Beauty & Health

A mono diet — is when you only eat one food at a time. Many nutritionists do not really approve this method of losing weight, but this diet is really worth of your attention if you are aware of its exceptions.

What is a mono diet?

A mono diet (monotrophic diet) — is a type of nutrition that involves eating only one kind of food (such as potatoes or apples), or one type of food (such as fruit or meat). As the main product, you may choose a relatively “healthy” one, which is difficult to earn an allergy to. For example, it can be bananas, buckwheat, eggs, potatoes and even chocolate (yes, many of us are constantly on such a diet).

Types of mono diets

Mono diets can be fruity, dairy, cereal, extreme and complex. You can eat exclusively cottage cheese or buckwheat, and sometimes even chocolate (juice and chocolate mono diets are extreme ones). The most gentle option is the complex mono diet, which allows you to eat one product for 1-3 days and then move on to the next. This is what the ‘Six Petals Diet’ belongs to. It can also be the summer mono diet (vegetables, apples, chicken, oatmeal, watermelon), winter mono diet (potatoes, carrots, vegetable soup, meat, apple juice, oatmeal), colored mono diet (you can eat foods of a strictly defined color every day).

In addition to the listed options, based on specific foods, there are mono diets that separate meals according to the principle of choice or exclusion, and not according to a specific product.

Mono-elimination diet

This is a very interesting option and the easiest one! You pick one unhealthy food that you eat often and eliminate it from your diet. For example, if you’re used to eat ice cream every day after lunch, try skipping it for a week and see how you feel. Eliminating a serving of ice cream can reduce your calorie intake each day. The result is in healthy weight loss of up to 500 g per week.

One-time diet

Eliminate sauces, dressings, and other high-calorie, fatty additions to your main course. Keep your food simple. Instead of eating chicken with barbecue sauce, buttered baked potatoes, and broccoli with cheese, you just eat grilled chicken, plain baked potatoes, and steamed broccoli. In addition to reducing the number of calories eaten, you get a second benefit — the taste buds begin learning to feel the real taste of the dish.

Monohydration diet

Eliminate sugary drinks, alcoholic and high-calorie coffee drinks from your diet. Just plain water. Reducing or eliminating carbonated drinks, tea and sugar coffee, packaged juices and alcoholic beverages can reduce your daily calorie intake by 500-1000 kcal.

Mono-swap diet

Pick one unhealthy favorite food of yours and replace it with a healthier version. If you’re eating chips and a sandwich at lunchtime, use carrots instead — they crunch pretty well too. As a result, you will gradually get used to healthier and more nutritious foods. The need for junk food snacks will go away on its own.

6 petals diet

The Six Petals Mono-Diet is not a classic option, since during the entire time you eat not one type of product, but a certain type every day. For example, one day fish, another — vegetables, the third — fruits, the fourth — cereals, the fifth — chicken, the sixth – cottage cheese.

Its advantage over classic mono diets is that it harms the body less, since you get a more varied menu.

Meals should be fractional (six times a day) and in small portions. But there are also restrictions on the type of product. For example, protein is recommended to be consumed no more than 500 g per day, that is, on days when you have cottage cheese, chicken, eggs or fish, you should monitor the amount you eat. Vegetables — up to one and a half kilograms, cereals — no more than 300–400 g. During the day you should drink at least one and a half liters of water, completely abandon sugar and limit the use of salt and spices.

Advantages and disadvantages of a mono diet

Advantages

You don’t have to stick to a specific meal schedule or limit yourself to what you eat. You can eat whenever you like. The whole secret is that after a few days you will no longer want to eat so much — no matter how much you love a certain product, it starts to get boring in large quantities on an ongoing basis. One more benefit is that the number of calories consumed also goes down and you lose weight quickly enough.

Disadvantages

A mono diet is a very tight dietary restriction. Because of this, malfunctions in the body may begin. That is why it is possible to eat in this way only for a short time, and for some people this option is completely contraindicated. Therefore, before you decide on such an experiment, it is advisable to consult a doctor. A beautiful body is, first of all, a healthy body!