‘Reverse diet’ help woman to loss 17kg weight in six months
Through reverse diet, Thi Khanh Thu lost 17 kg in six months. Start her meals with boil or soup bowl of vegetables, along with slightly sweet fruits, then fish and meats before concluding with rice.
The 30-year-old CEO of a souvenir business living in Hanoi. She weighed 67kg despite being only 1.58m tall in 2022. Hence she talked with a nutrition coach who introduced her to the reverse diet, which suggests consuming vegetables at the beginning of meals, followed by proteins, and finally carbohydrates. This specific eating order helps control calories and blood sugar and helps Thu to lose 17kg in six months.
Starting her diet she prefered food for all nutritional groups. She mainly ate whole grain starches, including brown rice, whole grain bread, sweet potatoes, and oats, and avoid to eat refined starches such as white rice, and white bread. With her three proper meals of the day, she also had two or one snack per day with fruit to satisfy her craving.
To avoid dullness during diet she diversified her diet by adding various types of vegetables and fruits. She mainly selected low-sugar fruits such as cucumbers, Jicama, pomelo, dragon fruit, guava, apple, pear, oranges, and tangerines, while limiting mangoes and durians, To satisfy her protein she particularly avoided red meat and oily dishes, and preferred poultry and seafood instead.
Water intake plays a very crucial role in her weight loss journey. Thu drank two or a half litre of water a day and avoided consumption of soft drinks, tea and coffee.
Dr Truong Cong Hau, Thu’s nutrition coach suggested to Thu, how to manage excessive hunger between meals. He recommended having vegetables before the main dishes will help her to slow down the process of food absorption and digestion, specifically carbohydrates, and promote blood sugar control, preventing sudden blood sugar increase. This habit will help people to control the amount of food consumed in each meal, and help to improve weight management.
Reverse diet proved by many nutrition experts, Dr. Truong Hong Son, director of the Applied Medicine Institute of Vietnam also recommended that eating vegetables at the beginning of a meal stimulates the digestive system activity. This activity happens gently and slowly because vegetables are rich in fibre and not highly dry or tough.
Compared to having meat and rice at the start of a meal causes to release of digestive fluids in the stomach to digest dry, tough food, mainly causing stomach discomfort. That’s why having vegetables before the main meal helps the digestive system and the way the body absorbs food. Eating vegetables before meals limits the consumption of sugar and fat in foods by reducing the desire to eat afterwards.
She preferred certain cooking methods such as mainly boiling or steaming her dishes, followed by stir-frying, frying, and grilling without a direct flame, such as over foil, or using an air fryer and even frying without oil. She preferred healthy oils such as olive oil and avocado oil to cook and make salads, and tried to avoid animal fats, vegetable oil and butter. She preferred to eat slowly, chewing foods and focusing on sensing the texture, colour, and flavour of the foods.
With her perfect diet plan, she tried to adhere to the habit of going to the gym five times a week. “A crucial element in any weight loss strategy is establishing a calorie deficit,” the doctor said. “This involves ensuring that the calories you consume are fewer than or equal to the calories you expend.”
I am a dedicated student currently in my seventh semester, pursuing a degree in International Relations. Alongside my academic pursuits, I am actively engaged in the professional field as a content writer at the Rangeinn website.
