The ‘Wine & Egg Diet’ is here and mums are obsessed!

It’s the diet sweeping social media, where you drink nothing but wine - even at breakfast! - as well as eggs, coffee and a bit of steak every single day. 

How outrageous is that?!

First published in Vogue in 1977 and written by future Cosmopolitan boss Helen Gurley Brown, a snapshot of the diet has been circulating on Instagram and Facebook in recent weeks with people scratching their heads asking ‘Did women really used to follow this diet?’ 

It’s a fair question given the diet’s, er, questionable daily intake of white wine. The diet - which is meant to be used over just three days and promised 2.5kg weight loss - is as follows:

Breakfast: 1 hard-boiled egg; 1 glass of wine (dry, preferably Chablis) and black coffee.

Lunch: 2 hard-boiled eggs; 2 glasses of wine (dry, preferably Chablis) and black coffee.

Dinner: 150g grilled steak with black pepper and lemon; black coffee and the remainder of the bottle of win (one bottle of wine allowed per day.’

But while some women are rejoicing at the idea of being able to drink wine at all hours of the day, most people are calling it irresponsible and dangerous. 

However, one woman decided to see if it worked. Diane McMartin from TheKitchn.com decided to test out the Wine & Egg Diet and her results will definitely shock you. While she lost 3.2kg in a few days on the diet, it was her mental well-being which suffered most, much to her surprise. 

‘I wasn't surprised by how hungry or spaced-out I was on this bizarre diet,’ she wrote. ‘But what I didn't expect was how it would affect me emotionally. The sadness I felt at night was something else. I appreciate how damn lucky I am not to go to bed hungry in a whole new way now.

‘I think when people read about this diet it seems like kind of a glam '70s lounge-around-in-a-caftan-and-day-drink kind of thing, or like it would feel decadent to drink at every meal and it might distract you from how little you're eating.

‘It does not feel that way. It feels terrible.

‘In conclusion, food is awesome, fad diets are awful for your emotional as well as physical health, and you should absolutely not do them and you should ESPECIALLY not drink on a near-empty stomach.

‘However, Chablis and hard-boiled (or scrambled) eggs is a pretty rad combo. Was discovering that worth three days of suffering? Probably not, but progress works in mysterious ways, my friends. Anyway, please, PLEASE do not do this diet.’

Head over to Diane’s fascinating piece  for more!