Japanese diet. Is it really that good and who is it contraindicated for? - Let’s get ready for summer before it’s too late
The main advantages of the Japanese diet for residents of our country are its relative availability and duration. The absence of complex and expensive ingredients, just two weeks of restrictions - and now you are showing off in jeans that have never been buttoned before. But in order to become a beautiful geisha, you must strictly follow the menu.
Briefly about the main thing
The duration of the diet is 14 days. This is a low-calorie protein menu; you can practice this diet no more than 2 times a year. The average result from the Japanese diet is 5–8 kg in 2 weeks. This menu is not suitable for pregnant women, nursing mothers, those with gastritis and ulcers, as well as people with liver disease, kidney disease and cardiac disorders. Before starting a diet, you should consult your doctor.
Original or speculation?
There will be no exotics - all foods allowed on the Japanese diet have long been familiar to us. This is a definite plus, because the risk of allergies is minimized, and the necessary ingredients for cooking can be purchased at any supermarket.
It is not known exactly why this diet is called Japanese. According to some sources, it was invented in a Tokyo clinic, according to others, the name was inspired by the simplicity and clear diet plan, following which gives the expected inspiring result (quite the Japanese way: follow the rules, try your best and you will be rewarded).
The Japanese diet is popular all over the world; it is distinguished by moderation in the composition and caloric content of permitted foods, which also makes it similar to the traditional Far Eastern diet. Japanese nutritionist Naomi Moriyama is confident that the youth and longevity of her compatriots allow them to maintain a relatively small amount of carbohydrates in the daily menu and small portion sizes.
Moriyama estimates that Japanese people consume on average 25% fewer calories than people in any other country. In Japan, for example, it is not customary to eat potato chips, chocolate, or confectionery pastries, and the Japanese only learned about butter at the beginning of the twentieth century from Europeans and are still suspicious of it. That is, choosing healthy foods in moderation is a national feature of Japanese culture. And the Japanese diet for 14 days fully complies with this requirement, despite the formal differences with the usual diet of ordinary residents of the Pacific state.
"Samurai" rules of the Japanese diet
The main satiating substance in the diet is protein, obtained from chicken eggs, chicken, beef, fish and dairy products. Carbohydrates are present in crackers and some of the permitted vegetables, fats are in olive oil, which can be used for cooking and salad dressing, as well as in meat and fish.
Fiber is found in abundance in vegetables and fruits, the amount of which is not even regulated on some days of the diet, so the stomach will most likely do its job well. Coffee and green tea not only help you perk up, but also contain healthy antioxidants (therefore, it is important to choose high quality tea and coffee, always natural, without flavorings or additives).
However, such a diet still cannot be called balanced, and following it for more than two weeks is dangerous for health. But even during these 14 days, your body may respond poorly to reducing the amount of carbohydrates in the menu: in this case, you will feel body aches, weakness, and headache. Then you need to gradually abandon the strict menu and consult a doctor.
Drinking regime on the Japanese diet is especially important. Drink plenty of clean, still water at room temperature to not only help your stomach feel full, but also to ensure that animal protein waste products are eliminated.
The main condition for the success of the Japanese diet is strict adherence to its plan. You cannot confuse the days and replace some products with others, even similar ones, at will. The only exception may be morning coffee - it can be replaced with a cup of green tea without sugar. It is advisable to avoid salt for the entire duration of the diet, but if this prohibition is critical for your taste buds, then add minimal salt to your food.
A small number of meals per day (only three instead of a healthier 5-6) and a lack of snacks can also be difficult on the Japanese diet, so be prepared for this. Have dinner at least a couple of hours before bed, and start the morning with a glass of water on an empty stomach - this is good for metabolism and allows you to better tolerate the absence of breakfast.
Since the Japanese diet is strict, it is extremely undesirable to enter it in a hurry. If you decide to lose weight on such a menu, prepare yourself psychologically and prepare your body by at least a few days before starting the diet by giving up sweets and fast food and reducing your usual portion size.
Shopping list for the Japanese diet for 14 days
- Coffee beans or ground - 1 pack
- Green tea of your favorite variety (without additives or flavorings) - 1 pack
- Fresh chicken eggs - 2 dozen
- Sea fish fillet – 2 kg
- Lean beef, fillet – 1 kg
- Chicken fillet – 1 kg
- Extra virgin olive oil – 500 ml
- White cabbage - 2 medium sized forks
- Fresh carrots – 2–3 kg
- Zucchini, eggplant - 1 kg in total
- Fruits (except bananas and grapes) - 1 kg in total
- Tomato juice - 1 l
- Kefir - 1 l
- Lemons - 2 pcs.
Menu for the hardy
The composition of the Japanese diet is often compared to the "chemical diet, " an eating plan invented by American doctor Osama Hamdiy to treat obesity in diabetics. Like the Hamdia diet, the Japanese diet uses the effect of a sharp reduction in carbohydrate nutrition while increasing the amount of protein. As a result, the chemistry of the body's metabolic processes is rearranged, accumulated fat is burned quickly, and new ones are prevented from forming by strengthened muscles.
On the Japanese diet, no changes in schedule or diet are allowed. If you want to get results, you must strictly follow the diet schedule.
First day
Breakfast: coffee without sugar and milk.
Lunch: 2 boiled eggs, boiled cabbage with vegetable oil and a glass of tomato juice.
Dinner: 200 g of boiled or fried fish.
Second day
Breakfast: a piece of rye bread and coffee without sugar.
Lunch: 200 g of boiled or fried fish with boiled cabbage and vegetable oil.
Dinner: 100 g of boiled beef and a glass of kefir.
The third day
Breakfast: a piece of rye bread, toasted in a toaster, or unleavened biscuits without additives, coffee without sugar.
Lunch: zucchini or eggplant, fried in vegetable oil, in any quantity.
Dinner: 200 g of unsalted boiled beef, raw cabbage in vegetable oil and 2 boiled eggs.
Fourth day
Breakfast: a small fresh carrot with the juice of one lemon.
Lunch: 200 g of boiled or fried fish and a glass of tomato juice.
Dinner: 200 g of any fruit.
Fifth day
Breakfast: a small fresh carrot with the juice of one lemon.
Lunch: boiled fish and a glass of tomato juice.
Dinner: 200 g of any fruit.
Sixth day
Breakfast: coffee without sugar.
Lunch: unsalted boiled chicken (500 g) with fresh cabbage and carrot salad in vegetable oil.
Dinner: small fresh carrots and 2 boiled eggs.
Seventh day
Breakfast: green tea.
Lunch: 200 g unsalted boiled beef.
Dinner: 200 g of fruit or 200 g of boiled or fried fish, or 2 eggs with fresh carrots in vegetable oil, or boiled beef and 1 glass of kefir.
Eighth day
Breakfast: coffee without sugar.
Lunch: 500 g of boiled chicken without salt and carrot and cabbage salad in vegetable oil.
Dinner: fresh small carrots with vegetable oil and 2 boiled eggs.
Ninth day
Breakfast: medium carrot with lemon juice.
Lunch: 200 g of boiled or fried fish and a glass of tomato juice.
Dinner: 200 g of any fruit.
Tenth day
Breakfast: coffee without sugar.
Lunch: 50 g of cheese, 3 small carrots in vegetable oil and 1 boiled egg.
Dinner: 200 g of any fruit.
Eleventh day
Breakfast: coffee without sugar and a slice of rye bread.
Lunch: zucchini or eggplant, fried in vegetable oil, in any quantity.
Dinner: 200 g of boiled beef without salt, 2 boiled eggs and fresh cabbage in vegetable oil.
Twelfth day
Breakfast: coffee without sugar and a slice of rye bread.
Lunch: 200 g of boiled or fried fish with fresh cabbage in vegetable oil.
Dinner: 100 g of boiled unsalted beef and a glass of kefir.
Thirteenth day
Breakfast: coffee without sugar.
Lunch: 2 boiled eggs, boiled cabbage in vegetable oil and a glass of tomato juice.
Dinner: 200 g of boiled or fried fish in vegetable oil.
Fourteenth day
Breakfast: coffee without sugar.
Lunch: boiled or fried fish (200 g), fresh cabbage with olive oil.
Dinner: 200 g of boiled beef, a glass of kefir.
There is an opinion that such a diet is one of the most long-lasting and the results obtained with it can last up to three years. But, of course, the dream will remain unattainable if after the end of the restrictions you start overeating.
Fast does not mean high quality
It should be noted that among experts there is also an opinion that diets that have a name most often do not work or are even harmful. Endocrinologist and nutritionist Irina Tatarnikova says that weight loss should be gradual, and drastic hypocaloric nutrition itself leads to breakdowns and can even cause depression. The fact is that a person begins to scold himself for weakness, but in fact his diet was simply unbalanced.
—Here they use diets with extremely low calories and fasting, for which a person is not ready. Therefore, extreme methods are effective only at the initial stage, but then there will be a breakdown - and the weight will return with interest, says the expert.
The nutritionist also clarifies that for most people, long pauses between main meals, such as skipping breakfast, will lead to overeating at dinner.
- Don’t try to lose weight - you should completely forget this phrase, because trying comes from the word "torture", and losing weight comes from the word "bad". By saying this, we are not setting ourselves up for positive weight loss, " the nutritionist concludes. Irina advises us to think that by limiting ourselves without fanaticism, we first of all make ourselves healthier. Especially for the editors, she named 10 popular habits that prevent you from losing weight.