Is it possible to gain weight from dates on a diet?

General rules

Many people are not even aware of the benefits of dates, which are provided by their vitamin and mineral composition.
And in the dried form, which is more familiar to us, they do not lose their quality. This delicious sweet treat can be eaten with tea, milk, kefir or cottage cheese. 100 g of dates contain: 2.5 g of protein, 0.5 g of fat, 69 g of carbohydrates, 6.0 g of dietary fiber.

The amino acid composition is characterized by the presence of 23 amino acids - this content is not found in most other fruits. The predominant vitamins are B5 , PP , B6 , B1 , and the predominant micro and macroelements are potassium, manganese, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, and calcium. The calorie content of the product is 292 kcal.

Their benefit is that:

• They are very nutritious, so they can be used as a source of energy. If you want to have a snack, then a date will be the best natural alternative to sweets or chocolate bars.
• The high fiber content (100 g contains 30% of the daily value) helps improve intestinal function.
• The presence of dietary fiber, selenium and other antioxidants (vit E and C) reduces the risk of cancer.
• Improve sleep and stabilize mental state. The amino acid tryptophan takes part in the synthesis of melatonin (sleep hormone) and is a precursor of serotonin , a neurotransmitter that in the blood turns into a hormone that regulates mood, sleep, human emotional reactions, as well as food reactions. When serotonin levels increase, a feeling of satiety occurs, appetite is suppressed and correct eating behavior is formed. Serotonin levels increase when eating foods high in carbohydrates and proteins.
• The high content of potassium and magnesium ensures the coordinated functioning of the cardiovascular system.

With all this, 100 g of dried fruit contains a third (32.8%) of the daily requirement of carbohydrates - this is the highest content compared to other fruits. The sweetness of the fruit is provided by the carbohydrate content (mainly fructose and glucose). Fructose is broken down only in the liver, and it can only process a small amount of it. The excess turns into fat, unlike glucose , which is stored in the muscles and liver in the form of glycogen . In this regard, the consumption of dates is contraindicated for people suffering from diabetes and obesity .

In this regard, the question arises: is it possible to eat dates on a diet? On the one hand, this dried fruit provides a sufficient amount of fiber and vitamins, but on the other hand, the high sugar content adds extra calories. In addition, these fruits have a high glycemic index , so they have an undesirable effect on blood sugar levels - they cause a sharp rise in it, followed by a release of insulin , normalizing blood sugar and a rapid onset of hunger. This is not acceptable in a weight loss program.

During any diet aimed at losing weight, fewer calories should be taken in than the body uses. For weight loss, these dried fruits can only be used if you control your diet and strictly take into account calories. One fruit contains from 24 to 66 kcal, depending on the variety. For comparison, half a grapefruit contains only 40 calories, but is more filling, filling your stomach and providing more fiber.

The fructose contained in dates does not cause the release of leptin , the hormone that signals satiety, so it is easy to overeat them if you do not strictly control yourself. Overeating entails storing it in the form of fat “in reserve”, which was mentioned above. Moreover, fructose turns into fat much faster than glucose (30% of fructose immediately goes into fat).

You should not completely abandon these fruits. You need to approach the consumption of valuable fruit without fanaticism and limit their quantity. So, you can use dates in a low-calorie, balanced diet, as an alternative to sweets and as snacks. Their benefit in this case lies in the ability to suppress the feeling of hunger for a while, bring pleasure to the person losing weight and a good mood. The optimal norm is to consume 50-60 g of dates (6-8 pieces). It’s better to eat them in two doses in the first half of the day to burn off carbohydrates during the day (it’s even better to go to training).

If a special date diet is undertaken for weight loss, the amount of fruit increases. Let's consider several diet options.

Mono-diet

The diet only involves eating dates (optimally 12-14 dates per day, and the maximum amount is 500 g), water, green tea, and herbal infusions. When consuming 500 g of dried fruits you will get 1460 kcal. You can only stay on this diet for two to three days. Then nutritionists advise introducing fruits, vegetables and protein dishes (meat or fish for lunch).

However, there is the option of eating only dates, water and tea for 4 days, and from the 5th to the 10th, apples and pears are added to the diet. Eating fruits and dry fruits can be alternated or combined together in a fruit salad. From the point of view of separate nutrition, it is not advisable to combine sour fruits with carbohydrate foods in one meal, so if you choose citrus fruits, they should be consumed in a separate meal. According to the developers of this type of diet, you can lose weight by 6 kg in 10 days.

Nobody argues that these dried fruits are useful as a replacement for buns, sweets, waffles or halva, but not as such a long-term mono-diet. This is not an easy, and most importantly, unhealthy way to lose weight. A sweet diet quickly becomes boring, can increase appetite, and many experience physical and mental discomfort. Due to the complete absence of protein (there is very little of it in dried fruits), serious physical activity cannot be undertaken. To maintain the achieved results, it is recommended to adhere to a healthy diet including protein foods, vegetables and fruits and to actively engage in sports.

Date diet - second option

It is suggested to consume these dried fruits and milk (or kefir). This is a more affordable option, at least it contains protein products.

Its duration can vary between 3-7 days. It is impossible to observe longer than the specified period due to the imbalance of the diet - the predominance of carbohydrates, lack of protein and fats.

The diet consists of 25 dried fruits (200 g) and 3 glasses of milk (kefir). Fruits are divided into 3 doses of 8 pieces, they are eaten with milk (kefir). Daily calorie content will be 884-900 calories. Weight loss - from 300 g per day.

In any case, this is also an option for an unbalanced mono-diet, which it is not advisable to adhere to for more than 3 days. The reduced weight will quickly return to its original level, since mononutrition slows down metabolism .

The best nutrition option is to follow a balanced diet with the introduction of sweet treats in reasonable quantities.

• Breakfast - 150 g of low-fat cottage cheese, green tea (coffee) with 4-5 dried fruits.
• Second breakfast: kefir (yogurt) and 3 pcs. dates.
• Lunch: vegetable salad, grain bread, boiled chicken 150 g.
• Afternoon snack: apple (fruit salad) or vegetable salad if you are tired of sweets.
• Dinner: steamed fish, stewed vegetables, tea.
• At night: any fermented milk drink.

During the day you will eat 8 pieces of dried fruit (64 g), which will increase your daily calorie intake by 186 kcal. You can compose your diet at your own discretion and ensure that the total calorie content is no more than 1300-1350 kcal. Please note that the sweet treat is added to the diet in the first half of the day.

Is it possible to gain weight from eating dates on a diet?

Too many kilocalories and carbohydrates in date palm fruits give reason to doubt whether your favorite delicacy will spoil your figure, because a product that has 70 grams of carbohydrates (per 100 grams of dried fruit) is quite difficult to call dietary.

The undoubted advantage of the fruit is its high glucose content, which in turn saturates the brain and prevents the development of fatigue and drowsiness, which is typical for all those who lose weight. Still, despite their high usefulness, you should not get carried away with dates due to their high content of simple carbohydrates, which tend to be deposited in the form of subcutaneous fat.

If you decide to try a date diet, do not forget about physical activity. The energy that enters the body must be expended and in no case accumulated. Try to be in the fresh air as often as possible, take walks, move more and pay attention to moderate physical training.

Benefits of dates on diet

Dates are an excellent complementary ingredient to a balanced diet. In addition to the fact that dried fruit can be consumed in its standard form, you can prepare various dishes based on it, which will significantly diversify your diet when losing weight. For example, you can make date-based jam. You must first remove the seed and use a blender to puree the fruit. The resulting paste is spread on low-calorie rye bread and consumed with herbal tea as a breakfast.

Dried fruits have minimal sizes, which allows you to take them with you on the road or eat them at a time when it is not possible to fully take the next meal.

In what quantities and at what time of day can you eat?

Is it possible to eat dates on a diet? We discussed above. Now let's talk about what time it is allowed to consume dried fruit without harm to the figure. If you have already tried this dried fruit, you probably know that it is almost impossible to eat even 100 grams, and doing this is highly not recommended. If we are not talking about a mono-diet, then the best option is to eat no more than three fruits per day.

To avoid gaining weight, nutritionists recommend eating dates for an afternoon snack. Thanks to its unique composition, the product will enrich you with energy and activate brain activity.

It is important! Eating dates at night is highly recommended, as there is a high risk of converting carbohydrates into fat deposits.

What can you use dates with?

When following a balanced diet, dates can and should be combined with other foods. In order not to gain weight, they must be of plant origin. Fruits go well with dairy and fermented milk products, for example, fermented baked milk or kefir. Dried fruit is often added to various fruit salads. In this case, it is best to choose pear, melon or apples from fruits. The ideal combination is nuts: pine and walnuts.

It is important! You should not eat sweet treats with meat products.

As a vegetable, you can eat carrots at the same time. Grated raw vegetable and finely chopped dates with dried apricots are seasoned with olive oil. An excellent combination will not leave other household members indifferent, even if they do not want to lose weight and do not adhere to a diet.

Authorized Products

As we found out, a date diet for weight loss can include only this one fruit or in addition to it:

• Milk 1% or 1.5% three glasses a day.
• Kefir 1% three glasses a day.
• Apples, pears.

With a balanced low-calorie diet, the following are introduced:

• Vegetables (tomato, cucumber, lettuce, green beans, greens, all types of cabbage).
• Boiled (stewed) mushrooms.
• Boiled or baked lean meats, chicken fillet, fish.
• Berries and fruits.
• Cottage cheese 1% and 1.8%.
• Kefir, yogurt.
• Vegetable oils for salad dressing 2 tbsp. in a day.
• Chicken eggs, especially whites.

Table of permitted products

Fully or partially limited products

• Sausages, canned food, smoked meats, fatty meats, refractory animal fats.
• Dough products, baked goods, sugar, candies, jam, chocolate, confiture, ice cream, confectionery products.
• Fatty dairy products.

Table of prohibited products

Menu (Power Mode)

Advantages and disadvantages

Losing weight on dates: contraindications

Despite the 100% naturalness of the product and a lot of its beneficial properties, dates have a number of contraindications. First of all, it is worth noting that not everyone can tolerate this type of dried fruit. Some people experience problems with stool, bloating and other gastrointestinal problems after eating the fruit. You should avoid dates if the following factors are present:

1. Any degree of obesity. If the maximum weight greatly exceeds the norm, then it is recommended to exclude all simple carbohydrates from the diet, this includes dried fruits.
2. Presence of diabetes mellitus. As mentioned above, the fruit contains a large amount of sugar, which is why diabetics should not eat dates.
3. The presence of severe diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. This list includes chronic gastritis and stomach ulcers. Dates can provoke an exacerbation of the pathological process.

It is important! Before consuming date palm fruits, make sure there is no allergic reaction.

Date diet, reviews and results

Mono-diets exist and the most interesting thing is that there are their adherents. Perhaps this is due to the simplification of the diet and the fact that there is no need to prepare food. Nutritionists for a rational approach to nutrition in general and weight loss in particular. If you consider a mono-diet in which you are allowed to eat 500 g of these dried fruits, then you will get 1460 kcal per day. You can get the same number of calories by eating rationally, healthy and varied, including your favorite dried fruits in your diet. Sticking to a mono-eating diet is difficult and also unwise. Reviews from many confirm this.

• “... I think that losing weight on sweet carbohydrates is wrong - this is complete nonsense. Sweets greatly increase your appetite and make you want to eat something substantial. If you increase the portion of dates, then the calories will go off scale and there will be no benefit at all. I am for a normal diet without excesses and counting calories. I replace sweets with dates or eat 1-2 pieces each. with tea or kefir. And not every day, but when there is an irresistible craving for sweets. On a balanced diet (including various dried fruits and nuts), I lose weight at a normal pace, 500-700 g per week. Sometimes the weight will stop, but then it will slowly decline again.”
• “...I decided on a 10-day diet with dates. I can say that this is a hunger strike. I made it through the first day, being in a bad mood and hungry. On the first day it was minus 300 g. On the second day I broke down and ate a salad and washed it down with tomato juice. But this did not give rest to my stomach for a long time. The third and fourth days were normal in the morning, but then weakness appeared, hunger again, and in order not to feel it, I slept most of the day. In 4 days of suffering and poor health, I lost only 700 grams. I didn’t risk torturing myself further—it was physically impossible to withstand it. After that I had a breakdown and ate everything I lost in 4 days. I do not advise! Difficult and ineffective. Unless you sit on dates and kefir as a fasting day.”

Nutritional value, composition, benefits and harm

Important! The nutritional value of dates varies depending on their use in the diet.

100 g of fresh fruit contains up to 280 kcal, while a dried product of the same volume concentrates up to 320 kcal.

There are more than 1,500 varieties of dates. Dates are classified into soft, semi-dry and dry, depending on the softness of the ripe fruit. Another classification is based on the type of sugar contained in the ripe fruit: invert sugar dates, containing dextrose and glucose, and cane sugar dates, containing mainly cane sugar (sucrose). Most soft varieties are invert sugar dates, and most dry varieties are cane sugar dates. Dry date varieties contain little moisture, while soft or semi-dry varieties contain a significant amount of moisture and spoil more quickly unless the fruit is dried naturally or artificially. A fully ripened date is a fleshy fruit with a golden brown smooth skin.

Obviously, when creating a menu for the purpose of losing weight, it is advisable to give preference to fresh fruits.

Includes:

• proteins (6%);
• fats (up to 1%);
• carbohydrates (up to 70%).

Dates are rich in plant sugars, fiber, vitamins, and essential amino acids. Among the main beneficial substances are:

• zinc;
• potassium;
• magnesium;
• iron;
• vitamin C;
• B vitamins;
• vitamins of group A;
• calcium;
• tryptophan, alanine, valine, leucine, glutamine and so on (in total, one date contains 23 different amino acids).

Scientists believe that 10 dates per day is enough to meet a person’s daily need for magnesium, copper, sulfur, half the need for iron, and a quarter of the need for calcium.

Important! Dates, thanks to the successful combination of components, are easily absorbed by the body, satisfy the feeling of hunger for a long time and restore physical strength, without overloading the stomach and other gastrointestinal organs.

In addition to the above fact, which objectively illustrates the positive effect of the product in question on the human body, the advantages of regular use of these fruits in the diet include:

• strengthening the cardiovascular system;
• normalization of the microflora of the gastrointestinal tract;
• prevention of the development of a number of diseases of the blood, cardiovascular system, kidneys, by saturating the body with useful micro- and macroelements;
• maintaining normal functioning of the liver and kidneys;
• strengthening the immune system and increasing the overall tone of the body;
• since dates contain a lot of carbohydrates, which are a source of energy for every cell of the body, consumption of dates allows you to increase the level of glucose in the blood and increase the performance of the brain, the functioning of which is a very energy-consuming process, and glucose is “fuel” for the brain;
• protection and effective assistance in the fight against the occurrence and progression of benign and malignant tumors, infectious and viral diseases;
• prevention of stress and nervous breakdowns, normalization of nerve impulse transmission;
• normalization of sleep;
• saturating the body with serotonin;
• prevention of infection of wounds, cuts, hematomas due to the antiseptic and hemostatic properties of the substances that make up dates;
• reduction in the activity of inflammatory processes localized to the area of ​​the lymphatic ring of the throat and nasal passages;
• strengthening teeth, hair, bones and cartilage;
• evening out complexion and increasing its elasticity;
• stimulation of lactation and beneficial effects on a woman’s hormonal levels during and after pregnancy.

Fact! Dates are recommended for pregnant and lactating women. As a result of scientific research, it turned out that dates contain special stimulants that strengthen the muscles of the uterus in the last months of pregnancy. This means that thanks to them, childbirth is easier and the period of postpartum bleeding is reduced. Plus, dates enrich mother’s milk with vitamins, which is especially important for the baby’s health. The beneficial properties of dates will also come in handy for pregnant women because they contain special elements that help get rid of prenatal and postpartum depression.

Expert opinion

Evgeniy Kislitsa

Practicing surgeon. Certified massage master. Two-time vice-champion and heavyweight champion of regional kettlebell lifting competitions.

Dates contain a significant amount of fiber. It is a hard-to-digest dietary fiber. The bottom line is that it is little susceptible to the influence of food enzymes, which is why it is poorly digested. The benefits of fiber are pronounced for the intestines. As it passes through the intestines, it irritates its walls, thereby increasing their tone. And this leads to improved motility (periodic rhythmic contractions of the intestinal wall) of the organ, which improves digestion. Also, adequate fiber intake is a reliable method of preventing constipation. In addition to the above, fiber has a beneficial effect on intestinal microflora. The fact is that both beneficial and harmful bacteria live in the lumen of the colon. Fiber, passing through the intestines, “washes out” harmful bacteria from it. After which it becomes easier for beneficial microorganisms to reproduce (after all, the population of their harmful competitors decreases). Thanks to this property, fiber can not only normalize digestion in the intestines, but also prevent many diseases of the colon. In medicine, due to this property, fiber is used to treat dysbacteriosis and a number of diseases of the digestive system. In addition, fiber affects the stretch receptors of the stomach wall, due to which it allows you to get full faster and not feel hungry for a long time.

It is a mistake to consider dates as an absolutely safe fruit.

Along with an extensive list of positive effects from their regular use in the diet, excessive consumption of this fruit poses a high risk of encountering negative consequences.

The most common of them include:

• obesity;
• a sharp increase in blood sugar;
• the occurrence of caries and thinning of tooth enamel;
• prolonged constipation;
• allergic reactions;
• inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, especially in the acute phase;
• dysfunction of the intrahepatic and extrahepatic biliary tract;
• fructose intolerance.

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