The Mushroom Diet to Lose Weight

Looking for the latest celebrity diet? Then you'll love the M-Plan or the mushroom diet. According to countless fashion and gossip magazines, this is the diet that celebrities like Katy Perry and Kelly Osbourne are using to lose weight in 14 days. And according to those same sources, the weight loss program helps you lose weight from your hips and thighs but not from your bust.

If you like mushrooms, then this is the diet for you. According to several sources, dieters on the M-Plan replace one meal each day with a mushroom-based meal. Dieters stay on the diet for 14 days and claim to have slimmer thighs and tinier waistlines at the end of the program, but maintain their cleavage.

So what kind of mushrooms can you eat on the diet? Any variety works. Most grocery stores carry common varieties like white mushrooms ( also called Agaricus mushrooms), button mushrooms and meaty portabello mushrooms.  But you can also use more exotic types of mushrooms, like chanterelle, shiitake, or crimini.  You can also blend the different varieties together.

To be successful on the plan, you should roast, steam or saute the mushrooms using as little fat as possible. If you load the mushrooms up with heavy sauces or spreads, then you're not likely to lose weight. To keep the calorie count low, many sources say that celebs eat the mushrooms raw. But you can also drizzle a teaspoon of olive oil on the mushrooms, sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook them in a 400-degree oven for about 15 minutes.

Often, weight loss programs that are developed by registered dietitians or credentialed diet professionals with a strong nutritional background are most likely to work. So, who developed the M-Plan diet? No one knows.

There is no website or company that takes credit for the eating plan. Much like the 3-Day Military Diet, the mushroom diet seems to be an internet phenomenon more than a legitimate weight loss program. Of course, that doesn't mean that the program is bad. But you may want to be more cautious with programs that have no expert experience backing them up.

What do registered dietitians think of the M-Plan diet? Is it possible that a mushroom diet can really help you lose weight? Nutritional expert, Heidi Diller, R.D. weighed in on the program. Diller is a registered dietitian nutritionist with years of experience helping clients stay healthy.

Diller explains why replacing a higher-calorie meal with lower-calorie mushrooms can make sense.

“It’s no wonder that mushrooms are now part of another diet craze. They are loaded with vitamins and minerals and have very few calories so they make the perfect diet food. In fact, using mushrooms as a meat substitute is a perfect way to lower the calories of any meal at only 44 calories per cup. Plus, mushrooms have proven to be just as satiating as meat.”

But she goes on to address the claim that mushrooms have the power to maintain your cleavage.

“The promise that mushrooms are magical in some sense and can whisk away fat from hips and thighs and not the breast area is nonsense. If that were the case, I’d have them in my cereal.”

If you're looking for a simple way to slim down, the mushroom diet might work. There’s nothing wrong with replacing one meal each day with a healthy, veggie-based dish. That can be a great way to improve your nutrient intake and reduce your daily calories. But mushrooms have no magical power to rescue your bust line, whittle your waist.