Japanese diet. Is it really that good and to whom is it contraindicated? - 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 show off in jeans that have never been buttoned before. But 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 of the Japanese diet is 5–8 kg in 2 weeks. This menu is not suitable for pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, people with gastritis and ulcers, as well as people with liver, kidney and heart diseases. Before starting a diet, you should consult your doctor.
Original or speculation?
There will be no exotics: all the foods allowed in the Japanese diet have long been familiar to us. This is definitely an advantage, because the risk of allergies is reduced to a minimum and the necessary ingredients for cooking can be purchased in 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 simplicity and clear diet program, following which you get the expected stimulating result (very in the Japanese way: follow the rules, do your best and you will be rewarded).
The Japanese diet is popular around the world; it is distinguished by moderation in the composition and calorie content of the 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 allows them to maintain a relatively small amount of carbohydrates in the daily menu and small portions.
Moriyama estimates that the Japanese consume on average 25% fewer calories than any other country. In Japan, for example, it is not customary to eat chips, chocolate or sweets, and the Japanese learned about butter only at the beginning of the 20th century from Europeans and are still wary of it. That is, choosing healthy foods in moderation is a national characteristic of Japanese culture. And the Japanese diet for 14 days fully meets 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 allowed 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 fruits and vegetables, 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 recover, but also contain healthy antioxidants (it is therefore 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 experience muscle pain, weakness and headaches. Then it is necessary to gradually abandon the strict menu and consult a doctor.
The dietary regime in the Japanese diet is particularly important. Drink plenty of clean, still water at room temperature to not only help your stomach feel full, but also to ensure that waste products from animal proteins are eliminated.
The main condition for the success of the Japanese diet is strict compliance with 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 recommended to avoid salt for the entire duration of the diet, but if this prohibition is essential for your taste buds, add a minimal amount of salt to your food.
A limited number of meals per day (only three instead of the healthier 5-6) and lack of snacks can also be challenging on the Japanese diet, so be prepared for this. Have dinner at least a couple of hours before going to bed, and start the morning with a glass of water on an empty stomach: it's good for your metabolism and allows you to better tolerate the absence of breakfast.
Since the Japanese diet is strict, it is extremely undesirable to enter it hastily. If you decide to lose weight with a menu like this, prepare yourself psychologically and prepare your body at least a few days before starting the diet by giving up sweets and fast food and reducing your usual portions.
Japanese diet shopping list for 14 days
- Coffee beans or ground - 1 pack
- Green tea of your favorite variety (without additives or flavors) - 1 pack
- Fresh chicken eggs - 2 dozen
- Sea fish fillet – 2 kg
- Lean beef, fillet – 1 kg
- Chicken fillet – 1kg
- Extra virgin olive oil – 500 ml
- White cabbage - 2 medium sized forks
- Fresh carrots – 2–3 kg
- Courgettes, aubergines - 1 kg in total
- Fruit (except bananas and grapes) - 1 kg in total
- Tomato juice - 1 l
- Kefir - 1 l
- Lemons - 2 pieces
Menu for the most resistant
The composition of the Japanese diet is often compared to the "chemical diet", a food plan invented by the American doctor Osama Hamdiy to treat obesity in diabetics. Like the Hamdia diet, the Japanese diet exploits the effect of a strong reduction in carbohydrate intake while increasing the amount of protein. As a result, the chemistry of the body's metabolic processes is reorganized, accumulated fat is quickly burned and the formation of new ones is prevented due to the strengthening of muscles.
In the Japanese diet, no changes in the program or diet are allowed. If you want to get results, you need to strictly follow the diet plan.
The first day
Breakfast: coffee without sugar and milk.
Lunch: 2 hard-boiled eggs, cabbage boiled in 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 the toaster, or unleavened biscuits without additives, coffee without sugar.
Lunch: courgettes or aubergines fried in vegetable oil, in any quantity.
Dinner: 200 g of unsalted boiled beef, raw cabbage in vegetable oil and 2 hard-boiled eggs.
Fourth day
Breakfast: a small fresh carrot with the juice of a 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 a lemon.
Lunch: boiled fish and a glass of tomato juice.
Dinner: 200 g of any fruit.
Sixth day
Breakfast: coffee without sugar.
Lunch: boiled unsalted chicken (500 g) with salad of fresh cabbage and carrots in vegetable oil.
Dinner: small fresh carrots and 2 hard-boiled eggs.
Seventh day
Breakfast: green tea.
Lunch: 200 g of 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 salad of carrots and cabbage in vegetable oil.
Dinner: fresh baby carrots with vegetable oil and 2 hard-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 hard-boiled egg.
Dinner: 200 g of any fruit.
Eleventh day
Breakfast: sugar-free coffee and a slice of rye bread.
Lunch: courgettes or aubergines fried in vegetable oil, in any quantity.
Dinner: 200 g of boiled beef without salt, 2 hard-boiled eggs and fresh cabbage in vegetable oil.
Twelfth day
Breakfast: sugar-free coffee and a slice of rye bread.
Lunch: 200 g of boiled or fried fish with fresh cabbage in vegetable oil.
Dinner: 100 g of unsalted boiled beef and a glass of kefir.
Thirteenth day
Breakfast: coffee without sugar.
Lunch: 2 hard-boiled eggs, cabbage boiled in vegetable oil and a glass of tomato juice.
Dinner: 200 g of fish boiled or fried 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.
It is believed that this diet is one of the most long-lasting and that 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 to overeat.
Fast does not mean high quality
It should be noted that among experts there is also an opinion that diets that have a name very often do not work or are even harmful. Endocrinologist and nutritionist Irina Tatarnikova says that weight loss should be gradual, and that the drastic low-calorie diet itself leads to breakdowns and can even cause depression. The fact is that a person begins to reproach himself for weakness, but in reality his diet was simply unbalanced.
—Here they use very low-calorie diets and fasting, for which a person is not ready. Therefore, extreme methods are effective only at the initial stage, but then a breakdown will occur and the weight will return with interest, says the expert.
The nutritionist also clarifies that for most people, long breaks between main meals, such as skipping breakfast, will lead to overeating at dinner.
- Do not 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 preparing for positive weight loss", concludes the nutritionist. Irina advises us to think that by limiting ourselves without fanaticism, first of all we make ourselves healthier. Especially for editors, she named 10 popular habits that prevent you from lose weight.