The problem of being overweight has long been a concern for a large number of people around the world. In some countries it has received national status and therefore it is not at all surprising that today there is an impressive selection of weight loss diets for every taste. Finding the right one for you is not an easy task. We suggest that you familiarize yourself with a method of gaining harmony like the petal diet - perhaps this method of getting rid of hated pounds will be the most effective in your case.
History and features of the weight loss system
The method discussed in our article is the brainchild of Swedish nutritionist Anna Johansson. It is also known by other names: "flower diet", "chamomile diet", "6 (7) petal diet". Such an original name for the author's nutritional system, aimed at burning fat deposits, is due to the fact that Anna presented its development in the form of a flower with seven petals. The number of the latter is equal to the number of days for which the unusual diet is designed. However, often people who use this weight loss technique neglect to observe the seventh day of the diet.
The essence of the "6 petals" diet is that you can only eat a certain product every day. In this regard, each petal of an improvised flower - which, moreover, it would be nice to draw on a sheet of paper for greater convenience - should contain the name or image of the type of food indicated for consumption agiven day. . It is very important to respect the order in which you consume the delicacies allowed by the diet:
- on the first day you need to satisfy your hunger exclusively with fish (it's up to you);
- on the second day you can only eat vegetables;
- on the third day you cannot eat anything except chicken fillet;
- on the fourth day it is prescribed to eat only cereal porridge;
- fifth dietary day food - natural cottage cheese;
- the sixth day is devoted to the consumption of various fruits;
- on the seventh day you can only drink water (that's why many people ignore it).
Anna Johansson did not specify the quantity of each of the above products authorized for consumption. This defect has been corrected by other nutritionists: they recommend eating no more than 500 g of chicken meat, fish and cottage cheese per day; up to 1. 5 kg of ripe vegetables and fruits, maximum 300 g of cereals.
Rules of the Swedish weight loss method
- Products included in the petal diet should not be mixed with each other. If this principle is not followed, the process of reducing body weight will not be completed and therefore it will be difficult to achieve decent results.
- You should eat 4 to 5 times a day. It is advisable to maintain equal time intervals between meals.
- Food should be chewed very carefully.
- A variety of culinary dishes can be prepared from one product.
- The preferred types of cooking are boiling, stewing, baking, steaming and grilling. It is strictly forbidden to eat fried foods.
- Sweets and foods containing them should be completely excluded from the diet.
- The petal diet allows you to replace chicken fillet with turkey or quail meat. In any case, it is necessary to remove the skin from the carcass.
- When choosing a product for a fish day, give preference to pink salmon, salmon, hake, cod, pike perch, trout and pike. It is allowed to diversify the fish menu with seafood (squid, shrimp, mussels) and seaweed, but their share in the diet on the first dietary day should be minimal.
- A cereal day will be ideal if you eat buckwheat porridge, brown rice, corn and wheat groats, as well as oatmeal. Accompaniments of white rice and semolina are strictly prohibited. In addition to cereal dishes, you can taste various flour products (not rich), but without fanaticism.
- Low-fat and low-fat cottage cheese is ideal for the petal diet. This dish can be supplemented with a glass of natural sugar-free yogurt with fruit and berry additives and 1% kefir. All other fermented milk products cannot be included in the diet of this method of weight loss.
- For vegetables, it is best to eat different types of cabbage, zucchini, lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic and various green vegetables. The inclusion of corn dishes, legumes, potatoes and eggplants in the daily vegetable diet of the "6 petals" diet should be abandoned. Plant foods can be eaten raw, baked, boiled, steamed, stewed or stewed. It is not forbidden to prepare soups based on vegetables, it is also welcome to drink freshly squeezed vegetable juices.
- It is allowed to consume absolutely all fruits, with the exception of fruits particularly rich in carbohydrates, namely bananas, mangoes, melons, figs and grapes.
- If the one-day menu of the petal diet seems too monotonous to you, add a few stewed mushrooms, a few boiled chicken eggs (as an option - an omelet).
- It is allowed to water food with herbal decoctions, flower and green tea and rosehip infusion. Drinking carbonated drinks (especially sweet ones), alcohol, coffee and even regular black tea is out of the question.
- During the entire diet, be sure to drink plenty of clean table water or mineral water, free of gas. The optimal volume of fluid consumed by a losing weight person during the day is 1. 5-2 liters.
- The maximum duration of the power supply system is seven days.
- Repeated use of the services of a weight loss method should take place no earlier than a month after completing the Swedish weight loss system.
Caution: under no circumstances practice the "6 petals" diet immediately after suffering from an illness, as this places a heavy load on a weakened body.
Petal diet: advantages and disadvantages
The benefits of the Swedish weight loss method include:
- high performance - it allows you to lose weight in a short time;
- ease and speed of cooking;
- availability of food products prescribed by the petal diet;
- lack of hunger;
- sufficient amount of protein and fiber in the diet;
- high-quality cleansing of the body from waste and toxins;
- eliminate constipation;
- normalization of the digestive process;
- no need to count calories consumed daily and eat according to a strict schedule;
- variety of diet, if we consider it in general - by the way, each product prescribed by the diet does not have time to become boring for the losing weight person;
- low-calorie diet on days high in carbohydrates (vegetables, fruits and cereals).
The main advantage of the "6 petals" diet is the absence of danger to health with reasonable and correct practice of the nutritional system.
The downsides of a weight loss program cannot be ignored. This:
- the need for additional multivitamin intake;
- the appearance of general weakness, constant fatigue and, as a result, a decrease in performance due to the low energy value of products included in diets based on cereals, fruits and vegetables;
- rapid return of kilos lost in case of non-compliance with the petal diet;
- quite impressive cost of the products prescribed by the method;
- numerous contraindications (diabetes mellitus, kidney and liver pathologies, gastric and duodenal ulcers, cardiovascular diseases, hormonal imbalances, pregnancy and breastfeeding in women; children, adolescents and old age).
Example menu for the "6 petals" diet
Fish petal diet
First option:
- Morning meal - 200 g of steamed salmon.
- Second breakfast - a glass of unsweetened green tea.
- In the middle of the day, eat a cup of fish broth.
- Dinner with 2-3 pieces of boiled chum salmon.
Second option:
- For breakfast, eat a little boiled pollock (about 150 g).
- For lunch, they consume a cup of berry broth, prepared without added sugar.
- They lunch with 200 ml of fish soup made from hake fillet.
- Dinner consists of 250 g of baked pink salmon.
Ideally, you should stick to a portion size such that the total amount of fish consumed per day does not exceed 500g.
Plant day of the "6 petals" diet
First option:
- Breakfast is a carrot and cabbage salad (fresh vegetables are used) drizzled with lemon juice.
- Boiled green beans are used as a snack.
- For lunch, they eat boiled vegetables, namely grated carrots and cauliflower (about 330 g).
- In the evening, they eat a salad made with rocket leaves, fresh tomatoes and sweet peppers.
Second option:
- Morning meal - chopped vegetables (200 g) and an unlimited amount of chopped green vegetables.
- Second breakfast - boiled grated beets with a few chopped garlic cloves.
- Lunch is a serving of broccoli soup.
- For an afternoon snack, eat 1 fresh cucumber.
- The last meal is zucchini cooked in vegetable oil with carrots and onions.
Chicken Petal Diet
First option:
- In the morning, eat boiled chicken breast (150 g), the bland taste of which can be improved by using your favorite spices.
- After a few hours, they enjoy baked chicken (no more than 100 g).
- Lunch is a cup of chicken broth with chopped herbs.
- In the evening, eat skinless chicken fillet cooked on the grill (200 g).
Second option:
- In the morning, they regain strength by eating two chicken cutlets.
- During lunch, drink a cup of green or herbal herbal tea.
- For lunch, they eat soup cooked in chicken broth with pieces of chicken meat, but without vegetables.
- At the end of the day, they enjoy baked chicken.
Cereal day of the "6 petals" diet
- Breakfast - oatmeal boiled in water (150 g).
- Second breakfast - brown rice cooked in a slow cooker (same quantity).
- After 2 hours, satisfy your hunger with steamed buckwheat with boiling water (no more than 200 g).
- For afternoon tea, drink a glass of rosehip infusion.
- Dinner is a serving of boiled quinoa with dried herbs.
Petal diet: curd day
We offer two menu options to choose from:
First option
- Have breakfast with baked cheesecakes (150 g). It is better to eat them without sour cream.
- As part of the second breakfast, enjoy the taste of Greek yogurt without any additives (½ cup).
- The next meal is low-fat cottage cheese (200 g) and a glass of 1% kefir.
- During dinner, drink 250 ml of fermented baked milk.
Second option
- In the morning, eat low-fat cottage cheese (150 g) with a pinch of ground cinnamon.
- For lunch, they also drink skimmed milk (one glass is enough).
- For lunch, they enjoy several cheese curds without toppings or chocolate icing.
- The evening meal consists of a mixture of natural cottage cheese and unsweetened yogurt.
Fruit day of the "6 petals" diet
It should be noted that in addition to ripe fruits, this also involves the use of berries that do not have a particularly sweet taste.
There are also two sample menu options:
First option
- Morning - orange-pear salad with strawberries and 1 tbsp. Honey
- During the second breakfast, eat 1 large green apple.
- Lunch consists of a portion of apple and peach salad and several kiwis.
- For an afternoon snack, eat 1 orange or drink 200 ml of fresh orange juice.
- In the evening, recharge your batteries with a fruit and berry smoothie and a cup of herbal tea.
Second option
- At the start of the day, get rid of the feeling of hunger with a puree of two grated apples and five apricots.
- A few tangerines serve as a snack.
- The lunch meal is a combination of two baked apples with cinnamon and fresh pineapple (200g).
- At the end of the day, they allow themselves to taste only ½ grapefruit and a handful of plums.
The seventh day of the diet is followed by those who prefer the "7 petals" method of weight loss over the six petals method of weight loss. Throughout the day you should drink plenty of fluids and any food is prohibited. To maintain optimal hydrobalance of the body, you can absorb not only ordinary still and mineral water, but also fruit juices and compotes from dried berries and fruits without added sugar, fruit and berry infusions; green tea, herbs and hibiscus.
Petal diet: a smart solution
The more responsible the attitude towards this event, the greater the probability of stabilizing the result obtained thanks to the weight loss technique. Here you need to focus on several points:
- During the first two to three days after the end of the nutritional system, the diet should include the foods prescribed by the diet.
- Then you need to gradually dilute the menu with other foods, adhering to the principle of introducing 1-2 new treats per day.
- The energy value of the foods consumed should also increase very slowly. In general, the daily calorie content of the menu should remain relatively low for a few weeks. At the end of this period, this figure should be increased to 1600-1800 kcal.
- Sweets, fatty and fried foods, smoked and spicy foods can be included 14 days after the end of the petal diet. However, they should be consumed occasionally and in small quantities, this will not affect body weight in any way.
- They exercise moderately daily, favoring gymnastics, aerobics, walking and swimming.
Petal diet: results and reviews
The author of the petal weight loss method guarantees that those who are losing weight will lose 2. 5-5 kg of excess weight in 1 cycle (6 or 7 days). Thus, in 3-4 food cycles, practiced intermittently, you can actually get rid of 8 to 12 kg of unnecessary calories.
Those who decided to try this nutrition system confirm the truth of these statements. Most people like the fact that the petal diet is not rigid, satisfying, gives quick results and does not take much time to prepare dishes. But many do not like the monotony and imbalance of the diet, and even more so the side effects in the form of disturbed stools and the presence of a hungry day (when choosing the "7 petals" variant).
Nutritionists' opinions on this weight loss program are also mixed. Some experts approve of a short-term method of solving problems with excess weight, arguing that it simply does not have time to have a negative effect on a person's health. Others warn of the numerous contraindications of the petal diet and possible negative consequences of the weight loss method for the body.
Considering all this, we recommend using this system only after consulting a doctor. This way you will avoid wasted time and health problems.