Are you looking to lose weight, boost your energy, and feel better in just 9 days? The C9 Diet Plan:—previously known as the Clean 9—is a popular detox program designed to help people shed pounds quickly. But while many are drawn to its promise of rapid weight loss, it’s essential to understand whether it’s truly the right approach for you, especially when it comes to long-term health.
As a professional dietitian, I specialize in creating personalized health plans tailored to your specific needs. Whether you’re aiming for weight loss, weight gain, managing PCOS, or addressing other health concerns, I can help you navigate through various health options with scientifically-backed, sustainable solutions.
In this article, I’ll review the C9 Diet Plan, its benefits and limitations, and why professional guidance is crucial for achieving lasting health improvements. I will also explain how my services can support you on your journey to better health.
What is the Forever Living C9 Diet?
The Forever Living C9 Diet is a 9-day detox program designed for quick weight loss. It involves a combination of meal replacement drinks, supplements, and a structured eating plan. The goal is to cleanse the body, promote fat loss, and give you an energy boost. However, while some individuals may see immediate results, the long-term sustainability of this diet is questionable.
The C9 Diet is part of the Forever F.I.T. Programme, which also includes the F15 Weight Management Plan and V5 Sports Performance Plan. The idea is to kickstart weight loss with C9 and then continue with the other phases. However, as a dietitian, I know that quick fixes like this rarely result in lasting results. That’s why I advocate for a personalized approach to health that promotes gradual, sustainable changes.
How the C9 Diet Works:
To follow the C9 Diet, participants must purchase a special Forever C9 pack, which includes:
- Forever Aloe Vera Gel (two 1-liter bottles)
- Forever Lite Ultra with Aminotein (meal replacement drink powder)
- Forever Therm (herbal supplement)
- Forever Garcinia Plus (weight loss supplement)
- Forever Fiber (fiber supplement)
- Shaker bottle, tape measure, and an informational booklet with an exercise plan
The diet is broken into three parts:
- Days 1–2: Focus on cleansing and detoxifying the body with aloe vera, Garcinia, and fiber supplements. Light exercise is encouraged.
- Days 3–8: The focus shifts to weight loss, including a 600-calorie dinner (and 200 extra calories for men) along with meal replacement shakes.
- Day 9: Transition to a lower-calorie meal plan while continuing the use of the supplements.
Pros and Cons of the C9 Diet Plan
Pros:
- Quick Results: You may experience rapid weight loss and increased energy levels, which can be motivating for some.
- Structured Plan: The diet provides a clear structure, making it easier for those who prefer a step-by-step approach.
- Encourages Physical Activity: The program includes exercise recommendations to support overall health and weight loss.
Cons:
- Restrictive: The diet is very low-calorie, which may lead to nutrient deficiencies if followed for longer periods.
- Short-Term Results: Most of the weight lost is water weight or glycogen (stored carbs), which can quickly return once the diet is stopped.
- Lack of Education: The C9 Diet doesn’t teach long-term, sustainable eating habits or nutritional knowledge.
- Expensive Supplements: The cost of purchasing the diet pack and ongoing supplements can add up.
Why Choose a Personalized Health Plan Over the C9 Diet?
While the C9 Diet Plan may work for some in the short term, it doesn’t address the root causes of weight gain, poor digestion, or other health concerns. As a dietitian, I provide personalized solutions that go beyond quick fixes. Here’s how I can help:
- Sustainable Weight Loss: Through a balanced approach that focuses on whole, nutritious foods, I help my clients achieve healthy weight loss over time without restrictive diets.
- PCOS Management: If you have PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome), I create a tailored nutrition plan to help manage symptoms like insulin resistance, hormonal imbalances, and weight issues.
- Weight Gain: For those looking to gain weight in a healthy way, I design meal plans that focus on nutrient-dense foods to build muscle and support overall health.
- Other Health Concerns: Whether you’re dealing with fatigue, digestive issues, or other chronic health conditions, I offer expert guidance to address your specific needs and create a well-rounded plan for your health.
The Benefits of Working with a Professional Dietitian
As a registered dietitian, I focus on providing science-based solutions that are tailored to your lifestyle, preferences, and health goals. Here’s what you get when you work with me:
- Personalized Nutrition Plans: Each plan is customized based on your specific goals and health conditions.
- Ongoing Support: I’m here to guide you every step of the way with continuous support and adjustments to your plan.
- Sustainable Results: My focus is on teaching you the skills and knowledge you need to maintain a healthy lifestyle long-term.
The Importance of Sustainable Changes for Long-Term Health
Instead of focusing on restrictive programs like the Forever Living C9 Diet, it’s crucial to develop a long-term health strategy. Sustainable habits such as balanced eating, regular physical activity, and proper sleep are the pillars of lasting health.
While detoxes and extreme calorie restriction may give you short-term results, they often lead to rebound weight gain or frustration. Education and empowerment through the support of a trained dietitian are the keys to long-term health success.
Is the diet effective for weight loss?
Like all commercial diet programs, the Forever Living C9 diet has many anecdotal reports of both success and failure.
Currently, there’s no research to support the effectiveness or safety of the Forever Living C9 diet.
Still, while the diet hasn’t been formally studied, the plan is very low in calories and encourages daily physical activity, so it’s likely that you will initially lose weight simply by creating a calorie deficit (23Trusted Source, 24Trusted Source, 25Trusted Source).
However, some of the weight lost is likely to be due to a loss of water weight and stored carbs rather than a loss of body fat.
Unless you make long-term changes to your diet, you will likely regain any weight you’ve lost as soon as you return to eating a more typical diet (26Trusted Source, 27Trusted Source).
Also, because the diet does not teach sustainable food skills — such as preparing healthy meals, meal planning, and reading nutrition labels — you’re more likely to return to your previous eating habits (28Trusted Source, 29Trusted Source).
As for the detox aspect of this diet, many people report an energy boost and say they feel better after a period of detoxing. However, this is most likely due to the elimination of alcohol and other unhealthy foods from your diet, rather than from any special “detox” effects.
Ultimately, if you want to make lasting changes in your weight, you’ll need to follow a more sustainable eating style that promotes a modest calorie deficit through regular physical activity and eating mostly whole, minimally processed foods.
Evidence behind the supplements
The Forever Living C9 diet includes three supplements that the company claims can help you detox and lose weight. Here is a closer look at each one.
Aloe vera gel
The main supplement in the Forever Living C9 diet is aloe vera gel.
Aloe vera gel is made up of the inner gel and pulp of the aloe leaf. The rind and outer leaf are removed during processing.
The inner part of the leaf is more than 96% water. The remaining part contains some soluble fiber and sugars (1Trusted Source).
It also contains small amounts of amino acids, enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and trace elements; some organic acids; and anthraquinone, a known laxative (1Trusted Source).
Aloe vera gel has been linked to potential benefits, such as improved digestion, when taken orally. It’s also thought to have antidiabetic, antibacterial, antioxidant, and anticancer properties (1Trusted Source, 2Trusted Source, 3Trusted Source).
However, there are very few quality studies in humans to confirm these benefits. Instead, most of the evidence to support these effects comes from anecdotal reports or animal studies (1Trusted Source, 2Trusted Source, 3Trusted Source).
In one older study of 136 people with obesity and untreated type 2 diabetes or prediabetes, those who took aloe vera capsules daily for 8 weeks lost 1% of their body fat, while the placebo group experienced no change (4Trusted Source).
While this may sound promising, the benefits of aloe vera supplements were minimal.
The study also had several limitations, including reliance on a 24-hour diet recall rather than a more extensive food journal, a lack of monitoring of physical activity, and the use of a bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) machine to measure body fat (4Trusted Source).
BIA devices use electrical currents to measure body composition. While they’re quick and easy to use, they’re not the most accurate method, and a person’s food and fluid intake can affect the measurements.
Overall, more research is needed to investigate the benefits of aloe vera supplements for weight loss in humans.
Garcinia Plus
Garcinia Plus capsules contain garcinia cambogia extract, a weight loss supplement that is produced from a fruit of the same name.
Garcinia cambogia contains high levels of hydroxycitric acid, which is its main active ingredient (5Trusted Source).
Some claim that garcinia cambogia supplements help you burn more fat when taken as part of a diet and exercise program and that they help keep hunger at bay by reducing your appetite. However, the research on the effectiveness of garcinia cambogia is limited.
One older review found that people who took garcinia cambogia lost 2 pounds (0.88 kg) more than those taking a placebo. However, there was no difference in weight loss when the researchers looked at only the high quality studies (6Trusted Source).
A more recent review also questioned the effectiveness of garcinia cambogia for promoting weight loss, suggesting that most research does not provide strong evidence to support taking this dietary supplement (7Trusted Source).
Other studies investigating these claims have found mixed results (8Trusted Source, 9Trusted Source, 10Trusted Source, 11).
The authors of a 2021 review expressed concerns over the safety of garcinia cambogia supplements.
They noted that many fat loss aids containing garcinia cambogia have had serious side effects, including pancreatitis and liver damage. Though more research is needed, the authors suggested avoiding long-term use of products containing garcinia cambogia (12Trusted Source).
Forever Therm
According to the company, the Forever Therm herbal supplement is designed to boost energy levels and increase your metabolism.
The main active ingredients in this supplement are raspberry ketones and green tea extract, both of which have been studied for their potential role in weight loss.
Drinking green tea and taking green tea extract supplements have been linked with modest weight loss, potentially as a result of a minor increase in metabolism and suppression of hunger (13Trusted Source, 14Trusted Source, 15Trusted Source, 16Trusted Source).
However, green tea’s effect on fat burning is thought to be minor and may not apply to all people, especially those who regularly drink beverages with caffeine.
Raspberry ketones are natural compounds found in red raspberries that have been investigated as a weight loss agent.
To date, nearly all the studies on raspberry ketones have been carried out in animals or in test tubes.
In some of these studies, raspberry ketones have been linked with fat burning and weight loss, but only at very high doses. Other studies have found that raspberry ketones have no effect on weight loss beyond a calorie deficit (17Trusted Source, 18Trusted Source, 19Trusted Source, 20Trusted Source, 21Trusted Source).
Notably, weight loss occurred only with exceedingly high doses that would likely be unsafe for human consumption.
Only one clinical trial has investigated the effects of raspberry ketones in humans, and it found that they did lead to significant weight loss (22Trusted Source).
However, the supplement studied also contained other ingredients, such as caffeine, capsaicin, ginger, garlic, and bitter orange, so it’s unknown whether raspberry ketones played any role. Also, dietary supplement companies funded the study, and this may bias the results (22Trusted Source).
Ultimately, the ingredients found in Forever Therm have little scientific backing and are unlikely to promote meaningful weight loss.
How does the Forever Living C9 diet work?
To follow the diet, you’ll need to purchase a Forever C9 diet pack. The pack includes:
- two 1-liter (34-ounce) bottles of Forever Aloe Vera Gel.
- Forever Lite Ultra with Aminotein meal replacement drink powder (15 servings)
- Forever Therm herbal supplement (18 tablets)
- Forever Garcinia Plus herbal supplement (54 softgels)
- Forever Fiber (9 packets)
- shaker bottle
- tape measure
- information booklet, including an exercise plan
As explained in the information booklet, the Forever Living C9 diet is broken into three parts.
Part One: Days 1–2
- Breakfast: 2 Garcinia Plus softgels (then wait 30 minutes) and 1/2 cup (120 mL) of aloe vera gel with 1 cup (236 mL) of water
- Workout: Follow breakfast with 30 minutes of low intensity exercise (yoga, a light walk, etc.).
- Snack: 1 Forever Fiber stick with 1 cup (236 mL) of water
- Lunch: 2 Garcinia Plus softgels (then wait 30 minutes), 1/2 cup (120 mL) of aloe vera gel with 1 cup (236 mL) of water, 1 Forever Therm tablet, and 1 meal replacement drink made with 1 1/4 cups (285 mL) of skim milk
- Dinner: 2 Garcinia Plus softgels (then wait 30 minutes), 1/2 cup (120 mL) of aloe vera gel with 1 cup (236 mL) of water
- Evening: 1/2 cup (120 mL) of aloe vera gel with 1 cup (236 mL) of water
Part Two: Days 3–8
- Breakfast: 2 Garcinia Plus softgels (then wait 30 minutes), 1/2 cup (120 mL) of aloe vera gel with 1 cup (236 mL) of water, 1 Forever Therm tablet, and 1 meal replacement drink made with 1 1/4 cups (285 mL) of skim milk
- Snack: 1 Forever Fiber stick with 1 cup (236 mL) of water
- Lunch: 2 Garcinia Plus softgels, 1 Forever Therm tablet, and 1 meal replacement drink made with 1 1/4 cups (285 mL) of skim milk
- Workout: Follow lunch with 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise (e.g., running, swimming).
- Dinner: 2 Garcinia Plus softgels and a 600-calorie meal; men can have an additional 200 calories or an extra meal replacement shake
- Evening: at least 1 cup (236 mL) of water
If you prefer to have a larger meal at lunch, you can have your 600-calorie meal at lunch instead of dinner.
Part Three: Day 9
- Breakfast: 2 Garcinia Plus softgels (then wait 30 minutes), 1/2 cup (120 mL) of aloe vera gel with 1 cup (236 mL) of water, 1 Forever Therm tablet, and 1 meal replacement drink made with 1 1/4 cups (285 mL) of skim milk
- Snack: 1 Forever Fiber stick with 1 cup (236 mL) of water
- Lunch: 2 Garcinia Plus softgels, 1 Forever Therm tablet, and a low sugar 300-calorie meal (instead of the meal replacement shake)
- Workout: Follow lunch with 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise (e.g., running, swimming).
- Dinner: 2 Garcinia Plus softgels and a 600-calorie meal; men can have an additional 200 calories or an extra meal replacement shake
- Evening: at least of 1 cup (236 mL) of water
Additional guidelines
Throughout the 9 days, you’ll also need to abide by the following guidelines:
- Drink plenty of water.
- Avoid fizzy and carbonated drinks.
- Avoid using salt — use herbs and spices instead.
- Eat as many “free foods” (see next section) as you need to.
- Weigh yourself on days 1, 3, 6, and 9.
- Wait 30 minutes after taking the Garcinia Plus softgels before drinking the aloe vera gel.
How to Get Started with Your Health Journey
If you’re ready to take charge of your health, I’m here to help. Whether your goal is weight loss, weight gain, managing PCOS, or addressing other health concerns, my personalized plans can help you achieve your goals with a sustainable, healthy approach.
Visit my website at dietitianasmara.com to schedule your free consultation today. Let’s work together to create a customized health plan that fits your unique needs and supports your long-term wellness.
Frequently Asked Questions About C9 Diet Plan:
What is the C9 Diet Plan?
The C9 Diet Plan, formerly known as the Clean 9 Diet, is a 9-day detox program designed to help individuals lose weight quickly. It involves a combination of meal replacement shakes, supplements, and a structured eating plan to cleanse the body and promote fat loss. While it promises rapid results, it’s important to consider its long-term effectiveness and whether it aligns with your overall health goals.
Is the C9 Diet Plan safe?
The C9 Diet Plan may be safe for short-term use, but due to its restrictive nature, it’s not recommended for long-term use. It’s a very low-calorie diet, which can lead to nutrient deficiencies if followed beyond the recommended 9 days. Always consult with a healthcare provider or a registered dietitian before starting any diet plan, especially if you have underlying health conditions.
Will the C9 Diet help me lose weight?
The C9 Diet may lead to quick weight loss, but much of it is likely to be water weight and stored carbohydrates. For sustainable weight loss, it’s crucial to focus on a balanced, long-term eating plan, including exercise and proper nutrition. As a dietitian, I help clients achieve weight loss through healthier, more sustainable methods that yield lasting results.
How do I know if the C9 Diet is right for me?
While the C9 Diet might seem appealing for a quick cleanse or weight loss, it’s not suitable for everyone. If you have health conditions like diabetes, heart disease, or PCOS, a personalized health plan is a better choice. I specialize in creating tailored nutrition plans that address your unique needs and health conditions, ensuring safe and effective results.
What are the side effects of the C9 Diet?
The C9 Diet may cause side effects like fatigue, headaches, nausea, dizziness, and irritability due to its very low-calorie nature. Additionally, the supplements used in the diet, such as aloe vera gel, can cause digestive issues, and garcinia cambogia might lead to mild stomach discomfort. If you experience adverse effects, it’s important to stop the diet and consult a healthcare provider.
Can I follow the C9 Diet if I have PCOS?
If you have PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome), the C9 Diet may not be the best option for long-term management. PCOS requires a balanced approach to nutrition that addresses hormone regulation, blood sugar levels, and overall health. I offer personalized nutrition plans that help manage PCOS symptoms in a sustainable way. Always consult with a dietitian before starting any restrictive diet if you have PCOS.
How does the C9 Diet compare to other weight loss plans?
The C9 Diet is a short-term detox that focuses on rapid weight loss through calorie restriction and supplements. In comparison, more sustainable weight loss plans, such as those I offer, involve balanced meals, nutrient-rich foods, and gradual lifestyle changes. These plans help ensure you lose weight in a healthy and sustainable way, without relying on extreme calorie cuts or expensive supplements.
What should I expect after completing the C9 Diet?
After completing the C9 Diet, you may experience initial weight loss, increased energy, and a feeling of detoxification. However, without adopting a long-term healthy eating plan, you may regain the weight you lost. It’s crucial to transition to a sustainable lifestyle that includes healthy eating, regular exercise, and proper stress management for lasting results.
Can I do the C9 Diet more than once?
The C9 Diet is intended to be done only for 9 days. Repeating it too often can lead to nutrient imbalances and other health issues. If you’re looking to continue on your health journey, I recommend transitioning to a personalized nutrition plan that focuses on your long-term goals, whether it’s weight loss, muscle gain, or managing health conditions like PCOS.
How can I get started with a personalized nutrition plan?
To begin your health journey, simply contact me for a free consultation. I will assess your current health status, understand your goals, and create a personalized nutrition plan tailored to your needs. Whether you’re focused on weight loss, weight gain, or managing conditions like PCOS, I can provide you with the expert guidance and support you need to succeed.
Visit my website at dietitianasmara.com to schedule your consultation today!
Conclusion
In conclusion, while the C9 Diet Plan may offer quick weight loss, it is not a sustainable or long-term solution for health. Its restrictive nature and reliance on supplements can lead to temporary results at best. For lasting health and well-being, it’s crucial to adopt a personalized approach to nutrition, focusing on balanced meals, regular physical activity, and healthy lifestyle habits. By working with a professional dietitian, you can create a plan tailored to your specific needs, ensuring you achieve lasting weight management, better health, and overall wellness. Sustainable changes are the key to long-term success.