Trying out different diets only to figure out which one works the best for you can be tiring. But, diets shape our bodies as well as our mind. Just as the internet catchphrase says, “You are what you eat”. Exploring various diets before settling on one would be better than just trying any random diet found on the internet. Today this article will present a to z of the mono diet to you. Read on to find out about what it is, how this works, and if it would be helpful in your weight loss journey or not.
What is a Mono Diet?
The monotropic diet is also known as a mono diet. It is a diet that involves eating only one food item or food group for all meals for a certain period. Usually, this period is 3-5 days. As per some nutritionists, this aids the metabolic process and speeds up digestion.
Mono Diet Foods List
The mono diet isn’t all that restrictive on the food list. It’s up to you to choose which food item you want to stick to for a few days at a stretch. Some examples are,
- Any type of fruit
- Any vegetable
- Eggs
- Potatoes
- Milk e.t.c
Mono Diet Meal Plan
A meal plan for a mono diet is quite unnecessary. You merely need to pick a food item. Your calorie intake will depend on that food item. So it’s important to choose one with fewer calories or you might just get the opposite results. Vegetables or fruits are great food group options to pick the food item from.
Mono Diet Recipes
Here is a splendid easy-to-do recipe to get started with a mono diet.
Mango Spinach Smoothies
Ingredients
- 4 cups of spinach
- 1 mango
- 1 spring basil
- mango cubes for toppings
Recipe
- Peel and deseed the mango.
- Blend it with the spinach till the consistency is creamy.
- Add the basil to it and blend it at a slow speed.
- Fill the smoothie in a glass, and top it up with some mango cubes. Your mono diet food is ready to be served.
Mono Diet Benefits
Mono diet can be considered beneficial for specific reasons,
- Simplicity – The mono diet is one of the very few diets that don’t require rummaging through meal plans and recipes.
- Immediate Results – If a person only consumes a single food item, it would be harder for them to overeat. Thus, due to lesser calorie consumption, the person will automatically start losing weight. The mono diet is great to kick-start weight – loss.
Mono Diet Disadvantages
The mono diet isn’t evidence-based. The diet’s claim to boost metabolism doesn’t have any scientific proof to back that up. This is why it’s advisable to go through the cons of this diet before deciding whether to go for it or not.
- Highly Restrictive: To keep the body healthy and functioning various nutrients are necessary. It’s not quite possible to get all the important nutrients from a single food group. Which makes this diet over-the-top restrictive.
- Can Be Harmful To The Body: When you are having only one food, you are consuming too much of certain nutrients. Which is harmful to the body. For example, having bananas only for a few days consistently would lead to excess potassium and sugar in the body. This can cause heart problems and type 2 diabetes.
- Not Effective In The Long Term: The mono diet helps lose weight rapidly at the beginning. For a week at most, it can work. However, it’s not suggested to go on this diet in the long run as it can take a toll on your health and body. However, If you have been struggling with weight loss and other diets didn’t work then, you can try the mono diet for a few days. Then try switching to a different long-term diet. It would be a great strategy for achieving your weight loss goals.
- High Cravings: Due to the restrictive nature of a mono diet, one can experience intense cravings for the foods one can’t have. Once the diet is over one might even end up overeating. Which dismisses the entire point of following a diet.
Who should not try the mono diet !
Someone who is looking to gradually lose weight and maintain it, shouldn’t try out this diet. As mentioned before, the mono diet is ineffective in the long run. If you have eating disorders or any health issues, (i.e. – Heart problems, unhealthy liver, diabetes risks e.t.c) then also the mono diet could be extremely dangerous for you. Since the restrictions on other food groups or excess of a certain nutrient might make your health condition worse. Your best bet would be to take a doctor’s advice to check if the mono diet would suit you or not.
Is the mono diet good for stomach issues?
According to some people, a mono diet helps in resetting the guts and digestive organs. Taking a break from complex meal plans and recipes and filling up yourself with only one type of food strengthens the digestive function. Once again, this is all based on the experiences of some users and is not scientifically proven. If you have had weak digestion for a while now, you can try this diet for 2-3 days.
Here are some tips to make it work
- Start your day with lemon water.
- Choose between easy-to-digest healthy foods, for example – Steamed peas, steamed potatoes, and papaya with lettuces.
- Do a little experimenting before committing completely to a single food.
On the web, it’s not easy to differentiate between a good diet and a terrible one. At times a healthy diet doesn’t get hyped up merely due to a lack of popular influencers promoting it. Whereas, a short-term terrible diet gets overhyped by being advertised and recommended by celebrities. Before trying any new diet one should do their research. Everyone’s body is different and reacts differently to the same diet. So some diets can be efficient for a person and those very same diets can affect someone else’s body negatively.