Can eating mushrooms every day trim your hips but not your bust?
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Kelly Osbourne claims to have lost dress sizes on the M plan and Katy Perry credits her figure to mushrooms
Mushrooms are like Marmite: people tend to love or loathe them. And given that half the population would blanch at the prospect of tucking into a plateful of porcini, it seems unlikely that a diet requiring you to eat piles of fungi daily should be a success.
And yet the M Plan - a weight-loss programme based on mushrooms - is the latest celebrity diet. Kelly Osbourne claims to have lost several dress sizes on it and pop star Katy Perry credits her slender figure to mushrooms.
It's said that you will shave inches from your hips, thighs and waist - but without shrinking your bust.
Sounds too good to be true? The plan is certainly attractively simple. For 14 days, you replace one meal a day with mushrooms. It's preferable, but not essential, to eat them raw, as this delivers the most nutrients for the least calories.
Why mushrooms should work such magic is the subject of debate. Fans point to their low GI status (foods with a low glycemic index are digested slowly and release energy in a uniform way, making you feel fuller for longer).
They are also more filling than other vegetables, thanks to their high protein and fibre content, which also kick-starts sluggish digestive systems.
As a bonus, they're high in B vitamins, iron and zinc, which help produce strong nails, healthy skin and shiny hair.
However, not all experts are convinced. 'You might lose weight on this diet because you're likely to be substituting a high-calorie food with one that is relatively low in calories,' says nutritional therapist Janine Fahri, of London's NutriLife Clinic.
'It's a no-brainer that if you swap your usual portion of chips for mushrooms, over time it will result in weight loss. However, I don't believe one particular food can target weight loss in a specific area of the body.'
Generally speaking, I'm not a fan of the single ingredient diet either.
Cabbages? Potatoes? Beetroot juice? I've been there, done that and endured the ensuing digestive chaos.
But I am also a classic English pear who would dearly love my top and bottom halves to be in proportion.
Throughout the fortnight Anna was on the M Plan, she consumed a vast quantity of mushroom soup
I have the shoulders and bust of a slender size 8 and the legs and hips of a much curvier size 12. The overall effect is a size 10, but dresses have always been a problem.
I distinctly remember, as a 14-year-old, standing on my head for protracted periods of time in the vain hope that gravity would even out my figure.
Unsurprisingly, the headstands didn't do the trick, but I was hopeful the M Plan might work where they had failed.
'After two weeks, I had indeed lost weight. Only 3lb, mind you... this isn't a diet to embark on if you need to drop a dress size in a hurry. Most surprising is that the weight I've lost does appear to have come off where I wanted it to'
At 5ft 4in and weighing 9st 7lb, I wasn't so much concerned with weight loss as with the inch loss around my hips.
At the start of my fortnight on the M Plan, I measured 33.5 in around the bust, 28 in at the waist and 40 in around the hips.
With a 70g serving of mushrooms containing only 15 calories, I reasoned that while the M Plan might be boring, I could at least afford to be free with my portion sizes.
However, Janine Fahri warned me that I should buy only organic because mass-produced mushrooms are sprayed with chemicals to prevent contamination by bacteria or other fungi.
She also urged me to remember that not all mushrooms are created equal.
If I really wanted to make the most of this diet, then I must include shiitake, maitake and reishi varieties, which are considered to be the superstars of the mushroom world.
However, their superior nutritional content means that eating more than 15g to 20g in one sitting may cause diarrhoea and abdominal bloating.
By the end of the fortnight Anna dropped an inch from her hips and half an inch from her waist
It is worth mentioning that while you can pick up 150g of baby button mushrooms in Tesco for 75p, if you're going to opt for organic shiitake, then you're looking at £2.19 for 150g in Waitrose.
Mushrooms in all shapes and sizes bought (a 150g tray lasted me a couple of days, adding up to £12 over the fortnight), my next challenge was to research interesting ways in which to prepare them.
I ate them at mealtimes rather than as snacks and swapped between having them for lunch and dinner. When not consuming fungi, I ate as normal.
Though my instructions were to eat unadulterated mushrooms where possible, not all varieties - I quickly discovered - are palatable when raw.
While enoki (those tiny white mushrooms that grow in clusters from a single base) have a sweet, fruity flavour that works well chopped straight into a salad, chanterelles have a woody taste that just doesn't work without cooking.
Portobellos, meanwhile, are so substantial that you can quite easily use them as a meat substitute - they are perfect for grilling or stuffing.
Throughout the fortnight I was on the M Plan, I consumed a vast quantity of homemade mushroom soup. There were a few servings of mushrooms on toast (surprisingly good if you cook them in stock and add cornflour to thicken them up).
I had mushroom salads, stuffed mushrooms and sauteed mushrooms (though you have to be circumspect with butter if you intend to lose weight).
Mushroom stew went down well with the family, though the less said about my mushroom pate, the better.
After two weeks, I may not have wanted to see another mushroom for the rest of my life, but my bathroom scales registered that I had, indeed, lost weight.
Only 3lb, mind you . . . this isn't a diet to embark on if you need to drop a dress size in a hurry.
Most surprising is that the weight I've lost does, indeed, appear to have come off where I wanted it to.
I've dropped an inch from my hips and half an inch from my waist, while my bust measurement remains exactly the same.
Who knows whether the mushrooms are responsible for this or that I simply had more weight around my hips to lose.
Will I continue the diet? My four-year-old daughter asked yesterday: 'Mummy, why has the fridge gone all mushroomy?'
So, I think we all need a break. There are only so many fungi-flavoured recipes that any woman can conjure up in a fortnight.
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