Mediterranean diet for weight loss. Menu for the day, the week, recipes. Reviews and results

The Mediterranean diet is the only nutritional system that has a phenomenal number of followers who follow its rules not only to lose weight, but also to improve the health of the entire body, which ultimately leads to active longevity.

Essence and basic principles

The uniqueness of the diet is that it is not a set of rules, principles and restrictions artificially created by nutritionists that one always wants to break.

This is the result of observing the community of a particular region, comparing the morbidity statistics of its population with the rest of the planet's population, identifying the reasons for their superiority and adapting the traditional diet for the region to other countries.

The term "Mediterranean diet" was first introduced in the middle of the 20th century by the American couple A. and M. Case, who, while researching the dependence of cardiovascular diseases on diet, came to an unexpected conclusion.

It turned out that Italy, where nutritionists published their scientific works on heart disease, differs from their home country in that the local population, eating relatively fatty and high-calorie foods, is not obese and is less susceptible to diseases of the circulatory system, high blood pressure and diabetes.

This served as an impetus for new research in Italy and then for confirmation of the idea in Japan, Germany, Finland and Yugoslavia.

Ansel and Margaret Case's sensational discovery led American scientists, concerned about the extent of the disease and the nation's rapid "obesity, " to use their research to develop a "preventative medicine" program in the 1970s. In essence, these are the systematized foundations of the traditional nature of the diet of the inhabitants of the Mediterranean countries.

The popularity of the diet has been very high for half a century, proving its simplicity and effectiveness, and the UNESCO organization has recognized the cuisine of 12 Mediterranean countries as national cultural heritage. Unlike other diets, the Mediterranean diet has no time restrictions.

It should become a way of life and make its adherents a resident of the Mediterranean in terms of nutrition. Which is not at all difficult, given the simple principles and the availability of the necessary products in all stores. The Mediterranean diet for weight loss means following certain rules that quickly become a habit.

To do this you need:

• switch to 6 meals a day (3 main meals and 2 additional, so-called snacks);
• Make seasonal vegetables, fruits and berries (not grown in the greenhouse) the basis of the diet.
• Focus your diet on fish and seafood.
• Use only olive oil in the kitchen and use it for both cooking and dressing salads.
• eat dishes made from legumes every day;
• Minimize sugar consumption by replacing it with honey.
• Drink only dry red wine and avoid other alcohol.
• use at least 6 tbsp. clean water per day;
• lead an active and mobile lifestyle.

To better understand these simple rules, the so-called "Mediterranean food pyramid" was developed. Closer to the base, which occupies the largest volume of the geometric figure, are foods that should be eaten several times a day.

The:

• Rice, millet, bulgur, durum wheat noodles, grain bread;
• Vegetables and fruits;
• fermented milk products, cheese;
• Nuts, dried fruits.

Further to the top of the pyramid, i. e. with a significantly lower volume, there are foods with a consumption limit of 1 to 6 times per week.

The:

• fish dishes;
• poultry meat;
• Potato;
• chicken eggs;
• sweet desserts.

At the top of the pyramid is meat. Italians prefer beef and lamb and almost never eat pork. In countries where the main meat food is pork, there is no point in deviating from the generally accepted product, you just have to choose lean meat.

Thus, a visual distribution of priority products allows us to reduce the diet to the following daily diet:

Product name	% of food consumed per day
Cereals and legumes	35
Vegetables, fruits, greens	thirty
Sour milk products, cheese, fish, meat	20
olive oil	10
Sweet desserts	5

An important point: when to eat the listed products.

The temporal distribution of nutrition looks like this:

• Muesli, muesli, chicken eggs, vegetables, fruits - breakfast;
• fermented milk products, fruit - 2nd breakfast;
• Soups, pasta, rice, vegetable salads, meat, fish, fruit – lunch;
• Fruit salads, fermented milk products, cheese – afternoon snack;
• Fish, vegetable casseroles, salads, seafood, cheese, fruit - dinner.

So, if we look at the list of permitted foods and the distribution of their intake throughout the day, we can conclude that you don't need to go hungry. In addition, good red wine is a daily bonus in the Mediterranean diet. Even desserts are allowed - once a week (Italians and French are famous lovers of sweets, but in moderation).

However, in order to start losing weight (namely, this is the goal of switching to dietary nutrition), you need to remember the amount of food you eat. The amount of food consumed in one meal should not exceed 240 ml (visually this is 16 tbsp. L. or 1 tbsp. ).

The Mediterranean diet for weight loss does not give immediate results. With a balanced menu, hearty meals and minor restrictions in their lives, adherents of these principles, as a rule, continue to live, continue to adhere to them and after a while notice improved health, significant weight loss and the need to renew body to actively move.

Contraindications to use

The success of the diet is due to three factors:

• low in animal fats and sugar;
• high content of fiber, fiber;
• rich in omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants.

Although the Mediterranean fasting diet is a balanced diet, there are contraindications.

This combination is unacceptable for some people:

• People who are very overweight will not be able to achieve the expected results from changing their diet. In this case, special, radical weight adjustment methods are required.
• Such a set of foods with a high fiber content can be harmful for diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.
• Allergy sufferers who react to seafood or other important components of the Mediterranean diet must avoid it.

Main menu for the week

After a while, getting used to the Mediterranean diet and its features, you will be able to create a balanced menu for the day, taking into account the rules, your own preferences and capabilities. Until then, you can follow the recommendations of nutritionists.

weekdays		Main meals (excluding snacks)
	Breakfast	Dinner	Dinner
Monday	Oatmeal with water (or low-fat milk) with fruit; Coarse bread with cheese; Green tea	Baked fish (200 g); side dish of stewed vegetables; 100 ml red wine	Cooked seafood; vegetable salad
Tuesday	Muesli with yogurt (natural, without additives); Grain bread with feta cheese; Tea (green or black)	Boiled fish with herbs; Pasta category "A"	Boiled or baked turkey (200 g); Boiled buckwheat; vegetable and tomato salad; 100 ml red wine
Wednesday	Omelette with 2 eggs; Coarse bread with cheese; Fruit (1 piece)	Chicken soup; vegetable salad	seafood salad with avocado; 100 ml wine
Thursday	buckwheat milk porridge; Green tea; Fruit	seafood and tomato pasta; 100 ml wine	Steamed fish (200 g); Garnish – cooked bulgur; vegetable salad
Friday	cottage cheese casserole; Coffee	cheese soup with shrimps; 2 slices of bread croutons; 100 ml wine	fish cutlets; Vegetable stew; 2 slices of hard or semi-hard cheese
Saturday	Muesli with yogurt and dried fruits; Sandwich made from grain bread, cheese and avocado; Green tea	Casserole with zucchini, tomatoes, feta cheese; 100 ml wine	Baked or boiled chicken breast (150 g); Cooked lentils; vegetable salad
Sunday	Quark casserole with dried fruits; fruit (1 piece); Coffee	seafood risotto; vegetable salad	Boiled or stewed fish (possibly boiled meat (150-200 g); Vegetable stew; 100 ml wine

Mediterranean Diet Recipes

The Mediterranean diet for weight loss is characterized by a large selection of dishes for menu design.

It is important to remember:

• Olive oil is used in cooking - a source of polyunsaturated fatty acids and lipids, which can sometimes be replaced with another vegetable oil;

• The consumption of bread is limited and it should be made from coarsely ground grains.
• Food must be prepared without the use of store-bought sauces or canned foods that contain E additives;
• Dairy and fermented milk products should be low in fat;
• in the dietary diet, the consumption of all marine fish is encouraged - herring, mackerel, cod, hake, pike perch, perch; Fish should be steamed, grilled, boiled, or stewed; Frying should be avoided;
• White poultry or rabbit meat can be included in the diet 2-3 times a week, red meat (beef, lamb, lean pork) - no more than 2-3 times a month. It also needs to be boiled or steamed;
• Salt is used in small quantities, it is good to replace it with lemon juice and spices; Sugar is completely excluded, you can use a little honey;
• We must not forget about drinks – all teas, herbal teas and coffee are allowed; simple clean water is required;
• the wine should be red and dry, which reduces appetite, normalizes stomach acid, participates in blood formation and lowers cholesterol levels;
• Store-bought sweets with a high content of sugar, fat and palm oil are excluded from the diet.

Summer salad (with chicken)

A hearty and wholesome salad has an exceptional, spicy, fruity taste thanks to the combination of its ingredients.

Composition of ingredients

Connection:

• boiled chicken breast – 150 g;
• fresh peaches – 2-3 pieces ;
• canned pineapple – 50 g;
• Celery sticks – 2-3 pieces ;
• any lettuce leaves – 150 g.

For dressing you need low-fat natural yogurt without additives (1/2 cup), mint, cinnamon, lemon peel.

Step-by-step cooking process

The summer salad is prepared in 3 steps:

1. The process should begin with the preparation of the salad base: you need to cut chicken breasts, peaches, pineapple and celery into small cubes. It is better to tear the lettuce leaves with your hands.
2. To prepare the dressing, pour yogurt into a separate bowl, add cinnamon, lemon zest and chopped mint leaves.
3. Next, you need to add the dressing to the salad base and mix gently.

What can I add?

The salad remains tasty, healthy and complies with the rules of the Mediterranean diet if:

• Use turkey instead of chicken.
• Peaches can be replaced with nectarines and pineapples with orange pulp.

This type of salad remains a healthy, low-calorie and filling dish.

How to serve a dish

Summer salad is easy to prepare at any time of the year by purchasing imported peaches or oranges. It goes well with dinner with a glass of dry red wine. The dish can be decorated with lettuce leaves and pieces of fruit left aside.

Salad with basmati rice

The Mediterranean diet for weight loss is known for its grain salads, where you can combine poultry, fish or vegetables with grains to create dishes that are varied in taste but satisfying and healthy.

One of these salads is below.

Composition of ingredients

Connection:

• Basmati rice – 1 tbsp;
• Feta cheese – 60 g;
• sun-dried tomatoes – 2 pcs. ;
• Peanuts - 2 tbsp. l. ;
• Mint;
• Olive oil;
• Spices;
• Water (for 200 g of rice - 250 ml of water).

Step-by-step cooking process

Basmati salad is prepared in 6 steps:

1. Basmati rice needs to be washed and then soaked for 15 minutes. in lukewarm water, which allows the grains to better develop their taste and aromatic properties.
2. Then you should continue cooking in the same water, after boiling reduce the heating temperature. After cooking the granola for 20 minutes, set the pan aside and let the grains sit in the hot pan for another 15 minutes. Only then can the rice be stirred with a fork.
3. At this time, the sun-dried tomatoes should be poured with hot water and kept in it for 10 minutes, then dried with a paper towel and cut.
4. Roast and chop the nuts along with the feta cheese.
5. Add tomatoes, cheese and nuts to the cooled rice - this is the basis of the salad.
6. Add chopped mint and spices and season with olive oil.

What can I add?

You can also use other nuts in this dish - pine nuts or walnuts, which are good for the Mediterranean diet.

How to serve a dish

The dish can be served for lunch or dinner, garnished with a sprig of mint.

Cheese cream soup with seafood

The Mediterranean diet allows for the consumption of large amounts of fatty foods such as cheese.

They appear on the table almost every day, as an appetizer, at the end of a meal with dessert or when preparing a hot meal.

Composition of ingredients

Connection:

• Hard or semi-hard cheese – 200 g;
• processed cheese – 100 g;
• Shrimp – 150g;
• mussel meat – 100 g;
• Cream (20%) – 200 ml;
• Chicken egg (yolk) – 1 piece ;
• Carrots – 1 piece ;
• Onions – 1 piece ;
• Wheat flour – 1 tbsp. l. ;
• Wine vinegar - 1 tbsp. l. ;
• Olive oil – 1 tbsp. l.

Step-by-step cooking process

Cream cheese soup is prepared in 5 steps:

1. To prepare the broth, you need to boil shrimps and mussels, peel them, filter 200 ml of liquid and pour into a saucepan to prepare the soup.
2. The peeled and chopped onions should be fried in a small amount of olive oil until translucent and kept on the fire a little longer with the addition of carrot pieces.
3. Put the cream in a saucepan with the broth, bring to the boil and, over low heat, add the grated cheese. The broth should be stirred constantly until the cheese is completely melted.
4. The next step is to collect the scrambled egg yolks, the overcooked vegetables and the flour diluted in a little water in a saucepan. Bring the soup to the boil while stirring and simmer for 5-7 minutes.
5. It is necessary to "punch" the contents of the pan with a blender in order to achieve the desired consistency with the remaining broth.

What can I add?

To improve the taste, you can use the broth left over after cooking boiled fish.

How to serve a dish

Soup is served for lunch. The contents of the plate are sprinkled with herbs.

Zucchini with feta cheese

Oven-cooked vegetables are a great option for a healthy meal that takes little time in the kitchen.

One option is zucchini with feta cheese.

Composition of ingredients

Connection:

• Zucchini (small) – 4 pcs. ;
• Feta cheese – 200 g;
• Garlic – 1 clove;
• Olive oil – 1 tbsp. l. ;
• Mint;
• Spices;
• Pine nuts.

Step-by-step cooking process

Zucchini with cheese is prepared in 4 steps:

1. To prepare the zucchini for baking, you need to wash them; Peel old fruits, leave young fruits with the peel; Cut lengthways into two parts and remove the pulp.
2. Then fry the chopped pulp in olive oil with garlic and pass it through a garlic press.
3. Add the remaining ingredients to this mixture: chopped feta cheese and mint, nuts and spices. Mix everything carefully.
4. Fill the zucchini "boats" with the prepared filling and place them in the oven at 220°C for 30 minutes.

What can I add?

You can also cook zucchini and eggplant and use semi-hard cheese instead of feta cheese.

How to serve a dish

The dish goes well either on its own or with a side dish of cooked brown rice. Or you can use it yourself as a braised vegetable for chicken breast or turkey. Zucchini looks beautiful with parsley.

Fish baked with cheese

Fish is a commonly consumed food in the Mediterranean diet. During weight loss, it should be eaten boiled or steamed.

By changing the type of fish, you can change the calorie content and taste of the dish while maintaining its health benefits.

Composition of ingredients

Connection:

• Fish fillet – 200 g;
• low-fat kefir – 50 ml;
• semi-hard cheese – 70 g;
• Olive oil – 1 tbsp. l. ;
• Lemon juice – 1 tbsp. l. ;
• Dill.

Step-by-step cooking process

Fish with cheese is prepared in 4 steps:

1. The baking sheet must be greased with oil and pieces of fish placed on it.
2. The dressing is prepared like this: you need to combine kefir, juice, herbs and mix everything. The mixture should be carefully poured onto the fish portions.
3. Grated cheese should be sprinkled on each piece.
4. The products should be kept in an oven preheated to 180 ° C for 15 minutes.

What can I add?

You can add chopped peppers to the mixture or place a slice of tomato on the fish.

How to serve a dish

The fish can be decorated with herbs and thin lemon leaves.

Pasta with peas

The Mediterranean diet includes, among the foods permitted for consumption, pasta (pasta), which is a favorite not only in Italy.

There is no certainty that significant weight loss can be achieved through its consumption, but nutritionists believe that category "A" pasta, made from durum wheat, does not cause weight gain.

Composition of ingredients

Connection:

• Category "A" pasta – 200 g;
• semi-hard cheese – 200 g;
• green peas – 0. 5 tbsp;
• Paprika – 1 piece ;
• Olive oil;
• lemon juice.

Green peas can be used fresh frozen, which is much better than canned.

Step-by-step cooking process

Pasta with peas is prepared in 3 steps:

1. The pasta must be cooked al dente; the cooking time is always indicated on the package.
2. Next, cook the green peas until half cooked and fry them in olive oil with finely chopped peppers.
3. You need to combine hot pasta with peas, pepper and grated cheese, adding lemon juice instead of salt to taste.

What can I add?

Cooked pasta can be combined with many dishes and sauces, creating dishes with different tastes and satiety.

How to serve a dish

Before serving, you can add arugula leaves to the dish.

Oat muffins with almonds

Sometimes you can also treat yourself to homemade desserts.

In this case, the composition of the ingredients is certainly known and there is certainty that there are no preservatives and harmful additives.

Composition of ingredients

Connection:

• Oatmeal – 4 tbsp. l. ;
• Chicken egg – 2 pcs. ;
• Milk powder – 4 tbsp. l. ;
• baking powder – 20 g;
• Almonds – 10 g.

Step-by-step cooking process

Oatmeal muffins are prepared in 4 steps:

1. To prepare the dough, you need to mix the "dry" ingredients: cereals, milk, baking powder, chopped nuts.
2. The eggs must be beaten and carefully mixed with the "dry" mixture.
3. The resulting dough should be placed in silicone molds that do not need to be greased with oil.
4. The muffins should be placed in the oven preheated to 200 ° C and baked for 15 minutes.

What can I add?

Any chopped nuts, dried fruits or fresh fruits can be added to the oat-milk mixture.

How to serve a dish

The dessert can be served garnished with a mint leaf or fresh berries. For more pleasure, you can brew tea or herbal tea.

When can an effect be expected?

People who switch to a Mediterranean diet find that after about 3-4 months they begin to notice positive changes in their health and figure without much effort or discomfort. Gradual, initially almost imperceptible weight loss, reaching an average of 3 kg after six months.

When people become fans of tasty and healthy food, they stop focusing on their kilograms, and after 2-3 years 10-15 kilograms disappear unnoticed. After reaching the optimal weight, the body automatically reaches a state of balance.

The Mediterranean diet is not a dietary change for rapid weight loss with lightning-fast weight recovery after completing the course. This is a change in lifestyle, attitude towards the world around you, towards yourself, towards your body and your body, giving them the attention they deserve.