- Composition and useful characteristics
- Benefits and contraindications
- How to use it correctly?
- Dietary recipes
- General recommendations
Beets are an affordable vegetable, the regular consumption of which brings invaluable benefits to the body.
It contains a huge amount of vitamins and microelements. Due to its nutritional value and low calorie content, beets are one of the most useful foods for weight loss. Let's look at how to consume this vegetable to lose extra pounds.
The benefits of beets for weight loss
Beets, especially raw ones, have a huge number of beneficial properties. It is rich in vitamins, macro- and microelements. The healing effect of this vegetable for various diseases is widely known.
Beetroot is used in the treatment of hypertension, anemia, constipation and even cancer. In addition, the vegetable is popular in cosmetology and, of course, for weight loss.
Operating principle
How do beets help you lose weight? Firstly, it has a powerful laxative effect. Secondly, the vegetable is rich in fiber and pectins, which help cleanse the stomach and intestinal walls.
In addition, betaine contained in beets normalizes liver function, helps restore fat metabolism and promote faster saturation. Curcumin, which the root vegetable is rich in, fights fats already present in the body and prevents the deposition of new ones.
Beneficial features
In addition to the beneficial properties already listed, beets remove toxins, heavy metal salts and radionuclides from the body. In its raw form, the vegetable strengthens the walls of blood vessels, improves the functioning of the digestive system and acts as a wonderful source of energy.
It is believed that beets increase male sexual activity. For women, the vegetable helps in the fight against mastopathy, menopause and menstrual irregularities, and is also indicated for use by pregnant women.
Raw or cooked
For weight loss, beets are consumed in a wide variety of forms: raw, boiled, baked or beet juice. The most effective and healthy thing is, of course, raw beets and their juice. At the same time, diets often combine vegetables in different forms (raw, boiled, baked).
In its raw form, beets contain the maximum amount of useful substances, which are significantly reduced during cooking. However, there are a number of restrictions when consuming fresh vegetables.
Beneficial properties of beets
It is advisable to consider the beneficial properties of the vegetable in the context of its rich composition:
- The presence of citric, oxalic, folic and other acids is necessary for the complete absorption of carbohydrates and maintaining the acid-base balance. Gamma-amic acid is necessary for full brain activity.
- Betaine normalizes liver function, which in turn has a positive effect on metabolism in general. It also helps with the oxidation of fats, which means their breakdown.
- Curcumin prevents the accumulation of adipose tissue and the development of blood vessels in it.
- Fiber is indispensable for the digestion process, since, along with betaine, it promotes cleansing and also creates a satiating effect.
- Complexes of vitamins B and P strengthen and restore the nervous system.
- Potassium normalizes water metabolism, potassium is involved in the formation of bone tissue, and both of them are necessary for the health of the cardiovascular system.
- Iron is necessary in the blood.
- Zinc in sufficient quantities ensures healthy and beautiful skin.
- The iodine in a vegetable determines its ability to increase the level of this trace element in the blood, as well as hemoglobin, so beets are an essential product in the diet of patients with endocrine diseases and anemia.
- All microelements in combination reduce cholesterol levels in blood vessels, so the use of drills is considered a good prevention of diseases such as atherosclerosis and thrombophlebitis.
In addition to the listed properties, the vegetable has a beneficial effect on the restoration of the body and gives it strength, therefore it is recommended for all people with high physical or mental activity.
Losing weight with beets correctly
Nutritionists have developed several options for diets with beets and beet juice. As a rule, they are used for unloading, but there are also weekly beetroot diets, and even diets for a month.
Losing weight on beets certainly has other benefits besides weight loss. Eating this vegetable leads to overall health and lack of hunger. It serves as an excellent remedy for the prevention of constipation, and also saturates the body with useful substances.
Fasting day
Eating beets on a fasting day helps you lose up to 1.5-2 kg. The menu for the day is simple:
- Breakfast - salad with fresh ingredients: carrots, beets, cabbage, prunes. Grate the vegetables on a coarse grater and season with olive oil.
- Lunch – salad of beets, carrots, apples and seaweed, seasoned with kefir. You can drink 250 ml of milk.
- Dinner – baked beets with cottage cheese and herbs. Green tea with lemon is a good drink.
Important! It is better to spend such fasting days no more than once a week.
Diet for a week
In this version of the diet, the main dish is a salad of grated beets and carrots, seasoned with low-fat sour cream. It is recommended to alternate salads from fresh and boiled vegetables in your diet.
1 day:
- breakfast: salad, whole grain toast, tea (no sugar, you can add low-fat milk);
- lunch: salad, boiled rice;
- dinner: chicken soup with beets, apple.
Day 2:
- breakfast: oatmeal porridge with water, low-fat yogurt, tea with honey;
- lunch: salad, baked chicken;
- dinner: potatoes baked with herbs and vegetable oil, kiwi.
Day 3:
- breakfast: salad, two whole grain toasts, tea (no sugar, you can add low-fat milk);
- lunch: salad, low-fat baked fish;
- dinner: lean soup.
Day 4:
- breakfast: oatmeal with low-fat yogurt;
- lunch: salad, chicken breast (boiled or baked);
- dinner: casserole of vegetables and herbs.
Day 5:
- breakfast: salad, two whole grain toasts, tea (no sugar, you can add low-fat milk);
- lunch: salad, boiled rice;
- dinner: baked vegetables, 250 ml low-fat kefir.
Day 6:
- breakfast: salad, two whole grain toasts, tea (no sugar, you can add low-fat milk);
- lunch: salad, a piece of hard low-fat cheese;
- dinner: vegetable stew (without potatoes).
Day 7:
- breakfast: salad, low-fat yogurt, oatmeal, tea (no sugar, you can add low-fat milk);
- lunch: salad, baked chicken;
- dinner: boiled egg, steamed rice, tomato.
After leaving the diet, it is recommended to stick to a healthy diet and avoid eating sweets.
Rules for eating vegetables during a diet
Excessive consumption of beets, especially raw, can be harmful to the body. Before going on a beetroot diet, be sure to consult your doctor. You can use it no more than once a month, and arrange a fasting day on root vegetables - no more than once a week. There are also a number of rules that must be followed when choosing a beetroot diet.
Firstly, you will have to completely eliminate sugar from your diet, since beets contain a large amount of it. Secondly, those who adhere to the beetroot diet and those who arrange fasting days with this vegetable need to drink at least 2 liters of water per day.
It is better to choose raw beets - they contain the most nutrients. However, the likelihood that it will harm the body is also greater than when eating boiled vegetables. Try to alternate them.
Reference. The rich red root vegetable is considered the most useful.
The most important thing is to follow the restrictions and do not forget about the contraindications for consuming beets.
How to properly prepare beet juice
Oblong-shaped beets are suitable for a healthy drink. Before use, it must be cleaned and the part with the tops removed. You can prepare the beneficial extract according to the traditional recipe.
The beets need to be grated. The pulp must be squeezed through cheesecloth. You can also press it through a sieve. An easier way to prepare it is to use a juicer or juicer. In this case, a pure drink comes out without impurities and with all the beneficial substances preserved.
After the fresh juice is ready, you need to remove the foam from it. This will speed up the breakdown of harmful substances, and the drink will be useful to drink in reasonable dosages.
Restrictions and contraindications
Diabetics will have to refrain from the beet diet and raw beets, as the vegetable contains a large amount of glucose. In addition, the diet is contraindicated for hypotensive people, people suffering from gastrointestinal diseases (especially gastritis and frequent diarrhea) and urolithiasis.
In this case, it is better to exclude raw beets from the diet and replace them with boiled ones. Remember that the amount of nutrients in the vegetable will decrease sharply.
Beetroot diet for 7 days
There are 2 options for the seven-day beetroot diet:
- For supporters of a healthy lifestyle and proper nutrition, it is enough to have dinner with a raw beetroot and green apple salad during this time.
- For people whose usual diet includes a large number of harmful high-calorie foods, a special fractional nutrition system has been developed. In a week of this diet you can get rid of 4-7 kg. Its menu is presented in the table below.
Breakfast | Snack 1 | Dinner | Snack 2 | Dinner | For the night |
Buckwheat or oatmeal in water without spices - 100 g ready-made, 200 g salad of boiled beets and greens | Low-fat yogurt or 100 g foot curd | Boiled lean meat or fish - 100 g, vegetable stew (without potatoes) - 200 g | Any low-fat fermented milk product - 1 cup, prunes - 50 g | Baked beets with olive oil - 200 g | A glass of kefir |
Diet dishes
There is good news for those losing weight on beets: there is a huge variety of dietary dishes with this vegetable. Here are the most popular recipes.
Beet and carrot salad
Ingredients:
- beets – 1 pc.;
- carrots – 1 pc.;
- freshly squeezed lemon juice – 1 tsp;
- greenery;
- unrefined oil.
Wash and peel the vegetables, grate them on a fine grater, and chop the greens. Mix by adding lemon juice. Fill with oil.
Beetroot with garlic
Ingredients:
- beets – 1 pc.;
- garlic – 2 cloves;
- mayonnaise;
- salt and pepper to taste
Wash and peel the beets, grate them. Chop the garlic and add to the beets. Season with mayonnaise, add salt and pepper.
Of course, due to mayonnaise, this dish cannot be considered 100% dietary. At the same time, beets retain all the beneficial properties, as well as a laxative effect that will cleanse the intestines and get rid of 1-2 extra pounds.
Beet salad
Ingredients:
- beets – 1 pc.;
- vinegar 6% – ½ tbsp;
- vegetable oil – 2 tbsp;
- salt and pepper to taste.
Boil and cool the beets, cut them into thin bars. Pour in vinegar and leave for 20 minutes to allow the vegetable to soak in the marinade. After this, drain the liquid, season the salad with oil, add salt and pepper.
Beetroot with kefir
Ingredients:
- beets – 1 pc.;
- kefir 1% – 250 ml.
Pass the ingredients through a blender. This makes an excellent diet cocktail that can be used as a snack.
Salad "Brush"
Ingredients:
- beets – 1 pc.;
- carrots – 3 pcs.;
- white cabbage – 500-700 g;
- olive oil – 2 tbsp;
- freshly squeezed lemon juice.
Wash and peel all vegetables. Grate the carrots and beets on a coarse grater, chop the cabbage finely and mash a little so that it releases the juice. Next, mix it with the rest of the vegetables, let it brew for 5-10 minutes and season with oil. You can add lemon juice and herbs for taste.
Beet juice
Beetroot juice is also very useful for weight loss. Of course, it is better to squeeze it yourself, so you will get the maximum of nutrients contained in the root vegetable.
Important! Freshly squeezed juice should not be consumed. Be sure to let it sit for 2-3 hours.
The most popular and effective mix of juices for weight loss: beetroot, carrot, cucumber with grapefruit, plum and celery juices.
Light diet
Menu for 3 days. You will lose 1 kg of excess weight per day, and this is already an excellent result.
For three days you will need boiled beets, a fresh drink, and still water.
Every day you will eat 1 kg of boiled vegetable, drink 1.5 liters of water and 1 liter of kefir.
Boil the root vegetable, peel, cut into small pieces, sprinkle with lemon juice. Eat slowly with a drink. You can eat vegetables separately, drink kefir separately. The result will be noticeable already on the first day.
If it is difficult to eat these 2 foods, prepare a drink:
- Grind the boiled root vegetable in a blender.
- Add the drink and grind again.
- Put 1 tsp. honey
Efficiency
Basically, weight loss with beets is achieved due to its two properties: laxative and fat burning. The beetroot diet, of course, is not the one on which you lose 20 kg per month. At the same time, it is considered a fairly effective way to lose weight at home.
You should not believe enthusiastic statements that you can lose 15 or even 20 kg on beets. On fasting days it takes up to 1.5-2 kg. Those who adhere to a weekly beetroot diet get rid of 4-6 extra pounds in a week.
To prove it, here are some reviews of girls who actually lost weight on beetroot diets.
Seven-day diet plan
It is more difficult to decide on 7 days of this regime. But the fact is that you can add fish, seafood, chicken, turkey, rabbit and fruits to your diet . Cook meat and fish steamed or boiled. Due to the addition of protein products, this diet is easily tolerated, and you can lose 5-7 kg!
A day you need to drink 1.5 liters of fermented milk, eat 1 kg of boiled root vegetables, 400 g of protein products and 2 fruits.
Reviews of those losing weight
Masha: “Once a week I make myself a fasting day with beets baked in the oven. It helps to lose weight and improves digestion. During this day I lose up to a kilogram, without particularly starving, because beets are very filling.”
Irina: “I decided to try a diet and spent 2 days on a salad of baked beets and olive oil. She held up well, really lost 1 kg, even her complexion became less pale.”
Svetlana: “I’ve been on a diet for 6 days, my result is 5.600! But what pleases me most is not even the plumb line, but the condition of my stomach and intestines. This is what it means not to eat fried, over-salted, seasoned and sweet foods! The lightness is amazing, it seems as if it took not 5 kg 600 g, but all 10 kilos!!! It’s already noticeable in terms of volume.”
Regina: “In 7 days minus 8,100! How it was sitting: very, very good. For those who are afraid of starving, the beetroot diet is just it! I wanted to eat very rarely, I always remained full. As a matter of principle, I ate absolutely everything that was indicated in the diet. Total: BEFORE the diet I weighed 67.4 kg, AFTER – 59.3. Height – 168 cm.”
Experts' opinion
Nutritionist Ksenia: “Many people are interested in the question: how to lose weight with beets? As an expert in such matters, I recommend being more careful with her. Firstly, the natural product is a strong laxative, which is not acceptable for all people. Secondly, it can provoke an allergic reaction. Before starting a diet, you should consult a specialist.”
Nutritionist Lydia: “Mono-diets are possible, but only according to indications. Yes, they give good results, but this is short-lived. Long-term abuse of such monodays is dangerous for the body.”
Gastroenterologist Angelina: “You shouldn’t blindly trust reviews on the Internet. Before you start losing weight, be sure to consult your doctor. Days on juices, vegetables and any other strict “unloading” can manifest or aggravate gastrointestinal diseases.”
Is it possible to lose 15 kg in a month?
Losing more than 6 kg per month is considered stressful and not healthy for the body. With the help of beets, you can achieve this result if you do not use anything other than raw root vegetables and water. This will definitely have a negative impact on your health.
Real figures with a competent approach to losing weight - 5-8 kg (depending on the initial weight) - a very realistic figure. To do this you need:
- Adjust your diet and consume only approved foods and only those that have undergone gentle chemical treatment. Eat raw or cooked beets at one of your meals every day.
- Include regular physical training.
- Maintain drinking regime.
- Eliminate stressful situations.
- Recover - sleep at least 7-8 hours a day.