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The 90-day split meal diet
Last reviewed: 03.07.2025

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This is the title of a book by two journalist friends from Slovenia working in the field of gastronomic news. Based on the journalistic and gastronomic experience gained through working in magazines, the girls created their own system called "90-day diet of separate meals". They managed to make the process of losing weight a non-hungry and non-boring affair, thanks to which the system found millions of fans in all countries of the world.
Indications
Like other dietary systems, the 90-day separate nutrition diet aims to reduce body weight. The authors of the system, described in the book of the same name, assure that a three-month period allows you to lose 25 kg without experiencing too much hunger discomfort. Real indicators can be smaller, but minus 10 kg is an excellent result.
- Indications for appointment arise in those who want to lose weight not instantly and briefly, but thoroughly and for a long time. For this purpose, having gained patience and perseverance for at least 90 days.
When choosing this method, you should take into account that its effectiveness increases significantly when combined with physical exercise. The authors do not dictate conditions or impose a "mandatory program." On the contrary, the choice is yours: choose what you like, what is pleasant and easy to do. This is a guarantee that the classes will be regular. Just two hours a week of your favorite activities (yoga, exercise machines, dancing, walking) guarantee an improvement in weight indicators.
General information of the 90-day split diet.
The peculiarities and essence of the diet are that there is a cyclical alternation of protein, carbohydrate and other days with fasting days. This regime, unlike other dietary methods, can be used for constant practice.
- The 90-day diet of separate nutrition is combined with fitness. Regular exercises not only improve, but also accelerate the result.
Another advantage is that the diet does not require large monetary expenses: in general, they are comparable to standard expenses for this item of the family budget.
Journalists Breda Hrobat and Mojca Poljanšek managed to develop a plan that appealed to many people who wanted to lose weight but did not want to starve, longingly passing by grocery stores and pastry shops. Today, the authors continue to work in this field, although one of them left her homeland. But both are always ready to meet each other and an army of fans, speaking to interested audiences in various cities around the world.
They insist on the peculiarity that concentration for some time on one component and successive change of components accelerates metabolism so much that weight loss occurs without discomfort. Everyone can indulge themselves with many products and dishes, occasionally not denying even sweet delicacies, including for dinner. Which is not welcomed by most other diets.
Against the background of the abundance of permitted, some restrictions seem not so scary! After all, they are temporary, because the next day a completely different diet is offered. And so every four days.
Detailed menu for every day
The "90-day separate food diet" method involves 3 meals a day, starting with breakfast, the same throughout the entire period. If hunger is too much, then after lunch you are allowed to eat your favorite fruit. The last meal is before 8 p.m.
The volume of food, regardless of the detailed menu for each day, is determined as follows: the desired amount is divided in half - this is the recommended portion for protein, starch, fruit days. The motivation for a carbohydrate day for those with a sweet tooth is the permitted evening treats.
The quality of the products, the method of cooking and serving the dishes are important. Boiling and stewing should become priority methods of processing. Fried foods are allowed occasionally. Bread - in minimal quantities.
- For healthy eating, unrefined products with minimal processing are preferable. It is better to soak grains overnight, avoid using oil where it is possible to do without it.
The authors highly respect tomatoes and tomato sauce and recommend using these products daily, except for fasting days.
It is advisable to cook dietary food yourself. This allows you to control the quality of the products, the technology of preparation and the timely serving of dishes. The authors do not limit cooks in the moderate use of salt, herbs, natural sauces, although salt should never be abused.
Recipes
The 90-day separate nutrition diet program takes into account the cyclical features of the body, namely:
- The morning, from 4 to 12 o'clock, corresponds to cleansing; the body needs a minimum of food and a maximum of liquid.
- During the day, from 12 to 20 hours, the body optimally accepts and processes nutrients.
- At night, from 8 pm to 4 am, rest is required for normal digestion; the intake of new portions is undesirable.
The recipes for the dishes change daily as the concept of the day changes.
- For a protein menu, chicken breast, cut into pieces and fried in olive oil, is suitable. Garlic and spices, chili pepper add taste and aroma. Ingredients are poured with water and stewed under a lid until ready, served with salad and other greens.
- Pasta plays an important role in the carbohydrate diet. It is good if these are homemade noodle dumplings. They are prepared from flour, water, adding a little salt. The dough is kneaded to a consistency so that it passes through a colander with large round holes, and pressed through these holes directly into boiling water. The cooked product is served with sautéed onions and herbs.
- On a starch day, you can't do without potatoes. Casserole-moussaka is a dish that will appeal not only to those on a diet, but to all family members. To prepare it, you will need potatoes boiled in their skins, peeled and cut into circles. These circles, lentils, tomatoes, carrots are laid out in layers in a form, seasoned with oil and pepper, poured with broth or milk. The finished casserole is sprinkled with herbs.
- Vitamin Day is a joy for fruit lovers. Prepare a sweet and vitamin-rich treat from pears. Cut 3 large fruits into slices, soften them in a frying pan with water, vanilla, cloves, add cinnamon and honey to the cooled dessert. After the honey has dissolved, sprinkle the slices with grated nuts.
Benefits
The creators of the 90-day separate food diet are convinced that incompatible products in the stomach "do not get along" with each other. Their digestion is significantly complicated, and this leads to the deposition of fat on the body, toxins in the digestive system, blood and vessels. The benefit of the diet is that it does not allow such a development of events.
The principles of the system are such that it is possible to build a healthy diet on their basis and make it a norm of life. Those who find it difficult can repeat the diet regimen for stable weight, but not earlier than 3 months after the 90-day diet.
The diet involves the following rules:
- Breakfast is the same every day (vinegar-honey drink and fruit).
- Lunch is on time.
- Dinner – before 8 pm, moderate.
- Fruit snacks (apple, orange) are allowed.
- Drink plenty of water.
- Coffee, tea – unsweetened, milk – on protein day.
- Any juices are considered food.
- Any cooking method except frying.
- Physical exercise and walking are encouraged.
- Alcohol is prohibited.
- The fasting day is spent exclusively on water.
- It is recommended to keep a food diary.
What can and what can not?
What can you eat?
The 4-day cycles of the 90-day separate food diet alternate in a strictly recommended order. The days follow this order:
- protein;
- starch;
- carbohydrate;
- vitamin.
It is the protein day that determines the beginning of each cycle. After 7 such cycles, a fasting day comes. It is also called an aqua day, because then you do not need to think about what you can eat?: on the 29th day, they drink water - without gas and any additives.
- It is easy to calculate that 90 diet days include the following elements: 21 full cycles, 3 aqua days plus a short three-day cycle without a vitamin day.
The 3-month period gives you the opportunity to adapt to the dietary regime, leaning towards healthier habits and nutritional quality requirements than before.
Every morning you should start with a portion of mineral water mixed with a teaspoon of vinegar and honey. Warm water and apple cider vinegar are preferable. After drinking, it is time for breakfast, which consists of 1-2 fruits and a portion of berries. You can use any: seasonal, exotic, favorite.
The protein day diet includes any meat, fish, eggs, dairy products, non-starchy vegetables, and a slice of whole grain bread.
The starch day is less varied. The food consists of legumes, cereals, potatoes, vegetables, vegetable broth. A piece of the same bread is also allowed at lunch.
- Carbohydrate day is a paradise for lovers of flour. Pasta and yeast-free products, pizza with vegetables, crackers, even a cake for dinner; the menu is supplemented with vegetables, tomato sauce, cereals, 20g of chocolate.
Vitamin day, as you might guess, is full of fruit and vegetable products, including dried fruits, seeds, nuts, juices. Infusion obtained by soaking dried fruits is used.
The drinking regime includes 2 liters of plain water, tea and coffee are not prohibited (with milk - only on protein days). Fresh juices and smoothies are considered food, not drinks, so they can be taken only on those days when such food is allowed. Alcohol is strictly prohibited by the authors, since it interferes with weight loss.
What shouldn't you eat?
Each weight loss system first answers the question: what can't you eat? This is important for a person who is going to lose weight, but always hopes to do it "with little effort", that is, if possible, without changing his lifestyle too radically. And if he is forbidden everything he loves, he may refuse this method.
- It is only later, during the diet process and with the appearance of promising hints about the desired result, that an understanding of the importance of changes may come.
The 90-day separate food diet is good because it gets rid of excess weight and bad habits, allows you not to gain it again and to acquire healthy habits. And all this without requiring any special nutritional feats in return!
One of the principles of the system is not to combine protein components from different sources in one meal. That is, do not combine meat with beans, and fish with eggs. Do not prepare milk or curd sauces for meat and fish.
Liquid food should be eaten only after solid food. Bouillon cubes and concentrated industrial soups are permitted for use.
- Bread cannot be eaten in normal quantities, only a piece is allowed exclusively at lunch.
The lack of salt in the cooking process is compensated by spices. You cannot eat whenever you want, more often than the standard three times a day. Snacks are only fruit.
You should not eat more than half of the usual amount. For dinner, you should prepare less food than for lunch.
Contraindications
Any diet has contraindications. As a rule, a visit to the doctor is necessary to detect them, and this should not be neglected.
The ban on the 90-day separate nutrition diet applies to pregnant and lactating women, children, patients of gastroenterology departments. The system does not pose any danger to others who want to lose weight.
Possible risks
Anyone who is familiar with the problem of excess weight should understand that the key to a beautiful figure is a healthy lifestyle, which consists of a set of healthy habits. The 90-day separate food diet not only effectively reduces weight, but also helps to develop these habits.
If you follow the rules and exit correctly, the risks associated with the diet are minimal. Food portions should be increased gradually, and the separation and mode of intake should preferably remain the same.
When you quickly return to your previous diet, if it is far from perfect, the extra pounds return just as quickly, sometimes along with their “colleagues”.
Complications
To avoid possible complications, you should not act under the influence of emotions. It is necessary to take into account the state of health and, in fact, the need to resort to a 90-day separate food diet. The best advisor in this matter is a family doctor.
It is contraindicated to use the system in the presence of gastrointestinal diseases, during pregnancy and breastfeeding.
Reviews
The girls sharing their reviews claim that the diet works. Larisa writes that at the beginning of the 90-day separate food diet, she really needed willpower. And then, having seen the result, the emerging passion became her assistant.
Yunata reports a pleasant bonus: toned skin after a 5-month period. Sandra writes that she and her colleagues lost weight "easy and fun."
Results
The authors of the diet do not promise quick results. They recommend that after the 90-day period is over, you continue to drink quality water in the morning and eat 2 fruits, following the principles they suggest. That is, do not mix types of food and continue eating three times a day.
They convincingly prove that a 90-day separate food diet really changes the food culture. Appetite decreases, you want to eat "on schedule" and a little less. Although, if desired, the volume of food is allowed to increase a little. Psychologists confirm this thesis: indeed, any new habit becomes stable in 3 months.
If the result is measured in numbers, they look like this: with a slight excess of weight, 1-3 kg per month is lost; very overweight people can lose 18-25 kg in 3 months. During this time, the body gets used to healthy food and regulates the energy received evenly throughout the day. This helps to stay in a cheerful state of body and spirit and not to put excess in fat depots.
Among the abundance of weight loss methods, the 90-day separate food diet is relatively easy. Everything is possible, but not always. The diet is suitable for those who are ready to "work" on themselves for a long time and methodically, without limiting themselves too strictly. Those who want a quick effect can look for other options.