When to eat. Foods to eat at the right time

Did you know that some foods lose their valuable properties if eaten at the wrong time? When is the best time to eat apples, cottage cheese, cheese, dried fruits, sweets and much more, read the review.

And now it seems to you that you already know everything about a healthy diet. You give out advice on proper weight loss and are a family consultant on healthy eating for your home. Or, on the contrary, you begin to think that you will never remember all the rules and principles that are so necessary for you for a new life with only healthy eating habits.

Understanding all the intricacies of proper nutrition is indeed quite difficult, but it is possible. For example, did you know that some healthy foods may not be healthy at all under certain conditions? We have compiled for you a list of 10 foods that you need to eat at certain times so that they benefit your body.

Right. It is best to eat apples in the morning or as a snack between meals. Apples contain pectins, which improve the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract and prevent constipation.


Wrong. If an apple eaten in the morning will benefit you, then in the evening it is better to abstain from this healthy fruit. The same pectins can cause increased acidity in the stomach and discomfort, as well as awaken a feeling of hunger.

Right. Cottage cheese is perfect for breakfast and lunch. It improves the functioning of the digestive system and is perfectly absorbed by the body without burdening the stomach.

Wrong. But you shouldn’t eat it for dinner. Don't create unnecessary discomfort for yourself before bed. By the way, dairy products tend to provoke inflammation and exacerbation of chronic diseases during sleep.

3. Sweets


Right. Of course, sweets are not healthy foods, but sometimes you can treat yourself. By the way, sometimes it’s in the morning. At this time of day, insulin in the blood is already high, so sweets will not lead to a sharp jump in it.

Wrong. At any other time, it is better to abstain from sweets. It's not that difficult. And useful. After all, even relatively harmless sweets, such as marshmallows, marshmallows and marmalade, do not have the most favorable effect on your figure, immunity and well-being.

Right. Everyone knows that carbohydrates guarantee vigor and energy for a long time. If you lead an active lifestyle, then eat rice for lunch. And go on numerous errands.

Wrong. Many people believe that rice is an ideal dietary product. But it is very high in calories. Therefore, if you want rice for dinner, cook wild rice instead of white.

Right. Bananas are simply irreplaceable if you play sports. This is both an excellent source of energy before a workout and a great way to close the “carbohydrate window” after exercise. They also promote the production of endorphins, uplifting your mood and calming the nervous system. But it is still better to eat bananas in the first half of the day.

Wrong. Bananas at night are not a good idea. Firstly, they have the same property as dairy products, provoking inflammation. Secondly, they are still quite high in calories, and you need to know when to stop.

Right. Meat is a valuable source of animal protein. Regular use of this product increases endurance, improves brain function, and stimulates the body's defenses. Choose meat for lunch.

Wrong. Meat is not suitable for dinner. It is not so easily digested that you can afford to eat this product at night. Opt for fish, vegetables or seafood.

7. Legumes

Right. Legumes are best eaten for dinner. They normalize the functioning of the digestive system, reduce cholesterol levels in the blood and improve sleep. So you can't imagine better food for the evening.

Wrong. But in the first half of the day it is better to refrain from consuming this product. Legumes can cause flatulence, and after them you don’t feel full for a long time.

8. Walnuts

Right. With walnuts everything is very simple. Eat them at night. The main thing here is not to overdo it, because nuts are quite high in calories. The thing is that they contain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, and they are best absorbed at rest.

Wrong. Basically, you can eat walnuts anytime and use them as a snack. But the maximum benefit from this product can be obtained only in the afternoon.

Right. Breakfast should definitely include a couple of slices of cheese. It's tasty, nutritious and healthy. Cheese contains a lot of vitamins and minerals, and it also provides great energy.

Wrong. In the afternoon, we advise you to refrain from cheese. Firstly, this is a dairy product, and we have already described the dangers of this above. Secondly, cheese is high in calories, and consuming it later can lead to excess weight gain.

10. Figs and dried apricots

Right. Of course, figs and dried apricots are ideal for morning meals. They speed up your metabolism, thereby improving the functioning of your digestive system, and force your body to wake up and get ready for a productive day.

Wrong. It is better not to eat figs and dried apricots at night. Their miraculous effect is so strong that your increased metabolism at rest will cause bloating and stomach discomfort.

Hello, my dear losers! In one of my videos, I talked about where to start losing weight! Today I want to help you understand nutrition and explain what foods you should eat at what time to lose weight.

A little information - a balanced, rational diet implies the content of such vital elements as proteins, fats and carbohydrates in the diet. The absence or insufficient consumption of at least one of these essential components will not lead you to the desired results in losing weight and will cause enormous damage to your overall health. I will talk about the role of proteins, fats and carbohydrates in our lives in one of the following videos. If you want to see the video first, then subscribe to my channel.

So, now let's talk about what breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks should look like for a healthy person who wants to lose weight or simply maintain their weight at a normal level.

Let's start with breakfast. Breakfast should be hearty and keep you feeling full for a long time. I recommend eating carbohydrate foods for breakfast (not to be confused with all kinds of buns and sweets). We need complex carbohydrates - they are the ones that will give us energy for the whole day. Therefore, in the morning we eat cereals - all kinds of cereals, whole grain bread, durum wheat pasta, legumes, fruits and vegetables. Also, food rich in protein is ideal for breakfast - this can be any egg dish, cheese, natural yogurt, cottage cheese, a piece of boiled or stewed chicken breast, turkey or fish without oil.

If you have intense mental work that requires concentration, then give preference to a breakfast containing the largest amount of complex carbohydrates. If you are planning physical activity, then you really need foods containing the largest amount of protein!

Now let's talk about snacks between main meals - why do we still need them so much? Well, first of all, snacking prevents us from raiding the refrigerator in a hungry convulsion. That is, by eating between breakfast and lunch, for example, a fruit or vegetable salad or drinking fermented baked milk, we will not have time to become brutally hungry and, accordingly, we prevent the so-called “breakdowns” and clearly control everything that we put into our mouth.

Of course, these are fruits and vegetables, as well as berries, dairy products, cereals, such as rye bread and nuts. Don’t forget that nuts are very high in calories and you shouldn’t indulge in them in enormous quantities.

Now let's move on to lunch. Those who want to lose weight should dine mainly on protein foods with a small amount of complex carbohydrates, plus, of course, fresh vegetables rich in fiber and greens, which are rich in a huge amount of minerals and vitamins.

Lunch can consist of poultry, fish, seafood, meat. Suitable garnishes include unpolished rice, durum wheat pasta, buckwheat, lentils, beans and chickpeas. We steam, stew, boil and bake food without adding oil or chemical seasonings. Any non-starchy vegetables are suitable for the salad. Pay attention to all types of cabbage - it is rich in vitamins and fiber, which cleanses our body of waste and toxins and improves digestion. Don’t skimp on greens, but add more, where you can and where you can’t.

Second snack It is better to give preference to foods high in protein - this could be cottage cheese, fermented baked milk, kefir, hard cheese and other fermented milk products. Do not choose yoghurts and curds with various additives, as they contain a high sugar content and an abundance of dyes and flavors. There will be much more benefits from low-fat and unsweetened dairy products.

Again, don't forget about vegetables and fruits. Fruits are not prohibited for a second snack, but only if they are not sweet types. I recommend paying attention to grapefruit.

For dinner we forget about any carbohydrates and load up on protein, vegetables and greens.

For dinner, boiled, steamed or baked chicken breast, dry fish fillets, such as cod, pike perch, bream, hake, halibut and blue whiting, are perfect. As a side dish, it is best to choose baked and fresh vegetables.

If you feel hungry after dinner, then don’t worry and eat a light protein product, such as egg whites, cottage cheese, low-fat cheese or one percent kefir - don’t worry - it won’t cause any harm to your figure!

Tune in to win, control yourself and be sure to do everything with pleasure!

You just think that achieving a flat tummy and thin waist is almost impossible. In fact, everything is much easier than you think - you just need to take the first step!

If you have any questions or want to contact me for an individual development of a nutrition and training program, I will be happy to help you with this!

You can leave your reviews, requests and wishes in the comments right under the article - I will definitely answer!

I love everyone, kisses! See you soon!

A proper diet is not only a necessary component of a healthy lifestyle, but also an excellent, trouble-free way to lose weight, restore your health and improve the quality of your life.

First, you need to get used to the idea that you always need to eat at the same hours so that the body prepares for the process of eating and digesting food. When you get used to this thought, start doing it.

“Liquid food should be chewed, solid food should be drunk.” Digestion begins in our mouth, and experts recommend chewing food thoroughly (32 times), because then the substance lysozyme is produced in saliva - the first defense against bacteria entering our body.

This rule always works in any case, whether you want to lose weight, gain weight or just be healthy: breakfast must be protein-vitamin! That is, in the morning you should give your body protein and complex carbohydrates. The body will receive energy from carbohydrates, proteins will provide building material for muscle cells and organs. And together these components will give you satiety.

  • Two-egg omelette, green salad and cereal breads, a cup of herbal tea, a small piece of fruit.
  • Porridge (buckwheat or rice no more than two to three times a week, pearl barley, corn) along with skim milk or yogurt, green tea without sugar.
  • Boiled sea fish, 100 g low-fat cottage cheese, tea without sugar, apple.
  • Durum wheat pasta, stewed mushrooms, green tea.
  • 100 g of boiled fish or steamed meat, rye bread, 100 g of low-fat cottage cheese or yogurt, whipped with berries.
  • Chicken breast sprinkled with Parmesan cheese with green beans, tea with lemon, small fruit.

In 2-3 hours for second breakfast you need to give your body fiber: eat a fruit that contains a lot of fiber (pears, raspberries, avocados, kiwi, apples, figs, strawberries and strawberries) and drink kefir or yogurt.

For lunch eat foods with complex carbohydrates: whole grain porridge, durum wheat pasta, of course, protein and a portion of salad, naturally not dressed with mayonnaise. If you are used to eating soups for lunch, then you need to give up the side dish, just eat fish or meat.

As one of the options for a healthy eating regimen, you can eat

  • a portion of stewed vegetables and brown rice, a small piece of fruit and a glass of mint tea;
  • 250 g of baked or boiled fish, assorted vegetables with asparagus;
  • 200 g chicken breast, stewed zucchini, vegetable salad;
  • boiled lentils with onions, salad with cucumbers and low-fat yogurt;
  • stewed mushrooms with dill, cucumber, radish and asparagus salad.

For afternoon tea you can eat sweets. But don’t think that you’ll finally get your hands on cakes, pastries and sweets. It could be

  • 250 grams of fruit
  • Glass of black currant
  • Kiwi, apple
  • Dried fruits and yogurt

For dinner Eat protein foods and foods containing fiber:

Combine chicken without fat, fish, lean meat with a salad of fresh vegetables. As a last resort, stewed cabbage, you can also drink a glass of kefir and eat 100 g of low-fat cottage cheese.

  • vegetable stew, chicken breast, green salad with radishes;
  • lentils with onions, stewed vegetables, two apples;
  • boiled meat with lettuce, vegetable puree soup;
  • boiled chicken, green salad, one apple.

As you can see, maintaining a healthy diet is not at all difficult, the main thing is to set yourself up for, perhaps for someone, new dishes and products, turn on willpower and act.

Bon appetit and stay healthy!

Dear readers! The opinion of each of you is valuable to me. This gives me strength and confidence that everything I share with you benefits you, so I will be immensely grateful if you write a couple of lines in the comments to this article and share it with your friends and family by clicking on the social buttons. networks.

If you want to return to this article again, add it to your bookmarks.

Always yours, Olga Suvorova.

Still others eat heavily, but rarely. But which mode is correct?

How many times a day should you eat to stay healthy and lose weight? To find the right answers to these questions, you should create a nutrition plan, calculate how many calories your body needs, and study possible mistakes when losing weight.

How many times a day should you eat

Almost all nutritionists agree that to lose weight you need to eat 5-6 times a day. At the same time, the usual three-times-a-day regimen is considered by experts to be erroneous.

To determine the required number of meals, a person should be guided by some facts:

  • For the average person with moderate activity and not burdened with extra pounds, the frequency of meals does not matter. Such people can either eat once a day or divide the diet into 7-8 meals. The main thing is that the total calorie content of food consumed does not exceed the permissible value.
  • It has been proven that to maintain normal cholesterol levels and avoid surges in blood pressure and glucose, it is better to increase the number of meals while reducing the portion size.
  • People with increased physical activity should not resort to three meals a day. For them, 5-6 meals a day are optimal. With the help of such nutrition, protein is better absorbed, and accordingly, faster growth of muscle mass is observed.

Doctors also say that the intensity of weight loss is influenced by the timing of meals. According to nutritionists, food taken in the morning is almost completely burned by the body, while “evening” calories are immediately converted into fat.

Proper nutrition regimen

Any person, regardless of whether they are overweight, is recommended to follow a certain diet. Food should enter the body at intervals of at least 3–4 hours.


Otherwise, indigestion may begin, which will ultimately lead to serious problems.

It is also important to monitor the amount of fluid entering the body. To maintain normal water balance, a person needs to drink at least 40 ml of clean water per 1 kg of weight.

Snacks are an important part of proper nutrition:

  • Before lunch, it is better to satisfy your hunger with berries or fruits.
  • In the afternoon you are allowed to have a smoothie or a light salad.
  • After dinner, a glass of fermented milk drink or a small portion of cottage cheese will help muffle the feeling of hunger.

Is it possible to lose weight by giving up three meals a day?

Scientists have repeatedly tried to find the answer to this question. After conducting a lot of research, they were able to establish that weight gain is influenced not by the number of meals, but by the calorie content of the dishes.

It is also important to choose the right products when choosing a regimen. Regular consumption of fast carbohydrates provokes frequent increases and decreases in sugar levels, which leads to a constant feeling of hunger.


Therefore, refusing to eat no more than 3 times a day can both contribute to weight gain and lead to weight loss. One thing is certain: for people who are prone to obesity, three meals a day are more suitable, since eating more meals will only cause them to gain excess weight. With more frequent meals, you need to reduce the total calorie content of meals.

Diet for weight loss

When a person pursues the goal of not only improving health, but also losing a few kilograms, it is necessary to adhere to a certain diet:

  • The daily menu should be balanced. A person should consume no more than 1700 kcal per day.
  • The first meal should be no later than 30 minutes after waking up.
  • For breakfast, a losing weight body should receive at least 25% of. That is why in the morning it is recommended to eat dairy products, porridge with a small piece of butter and fiber.
  • At lunch, to reduce weight, nutritionists advise taking 50% of your daily calorie intake. The plate must contain protein (1/4 of the serving), the same amount of carbohydrates (potatoes or buckwheat) and the main share must be fiber (any vegetables and herbs).
  • A percentage of your daily caloric intake remains unspent for dinner. At the same time, the best option for an evening meal is seafood, lean fish and fermented milk drinks.

As mentioned above, you should definitely have snacks between main meals. But it is worth remembering that 1 “intermediate” meal should not exceed 100 kcal.

Drinking regime for weight loss

Water will help speed up the weight loss process.


That's whyIt is important for someone losing weight to monitor how much fluid they consume per day and during what period:

  • Immediately after waking up you need to drink 200 ml of water. But it is important to ensure that at least 30 minutes pass between drinking liquid and breakfast.
  • During the day, a person losing weight should consume 80% of the daily dose of water. It is advisable to adhere to a certain regimen, taking liquid 30 minutes before meals and abstaining from it for 2 hours after. It is recommended to drink no more than 350 ml of water at a time.
  • In the evening, fluid intake should be limited. You are only allowed to drink a glass of water or unsweetened tea an hour before bedtime.

When playing sports, the last fluid intake should be no later than 1 hour before training. During classes, you are allowed to take a few sips every 10–15 minutes.

What time should you eat?


But there is no scientific evidence that metabolism is faster earlier in the day. Therefore, a hearty breakfast or, conversely, eating a minimal amount of food in the morning does not affect metabolic processes in the body.

Also recently, intermittent fasting has been gaining popularity, the essence of which is that a person stops eating after 12 noon. But until this time, he can consume any amount of calories.

The process of losing weight in this case is that at 16 o'clock their deficiency is created. But the effectiveness of this nutritional method has not been scientifically proven. Each person must independently choose for himself a convenient time when he should consume food, depending on his daily employment and physical activity.

Small meals to control hunger

The principle of the method is that a person eats 5-6 times throughout the day, but in small amounts. Due to this lifestyle, a person losing weight can control the feeling of hunger without limiting their diet.

In addition, frequent snacks help clear the blood of “bad” cholesterol and control blood sugar levels. Of course, it is impossible to say for sure that fractional meals will help you get rid of extra pounds, since everything is individual.

Short-term fasting for heart and brain health

The principle of the method is that a person takes only water for 18 hours, and during the remaining time he can consume any amount of low-fat food without overeating. But not everyone uses this method of fasting.

Some people use a different method, which involves completely refusing to eat for 24 hours, 2 times a week. On other days, a person can adhere to their usual diet without restrictions.

Research in the field of short-term fasting has shown that this method promotes:

  • reducing cholesterol, insulin, testosterone and leptin levels;
  • improving memory;
  • reducing oxidative stress in the body;
  • slowing down destructive processes in the brain.

But at the same time, according to experts, it is not fasting that is important for the body, but reducing the number of calories consumed.


Weekly weight loss meal plan

A properly designed schedule will allow you not to overload the body and will help you get used to the new routine. At the same time, it is forbidden to violate the diet, even if a meal was missed for any reason.

Sample meal plan for a week for weight loss:

  • 7:00–9:00 – breakfast. You should eat more carbohydrates while reducing the amount of protein.
  • 12:00–14:00 – lunch. At this time, the amount of protein should increase and the amount of carbohydrates should decrease.
  • 17:00–19:00 – dinner. It is recommended to completely avoid carbohydrates and consume only protein.

You need to have snacks every 2 hours between meals. For example, you can eat an apple or low-fat yogurt. And don’t forget about the drinking regime.

Why does eating more frequently help you lose weight?

There is no scientific basis for the frequent regimen.

But at the same time, many examples have proven that frequent meals while reducing total calories contribute to fat burning. It is believed that this pattern is caused by the fact that with this lifestyle a person controls what and how much he eats.

How to learn to control hunger?


This is due to a systematic violation of the diet. The stomach gets used to receiving large portions and after a few hours requires additional nutrition.

Monitoring your diet will help you learn to control your hunger. When the body requires replenishment 2-3 hours after a meal, it means that a person has consumed a lot of empty calories (sweets and baked goods) and received almost no fiber (vegetables).

How many calories should you consume per day?

To answer the question, you need to decide on the goal. If this is weight loss, then the daily calorie content should not exceed 1700–1800 kcal. It does not matter what type of nutrition will be used: 1, 3 or 5 meals per day.

The main thing is that 1 serving contains 30–40 g of protein, 60–70 g of carbohydrates and 15–20 g of fat.

How many times a day should you eat to gain weight?

You can only get beautiful relief by eating at least 6 times a day, but the number of calories per day should not fall below 2700–2800 kcal.

The bulk of nutrients should be consumed in the first half of the day. The rest of the calories are eaten in the evening after strength training.

Mistakes when losing weight

In an effort to get rid of hated pounds, many take the wrong steps.

The most common mistakes when losing weight:

  • skipping meals;
  • lack of physical activity;
  • replacing water with other drinks, especially sweet ones;
  • strict diets or complete refusal of food;
  • no breakfast;
  • complete refusal of carbohydrates and bread;
  • consumption of low-fat foods;
  • incorrect selection of physical exercises;
  • rare weighings.

Wrong motivation also prevents you from losing weight. Many people are encouraged to take a difficult path by the opinions of others. But any method of losing weight will bear fruit only if a person does it out of self-love and for his own good.

Conclusion

The number of meals does not affect metabolic processes in the body.

You can lose excess weight both by eating 3 times a day and by eating more frequently. The main thing is to monitor the number of calories and do not forget about snacks.

Confusion in such a seemingly simple issue as diet is created by several factors. Firstly, if we look at history and the traditional cuisines of different nations, it will become obvious that people at different times and in different countries ate completely differently: in some places it was customary to eat a large meal once a day - in the late evening - after a long day of work , somewhere frequent breaks for breakfast, lunch and dinner were held in high esteem, somewhere tradition called for taking a long break from any work in the middle of the day and sitting at the table for hours, enjoying a whole string of dishes for a long time. Secondly, modern nutrition systems have also brought confusion - often proprietary ones, based solely on the opinion of a particular nutritionist with his unique views on nutrition.


Diet depends on different factors: No matter how beneficial one particular regimen is, the way you live and work still has an impact on it. Examples of such factors are familiar to everyone. This is the climate (in hot countries people eat more heavily early in the morning and late in the evening, and during the day they limit themselves to a light snack), the work schedule (someone who is on duty at night, for example, naturally shifts their meal times to the evening), the distribution of workload (if a person there is hard work ahead in the first half of the day, he has a big breakfast), etc. In principle, the diet can be influenced by anything: leisure, habits, family composition. When choosing your own diet, it is very advisable to take into account not only “how healthy” it is, but also all the factors influencing you. It is unreasonable to simply brush them aside and not take them into account: the most correct diet has no chance if it comes into conflict with your lifestyle.

Three times a day or four times a day?

The classic option - three meals a day - is considered obsolete by modern nutritionists: four meals a day are more physiological, which includes breakfast, second breakfast (lunch), lunch and dinner. Time between meals should not be more than 4-5 hours, which is impossible with an early breakfast and no second breakfast. With such a time period - 4 hours - the load on the digestive tract is ideally distributed; for example, you have breakfast at 8 am - then at 12, lunch at 15 and dinner at 19 o'clock.

At the same time, nutritionists do not recommend organizing afternoon tea– in the afternoon – instead of second breakfast. The fact is that in the first half of the day it is advisable to consume up to 40% of the daily diet, which just fits into two meals. An afternoon snack can contribute to weight gain. However, nutritionists do not exclude an afternoon snack between lunch and dinner if the time interval between these two meals is too long (for example, you have lunch at 14-00 and dinner at 20-00), but in this case the afternoon snack should be quite light: a fruit snack will do salad or low-fat cottage cheese, sandwich with greens.

Why is late dinner bad?

The point is not only that late in the evening and at night everything eaten “gets tied up in fat.” There must be at least one long break per day, a rest of at least 10-11 hours. That is, if you had dinner at 20-00 and then had breakfast at 7-00 in the morning, then 11 hours passed between these meals - this is normal. If you had dinner at 23, and had breakfast at the same 7-00, the time period will be only 8 hours - this is not enough to rest and restore the digestive system. The same applies to cases of “night snacking”. If your meal schedule is shifted due to work or any life circumstances, time your meals so that your digestive system has the opportunity to rest from food for at least 10 hours.

The ratio of portions and calories during the day

It is desirable that the amount of food consumed be more or less evenly distributed throughout the day. The ideal guideline ratio is:
Breakfast – 15% of the diet
Lunch – 25%
Lunch – 35%
Dinner – 25%
You don’t necessarily have to calculate the percentage in detail, just estimate by eye and distribute the planned volume of what should be eaten so that the most satisfying meal is lunch, lunch and dinner are approximately the same, and breakfast is light but nutritious. But most importantly, make sure that there is no serious imbalance: for example, coffee for breakfast, lunch - a cookie, lunch - a couple of apples, and after all this, dinner consisting of five courses, soup, meat, carbohydrates, dessert.

What exactly is appropriate to eat at different meals is always an open question, including for nutritionists; the classic option is the following division: carbohydrates for breakfast, for lunch, vegetables and dairy products for dinner. For example, breakfast - porridge, fruit; lunch - sandwich; lunch - meat () dish with side dish, soup; dinner - vegetables in any form, cheese, cottage cheese. But of course product selection depends not only on expediency and usefulness, but also on availability. Although it is most physiological to eat meat for lunch, many people cannot afford it: during the lunch break at work it is more convenient to eat something lighter and leave the meat for a solid dinner at home.

The best guide and assistant in creating a suitable diet is always individual approach: Take into account all the features of your lifestyle, as well as information about the most successful schedule from a medical point of view. To simplify the task, answer the following: questions:

Is it convenient for you to have a big breakfast every day?
- Can you eat a substantial meal at lunch - or is dinner the main meal for you?
-Aren't you having dinner too late? Does 10-11 hours pass between dinner in the evening of one day and breakfast in the morning of the next?
- What exactly do you prefer for breakfast, lunch and dinner?
- What is your highest calorie meal?
- On what points can you adjust your regime to a healthy diet, and over what conditions of your life do you, on the contrary, have no control?

Remember that the main sign of a suitable, successful diet for you personally is the fact that you can stick to it for a long time, ideally throughout your life. Don't force yourself to live according to a schedule that you are guaranteed to break in the near future.

Olya Likhacheva

Beauty is like a precious stone: the simpler it is, the more precious it is:)

Content

The problem of excess weight is equally relevant for different ages. People are accustomed to eating away their problems with unhealthy, high-calorie foods, but the result hurts their self-esteem and health even more. Nutritionists recommend eating right, eating high-quality healthy foods, leaving strict diets, and explain what to eat to lose weight. Vegetables, greens and fruits “can” simultaneously burn fat, remove fluid from the body, activate metabolism and improve hormonal levels.

What can you eat on a diet

Diet is associated with food restrictions. The diet is also regulated. Nutritionists are categorically against strict diets: the body suffers greatly when there is a lack of necessary substances. Often the kilograms lost with the help of a strict diet return very quickly when you switch to your usual diet after starvation. You need to strictly observe the measure, know what you can eat while losing weight, replacing harmful high-calorie goodies with valuable products. Sound sleep and long walks are very helpful during the diet.

What foods help you lose weight

If you need to lose excess weight, it's time to forget about evening or night raids on the refrigerator. After six o'clock in the evening it is forbidden to eat hard cheeses, fatty meats, cereals and baked goods. You need to remove high-calorie foods (more than 150 kcal) from your daily diet. If you really want to, you can treat yourself to sweets before noon. You should not rely on yoghurts with fillers: they are not helpful in losing weight, because they contain a lot of carbohydrates. If you support a balanced diet with training, the results will show themselves very quickly.

List of weight loss products:

  • that are quickly absorbed by the body (eggs, dietary meat, white fish);
  • fermented milk (kefir, homemade yogurt, low-fat cottage cheese);
  • green vegetables (cucumbers, all types of cabbage);
  • legumes;
  • tomatoes, sweet peppers;
  • berries (blackberries, blueberries, raspberries);
  • fruits (green apples, avocados, grapefruit, pears);
  • vegetable oil (olive);
  • drinks (black unsweetened coffee, green tea, water).

What can you eat at night when losing weight?

A common problem for those losing weight is the desire to eat heavily in the evening, but this is a big mistake. For lunch you can still afford to cook a potato dish. During dinner when losing weight, it is better to refrain from high-calorie foods. What to eat to lose weight quickly? The best option is light vegetables, herbs, berries and unsweetened fruits; low-fat sour cream and olive oil are suitable for dressing salads. It is better not to consume animal fats, foods that remain in the body for a long time.

What not to eat

When dieting, the body begins to intensively store fat reserves, especially in the abdominal area, which are difficult to get rid of quickly. To lose weight, you need to start by increasing the amount of water you drink per day to 2-2.5 liters, then the metabolism accelerates and the process of weight loss becomes more intense. When the question is what to eat – a chocolate bar or an apple, you should choose the fruit, it is tasty and healthy. Particular attention should be paid to portion sizes; this is no less important than the calorie content of foods.

List of prohibited foods when losing weight:

  • pickles, pickled or smoked products;
  • milk, fermented milk products with a fat content of more than 5%;
  • animal and vegetable fats;
  • fast food, sweets, baked goods;
  • mayonnaise, cheeses with a high percentage of fat;
  • packaged meals, instant foods;
  • sausage products;
  • chocolate, caramel and other sweets;
  • carbonated sweet drinks;
  • snacks (crackers, chips, fried nuts);
  • alcohol.

What to eat on a fasting day

A fasting day is considered to be a day when the total calorie content of food eaten is less than energy expenditure (up to 900 calories). Such days provoke a shake-up in the body so that it begins to “burn” its reserves. consists of one type of product (it can be kefir, apples, cottage cheese, sour cream, lean meat). Eating other foods on this day is prohibited. If you want to cleanse your body with a fasting day, you should eat foods containing fiber 3 days before the fasting, this will help quickly improve intestinal function.

How to eat right to lose weight

Proper nutrition is a lifestyle. PP helps to maintain weight and not gain weight; there is no risk of breakdowns, since a person does not feel hungry. What to eat to lose weight? The main condition is that the amount of energy consumed must match (if losing weight, be less) with the body’s energy expenditure. It is important to count calories and remove high-calorie foods (sugar, baked goods, sweets). The diet and frequency of meals are of great importance. It is important to decide in advance what is best to eat for dinner when losing weight in order to remove the temptation to snack on the “wrong” foods.

Principles of PP for weight loss:

  • the main foods of the diet are vegetables, unsweetened fruits;
  • adequate hydration;
  • compulsory breakfast - porridge;
  • more physical activity;
  • focusing on the contents of the plate while eating;
  • replacing high-calorie foods with low-calorie ones;
  • complete abstinence from alcohol and alcohol-containing products;
  • reducing food portions.

How many calories should you consume to lose weight?

The more fats and fast carbohydrates a product contains, the more caloric it will be. The calorie content of food when losing weight directly determines the number of kilograms lost. What can you eat while on a diet? It is better to choose foods with low and medium calorie content, but it is equally important to count the number of calories that your body “burns”. For example, during sedentary work, the body's energy expenditure is much less than during heavy physical work. In addition, to calculate a person’s basal metabolic rate (BM), we need the person’s height, initial weight, age and type of physical activity.

Daily requirement formula (kcal):

  • for women = 655 + 9.6 x weight + 1.8 x height (in cm) - 4.7 x age;
  • for men = 66.5 + 13.7 x weight + 5 x height (in cm) - 6.8 x age.

The number of calories required to maintain the current weight (obtained OO) is multiplied by the selected activity coefficient from the table.

“You need to eat 2 to 4 times a day. And no snacks." Conversation with health resource management specialist, Candidate of Medical Sciences Andrey Beloveshkin, author of the blog beloveshkin.com.

Today a lot is said about products, but the most important thing is missed - the diet and the time when we consume them. The time factor can be different: how many times a day we eat, how much time passes from the first to the last meal, whether we eat in small portions or fully gorge ourselves, how much pure time there is between any meals.

Our intestines are not just a barrel into which we mechanically throw food. The digestive process is regulated by a variety of hormones, and the levels of these hormones, which affect the absorption of foods, vary at different times of the day. In the morning, for example, when we wake up, there is more of the stress hormone cortisol, but in the evening it becomes much less. And the level of fluctuation of these hormones determines how the process of distribution of products proceeds.

- Those. If I eat cottage cheese in the morning and I eat cottage cheese in the evening - will it be absorbed differently?

Not really. It will be absorbed approximately the same. It’s just that it will have a different effect on hormones in the evening and in the morning, and they, in turn, affect metabolism. For example, fast carbohydrates in the morning will help you effectively replenish glycogen reserves in the liver that were depleted overnight. But these same carbohydrates late in the evening will reduce the level of growth hormone, which is responsible for fat burning and muscle growth.

- In this case, what is preferable to eat in the morning and what in the evening?

Here, a lot depends on whether the person has significant physical activity and what it is. The saying “bread is the head of everything” was relevant when the peasant worked in the field all day and burned at least 6,000 kcal behind the plow. This is how much the average semi-professional athlete now burns. And if we take an average office worker who goes to the gym twice a week for an hour, then he burns an additional 500 kcal per session. His daily calorie burn will be no more than 3,000 kcal. Therefore, he needs to eat at least two times less than the same peasant from the past or a semi-professional athlete. The more physical activity a person has, the more carbohydrates he can safely afford in his diet.

Some fitness trainers recommend eating porridge in the morning, but this advice can only work well for themselves - because they train all day, and not work at all for you - because you sit in the office all day, and the fate of the same porridge is your body will be different. The only exception is when you go to the gym or, for example, to the pool in the morning.

For an office worker, it is best to make proteins the main thing for breakfast, combining them with a moderate amount of vegetables. The body has nowhere to store amino acids, so it is forced to “spin” and burn them. This is the easy energy that a person receives.

Those. A person who is a night owl at heart, but whose work environment forces him to be a morning person, should get up even earlier to cook steamed fish with vegetables for breakfast?

The simplest thing is to turn on the steamer with one click. There is fish on one tier, vegetables on the second. Turn it on - 25 minutes, and you're all set.

- What foods should you eat to avoid feeling hungry for a long time?

In my opinion, the best option is legumes. They have enough protein, plus they have a second meal effect. They perfectly stabilize fluctuations in blood sugar. After legumes, if you eat enough of them, you don’t want to snack. The main problem with them is that you need to cook them correctly (be sure to soak them overnight in a warm place) and choose the ones that are right for you. Because there are cases when a person cannot tolerate red beans, it makes him bloated, but lentils go with a bang. You can make soups, porridge with herbs, or something like hummus, which is made from chickpeas.

Whole grain cereals are also good. The most budget-friendly Belarusian option is whole oats. It needs to be soaked a day before cooking. It is digested slowly and keeps you full for a long time. It’s better to eat at lunchtime so that you can consistently wait until dinner without snacking.

- What about snacks?

Snacking and biting are a very serious threat to your figure and more. Their danger is not only that they disrupt hormones. Many people overlook how important clean spacing between meals is. Snacks disguise stress eating and simply stimulating yourself with fatty, sweet and salty foods, which have the nature of addiction.

Often people simply do not finish their main meals. That's why they want to have a snack. We are afraid of the feeling of fullness, because thoughts are broadcast everywhere that you should leave the table slightly hungry, and start eating when you are not yet completely hungry. From these instructions it follows that a person must constantly be neither hungry nor full, and be in a certain semi-unsatisfied state. In my opinion, this is all complete nonsense.

There are simple rules: you need to work up an appetite; eat when you are physiologically hungry; and get up from the table when you are clearly sure that you are full. There is such a nuance: if we eat without feeling hungry, we will overeat anyway. The feeling of fullness can only be properly captured when you sit down at the table hungry. Only against the background of hunger are you able to understand that, having eaten, you are sufficiently full.

There was a study. They took two groups of people: some ate only when they really wanted to eat, the second - strictly according to the clock. Everyone had the same calorie intake. The first group lost weight, the second remained at the same weight.
When we are hungry, the body seems to say that it has room in the liver and muscles for glycogen, and those calories that we eat will go where they need to: in the muscles, liver... And if we don’t want to eat even then If we eat the same calories, they will go into fat.

- When is the best time to eat fruit?

As you already understand, I am against snacking. Therefore, I recommend eating fruits as a dessert in your main meal.

- Those. In the morning I eat protein and vegetables, at lunch I eat whole grains or legumes, and for dinner?

The main requirement for dinner is that you must fall asleep before you feel hungry; for this you can either go to bed earlier or have a fuller dinner. When you have not calculated something, the hunger hormone ghrelin will not allow you to fall asleep normally. When we fall asleep, our body calms down and calmly burns fat, and the feeling of hunger does not torment us. And snacking in the evening causes much more significant damage to metabolism than snacking during the day. Therefore, it is better to have dinner 3-4 hours before bedtime.

For example, I usually eat two times a day. I have a big lunch at about 2 p.m., and that lasts me for the whole day. On days when I exercise or walk a lot, I have dinner.

It is healthier to want to eat in the morning rather than in the afternoon. Light causes a disruption in this rhythm. Extended daylight hours, especially LED light from lamps, gadgets and monitors, suppress the release of melatonin (the hormone of sleep and long life) and block the burning of brown fat. The body believes that it is daytime, and during the day it needs to eat. Therefore, use dim low light and good old incandescent lamps in the evening, as well as computer glasses that reflect excess blue spectrum from monitors. You can install a special free program, for example f.lux, which will automatically make the evening on your monitor.

Remember that health is in your own hands. And even small lifestyle changes can significantly improve it. What exactly should I do? Listen to your body and learn health. It’s easy to figure out the basic rules of regimen, food, and physical activity on your own. This is exactly what I do - I teach health. Anyone can learn to eat properly.