The Gracie Diet is a way of eating that was developed by Carlos Gracie over his lifetime. Being an influential figure in the Gracie family, this led to other members of his family copying his diet over the years with glowing reviews of his eating habits.
So, what is the Gracie Diet exactly? In short, it’s a specific diet that uses eating times, food groups, and lots of water to supposedly fuel your body. Whilst some are skeptical of this diet and the science behind it, it’s undeniably healthy and is good for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioners to use when training.
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So, what is the Gracie Diet then?
In brief, there are a few rules to follow regarding the Gracie Diet and some of these are quite simple, whereas others are less easy to follow. It starts off by telling people to drink a glass of water every morning and also to wash their hands before meals. Obviously, this is a habit that many people will already do and makes sense. According to Carlos Gracie, the importance of water was that it helped fight off disease and keep your system healthy.
The Gracie Diet on acidic foods
The Gracie Diet also strictly prohibits pork and alcohol. This isn’t due to religious reasons but is instead based on the diet’s harsh views on these two foods. In short, Carlos Gracie was pretty obsessed with avoiding acidic foods that would harm your gut.
On a similar note, Carlos Gracie also disliked sweet deserts and sugary drinks so these were prohibited from his diet too. As you may have figured, if you’re on this diet you’ll mostly be drinking water for the most part.
Apparently, too much acidity in your system could lead to becoming unhealthy which is what he associated with pork and alcohol. Regardless of your opinions, it’s pretty clear that alcohol is not good to consume in terms of health.
Gracie Diet food groups and eating times
Perhaps the trickiest part of the diet is based on food groups that are combined together. For instance, bananas cannot be combined with honey, but they can be grouped with fresh cheese. Apparently, certain foods cannot be mixed with others as they react badly.
However, if they’re combined with certain other foods then they can bring greater health benefits. As seen by the table below, there are quite a few specific food groups that can and cannot be mixed. Again, acidic foods play a role in this logic.
As you can see by the table, you can make your own Gracie Diet meal plan based on the below food combinations.
The Gracie Diet also has strict eating times that must be followed. The point of this is to avoid mixing foods together. For instance, you could eat red apples and milk. However, two hours later you can’t eat avocados.
The logic is that it takes around 4 hours for your stomach to digest your food and if you eat a conflicting food group within that time then you may create a bad food combination. Therefore, you should only eat a meal every 4 hours or so. For most people, this means eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Lastly, on the matter, the Gracie Diet also recommends one 24 hour period of fasting once per month. The idea of this is that fasting effectively resets your gut which is good for flushing out any destructive or unhealthy bacteria from your system. These days, this idea is commonly accepted in the scientific community but was lesser known at the time of Carlos and his writing.
Other quirks of The Gracie Diet
Another nuance of the Gracie Diet is eating fresh foods. For example, whilst eating bread it ok – it must be freshly baked. This may be to do with avoiding the bread being overly processed and less healthy. Strangely, the Gracie Diet also suggests eating the bread heated.
Other quirks include eating cheese but not frying it which probably follows similar reasoning as above. Another issue is eating processed foods and those high in unnatural sugar or cholesterol. As you may have figured as well, snacking is prohibited due to the 4 hour time frame to digest food.
Another thing worth noting about the Gracie Diet is its calories. Unlike certain other diets, it doesn’t count calories. So long as you’re nutrients and targets are hit with each meal, then this is ok. In other words, you shouldn’t starve yourself or be too greedy but when it comes to calories, the Gracie Diet isn’t as scientific as it is in other areas.
In short, the Gracie Diet is largely based on optimizing digestion. On average, your typical person should take around 3 weeks for these changes to properly kick in.
The Gracie Diet debunked?
According to some, the Gracie Diet can help cure cancer. However, there is no real scientific evidence to back this claim up. Of course, that doesn’t mean these claims are necessarily untrue either and there may be some truths to them. For instance, it’s known that a healthy diet can help prevent cancer (to an extent) whilst a bad diet can heighten your chances of cancer.
Because of this, it’s fair to say that the Gracie Diet has some bizarre things involved – such as not frying cheese and certain other oddities. However, overall it’s also fair to say that the Gracie is a genuinely healthy diet.
Even the strictest critics of the system can’t deny that it avoids unhealthy foods and offers a good structure to stick by. With this said, the Gracie Diet isn’t some kind of scam or nonsense. Overall, if you follow it then you will probably get healthier which is what a good diet is about.
Remember, Carlos Gracie lived to 92 years old on this diet and Helio Gracie lived to 95 (who was a vegetarian) so perhaps their diets played a part in their old age?
Regarding BJJ practitioners, it also makes sense to follow this diet – especially when competing. The point is that you’re putting good foods into your body that act as fuel. This fuel will help keep you energized rather than lethargic which is key when rolling. Of course, it has similarities with other diets such as the paleo diet but this isn’t a bad thing either!
If you’re interested in the Gracie Diet, then check out the book that was written by Rorion Gracie, the son of Helio.
