Diet of Dr. Kovalkov: features of each stage. List of foods included in the Kovalkov diet

Who are you, Dr. Kovalkov?

Today, the Russian nutritionist, Doctor of Medical Sciences Alexei Kovalkov, according to leading business magazines, is one of the most demanded nutritionists in Moscow. His face is well known to viewers of the largest television channels – Dr. Kovalkov willingly consults on healthy eating and weight loss in popular programs and talk shows. And today the Kovalkov diet is incredibly popular …

Having developed, based on his own experience, one of the most thoughtful and safe diets from the point of view of health, Alexey Kovalkov founded his own clinic, where more than 6 thousand people have already successfully lost weight. In addition, Alexey Vladimirovich outlined the essence of his methodology in several books.

Judging by the many satisfied reviews on the forums and the unrelenting interest in the Kovalkov method, tens of thousands of Russians were able to lose weight and change their lifestyle, guided by these publications as a complete guide for losing weight.

Kovalkov’s diet against diets!

A fundamental point in the nutritional method of Alexei Kovalkov was his decisive and somewhere even aggressive criticism of the modern approach to weight loss. Dr. Kovalkov is against any mono-diets, strict diets and, in general, the principle of a sharp restriction on the amount eaten. In his opinion, if a person regulates weight by periodic “dieting”, this leads to alternation of periods of fasting and drunken gluttony and, subsequently, to irreversible psychological changes.

“Any ban sooner or later comes back to you with an irresistible desire,” Kovalkov is sure, comparing a starving person on a diet to a prisoner awaiting release with the intention of making up for lost time.

Trying only to reduce your weight at any cost, you will not achieve success. Because, as the English say, you can’t be too rich or too slim. Having become thin as a result of starvation, a person acquires a fear of gaining the hated kilograms again and invariably wants to become even lighter; such tactics not only shatter the nerves, but in advanced cases can also lead to anorexia.

To gain and maintain a healthy weight, you must:

• understand the reason why you have the extra pounds;

• realize the responsibility for the state of weight (the doctor will not lose weight for you!);

• correctly and specifically formulate your goals, taking into account the long-term perspective.

The credo of the Kovalkov diet: everyone has a chance to become healthy and slim, without arranging for themselves executions. The main thing is to accept the mechanism of weight loss, and the awareness of the benefits for the body will become the main motivation. Most diets and “magic” methods, such as fat burning pills, stellar exercise complexes or golden needles in the ear, assume that you are not taking care of your slimness, but something from the outside. The Kovalkov diet makes the person losing weight responsible for what is happening. And, if you take this approach, the result of the Kovalkov diet is not long in coming.

Diet Kovalkov: not to be a victim of the “compressed spring”

Dr. Kovalkov compiled a professional diet, following which, you can influence the entire set of body systems in a complex and gradual manner. Only constant work on yourself allows you to lose weight and maintain a normal weight without harming your health, and the Russian nutritionist has proved this by his own example. The main task that the Kovalkov diet sets itself is to help cope with food addiction (and, first of all, addiction to sweets), and not overweight. It will go away by itself when you start eating what you need, in adequate quantities and at the right time.

Benefits of the Kovalkov diet:

• lack of fanatical accounting for the number of calories consumed;

• a healthy balanced diet, taking into account the necessary proportions of proteins, fats and carbohydrates;

• the ability to independently choose food and make up the right diet;

• no need to starve and constantly limit yourself in nutrition (with consistent adherence to the stages of the diet).

The purpose of the technique is to change the metabolism, and this is an individual process, which is dangerous to spur on, otherwise there is a risk of becoming a victim of the “compressed spring effect” and getting back the lost weight too quickly. The doctor does not name specific terms, but promises: if you follow the Kovalkov diet, weight loss is a matter of time. The main thing is to keep your distance!

Have you decided to lose weight according to the Kovalkov method on your own? Before you start a new life without boring extra pounds, go through at least the simplest examination at the clinic. In the event that you suffer from serious and chronic diseases, refrain from diet and consult a doctor. It is also highly discouraged to fight for a slim figure without the full-time support of a specialist if your excess weight exceeds 30 kg.

Stages of the Kovalkov diet

The author divided his methodology into three conditional stages: preparatory, basic and supporting. Each of them has a different meal plan. In addition to changes in the menu, losing weight will see tangible changes in the dynamics of life: the Kovalkov diet pays great attention to aerobic exercise in the form of walking. And at the decisive stage of following the technique, when metabolic changes are already in full swing, and the body is capable of new achievements, strength exercises are added to aerobic loads.

The nutritionist is sure that it is regular activity in the form of a simple walk that provides an optimal load on the body’s systems, without causing discomfort from sudden changes in the way of life. Indeed, if a visit to the gym for many of us becomes a whole enterprise, which takes a long time to prepare and which is so easy to miss to just walk, no special preparation or expense is required.

A little more detail about each stage of the methodology of Dr. Kovalkov:

The first stage on the Kovalkov diet: the right start

Each of the stages of the diet according to the Kovalkov method has its own approach to the menu. At any stage, vegetables, if possible, are eaten raw or in the form of a salad, meat and fish are boiled, steamed or baked. Cereals are steamed with boiling water. You can make mashed potatoes, soup, stews from allowed products – there are no restrictions in the form of serving. You can give free rein to your culinary imagination, remembering, however, that fried is under the expected prohibition and it is necessary to refrain from canned food, deep-fried food, fast food and semi-finished products.

At the first stage of the Kovalkov diet the consumption of animal protein (both meat and poultry, fish) is excluded, and foods with a glycemic index (GI) above 60 leave the diet. For example, sweets, baked goods, white rice, beets, potatoes, pasta, carrot.

Low GI vegetables, legumes, minimally processed grains are preferred at this stage. You can eat egg whites (it is recommended to eat the whites of two eggs before bedtime), nuts (pine, almonds, walnuts – you must definitely eat a handful for breakfast), dairy products, cheese (feta cheese, Adyghe). It is important to carefully control the consumption of fats, but you cannot completely abandon them, limiting the daily “dose” at around 30 g.

Bran plays an extremely important role on the stage of the first stage of Dr.Kovalkov’s methodology. The consumption of bran at this stage of the diet must be gradually increased, bringing up to 100 g per day and always washed down with water or a fermented milk drink. Bran by the way is an excellent means of fighting hunger!

Strong alcohol and beer are excluded from the diet (if the Kovalkov diet is followed, it is allowed to drink red dry wine, but not more than 250 ml and only for dinner), honey, chocolate, dried fruits. From fruits, the author of the diet especially advises to “lean” on apples – their use helps to cleanse the intestines. However, keep in mind that fruits are preferable to eat in the morning, as they contain some amount of sugar.

During the initial period (2-4 weeks), it should be eaten in small portions five times a day. Serving size is an individual matter. Choose the amount of food so as not to feel hunger, but you should not feast either. Please note that lunch in the usual sense and at the usual time is excluded at the first stage. Remember to drink at least 4-5 glasses of plain water. An obligatory addition is walking in a rhythm that is comfortable for you, but always daily.

The first stage of the Kovalkov diet is not in vain considered the most difficult: many are faced with the “withdrawal syndrome” of fast carbohydrates and animal proteins, experiencing real “withdrawal”. In the early days, fatigue and irritability, even bad sleep are common – this is due to the fact that the concentration of fats and their decay products in the blood goes off scale. To mitigate these unpleasant side effects, the developer recommends being in the sun more often and taking L-carnitine, which helps burn fat in muscles with increasing aerobic activity (during the preparatory stage, it is important to gradually increase the amount of time spent on the legs, trying to reach the 4 thousand steps a day).

The second stage of the Kovalkov diet: weight loss tricks

The second stage of the Kovalkov diet when observed in his clinic, it is calculated individually, depending on how the body reacted to the first stage. The menu is compiled according to the same principle. At this time, metabolic processes change in an intensive mode. Separately, it should be said that women should “guess” the entry into this stage from the second (progesterone) phase of the menstrual cycle.

At the beginning of this stage, it is important to immediately start accustoming yourself to a clear daily routine that you plan on your own, depending on your employment and temperament (but the time for eating, walking and resting from day to day should be the same). And at first it is important to save energy, taking care of the metabolic restructuring of the body. There are still five meals, but they are redistributed – you have lunch again!

From the foods in the diet, cabbage, cucumbers, radishes, onions, garlic, spinach, parsley, lettuce, apples and pears, citrus fruits (especially grapefruits), blackberries, viburnum, mountain ash, blueberries and lingonberries, pine and walnuts, almonds must be present , low-fat dairy products. For breakfast, you can eat buckwheat with bran and almonds crushed in a coffee grinder (2 tablespoons of cereal per 1 glass of kefir).

It is recommended at the beginning of the second stage of the Kovalkov diet to pass a hair analysis for trace elements: due to the abundance of vegetables, strontium can accumulate in the body, which interferes with the absorption of other trace elements.

Gradually, portions of protein are introduced into the lunch menu in the form of low-fat cottage cheese, lean beef, veal, white chicken and turkey meat, fish (seafood should be consumed at least 2 times a week), and seafood. For breakfast, you must continue to eat a handful of nuts, and before bed – two squirrels (not two eggs!). Now you have entered the main, “cruising” mode of the Kovalkov diet. Protein consumption at this stage should not be less than 70 g per day (how to calculate the optimal amount of protein for yourself, see below), it is recommended to eat meat food with vegetables, and, for example, fish – with cottage cheese.

The second stage of Dr. Kovalkov’s diet, consisting of two stages, is the main one in his methodology. Its duration is individual and can be as long as several months, or a year or even more. During this time, you are, in essence, teaching your body to live by new rules and reaching a normal weight. To find out for yourself this indicator, use Broca’s formula.

Calculation of the normal weight according to Broca’s formula

Normosthenic type (proportional chest). Normal weight is:

• growth minus 100 with growth up to 165 cm,

• growth minus 105 with a height of 166-175 cm,

• growth minus 110 with a growth of more than 175 cm.

Asthenic type (narrow chest) minus 10% of the resulting figure.

Hypersthenic type (wide chest) plus 10% to the resulting figure.

Individual calculation of the amount of protein per day for the second stage of the Kovalkov diet: Normal weight X (multiply) 1 g – (minus) 15%.

Observing the menu of the second stage of the Kovalkov diet, follow the arrow of the scales – when you have 10% of excess weight left, start to introduce strength loads into the company for walking. With the start of training, the menu includes cereals.

Second stage: weight loss stimulus – loading days!

During the second stage, the weight decreases slowly. If he is “stuck” at one point, it’s time to arrange a day that Kovalkov calls “loading” – the amount of food is sharply increased by half, which “shakes up” the metabolism. On “loading” days, eat foods that are low in fat and high in slow carbohydrates and proteins (vegetables, cereals, fruits high in fiber). And also do not forget about water. The frequency of “loading days” is once every 2-3 weeks.

Also, no more than once a month, you can, if desired, carry out “cleaning” rice or watermelon days. If you have a watermelon day – from morning to evening, eat only watermelons without limiting the amount eaten. Rice day, in fact, stretches over two days – during this time you are supposed to eat a pan of rice porridge prepared according to a special recipe:

• Cook 230 grams of brown rice, constantly adding water, until completely boiled. Add a glass of finely chopped dried apricots, a little salt, spices (for example, curry), stir well. Bon Appetit! During the rice day, you can drink unlimited water and green tea.

The third, final stage of the Kovalkov diet

It is assumed that by this time losing weight (more precisely, losing weight) had already gotten to know his body enough, realized his comfortable weight and learned to live in a “new” body and negotiate with it. Dr. Kovalkov deliberately does not give his readers precise instructions about the menu, limiting himself to recommendations and their explanation: it is assumed that, knowing the basic mechanisms, a person will make himself a healthy and varied diet.

In the third stage the task is performed with the help of a properly selected diet and an easy, but constant aerobic load to maintain the desired weight for the next 2-3 years, therefore, the basic rules mastered during the second stage continue to operate.

The list of products at the final stage of the Kovalkov diet is gradually expanding, but their glycemic index and the amount of fats, proteins and carbohydrates are still under control. Portions can also become larger, and it is important to make all changes very smoothly, gradually returning to the diet already forgotten ones, for example, butter and baked potatoes. If, of course, you want to, many of those who have experienced the effect of the Kovalkov diet admit that food habits change once and for all. And they easily walk several kilometers a day. Just because they got used to buns and got used to walking.

What and how to drink on the Kovalkov diet

High-quality drinking water stands on an imaginary pedestal in Dr. Kovalkov’s food system. The restructuring of the body’s metabolic processes, even if it is gradual and thoughtful, becomes a serious burden. If you drink enough and, most importantly, constant doses, toxins, salts and metabolic products are removed without problems. In addition, providing a load on the kidneys, water activates the production of adrenaline by the adrenal glands, and this hormone speeds up the metabolism.

How much to drink on the Kovalkov diet? The doctor himself recommends the following: always keep a bottle of clean water on hand, wrapped in a bright strip of colored tape. As soon as your eyes fall on the bottle, take at least a sip. Drinking is about uniformity, not quantity. And to find out how much water your body needs per day, divide your weight in half. The resulting value is approximately the required volume of water in ounces (1 ounce – 30 ml).

You need to drink water before eating, and not after – so it will not “carry away” the gastric juices and will not change their concentration. The older a person is and the more problems he has with the gastrointestinal tract, the longer the pause between drinking and eating should be (up to 30 minutes before meals and up to one and a half hours after).

To combat the feeling of hunger, which suddenly arose out of place, when it is still far from the planned meal, Dr. Kovalkov recommends using not any water, but alkaline (low or medium mineralization). Such water reduces appetite, relieves acute hunger and allows you to get satiated with less food.

And be careful with the water temperature! Cold water not only threatens a sore throat, but also aggravates the feeling of hunger: washing down food with an ice drink, it is impossible to get enough (fast food chains know about this and put this mechanism at their service).

When following the Kovalkov diet, you can also drink green tea – up to 4 cups a day, without sugar. Coffee is also not prohibited, but only without sugar and in reasonable quantities.