Lentils for weight loss: beneficial properties, how to use, reviews

A small pea can turn you into a feather. Read more about the benefits of lentils for your figure in the article.

Lentils are a vitamin-rich, nutritious, tasty and low-calorie legume. It would seem that with such advantages it should be on the menu all the time, but you rarely see it even in the kitchen bins. At the same time, few people know that lentils are present in the menu of many diets and themselves are the basis of a method for losing weight. A diet based on lentils gets rid of extra pounds easily and quickly, and in return for their efforts, a person who has lost weight receives not only decreased body volume, but also lightness in the stomach, good mood and motivation to further work on oneself.

What does the product contain?

Initially, you should familiarize yourself with the composition of the product.

Lentils are a legume crop that includes the following components:

microelements and minerals (magnesium, iron, potassium, copper, these elements help stabilize the functionality of the vascular system, heart, and restore nerve impulses);
fiber (one hundred grams of lentils contain up to thirteen grams of natural fiber);
vitamins (folic acid, vitamins B, A, which improve brain performance and help nutrients be fully absorbed in the body);
natural proteins and carbohydrates (one hundred grams of product contain only 25 grams of pure protein).

Lentils are popular due to their low glycemic index, which is twenty-nine. Due to such a low level, with small meals the blood sugar level practically does not increase.

This composition allows you to quickly remove excess fat and at the same time maintain normal health. Not all products can boast of such advantages.

Let's watch an interesting video about recipes for weight loss with lentils:

Do lentils help you lose weight?

Lentils are an excellent way to lose weight.

This is explained as follows:

The seed contains the required amount of protein. If the body does not receive proteins in sufficient quantities, then it is not the fat mass that begins to be consumed, but the human muscle tissue.
Carbohydrates inhibit weight gain and stabilize sugar levels.
There are so many dishes you can prepare that the menu becomes varied. They are prepared quickly and easily.
Lentils free the digestive tract from toxins and waste, restoring the efficiency of intestinal motility.

Nutritionists often recommend that patients lose weight in this way, especially if there are no contraindications for this.

Harm

Despite the many valuable properties that lentils have, the benefits and harms of this product for weight loss depend on the quantity and mode of its consumption. Benefit can only be obtained if all rules and recommendations of the diet are followed, and harm can only be achieved if the dosage is exceeded or there are contraindications.

The negative effects of lentil cereals can manifest themselves in various symptoms, including:

flatulence and stomach cramps caused by incomplete absorption of dietary fiber and other difficult-to-digest components in the small intestine - hemagglutinins, oligosaccharides, trypsin inhibitors;
the formation of stones in the gallbladder and an increase in the level of “bad” cholesterol due to the intake of large amounts of lysine, an essential amino acid that, when consumed in moderation, promotes the absorption of calcium, nitrogen retention and muscle growth, which improves a person’s physical performance;
development of renal failure due to increased workload to filter and excrete excessive amounts of protein;
hyperkalemia, caused by excess potassium intake and having no obvious signs other than weakness, fatigue, irregular heart rhythm and breathing, numbness of the extremities, and vomiting.

In any case, to find out whether you can eat lentils for a particular condition, you should definitely consult your doctor. It can significantly increase the load on the digestive tract and be difficult to digest even for a healthy stomach.

Reviews from those who have lost weight on lentils

Many people have lost weight this way, and the reviews are mostly positive. Let's imagine some of those we found on the Internet. We tried to choose diverse ones to make it easier for our readers to draw preliminary conclusions.

Alla, 35 years old: I’m finishing the lentil diet. The result is amazing. Now this option for losing weight has become a real lifesaver for me, especially after big family holidays and feasts. I also liked the variety of the menu. The dishes that were especially tasty for me were: lentil casserole, soup and salad. I ate when I felt hungry. In 14 days I lost 5 kg without any labor or physical activity. To maintain the result, I decided to hold fasting days 2 times a month and periodically cook lentils for dinner.

Olya, 19 years old: I wanted to quickly lose weight before the summer season. I decided to use the lentil diet. I did not like. The first days everything was fine, but then I couldn’t look at the lentils. I ate dishes based on it in small quantities and drank a lot of water. I lost 5 kg in 7 days, the result is good, but such a diet is clearly not my option!

Yulia, 29 years old: I am constantly struggling with extra pounds, I have tried different methods of losing weight. Lentil recipes caught my eye recently. I read a lot of positive things about the product and decided to try it. I chose the option of a strict diet, eating only lentils for four days. Then I switched to a more gentle diet - a classic one, eating lentil dishes only at night. I always lose weight slowly, so it’s too early to talk about the final result. I can safely say that the volume is going away, I feel lightness in my body.

Katerina, 52 years old: My son’s wedding is coming soon, I urgently need to lose weight. A friend recommended a diet with lentils. I like that, unlike other methods, the diet includes warm soups and side dishes. Lasted only 7 days. I wanted to lose 12 kg, but I only lost 4. But this result did not disappoint. After the wedding I want to continue losing weight.

Reviews say that there are both pros and cons. But there is always a result, the kilograms go away, although not as quickly as some would like.

Useful video

To learn how to make lentil soup, watch this video:

How to cook lentils correctly

If you cook lentils incorrectly, they will cause flatulence and intestinal discomfort.

To boil the product, you must act in accordance with the instructions:

Selecting the required type. Preference is given to red lentils, as these fruits are faster and easier to digest. Green and brown grains cause severe gas formation and heaviness in the intestines.
Before cooking, the grains should be thoroughly rinsed under the tap to remove excess debris and stones. Then the cereal is ground, thereby destroying all the fibers, which are what cause bloating and flatulence.
Now the product is soaked. You can cook it right away, but the water absorbs polysaccharides that cause gas formation. Lentils remain in water for so long until their volume increases several times. Swelling usually takes place from one to four hours.
The porridge is cooked with spices: rosemary, bay leaf, cumin, dill, coriander, oregano. Seasonings are added according to personal taste and preference. These spices eliminate some of the gases, and food is easier to digest.

Now the pan is placed on low heat for a couple of hours, when the grains are well cooked, they will become aromatic and tasty.

At the end, sour components are added to the container with porridge: apple cider vinegar, tomatoes or citrus juice. If you add these ingredients earlier, the lentils will not soften and the product will cause flatulence.

The recommendations are easy to use; if you follow them, you will not only be able to boil a healthy product, but also avoid health problems.

Diet options

There are several types of diet table for weight loss

Option 1: Classic diet.

This method involves reducing calories. One meal per day should be replaced with a lentil dish, preferably lunch or dinner. It is important to drink as much water as possible to avoid dehydration.

You should temporarily give up fatty foods, or reduce them in your diet. A rational menu will allow you to gradually lose weight, without any discomfort or imbalance in the body. Such a diet can last a long time, the main thing is to periodically consult with a nutritionist so that he monitors the condition. The average duration takes from thirty to ninety days.

Option 2: Strict diet.

Regular breakfast, lunch and dinner are completely replaced by lentil food. Drink at least two liters of water. Eat at least 4 times a day. This technique allows the female body to lose two to three kilograms in a week. Each option is good; a person should decide for himself what is optimal and effective in his case. Before making a decision, you should consult with a specialist; he will tell you exactly what to do in each individual case.

Is it possible to gain kilograms: the opinion of nutritionists

Many people who are planning to lose weight are primarily interested in the question - how much can you eat so that the weight goes away and does not increase. It seems that if we draw an analogy with other cereals, the proposed diet should increase weight, and not vice versa. But this is not true: you won’t get fat on simple lentils. Of course, if you cook soup or puree with fatty meat broth and eat it all with warm white bread, it will be difficult to keep your kilograms unchanged. If you act wisely, then with the help of lentils it is quite possible to get rid of 4–5 kilograms in a week. But, having decided to go on a lentil diet, you need to remember a few simple rules:

During the diet, you need to drink as much fluid as possible. It is optimal if it is plain water or green tea.
It is best to soak green or brown lentils for 8 hours before cooking.

Recipes for weight loss

These are the most commonly used recipes.

Soup recipe, ingredients:

cereal – 150 grams;
carrot – 1 piece;
onions – 1 piece;
meat broth - half a liter;
potatoes – 2 pieces;
sour cream and spices to taste.

Cooking rules:

The cereal is soaked for several hours in water at room temperature.
The onion and carrot are peeled, cut into small pieces and sautéed in a frying pan with sunflower oil.
Separately, peel the potatoes and cut them into cubes.
First, chopped potatoes are placed in the boiling broth, and after half an hour, cooked vegetables are added.
The soup needs to be salted, peppered, and other spices added to taste, such as herbs and bay leaves. Cook the dish for another twenty minutes.
Before serving, add a spoonful of sour cream to the soup.

Lentil flatbread recipe

Components:

onion – 1 piece;
grains - one glass;
chicken egg - 1 piece;
flour - 2 tablespoons (before this, the flour should be sifted through a sieve).

Cooking method:

Soak the lentils in hot water for an hour; they should increase in size several times.
Then the resulting mass should be removed from the water and left in the fresh air until completely dry.
Now the lentils together with the onion are twisted in a meat grinder, spices, flour and eggs are added.
Small cakes are formed from the resulting pulp, which should be lightly fried over low heat on both sides.
Served with sour cream and herbs.

Recipe: Cream soup with omelet.

You will need:

eggs – 2 pieces;
chicken or vegetable broth - 200 milligrams;
lentils – 150-200 grams (should already be ready);
butter - a tablespoon.

The eggs are beaten well and poured into the pan to prepare an omelet.

To prepare the puree soup, pour the broth, cereal and butter into a container, mix everything and beat it with a blender. Now the pan is placed on the stove, the soup is brought to readiness. Preparation takes 15 minutes. The dish is served with an omelette.

Dumplings and mushroom sauce recipe

Ingredients: 200 grams of cooked lentils; 1 chicken egg; 1 medium-sized onion (should already be finely chopped); 1 tbsp. spoon of wheat flour; 50 milligrams of olive oil.

Method of preparation: Mix all ingredients thoroughly with a blender. Dumplings are made from the resulting mass, which are then boiled in salted water.

For the sauce we use:

200 grams of any mushrooms;
a couple of spoons of sour cream;
parsley;
salt pepper;
White wine.

All components are stewed in a frying pan until cooked.

Recipe for cooking lentil porridge in a slow cooker

The recipe for making porridge is very simple, you will need the following ingredients: half a liter of water;

300 grams of cereal (red type);
carrot;
medium bulb;
4 tablespoons of homemade adjika.
Garlic, salt, herbs and other spices are added to taste.

Cooking principle:

The onion is cut into neat cubes, and the carrots are cut into small strips.
The baking mode is selected on the dial and the time is set to 20 minutes.
The vegetables are fried for ten minutes, then add the garlic. The multicooker is closed until it is completely ready and the program is turned off.

The cereal is washed a couple of times with running water and poured into the already cooked vegetables. Everything is filled with water, peppered and salted, adjika is added (if it is not there, you can replace it with tomato paste or juice).

The “porridge” mode is turned on for fifty minutes. After the specified period, the porridge is completely ready for consumption. You can cook other lentil dishes in a slow cooker; such food turns out more flavorful and healthy.

And another porridge recipe - on video:

Which one is better to choose - red, green, black, brown?

Today, the lentil variety includes several varieties of the legume plant. All of them are valuable products from a nutritional point of view. Therefore, when making a choice, you need to focus on the dish in which you plan to include lentils.

Different colors of grains will tell you which product to give preference to. Lentils are:

Green . It takes longer to cook than other varieties, but retains its shape and structure during the process. Therefore, it is best used for preparing salads and included in complex vegetable stews. The spicy taste will add piquancy to the dish and eliminate the need to use large amounts of salt and other spices.
Red . An ideal product for making porridges, purees and cream soups. It does not require pre-soaking and boils very quickly. The pleasant neutral taste makes this variety a good basis for culinary experiments. And using it as a side dish will not interrupt the taste of the “main” dish on the plate.

Black . Its small grains resemble black caviar in appearance, which is why this variety is sometimes called “beluga”. During the cooking process, their color changes, so without any special “aesthetic” concerns, such lentils can be added to first courses, appetizers and side dishes.
Brown . A distinctive feature of this variety is its pleasant nutty flavor. Traditionally it is used to prepare thick soups. But it will also perform well as the main ingredient in vegetable cutlets, pancakes or casseroles.

Since lentils are a legume with dense grains, it is recommended to soak them in cold water before cooking (with the exception of the red variety). Depending on the color, the residence time in the liquid can range from one to eight hours. Then the product is washed, poured with clean water and cooked over low heat without adding salt until cooked.

For convenience, instead of a regular saucepan, you can use a double boiler or pressure cooker.

About the types and benefits of lentils, watch this video:

Who is contraindicated for use?

Diet is always stressful for the body, even a very healthy one, and if there are chronic diseases, then this can provoke a number of negative consequences.

It is contraindicated to use lentils for weight loss in the following cases:

With a weak immune system and a weakened body due to a recent illness.
Breast-feeding.
Pregnancy period.
Internal bleeding.
Intestinal colitis.
Patients with diabetes mellitus.
Presence of hemorrhoids.
Chronic blood diseases.

To protect yourself in advance from unforeseen consequences, before starting to lose weight by any method, you should consult your doctor and nutritionist.