8 main advantages Cons How much to eat for weight loss What you can eat on a diet Proper preparation Diet of 7 porridges Mono-diet for 7 days Fasting day
If you are looking for a simple, yet quite comfortable way to lose weight, try a porridge diet. It will help you lose a couple of extra kilos in a few days, or 7-10 kg in 2 weeks.
With such a diet, you get proteins, fats, carbohydrates, which is important for health, well-being and does not contribute to weight gain some time after losing weight. The main thing here is the correct calorie restriction without fasting, because cereals are low in calories, but contain a lot of fiber, which gives you long-term satiety and speeds up your metabolism. It is also responsible for the effective removal of waste and toxins from the body, which is important not only for the figure, but also for health.
Also, short diets on cereals can be an excellent preparation for a further transition to a properly balanced diet. We tell you which cereals are suitable for weight loss and how to use them correctly to say goodbye to excess weight.
Benefits of cereals
When losing weight, even the lowest-calorie cereals should not be classified as instant. Packaged products that only need to be poured with boiling water will bring absolutely no benefit. They contain significantly less nutrients than natural cereals.
Cereals, the list of which is provided below, are considered slow carbohydrates that keep the body full for a long time. Fiber, vegetable protein and microelements contained in these cereals also have a beneficial effect. They help improve intestinal function and are the best helpers in burning fat.
Now it’s time to find out what the lowest-calorie cereals for weight loss are. The table will help you quickly understand this issue and understand which porridge is best suited for a particular diet:
Name of porridge | basic information | Calorie content per 100 g |
Buckwheat | Contains a sufficient amount of vitamins, fats, proteins and other elements necessary for the body. Nutritionists recommend consuming buckwheat porridge even if you are obese. | 329 kcal |
Oatmeal | Able to remove toxins and waste from the body. Contains enzymes that help digest fats, proteins and amino acids. | 345 kcal |
Pea | It is characterized by a high content of fiber, mineral salts, antioxidants and vitamins. | 90 kcal |
Millet | Rich in nicotinic acid, manganese, zinc, protein and copper - elements that are often lacking in those losing weight. | 334 kcal |
Wheat | Helps reduce cholesterol in the blood and stabilize fat metabolism, and also improves the functioning of the whole body. | 316 kcal |
Corn | Quickly and effectively breaks down fat cells, reduces cholesterol and removes toxins. | 337 kcal |
Rice (brown rice) | The cereal is distinguished by its content of vitamins of the entire B group. It also contains fiber, protein, starch and carbohydrates. | 81 kcal |
Pearl barley/barley | Very useful for people suffering from constipation. Provides the body with energy due to the vitamins and minerals contained in the composition. | 324 kcal |
Manna | It is not a dietary cereal, but it can be included in the list of low-calorie foods. Semolina porridge helps you lose weight when consumed in moderation, and also cleanses the body well and improves metabolic processes. | 338 kcal |
By looking at low-calorie cereals for weight loss with calories listed, you can easily create an ideal diet for yourself and lose excess weight in a short time. And for those who cannot decide on the choice of cereal, below are options for effective diets.
The lowest calorie cereals can be purchased at any grocery store, but you need to know how to choose the right product. A problem may arise if you want to lose weight with rice. After all, brown rice contains the least amount of calories, while white rice, on the contrary, is the most nutritious. And porridges such as wheat, millet and buckwheat have one peculiarity - it is almost impossible to gain weight from their regular use.
How do porridges help you lose weight?
Many experts talk about the benefits of cereals for the figure and the body as a whole. Low-calorie porridges are an excellent alternative to low-carbohydrate and protein diets, since the carbohydrates they contain are necessary for vital energy. What do they give to the body and how to lose weight with their help?
Here's what happens when you eat cereal regularly:
- A long-lasting feeling of fullness, which allows you to minimize the number of snacks between main meals.
- Saturation of the body with useful substances without additional intake of vitamin complexes.
- Cleansing the body of toxins, waste and other harmful substances thanks to the fiber included in the porridge.
- Increased performance due to slow carbohydrates.
- Preservation of muscle mass and prevention of stretch marks during weight loss thanks to vegetable proteins included in cereals.
- Improving the functioning of the intestinal system and increasing immunity.
- Reducing the amount of fat consumed.
- Acceleration of metabolism, which allows you to quickly break down fat deposits and not accumulate new ones.
There is no doubt that daily consumption of porridge promotes painless weight loss. Losing weight on cereals is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance. It is important to understand which cereals for weight loss are right for you and how to properly prepare and consume these dishes.
Porridge diets
The lowest-calorie cereals can be used in diets or simply to cleanse the body. Any cereal diet makes it possible not only to adjust weight, but also to get enough of the necessary vitamins and microelements, significantly improving the condition of the body.
The cereals listed above are not that difficult to prepare. For cooking, you need to use only water, and adding sugar, salt and butter is not recommended, so as not to increase the calorie content of the dish.
Buckwheat
A low-calorie dinner to quickly cleanse the body can be prepared using buckwheat. Rutin and iron contained in its composition make it possible to avoid anemia and replenish the lack of vitamins in the body. The cereal can be prepared by boiling or steaming. If you want to make the most delicious, but low-calorie dinner, then you can add boiled zucchini or carrots to the buckwheat, which contain a minimum amount of calories. And if you want to go on a buckwheat diet, then you can consider the following options:
- Two week cycle. For a couple of weeks you need to eat only buckwheat porridge. You can use it in unlimited quantities.
- Fasting day. Unlike the previous option, here you need to eat buckwheat only one day a week. At the same time, it is allowed to be filled with kefir or yogurt.
Oatmeal
If you need to lose up to 2 kilograms, low-calorie milk porridge is ideal. That is, steamed oatmeal can be poured with milk and eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner. But if you need to lose more weight, you will have to limit yourself in consuming other foods, because oatmeal contains a considerable amount of fat.
The ideal period for losing weight by about 5-6 kilograms would be one week. In this case, it is necessary to consume the porridge in steamed form, and only berries or fruits can be used as additives (with the exception of high-calorie bananas and grapes). After a week-long diet, it is necessary to carry out fasting days (drink only water during the day). This way you can lose up to 15-20 kilograms in a couple of months.
What to combine porridge with
It’s difficult to eat bland porridge; you always want to season it with something and dilute it with something. But what can you eat with, for example, oatmeal while losing weight?
More on the topic >> 10 foods that suppress your appetite
If you like sweet porridge, then, as already mentioned, you can replace sugar with honey and add some fruits, nuts or dried fruits. It is necessary to choose fruits, berries and dried fruits that do not contain a lot of sugar. These include:
- Avocado;
- Sea buckthorn;
- Blueberry;
- Raspberries;
- Strawberry;
- Blackberry;
- Raspberries;
- Currant;
- Blueberry.
Fruits and berries with an average sugar content:
- Apples;
- Mandarin;
- Orange;
- Melon;
- Cowberry;
- Pears;
- Plum;
- Grapefruit.
Fruits and berries with high amounts of glucose that should be avoided when losing weight:
- Bananas;
- Pomegranate;
- Raisin;
- Dates;
- Figs;
- Persimmon.
If we talk about nuts, the amount should not exceed the daily norm. You can eat this many nuts per day:
- Almonds – 10 pieces;
- Pine nuts – 60 pieces;
- Walnuts – 10 pieces;
- Cashews – 15 pieces;
- Peeled pistachios – 20 pieces.
It is better to eat salty porridge with vegetables or prepared salad. The salad should be seasoned with a small amount of oil and, ideally, not salted. It is best to simply chop fresh vegetables without dressing. Baked or grilled vegetables are also low in calories.
Seven porridges
It is difficult to say which porridge is the lowest-calorie and healthiest, if you do not add any additional ingredients to it. After all, when you eat the same cereal for several days, it simply begins to get boring. Therefore, experienced nutritionists have developed another good diet, which includes as many as seven cereals. Unlike others, this diet does not harm the body, since it is saturated with all useful elements evenly.
For one week, you need to eat porridge in the following order (by day):
- Wheat.
- Millet.
- Milk oatmeal.
- Rice groats.
- Barley.
- Pearl barley.
- A mixture of all these cereals in equal proportions.
Minuses
When following dietary restrictions, a normal, although not very pleasant, reaction is slight weakness, nausea, dizziness. In this way, the body signals that it is being cleansed of accumulated toxins and fat. To replenish your supply of nutrients, you can drink vitamins at this time.
If physical discomfort is severe, you should stop the diet.
Contraindications
- Gastrointestinal diseases
- Liver and kidney disorders
- Thyroid diseases
- Recovery period after surgery
- Pregnancy, lactation period
- Adolescence
Millet porridge
The lowest calorie porridge for breakfast is, of course, millet. Its properties are very similar to wheat, but there are still some differences. According to people, thanks to a diet with such cereals, you can lose up to 5-6 kilograms per week.
When choosing cereals, it is recommended to pay attention to brightly colored grains, since they contain more useful elements. It is necessary to cook the porridge in water, maintaining a ratio of 1:3. You need to eat it all day, not in too large portions. The most optimal option is 5-6 meals. If desired, you can season the dish with linseed oil or mix with dried apricots and sesame seeds.
Food standards for a hike per person.
Unfortunately, there are no uniform standards for traveling layout. However, based on the average values, you can create a diet and check its adequacy during a weekend hike. Based on our own experience, we make the following layout for the hike:
- morning porridge 60-70 gr. per person + 10 grams of dried fruits;
- main cereals 70-80 gr. per person + 10 gr. dried (sublimated) meat;
- cheese, sausage, lard 25-30 gr. per serving;
- pasta 80-100 gr. per person + 10 gr. dried meat;
- bread 50-70 gr. or crackers 100-150 g;
- chocolate, kozinaki 30-50 g;
- sugar or substitutes - 40-50 g;
- tea 2.5 gr. per serving (weight 1 sachet), coffee 5 g, sugar - 5 g;
- potato flakes - 50-80 grams per person + 10 grams. meat.
- dried vegetables (separately or in soup mixture) - 15-20 g.
On long hikes, stewed meat is replaced with dried or freeze-dried meat, and bread with crispbread or biscuits. It is better to take raw smoked sausage and hard cheese. You can also take lard - it is very high in calories and gives a lot of energy. It is very convenient to pre-pack the layout into bags and sign it by day. For example: “Dinner. Day 1.".
It is inconvenient and there is no time to do this on the route. The packages can be taped and sealed. It’s easier to put coffee, tea and sugar in a container for convenience.
The layout for a hike is a delicate, individual thing. You can reach the golden mean every time, taking into account the characteristics of both the team and the route. Here, as in many things, experience is needed. It’s not for nothing that the position of caretaker is one of the most difficult in a campaign. For example, for a hike of increased complexity, food norms per person will not be increased in weight, but shifted towards calorie content:
- Biscuits or crackers - 200 g;
- Cereals - 180 g (three doses);
- Dried fruits - 30 g;
- Garlic and other spices - 10 g;
- Freeze-dried meat - 60-70 g;
- Dry cream - 80-90 g;
- Hard cheese - 30 g;
- Glucose or sugar - 140-160 g;
- Hard sausage - 50-60 g;
- Lard (or butter) - 70-90 gr.
- Vitamin C.
- Salt - 30 gr.
How to create a tasty and healthy layout for hikes lasting from 3 to 10 days, weighing only 500 grams per person, can be read in this article.
Wheat diet
Most often, wheat is found on the table in the form of pasta, although in fact it brings more benefits in the form of cereals. Wheat has a particularly effective effect on the immune system, strengthening it, and also helps to lose extra pounds without feeling hungry during the day.
The wheat diet is best followed for a week. The cereal is cooked in water; adding salt, oil and spices is prohibited. To diversify the taste, you can complement the dish with steamed vegetables or fresh fruits.
During such a diet, professionals strongly recommend completely eliminating bananas, grapes and potatoes in any form from the diet, since these foods contain a lot of calories. It is best to drink green tea, which improves the functioning of the intestines and stomach and stimulates appetite, as well as low-fat fermented milk products and milk (homemade is recommended).
How to cook porridge for weight loss
To effectively lose weight, it is not enough to simply include porridge in your diet; it is important to learn how to prepare it correctly.
To prepare the right dietary porridge, you need to follow a number of tips:
- The porridge must be cooked in water. Milk porridge is higher in calories, and milk is a source of animal fat. It is better to choose water-based porridge recipes for weight loss.
- You should not boil the cereal if it swells in water - just pour boiling water over it and let it sit for a few minutes. Heat treatment destroys fiber and beneficial microelements.
- Do not add flavor enhancers - salt and sugar. Salt retains water in the body, which can lead to swelling, and sugar is a source of empty calories. For taste, you can add dried fruits, berries and nuts.
- When losing weight, you need to completely eliminate oil. In dietary porridge, butter can reduce the effectiveness of fiber.
- It is recommended to eat porridge in the morning and evening, but not before bed. It is necessary to consume porridge 3-4 hours before bedtime in order to have time to burn off the calories received.
- Cereal consumption should be regular - at least 3 times a week.
- For faster weight loss and improved fiber function, you need to drink at least 1.5-2 liters of water during the day.
These simple recommendations will allow you to get the maximum benefit for your body from introducing cereals into your diet.
Losing weight with pearl barley
Pearl barley really works wonders for those people who often turn to diets. Its benefits are undeniable; it is famous for its fairly high fiber content, as well as its ability to saturate the human body for a long time. Barley has a large amount of antioxidants, which have great benefits for skin and hair growth. And properly prepared cereals do a good job of cleaning the intestines from feces.
You can lose those hated pounds with pearl barley in literally a week. It must be prepared without adding any oils or spices. The only allowed addition is lemon juice. You can sprinkle it on a dish, thereby giving it an even more attractive aroma and taste.
Glycemic index of cereals: application for weight loss and diabetics
The glycemic index of a product (GI) is a kind of rating that indicates how strong the fluctuations in a person’s blood sugar level will be after consuming this product.
People who follow a healthy diet prefer foods with low and medium GI values.
It is advisable to eat foods with a high GI index without fat and sugar.
The glycemic index values are presented in the table:
Glycemic index | Meaning | Effect on the human body |
Short. | 8-40 | The product practically does not increase blood sugar levels. |
Average. | 41-69 | Moderate changes in the amount of sugar. |
High. | 70-146 | A sharp jump in blood sugar, an increase in insulin production by the pancreas. |
The glycemic index of cereal depends on:
- from the method of primary grain processing,
- on the degree of its grinding,
- on the method of heat treatment,
- from the recipe of the dish.
For example, unprocessed grains always have a lower glycemic index than processed grains. The reason is simple: the human body digests such a product more slowly.
Corn diet
Corn grits will help you get rid of excess weight quickly and most effectively. It should be boiled in regular water in a ratio of 1:4. The finished porridge must be divided into approximately 6 doses, the time intervals between which should be the same.
Corn takes quite a long time to cook, but you can reduce this time by pre-steaming the grain a couple of hours before cooking. As people note, in literally three days you can lose about 4-5 kilograms.
Cereals with a high glycemic index: list, table
The table provides a list of cereals whose glycemic index exceeds 59 units.
The list of cereals is compiled in alphabetical order.
Cereal name | Glycemic index |
Buckwheat done. | 65 |
Buckwheat core. | 60 |
Corn grits (polenta). | 70 |
Finely ground couscous. | 60 |
Finely ground semolina. | 60 |
Millet. | 70 |
Wheat groats. | 60 |
Millet. | 71 |
White fragrant jasmine rice. | 70 |
Long grain white rice. | 60 |
Regular white rice. | 72 |
Instant rice. | 75 |
Camargue rice (their French product from the Camargue region). | 60 |
Sorghum (Sudan grass). | 70 |
Rice diet
Any rice cereal contains complex carbohydrates that saturate the body for a long time. A good advantage of rice is the fact that it does not have to be cooked at all. After all, such cereals can simply be poured with boiling water and left overnight. This method of cooking reduces the number of calories.
In order to get rid of the hated kilograms, it is recommended to eat only brown or brown rice, and if necessary, simply reduce the number of calories consumed per day, you can also take white.
How to cook porridge correctly: recipes
Above we looked at general recommendations, now let's move on to recipes. It is not difficult to prepare porridges for weight loss that burn fat.
One of the simple recipes is to make buckwheat porridge. It must first be sorted out and washed with running water. Place a small amount of cereal in a container and pour boiling water over it, leave overnight - in the morning a portion of the porridge will be ready for consumption. It is recommended to prepare porridge for one serving.
It is also easy to prepare barley porridge. To do this, you need to boil water in a saucepan, add cereal at the rate of 1 cup per 3 cups of water. Cook the porridge for about half an hour, then let it cool.
Hercules porridge for weight loss is also one of the most popular. To prepare it, you need to pour a pan of water, bring to a boil and add cereal in small portions. At the same time, stir the porridge, otherwise the cereal may burn. Over low heat, the oatmeal porridge will cook in 15 minutes.