To look flawless and relaxed, many women of the fair sex decide to try fast weight loss diets. But are they as effective and safe as they are said to be? We collected 5 most popular diets for quick weight loss and consulted about their benefits and harms from well-known dietitians in Ukraine.
Kefir diet
Duration: from 3 to 7 days
Weight loss: from 0.3 to 1 kg per day
Description: the first 3 days a mono-diet: 1.5 liters of nonfat kefir to drink at regular intervals during the day, then you can add sweet fruits and vegetables to the diet, except bananas and grapes. Do not use sugar and salt.
Advantages: fast weight loss.
Disadvantages: Strong sense of hunger.
Alexander Voroshilov, doctor of the highest category, expert on nutrition and fasting: Kefir diet for fast weight loss. You can do it, but it is harmful if you feel hungry (and you will). Where there is hunger, there is an increase in acidity in the stomach. Next comes gastritis, then helicobacter pylori and ulcer. All in all, the diet is unfortunate. It is better to «get hooked» on raw vegetables and berries. The average caloric value is 25 kcal/100 g. Of these, celery and cranberries are in the lead. As many «herbs» are 4 kcal/100g.
Buckwheat diet
Duration: 1 week
Weight loss: up to 10 kg per week.
Description: mono-diet, consisting of eating steamed or boiled buckwheat and 1% kefir or water. Buckwheat is eaten without salt and spices, you can drink up to 1 liter of kefir or non-carbonated water (no restrictions) a day. You can also eat 1-2 nonfat yogurt or 1 apple a day. Advantages: fast weight loss, availability of the product
Disadvantages: lack of vitamins.
Svetlana Fus, gastroenterologist, dietitian, doctor at the Scientific and Technical Center «Viria»: I am, in principle, against diets. And especially against fast weight loss. Buckwheat can be a day of unloading — once a week. It is better to combine buckwheat with vegetables.
Japanese diet
Duration: 2 weeks
Weight loss: up to 8 kg in 14 days.
Description: The diet is based on a strict schedule of consumption of foods that increase metabolism. You can eat fish, meat, rice, seafood, soy, eggs, vegetables. No salt, sugar, alcohol, sweets can be consumed.
Advantages: fast weight loss, balanced diet.
Disadvantages: Continuation of the diet for more than 2 weeks is fraught with metabolic disorders.
Oksana Skitalinskaya, dietitian, vice-president of the Dietitian Association of Ukraine: The Japanese diet for fast weight loss is effective — it contains few calories, but they are healthy and not empty. However, breakfast is too poor — a cup of coffee is not a full breakfast — caffeine stimulates the brain, but does not give it energy in the form of nutrients, so the energy boost will be short-lived. If you supplement a cup of coffee with 1-2 tablespoons of low-fat cottage cheese, the result will be excellent. It is impossible to refuse from salt completely. Salt is needed in a small amount — 1 teaspoon without a hill per day. The Japanese diet may not suit people with reduced acidity of gastric juice, with low blood pressure. Given that the diet for fast weight loss is hypocaloric, it should be supplemented by taking multivitamins and physical activity.
Rice diet
Duration: 3 to 7 days
Weight loss: 0.5-0.8 kg per day.
Description: breakfast consists of 100 g of rice, low-fat yogurt or kefir with the addition of 1 tsp of honey. For lunch you can eat 100 g of rice along with 100 g of boiled fish or meat. Dinner should include 50 g of rice and a small amount of vegetables. Fatty and spicy food must not be consumed.
Advantages: fast weight loss.
Disadvantages: potassium is excreted along with harmful substances and fat.
Natalia Samoilenko, dietitian, endocrinologist, chief physician of the «Capital» medical center: I have a very negative attitude towards diets for quick weight loss. They do not solve weight problems, but only aggravate them. Hard, low-calorie diets for quick weight loss with a deficit of nutrients give a quick result, but then the weight necessarily returns. Therefore they are categorically not suitable for the long term. The rice diet is good in terms of balance, but it is not recommended to «sit» for a long time on rice alone, especially for people who have problems with intestinal motility. For the rice diet it is advisable to take brown rice and boil it in four waters.