Experts warn against the controversial 'egg and wine diet'

omg 13/08/2018

A crash diet plan from the 1970s has been unearthed on social media and people are freaking out over how crazy it seems. 

Within the pages of Vogue's 1977 beauty issue lies "the wine and eggs" diet - a three day plan which promises a weight loss of five pounds (around 2.5kg).

The diet consists of one egg and a glass of white wine for breakfast, two eggs and another glass for lunch, before a steak for dinner - topped off by the rest of the bottle of wine.  

According to the Mirror, the diet originated in Helen Gurley Brown's iconic 1960s book Sex and the Single Girl, before being later republished in Vogue

Gurley Brown, who went on to be the editor of Cosmopolitan magazine, claimed that the diet would make you feel "sexy, exuberant, full of the joie de vivre".

I imagine you'd probably just feel hungry and a bit drunk...

Kiwi health and nutrition coach Michelle Yandle says the diet was definitely "intriguing", even managing to pick out some positives. 

"Eggs are known as nature's multi vitamin, so at least you're getting fats, protein and minerals," she pointed out.

"Black coffee is rich in antioxidants and has been shown to help prevent Alzheimer's, and well, just plain makes me happy."

Even wine would probably "make you relaxed to a certain point" - "and hey, it is fermented," she joked. 

But the cons outweigh the pros. 

"I know one thing; this diet would leave me incredibly hungry!" Yandle says. 

"It's far too restrictive, meaning it is in no way sustainable [and] there is not a single veggie or fibre source here - which would probably be incredibly hard on the gut."

She also said the diet sounds "horribly boring". 

"I don't know about you, but steak and eggs every day isn't my idea of a good time. I love food, I love the variety of flavours and textures and hard boiled eggs for two meals a day just isn't going to cut it.

"Plus, there's the issue that going to work with alcohol on your breath is generally frowned upon," she added. 

Unsurprisingly, Yandle says she wouldn't recommend the extreme three day diet. 

