Crash diet

Translated from English, crash means to destroy, to break. It means fast extreme weight loss. This name covers any diet that strictly limits the consumption of daily calories (no more than 800 kcal), or reduces the amount of consumed products to 2-3 names. One of the authors of such a blitz weight loss (10 kg in 15 days) is sports physiologist Lyle McDonald.

The nutritionist wrote a book on this topic, in which he outlines a scientific approach to quickly getting rid of excess fat. The essence of the diet is to limit calories, but not to deprive a person of proteins, vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids necessary for the normal functioning of the body. In this case, the benefits will prevail and the harm to health will be minimized.

Its main principle is to reduce carbohydrate consumption. Replaceable nutrients are excluded from the diet, and proteins and omega-3 acids come from food. Without receiving a source of energy in the form of fast carbohydrates, the body begins to burn its own fat reserves. Combining such a nutrition system with physical exercise will allow you to lose weight, but not muscle mass.

General information crash diets

There are different types of crash diets: berry, yogurt, seafood, lemonade, ketogenic and others. The diet depends on the chosen nutrition system and each one is dominated by products that match the name. The main thing is to count calories and not go overboard with the energy value of food. A menu for 2 weeks of a not too extreme diet may look like this:

Day	Breakfast	2nd breakfast	Dinner	Afternoon snack	Dinner
1st	Oatmeal on water (250g), half a glass of skim milk	Apple	Lenten borscht (250g)	Banana	Boiled chicken breast (100g), fresh vegetable salad
2nd	Porridge "3 grains"	Orange	Vegetable soup	Strawberry	Buckwheat porridge
3rd	Low-fat cottage cheese pancakes	Dried fruit compote, crispbread	Vegetable stew	Pear	Cabbage cutlets
4th	Yogurt with breadsticks	Grapefruit	Homemade soup with weak chicken broth	Cherry	Boiled fish
5th	Hard cheese, apple	Milk	Stewed cabbage with champignons	3 walnuts	Salad of cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, dressed with sour cream
6th	Boiled cauliflower	Kiwi	Lenten cabbage soup	Yogurt	Boiled beef, green peas
7th	Cottage cheese	Apple	Baked meat, green beans	Compote	Vegetable soufflé
8th	Hercules porridge	Orange	Rice with vegetables	Plums	Baked fish with lemon
9th	Buckwheat porridge	Pear	Sorrel borscht with beef broth	Yogurt	Chicken with broccoli
10th	Cheese, a piece of bread	Fruit salad	Fish soup	Nuts	Protein omelette with vegetables
11th	Durum wheat pasta topped with cheese	Grapefruit	Pea soup with chicken broth	Dried fruit compote	Salad of cabbage, carrots, greens, boiled meat
12th	Oatmeal porridge	Low fat cottage cheese	Vegetable moussaka	Milk, bread	Fish, tomatoes
13th	Cottage cheese	Banana	Vegetable stew with a piece of turkey meat	Apple	Boiled egg, grilled zucchini
14th	Buckwheat porridge	Milk	Meatball soup	Orange	Meat soufflé, vegetables

The difficulty of these diets is in the significant reduction of portions. With an average norm of 2000-2500 kcal necessary for a full-fledged human existence, they are reduced by a third, so crash diets are short-term. If someone has the health to sit on it for a month, then the diet menu can be repeated daily, starting from the first week.

Recipes

The dishes from the diet menu are simple and uncomplicated, with a limited set of products. Housewives know that it turns out delicious when you fuss for a long time, use high-calorie products, fats, seasonings. In the case of crash diets, even an inexperienced person in cooking can cope. Here are some recipes for dishes:

• buckwheat porridge - the cereal is washed and placed in a thermos, then poured with boiling water in a ratio of 1:2, it is steamed overnight and can be eaten for breakfast. It is good to make a vegetable salad with it, seasoned with olive oil. In about 10 minutes it will release juice, which can be poured over the porridge;
• omelette - sauté onion, zucchini, pepper, tomato in a frying pan. Beat the egg, add a little milk, pour into the frying pan. Chop the greens before serving;
• fish - whole or in pieces, cover with lemon wedges, wrap in foil, bake in the oven;
• stew - chop white cabbage, onion, carrot, sweet pepper, tomato, zucchini, eggplant, you can add mushrooms, other vegetables available, add a little salt, sprinkle with sunflower oil and simmer;
• moussaka - layers of onions, carrots, sliced celery root, chicken, eggplant, bell peppers, tomatoes are placed and baked in the oven for 40-60 minutes.

What can and what can not?

The list of products recommended for nutrition during the diet days includes those in which protein predominates and fats and carbohydrates are absent. What can you eat? From protein products you need to choose:

• lean red meat;
• chicken or turkey meat;
• lean fish (pollock, cod, hake, halibut);
• hard cheeses and cottage cheese with low fat content;
• egg whites;
• seafood (squid, crabs).

Along with these products, the menu should include fibrous vegetables: asparagus, white cabbage and Brussels sprouts, broccoli, celery, zucchini, mushrooms, cucumbers, squash, sweet peppers. The fiber in their composition will give a feeling of satiety and promote intestinal peristalsis. The daily number of meals is at least 4 times, portions are small. Daily intake of a spoonful of fish oil or flaxseed oil is mandatory. Once a week you are allowed to eat something tasty, not included in the diet, but without excesses. And of course, you need to drink a lot to remove waste products from the body.

Crash diets exclude carbohydrates from the menu, which means flour, sweets, and fatty foods. As with any other diet, you cannot eat spicy, smoked, canned, or fried foods.

Contraindications

Only healthy people can resort to diets, especially such strict ones. They are contraindicated, first of all, with problems of the digestive tract, cardiovascular diseases, renal failure, etc.

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Possible risks

Crash dieting can slow down metabolism, weaken the immune system, lead to dehydration, and cause problems with the liver and kidneys. Complications associated with cardiac activity and intestinal dysfunction are possible. Skin, nails, and hair may be damaged.

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Reviews

According to those who have tried this diet, and these are mainly girls who urgently needed to get in shape for upcoming significant events, there really is a result. Some managed to lose 3-4 kg in a week. But everyone unanimously warns that it is difficult to maintain the weight, after a short period of time it returns.