SPORT What you can eat deliciously on a diet without harm

Everything is good in moderation, and even on a diet you can and should pamper yourself. What and how - read below.

Having decided once again to change their lives and their bodies for the better, many people make the same mistake, which quickly puts an end to all their efforts. They squeeze themselves into often insane limits as much as possible, so to speak, “tighten all possible screws.”

Yesterday these citizens ate kilograms of cookies, candy, hamburgers, French fries and other food “joys”, but today they only ate chicken breast, buckwheat and cucumbers with tomatoes. A week, two, or at most a month passes, and with the approach described above, a breakdown occurs. No, not like that - BREAKDOWN!

A person falls into such severe intestinal fornication that he regains both the lost few kilograms and quite quickly gains a heel or two on top. Often this is excess water, but there is nothing good about carbohydrate edema either. Especially considering the fact that they do not subside with an unbalanced diet and periodic overeating.

Yes, this is just one of the possible mistakes. It is also important to work with weights, a reasonable cardio load, enough sleep and other conditions, if not met, there will be difficulties. But today I propose to focus on the topic of safe snacks and treats that will allow you to feel more or less comfortable even on a serious diet. After all, nutrition, plus the ability to maintain the chosen regime, is 70–80% of success. So we’ll help ourselves maintain a regime with the help of a few tricks and a reasonable selection of products.

Deceptions

Let's start with products that are actively promoted on TV in the wake of the currently fashionable topic of fitness and weight loss, which are supposedly healthy and at the same time tasty. These are the perfect products. In fact, these are decoys that should not be consumed with a balanced diet (or overdo them if the regime is not very strict).

Breakfast cereals

Various types of cereal flakes, puffed rice and other things that fit well into the stomach, both dry and with milk or juice. Often the boxes with these mixtures have Fitness written in large letters. True, it’s only a name from fitness.

If you look at the composition, you will find 70-80 percent of carbohydrates with a high glycemic index (that is, fast), including sugar or even worse - corn syrup (GI even higher than sugar), plus flavor enhancers. Don't be fooled by the fact that there's a bunch of healthy grains there - they really are, but they're purified and ground into dust. There is little useful left.

In addition, such breakfast cereals are very high in calories - 350-400+ kcal per 100 g. Moreover, after eating 150-200 g of cereal, you won’t feel particularly full, but in fact you’ve already consumed as many calories as there are in a full meal with meat, porridge and salad. But after the last one, you’ll want to eat within 3-4 hours, and after the first one, within an hour you’ll be ready to eat an elephant.

Diet bread

Here the deception is only partly true. You need to look at the composition and the bread itself. If there is only rye flour, no sugar or other strange additives, and the bread resembles a cracker - everything is ok. If it uses premium flour, and the consistency of the product is similar to compressed corn sticks, there is zero benefit from it.

Store juices

In general, you can also find natural, even reconstituted, juices there, like apple or orange. But they are quite high in calories, plus fructose is not the best product for sports. It is stored in the form of glycogen only in the liver, but not in the muscles. And in the liver there is usually enough of it, so the excess is sent to fat.

Low-fat yoghurts and sweet curd masses

In general, this includes any sweet store-bought yoghurts, since they contain too much sugar. But the so-called “light” low-fat ones are generally hellish. In addition to a hefty dose of sugar, they also contain a ton of starch to compensate for the lack of fat and give them a nice, thick consistency.

As for sweet curd masses with raisins and dried apricots, in addition to the mentioned sugar, they add a lot of vegetable fat in the form of margarine, that is, this is trans fat - a very harmful and dangerous product for the body.

Muesli bars

They also often have Fitness written on them, but, as in the case of breakfast cereals, there is no smell of fitness or benefit there. Contains dried fruits and grains, seemingly healthy things. But the grains are again in a highly processed form and in the form of fast carbohydrates, plus it’s all stuck together with corn syrup or honey (also not the best thing on a diet). And dried fruits are not nearly as harmless as they seem. The same dates or raisins differ little from sweets in terms of their effect on the body (insulin response, calorie content).

Reviews from those who have lost weight

If you have experience losing weight and, most importantly, maintaining weight with such a diet, I would really like to hear your impressions, because my personal experience is not entirely successful and it was a long time ago. I was on 1200 kcal for about a month. 10 kg gone! It was very noticeable in volume. But after six months everything came back and even more!

My friend ( Zhanna, 36 years old) , on the contrary, really likes 1200, now she won’t eat anymore. She looks very slim, she also lost about 10 kg and has not returned. She's happy with it. But the muscle mass is in a deplorable state, and the older she gets, the more obvious it is.

There is another slender woman ( Alesya, 29 years old ) who shared her experience. She “sits” on 1200 kcal several times a year for 2-3 weeks. Usually, this is before the holidays to lose 3-4 kg. And she comes out of such a diet gradually, without bingeing (according to her, it only helps with willpower). Usually it maintains the weight for another 2-3 months, and then the lost weight comes back.

If a ready-made menu for 1200 kcal does not suit you, order a personal pp menu for the week.

Irina Polyanitsa My name is Irina, I am the owner and admin of the site, as well as the author of most of the recipes and articles. I love to cook simple and healthy delicacies. Certified gym instructor, personal trainer. She completed a course on nutrition and health at Stanford University, Stanford Introduction to Food and Health, as well as a course at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) Nutrition and Lifestyle in Pregnancy (about nutrition and lifestyle during pregnancy).

Classic sweets - choosing the lesser evil

Also not the healthiest things on a diet, but if the regime is not too strict or when you are in the stage of maintaining your shape, then you can please yourself with light carbohydrates. Let’s choose the lesser evil from the heap of evils and which is not disguised as a fitness theme.

An important point - it is recommended to eat tasty treats after a large meal with meat, herbs, and complex carbohydrates, so that your blood sugar level does not jump too much.

Marshmallow

Classic natural marshmallows consist of applesauce and molasses, as well as starch, egg white, and sugar, of course. The advantage of marshmallows is that they have a relatively low calorie content compared to other sweets and lack trans fats. But the glycemic index is quite high - 65 (like a bun or white rice)

Marmalade

Its benefits are similar to marshmallows, but the composition is slightly different: applesauce, gelatin, agar and pectins that are beneficial for digestion. There is no need to be harsh with the quantity, since marmalade contains a lot of fructose (the GI of such marmalade is only 30), although there is also sugar (GI 65). In any case, there should be a little bit of good stuff (tasty and sweet).

Paste

An analogue of marshmallows with the difference that the amount of fruit puree is different, plus berries are often added. The base is also built on gelatin and egg whites.

Dried fruits

Dried apricots, raisins, dates - all this is better than sweets stuffed with sugar and trans fats, but you also need to be careful. Dried fruits are high in calories and contain a lot of fructose.

bitter chocolate

This is chocolate that contains 70% cocoa or more. Very high in calories, fatty, but cocoa fat is healthy, and there is little sugar in such chocolate, as well as carbohydrates. So pay attention to the total calorie content so that the chocolate bar does not end up being too much. You can afford 10–15 g of dark chocolate per day even during a very strict diet.

Nuts

Not exactly sweets, but also very tasty. They contain a decent amount of protein and fat, plus there are carbohydrates too. Here it is worth paying attention to the total calorie content. For example, 100 g of peanuts contain 550 kcal, so you need to be careful with the amount of nuts in your diet.

Fruits

They are different. It is important not to overdo it with the quantity. Green apples are great. Reds are also good, but the GI is higher. Greenish bananas are great, but in reasonable quantities. Ripe bright yellow bananas have a fairly high glycemic index, almost like a bun. Grapes - a lot of fructose, little benefit. Watermelon or melon is often almost pure fructose with water and nitrates. Especially at the beginning of the season, you need to be extremely careful with melons.

Menu for weight loss for every day/week

Below you will see a table with different menus for three days. All days can be changed between each other, and products can be replaced with similar ones in calorie content and composition; this is not a strict “weight loss diet”.

Example of a menu for the week: Mon – menu #1, Tue – menu #3, Wed – menu #2, Thurs – menu #3, Fri – menu #1, Sat – menu #3, Sun – menu #2.

Yes, such a plan is a ready-made correct diet for weight loss. Only it is flexible, you can change days and even squeeze your favorite products into it.

Related articles: 7 delicious and healthy breakfasts Ideas for a quick dinner or lunch Recipes for weight loss

Table. Menu for weight loss

If you click on the name of the dish (in blue), you will open a page with recipes. Everything can be prepared at home, from simple ingredients.

Menu #1

Kcal 1421
BZHU 116/50/132

menu #2

Kcal1440
BZHU120/48/135

menu #3

Kcal 1465
BZHU 122/51/132

Sports goodies

Sports nutrition can be sweet and tasty, but without sugar and extra carbohydrates. Someone will remember the types of harmful sweeteners, but their harm is greatly exaggerated. You don’t have to look far for examples - have many people died from sweetener? Google it, you won't find a single case. And people die from sugar, fast food and other food garbage. Yes, not directly, but due to obesity and its consequences, including diabetes.

In general, sports nutrition may well quell the craving for sweets and tasty things, if there are strict restrictions on such products.

Protein

Any whey, complex, casein. Most of these types of products are sweet and have some kind of flavor, starting with the classic “Vanilla”, “Chocolate”, “Strawberry” and ending with various fun ones like “Cream Cookies”, “Banana Coconut”, “Straccitella” (don’t forget to read “ T" in the first half of the word and it's not what you thought, but "a combination of white creamy ice cream with pieces of dark Italian chocolate").

True, there is a nuance here - not all options are equally tasty. Naturally, there are no comrades in taste and color, so before purchasing a bag of protein, you should first try it by purchasing a disposable sample.

In my experience, Optimum Nutrition Whey Gold Standard is a very high quality protein, but not very tasty. But SAN Titanium Whey is wonderful (banana-coconut or cappuccino), although there is an important point - it must be whipped in a blender. In a shaker it turns out watery and then seems too sweet, with a frankly pungent taste. In addition, I can recommend BSN Syntha 6 , although it contains quite a lot of carbohydrates. Syntraxx Whey and Matrix 5 are not bad . Very tasty or, so to speak, neutral proteins from the British Protein Factory . In general, try it. Having chosen a good and tasty protein, you can usefully replace sweets with it.

Protein bars

This is where it is important to pay attention to the composition. Very often they use maltodextrin and soy protein. But there are also high-quality options based on whey protein and good carbohydrates with a low GI.

For example, QuestBar from Quest Nutrition are very good, but you need to choose the flavor carefully. Some are similar to plasticine and almost tasteless. Combat Crunch is also decent in taste and high-quality in composition .

Pay attention to the calorie content of protein bars. It's quite big. But it's better to eat QuestBar or Combat Crunch than Snickers.

Calorie-free sauces and jams

Water, some kind of thickener and sweetener, plus a flavoring agent - that’s the whole composition. According to the manufacturers, it contains 0 calories . I don’t know what food “chemistry” is used to achieve this, but the body perceives it normally. I tried different jams from Walden Farms and they were quite nice. For example, stirring with cottage cheese is an excellent substitute for jam.

The main thing is not to compare it with ordinary jam, condensed milk, honey or anything else natural, which is called head-to-head. You will immediately notice the “chemical” taste of the jam and you will not get any pleasure. But when there is no pure sugar or products based on it in the diet, calorie-free jams are an excellent substitute for sweets. In reasonable quantities, of course.

I usually order protein bars and jams from iHerb.com (delivery to the Russian Federation and Ukraine is available). I’ll take advantage of the situation and publish my referral code, which gives a significant discount on your first order from $40: SJW536 .

Advice from nutritionists for losing weight by 1200 kcal

Don't be lazy to cook and create a menu. The more variety the better! Add seasonal berries and herbs and vegetables.

Buy yourself a quality multivitamin complex. For example, you can find something good on your favorite iHerb. There's a good selection here. And don’t forget about chromium picolinate.

Get out of this caloric intake gradually! Under no circumstances should you suddenly return to your usual caloric intake - add 200-300 calories per week. Otherwise, all your work will be in vain!

Drink plenty of water, especially on a protein fasting day.

Get enough sleep! With a calorie deficit and lack of sleep, breakdown and gluttony are guaranteed!

What tasty treats I use on my diet, plus a few recipes

I wrote above about calorie-free jams and protein bars, but now they are not in my diet.

As part of the current drying period, I allow myself dark chocolate (78%) 20-30 g per day. I also actively use a sweetener . The best one I've tried is sukrin , also known as erythritol . Natural, similar to sugar and used in the same quantities. But dear.

For now I’ve settled on classic tablet sweeteners based on sodium cyclamate. Yes, “chemistry”, but in minimal quantities and the taste is very close to sugar. The tablet replaces 1-2 teaspoons of sugar, in these proportions I calculate when preparing any sweet food.

I also tried a more natural type of sukrasite, but I was not impressed with this sweetener because of the soda in the composition, which adds bitterness.

I don’t drink tea and coffee sweet – they taste better that way. I use a sweetener, for example, in morning cottage cheese dessert :

• 300 g low-fat cottage cheese (you can use any fat content, but at the moment I use low-fat);
• 70–80 g Bifilife (or any unsweetened yogurt, sour cream can be used);
• 30 g of protein (1 scoop or “scoop” as fitness gurus now call them);
• 2 sweetener tablets, diluted in 10–15 g of water;
• mix all this and grind thoroughly in a blender.

The result is a very tasty and sweet thing in the style of store-bought desserts, but without starch, trans fats and other unnecessary things. With coffee and hard cheese it works just fine.

I also add sweetener to cheesecakes or casseroles. Casserole recipe :

• Grind/stir 70 g of Hercules oatmeal in a blender with 30 g of protein (any flavor) and 30–50 g of vegetable fiber.
• Add the resulting powder to 700 g of cottage cheese;
• In a blender, beat 3 whole eggs mixed with 300 g of fruit starter, bifilife or sugar-free yoghurt, plus a sweetener to taste (I use 15-17 Huxol tablets diluted in 50 ml of hot water, this is the equivalent of 100 g of sugar). You can also use kefir or 200 ml of milk if the products mentioned above are not available.
• Add cottage cheese with oat-protein powder to the resulting mass and mix it all thoroughly again/beat in a blender until smooth.
• If desired, add 50–100 g of raisins, nuts (50 g) or coconut flakes (30–50 g).
• If you cook in the oven, then, after greasing the mold with butter, set it for 40 minutes at a temperature of 180–200°C.
• If you cook in a slow cooker, then set the casserole for an hour in the baking mode with the lid closed (also after greasing the pan with butter), and then for another 15–20 minutes in the baking mode, but with the lid open, so that the excess liquid evaporates.

I also highly recommend the jelly dessert - a gorgeous thing, no worse than the creams in the cafe:

• Mix 0.5 kg of cottage cheese in a food processor with 500 g of sour cream and 2 g of vanillin.
• Pour 20 g of gelatin into 300 ml of boiled water at room temperature and leave to swell for 10 minutes. Then put this mixture on the fire for a couple of minutes so that the water warms up to a warm state, remove from the heat, leave for 5 minutes. Reheat and remove from heat. In about 20 minutes the gelatin will completely dissolve.
• Dissolve 15 sweetener tablets in a small amount of water (or add it to dissolved gelatin). Or you can use 150 g of sucrin.
• Mix everything in a blender at low speed (as for kneading dough).
• Pour the resulting mixture into molds and refrigerate.
• In a couple of hours, the jelly-curd dessert will be ready.

In addition, the only fruits I allow myself at the current stage of drying are green apples (“Simirenka”, “Golden”) - a good option if you want to eat something tasty. Sometimes I eat a little peanuts.

In general, I don’t suffer much with my current diet. There is no craving for sweets at all. Unless, due to a small calorie deficit, there are moments of severe hunger. For example, when you go home after strength training or cardio. But this is not critical. But the appetite is brutal and simple buckwheat with chicken breast, tomato paste and salad with a dressing of lemon juice and soy sauce provides simply indescribable gastronomic pleasure.

What is PP

The PP diet provides the body with all the vitamins and microelements it needs, while stable weight loss occurs. Against the backdrop of the fact that the passion for “fast” food has become simply widespread, PP is designed to return a person to the eating habits inherent in him genetically.

The advantages of such a power system are obvious:

• No feeling of hunger . You will no longer have to, as with newfangled diets, struggle with a brutal appetite, feel stomach pain and fatigue. Even snacks can be healthy and beneficial.
• Self-planning . You don't need to be tied to a scheme suggested by someone. You create your own menu, following the principles of proper nutrition. And now, when you come to visit, you don’t need to modestly take out your boiled egg or portion of rice. You can always find something on the menu or on the table that fits within the PP framework.
• There are no categorical prohibitions . No more hard ramie, just follow the directions and you can tailor it to your taste preferences.

The recipes with caloric content described in the article will help you figure out what exactly you can eat on PP.

Principles and features of PP

• We completely exclude processed foods and fast food. No chips, canned foods, sausages, industrially produced sweets, soda.
• We exclude products containing glutamate additives, sugar and its substitutes.
• Limit the amount of salt.
• Every morning we drink a glass of warm water. Definitely on an empty stomach.
• We cook only by baking, stewing and boiling.
• We introduce a maximum of fruits and vegetables (their share should be a fifth of the total diet).
• We exclude fast carbohydrates as much as possible: cereals, pasta, bread.
• We calculate the amount of protein using the formula: for 1 kg of weight you need to consume 1 g of protein every day.
• Carbohydrate meals - only before lunch.
• We leave only polyunsaturated fats: fish, avocado, vegetable oil, nuts, seeds.
• We drink a lot of water - up to 2 liters. Plus before each meal, about half an hour - 1 tbsp.
• We eat little and often. You should have 5 meals.
• Learning to eat properly: without TV, chewing food slowly.

Nothing complicated, as you can see. Now you will see how much you can prepare within the framework of the PP.

What are the best healthy foods to eat for breakfast?

Porridge is suitable, win-win options are buckwheat, rice, oatmeal. Cereals provide energy and are also characterized by high biological value - they contain B vitamins, micro- and macroelements (zinc, iodine, copper, phosphorus, iron and others). Buckwheat kernels also boast the presence of tocopherol and a large amount of vegetable protein. Also pay attention to the recently fashionable quinoa culture; it contains all the essential amino acids and has a nutty taste.

Those who want to get the maximum benefit are advised to pay attention to whole grain analogues. It is better to cook them in water, without adding sugar; they can be eaten on an empty stomach with banana, raisins, dried apricots and other natural sweets.

The morning menu should also be supplemented with proteins. Lean meats, cottage cheese, eggs, and yogurt are suitable. Proteins provide a feeling of fullness for a long time, protect against the temptation to snack on candy or pie. In addition, this nutrient is a building material for many tissues in the body.

Lipids should also be present in your plate, so you can add a slice of cheese or a little vegetable oil.

Proper nutrition is expensive

Proper nutrition is not expensive. If you imagine that you will only have to eat avocado, salmon and spinach, then you are mistaken.

In the range of vegetables, you can trust our affordable and familiar cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers and vegetable gardens. Zucchini, pumpkin, cabbage, carrots, beets - is it really expensive? Everyone can afford a couple of vegetables a day for their health. One bowl of salad will cost less than one shawarma, but you can eat salad 2 times a day without harm to your health and figure.

Also with meat. Many people who eat properly can afford chicken every day. In many stores it works out cheaper if you buy in bulk and freeze it. You can look for promotions in stores and buy meat cheaper.

And cereals are generally included in the consumer basket and have a minimum price. Therefore, proper nutrition is even cheaper than many products that you will have to give up: sweets, baked goods, canned food, sausages, etc.