The problem of being overweight has long troubled the minds of many people around the world. It has been given national status in some countries, so it's no surprise that today there is an impressive range of weight loss diets to suit every taste. Finding the right one for you is not an easy task. We recommend that you familiarize yourself with such a method of achieving harmony as the petal diet - perhaps this method of getting rid of the hated kilograms is 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 of the author's nutritional system, which aims to burn fat deposits, is due to the fact that Anna presented its development in the form of a seven-petaled flower. The number of the latter is equal to the number of days for which the unusual diet is planned. However, those who use this weight loss technique in practice often ignore the seventh diet day.
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 by the way would be nice to draw on a piece of paper for the sake of convenience - must contain the name or picture of the type of food recommended for consumption on that day. It is very important to follow the order of consumption of treats allowed by the diet:
- on the first day you must satisfy your hunger only with fish (which one you decide);
- on the second day only vegetables can be eaten;
- on the third day you can eat nothing but chicken fillet;
- the fourth day prescribes the consumption of only cereals;
- food of the fifth diet day - natural cottage cheese;
- the sixth day is devoted to eating various fruits;
- on the seventh day, you can only drink water (which is why many people ignore it).
Anna Johansson did not specify the consumption amount of each of the above products. This shortcoming has been corrected by other nutrition experts: they recommend eating no more than 500 g of chicken, fish and cottage cheese per day; 1. 5 kg of vegetables and ripe fruit, up to 300 g of cereals.
The rules of the Swedish weight loss method
- The products included in the petal diet should not be mixed with each other. If this principle is violated, the process of reducing body weight will not be complete, and therefore it will be difficult to achieve adequate results.
- You should eat 4-5 times a day. It is recommended to keep equal intervals between meals.
- The food must be chewed very thoroughly.
- A variety of culinary dishes can be prepared from one product.
- The preferred cooking methods are boiling, steaming, oven baking, steaming and grilling. It is strictly forbidden to eat fried food.
- Sweets and foods containing them should be completely excluded from the diet.
- The petal diet allows you to replace the chicken fillet with turkey or quail meat. In any case, the skin must be removed from the carcass.
- When choosing a fish product, preference should be given to pink salmon, salmon, hake, cod, perch, trout and pike. The fish menu can be diversified with seafood (squid, shrimp, mussels) and seaweed, but their share in the diet of the first day of eating should be minimal.
- Grain day will be ideal if you eat buckwheat porridge, brown rice, corn and semolina, as well as oatmeal. White rice and semolina side dishes are strictly prohibited. In addition to cereal foods, various (non-rich) flour products can be consumed, 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, fruit and berry additives and 1% kefir. All other fermented milk products should not be included in the diet of this weight loss method.
- As for vegetables, it is better to eat various cabbage, zucchini, lettuce, spinach, cucumber, tomato, bell pepper, onion, garlic and various greens. The inclusion of corn, legumes, potatoes and aubergine in the vegetable daily diet of the "6 Petals" diet must be avoided. Vegetable foods can be eaten raw, fried, boiled, steamed, slow-cooked or steamed. It is not forbidden to cook soup from vegetables, the consumption of freshly squeezed vegetable juicesis also welcome.
- Absolutely all fruits can be eaten, except for those particularly high in carbohydrates, namely bananas, mangoes, melons, figs and grapes.
- If the menu for any day of the petal diet seems too monotonous, add some steamed mushrooms, some soft-boiled chicken eggs (as an option - an omelette).
- Meals can be washed down with herbal decoctions, flower and green tea, rosehip infusion. Carbonated drinks (especially sweet ones), alcohol, coffee and regular black tea are out of the question.
- During the whole diet, drink plenty of clean table water or mineral water that is free of gas. The optimal amount of fluid that a dieter consumes during the day is 1. 5-2 liters.
- The maximum duration of the power supply system is seven days.
- The services of the weight loss method can be used again no earlier than one month after the end of the Swedish weight loss system.
Warning: under no circumstances should you use the "6 Petals" diet immediately after an illness, because it is a great burden for a weakened body.
Petal diet: advantages and disadvantages
The advantages of the Swedish weight loss method are as follows:
- high performance - allows you to lose weight in a short time;
- simplicity and speed of cooking;
- availability of foods 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 products and toxins;
- elimination of 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 take it in general - in this context, all the products prescribed by the diet do not have time to become boring for the dieter;
- low-calorie diet on carbohydrate days (vegetables, fruits and cereals).
The main advantage of the "6 Petals" diet is the lack of health damage with reasonable and correct practice of the nutritional system.
We cannot ignore the disadvantages of a weight loss program. This:
- the need for additional intake of multivitamins;
- general weakness, constant fatigue, and, as a result, a decrease in performance due to the low energy value of products included in cereal, fruit and vegetable diets;
- rapid return of lost kilograms in case of non-compliance with the petal diet;
- quite impressive cost of the ratio of products prescribed by the method;
- many contraindications (diabetes mellitus, kidney and liver pathologies, stomach and duodenal ulcers, cardiovascular diseases, hormonal imbalance, pregnancy and breastfeeding in women; children, adolescents and the elderly).
Sample menu for the "6 petals" diet
Dead day petal diet
First option:
- Breakfast - 200 g steamed salmon.
- Second breakfast - a glass of unsweetened green tea.
- Eat a cup of fish soup in the middle of the day.
- Have dinner with 2-3 pieces of cooked chum salmon.
Second option:
- For breakfast, eat some boiled pollock (approx. 150 g).
- For lunch, they eat a cup of berry soup, made without added sugar.
- They have lunch with 200 ml of fish soup made from hake fillet.
- The dinner consists of 250 g of pink salmon, baked in the oven.
Ideally, you should stick to a portion size such that the total amount of fish consumed per day does not exceed 500g.
Vegetable day of the "6 petals" diet
First option:
- Breakfast 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 (approx. 330 g).
- In the evening, they eat a salad, the ingredients of which are arugula leaves, fresh tomatoes and sweet peppers.
Second option:
- Breakfast meal - chopped vegetables (200 g) and unlimited chopped greens.
- Second breakfast - boiled grated beets with a few cloves of chopped garlic.
- Lunch is a serving of broccoli soup.
- For an afternoon snack, eat 1 fresh cucumber.
- The last meal is zucchini stewed in vegetable oil with carrots and onions.
Chicken daily petal diet
First option:
- In the morning, eat boiled chicken breast (150 g), whose mild taste you can improve with your favorite spices.
- After a few hours, they feast on oven-roasted chicken (up to 100 g).
- Lunch is a cup of chicken soup with chopped herbs.
- In the evening, eat grilled skinless chicken fillet (200 g).
Second option:
- They gain strength by eating two pieces of chicken in the morning.
- Drink a cup of green or herbal tea as part of your lunch.
- For lunch, they eat soup cooked in chicken broth with pieces of chicken, but without vegetables.
- At the end of the day, they enjoy fried chicken.
Cereal day of the "6 petals" diet
- Breakfast - oatmeal, boiled in water (150 g).
- Second breakfast - brown rice cooked in a slow cooker (the same amount).
- After 2 hours, satisfy your hunger with buckwheat steamed in boiling water (up to 200 g).
- Drink a glass of rosehip infusion for afternoon tea.
- Dinner is a portion of cooked quinoa with dried herbs.
Petal diet: cottage cheese day
You can choose from two menu options:
First option
- Have breakfast with cheesecakes baked in the oven (150 g). It is better to eat them without sour cream.
- As part of your second breakfast, enjoy the taste of Greek yogurt without additives (½ cup).
- The next meal is low-fat cottage cheese (200 g) and a glass of 1% kefir.
- Drink 250 ml of fermented baked milk during dinner.
Second option
- In the morning, eat low-fat cottage cheese (150 g) with a pinch of ground cinnamon.
- They also drink low-fat milk for lunch (one glass is enough).
- For lunch, they eat several types of cottage cheese without filling and chocolate glaze.
- The evening meal consists of a mixture of natural cottage cheese and unsweetened yogurt.
Fruit day of the "6 petals" diet
It is worth noting that in addition to ripe fruits, it also involves the use of berries that do not have a particularly sweet taste.
There are two sample menu options:
First option
- In the morning - orange-pear salad with strawberries and 1 tsp. Honey
- During the second breakfast, eat 1 large green apple.
- Lunch consists of a portion of apple-peach salad and several kiwis.
- For an afternoon snack, eat 1 orange or drink 200 ml of fresh orange juice.
- In the evening, recharge with a fruit and berry smoothie and a cup of herbal tea.
Second option
- At the beginning of the day, you will get rid of the feeling of hunger thanks to a puree consisting of two grated apples and five apricots.
- Some tangerines serve as a snack.
- Lunch is a combination of two oven-baked apples with cinnamon and fresh pineapple (200 g).
- At the end of the day, they are only allowed to taste ½ grapefruit and a handful of plums.
The seventh day of the diet is followed by those who prefer the "7-petal" weight loss system to the six-petal weight loss method. During the day, you must drink a lot of liquid and all food is prohibited. In order to maintain the body's optimal water balance, not only ordinary and mineral still water, but also juice and compote made from dried berries and fruits without added sugar, fruit and berry infusions, green, herbal and hibiscus tea.
Petal diet: a smart solution
The more responsible the attitude towards this event, the greater the probability of stabilizing the result achieved with the weight loss technique. There are several points to focus on here:
- In the first two to three days after the end of the nutritional system, the diet should include the foods prescribed in the diet.
- Then you need to gradually dilute the menu with other foods, following the principle of introducing 1-2 new delicacies per day.
- The energy value of the food consumed must also be increased very slowly. In general, the daily calorie content of the menu should be relatively low for a few weeks. At the end of this period, this number 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, it is worth consuming it occasionally and in small quantities, then it will not affect your weight in any way.
- They exercise moderately every day, preferring 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). In this way, you can actually get rid of 8-12 kg of excess calories during 3-4 diet cycles, practiced intermittently.
Those who have decided to try this nutritional system themselves will confirm the truth of these claims. Most people like that the petal diet is not rigid, gives satisfying, quick results, and does not take much time to prepare. However, many people do not like the monotony and imbalance of the diet, and even more so the side effect of upset stools and the presence of a hungry day (when choosing the "7 Petals" variation).
The opinion of nutritionists about this weight loss program is also mixed. Some experts approve of such a short-term solution to problems related to excess weight, arguing that it simply does not have time to negatively affect a person's health. Others warn about the many contraindications of the petal diet and the possible negative consequences of the weight loss method on the body.
Taking all of this into account, we recommend that you use this system only after consulting a doctor. This way you can avoid wasting time and health problems.