Bill Clinton's crash diet 'weird and extreme', says dietitian

Wellington, Sept 24 (ANI): Former US President Bill Clinton has been slammed for going on a restricted diet to lose 10kg before daughter Chelsea's wedding.

An Australian dietitian has labeled Clinton's diet as "weird and extreme".

The former president, renowned for his love of junk food, shed more than 10kg after he was told by his daughter Chelsea to lose weight before her wedding in July.

"I went on essentially a plant-based diet," Clinton told CNN.

"I live on beans, legumes, vegetables, fruit. I drink a protein supplement every morning. No dairy. I drink almond milk mixed in with fruit and protein powder, so I get the protein in when I start the day out," he said.

Clinton, 64, said the diet changed his whole metabolism and he has gone back to what he weighed in high school.

He also hoped this "experiment" would help to clear his arteries after undergoing quadruple heart bypass surgery in 2004.

However, dietitian Catherine Saxelby said his diet was extreme and not sustainable in the long-term, reports Stuff.co.nz.

People wanting to lose weight did not have to give up meat or dairy food, she said.

"There's quite good evidence that low-fat dairy food can actually enhance weight loss through their calcium content," said Saxelby, who works with foodwatch.com.au.

"And meat is an important part of a lot of high-protein weight-loss diets because it's very filling and satisfactory.

"But the meat has to be lean. It has to be trimmed of fat and it can't be fatty meats like sausages or bacon or burgers, which is what I think Mr Clinton used to like eating," she said.

While plant-based foods were filling, had very few calories and were also high in fibre, thus increasing your bowel movements, they had little in the way of iron, zinc, calcium, B12 and Omega-3 fatty acids - all essential elements of a healthy diet, Saxelby said.

Exercise - at least 30 to 60 minutes a day - was also necessary to shed that much weight.

Ultimately, the key to getting trim was to cut out alcohol, sugar, fatty foods and fast foods, Saxelby said.

A modified plant-based diet that was balanced should include two serves of fish a week, low-fat milk or low-fat yoghurt, a few serves of red meat or fish and low-fat dairy, and two serves of eggs a week, she said. (ANI)