How does the lemon diet work, what does it consist of? Is it effective? Let's also find out through a weekly menu to understand what to eat, but above all the contraindications and the opinion of nutritionists.
Don't store avocado like this: it's dangerousHow does the lemon diet, what's it about? Is it effective? Let's also find out through a weekly menu to understand what to eat, but above all the contraindications and the opinion of nutritionists.
Lemon diet, a trendy diet that cyclically returns to reappear, promising rapid weight loss. But how does it work? It is a good choice for anyone who wants to lose weight as well what contraindications does it have?
Il lemon it is a beneficial and healthy food with which many of us start the day sipping the now well-known cup of water and lemon. But you know it even exists a diet in which this citrus fruit is the protagonist? Let's see what it's about.
Index
Lemon diet, how it works
La lemon diet was created by Dr. Martine Andrè and it quickly became famous all over the world thanks to the fact that several stars have declared that they use it to lose weight and keep fit.
This diet takes advantage of thedraining and detoxifying effect of lemon, a fruit able, if used in the correct way, to keep the sense of hunger at bay, improve the problem of water retention and cellulite and more generally accelerate the metabolism promoting weight loss. The lemon diet promises in fact rapid weight loss which can go up to 3 kilos per week.
All this would be possible thanks to a large consumption of lemons in the form of juice and in particular to a drink based on water, lemon juice, Maple syrup and cayenne pepper useful for activating the metabolism and promoting the good work of the intestine.
Lemon diet, what to eat
The peculiarity of the lemon diet conceived by Dr. Andrè is that of having to take a specific drink every day which is prepared using the following ingredients:
- 30 cl of water
- 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
- 2 spoons of Maple syrup
- A pinch of cayenne pepper
The lemonade thus obtained it should be drunk as soon as you wake up, just before going to sleep but also immediately after it mid-morning snack and mid afternoon. However, Dr. Andrè did not limit herself to recommending this. The lemon diet also includes other foods throughout the day, mainly yogurt, fresh and dried fruit, oat flakes, vegetable salad, wholemeal bread, soups, legumes, fish, chicken breast, eggs, bread and wholemeal pasta.
It is therefore a low-calorie diet in which, in summary, it is possible to take mainly:
- Lemon juice
- Yogurt
- fresh fruit
- Dried Fruit
- Oatmeal
- almonds
- Pottage
- Legumes
- Fish
- Avocado
- Extra virgin olive oil
- chicken breast
- eggs
- whole grain bread
- whole wheat pasta
Weekly menu scheme
We offer you a weekly menu of the lemon diet by way of example. However, if you want to experiment with this diet or lose weight, we recommend that you rely on a professional to have a personalized plan tailored to your specific needs.
MONDAY'
Breakfast: half an hour before about lemonade then yogurt (also vegetable), 2 tablespoons of oat flakes and fruit
Snack: fresh fruit and lemonade
Lunch: vegetable soup with wholemeal bread
Snack: dried fruit and lemonade
Price: fish with vegetables dressed with lemon juice
Before going to sleep: lemonade
TUESDAY'
Breakfast: about half an hour before lemonade then fruit salad, barley coffee and some almonds
Snack: raw vegetables and lemonade
Lunch: Risotto With Lemon
Snack: dried fruit and lemonade
Price: chicken breast with vegetables dressed with lemon juice
Before going to sleep: lemonade
WEDNESDAY'
Breakfast: about half an hour before lemonade then fruit salad and toast
Snack: fresh fruit and lemonade
Lunch: bean salad with vegetables dressed with lemon juice
Snack: fresh cheese, raw vegetables and lemonade
Price: omelette with vegetables topped with lemon juice and wholemeal bread
Before going to sleep: lemonade
THURSDAY'
Breakfast: about half an hour before lemonade then oats, fruit and yogurt
Snack: a handful of almonds and lemonade
Lunch: wholemeal pasta with vegetables
Snack: fresh fruit and lemonade
Price: lentils, salad and wholemeal bread
Before going to sleep: lemonade
FRIDAY'
Breakfast: about half an hour before lemonade then fresh fruit and wholemeal bread
Snack: raw vegetables and lemonade
Lunch: wholemeal tuna pasta with vegetables dressed with lemon
Snack: dried fruit and lemonade
Price: fish with vegetables dressed with lemon juice
Before going to sleep: lemonade
Saturday
Breakfast: half an hour before about lemonade then yogurt (also vegetable), 2 tablespoons of oat flakes and fruit
Snack: almonds and lemon juice
Lunch: toast and vegetable soup
Snack: fresh cheese and raw vegetables, lemonade
Price: white meat with vegetables dressed with lemon juice
Before going to sleep: lemonade
Sunday
Breakfast: about half an hour before lemonade then fruit salad topped with lemon
Snack: dried fruit and lemonade
Lunch: brown rice with vegetables
Snack: raw vegetables and lemonade
Price: low-fat cheese with vegetables and wholemeal bread
Before going to sleep: lemonade
Lemon diet, contraindications
Like all fast and trendy diets, even that of lemon has some contraindications. Most of the time it is not balanced, proposes a fast weight loss in the face of the possibility of find yourself fighting with the yo-yo effect that is, the fact of gaining weight quickly once the diet is interrupted.
The real problem however is that it is a diet that it does not instill a correct dietary education and which therefore does not propose a way to eat healthy and lasting in the long term. Furthermore, if you follow it for too long, since the lemon diet does not ensure all the nutrients useful to the body, you can see it appear: tiredness, bad mood, difficulty concentrating, headaches and other symptoms.
Excessive use of lemon juice can ultimately cause damage to tooth enamel as well as accentuate a gastritis pre-existing.
The nutritionist's opinion on the lemon diet
We have in Enrica Bovio, nutritionist biologist and molecular biologist, an opinion on the lemon diet. Here's what he told us:
"The lemon diet is a diet that, albeit with various modifications, has been present in magazines for more than fifty years with different names (Master Cleanse, Lemonade Detox Diet) and has recently come back 'in fashion' because it is followed by several VIPs. The variants of the lemon diet are many, we move from extreme dietary regimes that provide a diet exclusively based on a drink made with lemon juice, maple syrup, cayenne pepper and water accompanied by drinks taken for laxative purposes for ten days, up to more 'acceptable' variants that include other types of foods in addition to the usual lemon-based drink ".
Why do these diets attract people so much?
"Why promise rapid weight loss with a treatment of a week or so. Undoubtedly, the possibility that such a diet will work is high, but who would not lose weight on a pseudo-fast? There is talk of a very restrictive, highly low-calorie diet, unbalanced because it does not offer the right quantities of macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins, lipids) and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals). There is no scientific evidence (unlike other diets such as the Mediterranean or the Dash) capable of demonstrating any beneficial effect of this type of diet. Often the focus is only on the result, i.e. weight loss, which needs to be achieved as soon as possible but are you really leaner after a week on this diet? Actually no, you lose weight but not fat mass in such a short period, what we leave behind is mostly water and if this regime that mimics fasting continues even longer over time, we risk losing, in addition to liquids, even a part of our lean mass. Actually, therefore, we lose weight but in an incorrect and potentially harmful way, keeping our fat mass practically intact ".
Will the pounds lost remain after the diet is over?
“No, as soon as you finish the diet the weight lost is regained because it is too rigid a regimen to maintain. Another point not to be underestimated is the little pleasure of this 'miraculous' diet where one is forced to drink lemonade for days and where alternatives on solid food (when present) are scarce. With such a diet you risk a constant state of hunger, fatigue due to lack of energy because you eat too little and wrongly plus other even less pleasant side effects such as potential fainting, headache, nausea, vomiting, cramps stomach, damage to tooth enamel and last but not least, a permanent goodbye to good mood. Why get so hurt? Diet doesn't have to be painful to the body. The diet cannot be reduced only to a calculation of calories and a result that must arrive within a very short time, the same objectives can be achieved by working with the nutritionist who can develop more practical alternatives made on the needs of the person and his needs, he can respond to your questions and help you feel better about your body, starting together a path that will lead to an improvement in your diet and lifestyle ".
Would you feel like recommending it?
“I would not recommend the lemon diet because as mentioned before it is on the verge of fasting, too rigid, offers few alternatives, you immediately regain the weight lost and does not favor the transition to a correct diet. I do not recommend it especially for people with pathologies and to people belonging to more sensitive categories such as children, pregnant or breastfeeding women and the elderly".
You may also be interested in the following diets:
- ICE CREAM DIET
- HYPOCALORIC DIET
- SLIMMING DIET
- VEGETARIAN DIET
- DIGIUM MIME DIET
- ZONE DIET
- DIET DISSOCATED
- PROTEIN DIET
- DIET OF MINESTRONE
- SLIMMING WITH GINGER
