reports. Instead, the Galveston diet focuses more on when calories are consumed. Plus, the foods recommended in the diet, such as eggs, veggies, and fruit, are rich in fiber and fight inflammation in the body.

While the Galveston diet has its benefits, there are drawbacks. The program cost and the price of some recommended food choices are expensive, reports Byrdie. For example, the diet recommends grass-fed meat or salmon, both of which have recently increased in price considerably, due to our current inflation times (via Investigate Midwest). The Galveston diet is also nearly a gluten-free diet, which may be beneficial for those with Celiac disease but may not work for others. As with any new diet, be sure to check in with your doctor first to ensure it's safe for you to do.