Lidia Ionova - Healthy habits. Doctor Ionova's diet

Stop! No more strict diets and calorie counting! Just eat certain foods at the right times and lose weight! Get diet rules from Dr. Ionova and lose up to 7 kg per month!

Author: Kristina Lobanovskaya, doctor, practicing nutritionist Article updated: 11/10/2020

The treatment of obesity is dealt with by serious medical centers and venerable scientists in the field of nutrition, dietology and endocrinology. The best nutritional system for weight correction, at the last International Medical Congress on the Treatment of Obesity, was recognized as a technique called the “Pyramid diet”, developed in 2002 by the Russian nutritionist Ionova.

Lidia Ionova is a graduate of the Moscow Medical Institute. Semashko, the first Russian nutritionist to complete an internship at the Cambridge School of Obesity Treatment, founder of his own dietetic center in Moscow, author of a number of scientific works in the field of dietetics and the book “Healthy Habits”. In the process of creating a method for losing weight, the author used his own practical experience and materials from the American Association for the Treatment of Obesity.

Basic principles

Lydia Ionova's program is based on the following principles:

1. Weight correction should not be carried out by simply reducing the number of calories consumed, which often leads to a deficiency of nutrients necessary for the body. It involves using a diet that, while getting rid of fat deposits, would help maintain and improve health.
2. Losing weight should not be rapid or spasmodic. According to WHO standards, a stable rate of weight loss from 3 to 5 kg per month (depending on its initial value) is considered safe for health. A loss of 10–15 kg over a few weeks can cause great harm to the body, sometimes irreparable. And sudden changes in weight can destabilize metabolic processes for a long time, which can be very difficult to restore.
3. The process of losing weight should be comfortable. A person should not experience a constant feeling of hunger, otherwise failures from the diet, if it is long-term, are inevitable. It is quite possible to get rid of excess food without significantly limiting the amount of food you eat and having sufficient freedom to choose dishes. According to Lidia Leonidovna, the psychological factor, including a positive attitude, in the process of following a dietary regimen is very important for success.
4. The goal of Ionova’s program is not only to eliminate excess weight, but also to form lasting healthy eating habits. In the process of following this effective and easy diet, a person must change his eating habits in favor of foods that are healthy for the body, and eliminate the craving for “ballast” in the form of fast food, sweets and fatty foods.
5. An important aspect in maintaining the achieved results is a properly organized, balanced diet. If it contains a sufficient amount of proteins, fats, carbohydrates and vitamins, the body does not reconfigure itself to the “emergency storage” mode and the extra pounds do not return.

Lidia Ionova recommends sticking to the diet regimen for 3 months. But, as the nutritionist assures, while losing weight, most patients become so accustomed to proper, healthy eating that they no longer want to return to eating foods that are “ballast” and cause weight gain.

Dr. Lydia Ionova: how to become a famous nutritionist

Education: - Faculty of Medicine, Moscow Medical Dental Institute named after Semashko - residency in cardiology at Moscow Medical Academy named after Sechenov. — postgraduate studies at the Department of Nutrition of the Russian Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education — Institute of Psychotherapy and Clinical Psychology — psychotherapy for eating disorders, neuro-linguistic programming. European Association for the Study of Obesity - SCOPE Diabetes Course. – Advanced training course Participant of international congresses on nutrition and treatment of obesity in 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008. To her friends, this pretty young woman is simply Lika, a doctor and the general director of one of the fashionable Moscow diet clinics (Dr. Ionova’s Clinic). She leads a team of young specialists who can turn an obese glutton into a slender gourmet in a couple of months. Everything is used: a complete medical examination, development of a diet taking into account individual tolerance to foods and lifestyle, psychological support, all kinds of massages and cosmetic procedures. As a result, Dr. Ionova’s client, after a couple of months, discovers several new healthy habits that bring pleasure, instead of disgusting old ones, loses extra pounds of fat and masters a completely new lifestyle within the framework of a diet that he really likes. At Dr. Ionova’s clinic, this program is called “The Diet You Like.” The name was invented by clients who were shocked by how easy and comfortable it was for them to lose pounds at Dr. Ionova’s Clinic. When the specified result is obtained, the “Result Saving Program” starts working. New habits are formed easily and naturally. Forever.

Professional experience: Cardiologist in the consulting department of the Cardiology Center of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences. Sports doctor and nutritionist in the best fitness centers in Moscow. Since 2002 - director and nutritionist at the Medical Dietetics Center. Total work experience - 16 years.

The clinic’s specialists use the most advanced weight loss technologies that are safe for health in their work - only a scientific and medical approach to solving all problems. Body composition studies are carried out using modern Italian equipment, which allows you to assess the dynamics of changes in body composition and reduce weight solely due to excess fat mass. At Dr. Ionova’s clinic, you easily lose fat and learn to enjoy life in a new way without sandwiches, poppies and kilograms of chocolate. And go out into life enjoying yourself, enjoying communication, the attention of members of the opposite sex and success in your career. Clients of Dr. Ionova’s clinic can always count on the support of their dietitians. Even when the main work is done and the weight is “taken.” Dr. Ionova’s clinic was founded in 2002. It successfully operates as a center for professional dietetics and psychology. In 2007, the clinic was awarded the “Profession – Life” medical award in the “Medical Services” category. Health service."

Advantages and disadvantages

Lydia Ionova’s highly rated diet has many advantages:

• it is fully balanced in macro- and micronutrients;
• easy to carry;
• has no contraindications and is suitable for everyone who wants to lose weight; it can be used for diabetes, diseases of the cardiovascular system and gastrointestinal tract;
• since the diet is based on the principles of healthy eating, it prevents the development of many diseases and helps improve overall well-being;
• gives excellent results for any degree of obesity.

The only drawback of Ionova’s diet, and even then with a stretch, can be considered the need to control the amount of food in the diet. After all, it is clear that if you constantly overeat, then even if you eat only approved foods, you will hardly be able to lose weight.

The essence of the diet

Dr. Ionova’s diet has the following basic principles of action:

• A complex, just a complex!

This means that restricting the consumption of high-calorie foods will not be enough. Lidia Ionova’s diet is a set of measures for proper weight loss, which consists of stabilizing weight, maintaining results, and also improving the general condition of the body in the process. In other words: “do no harm, but help your body.”

• Smooth weight loss is the key to health!

It is a well-known fact that sudden weight loss will not lead to anything good, but will only worsen the process of losing weight. Not only will the weight return with an increase, but chronic diseases will also come. Lydia Ionova believes that all diets must fully comply with all World Health Organization standards. Those diets that meet all the standards of this organization will give the desired results for many years. and will not cause harm to the body.

Dr. Ionova’s diet fully complies with all WHO standards, so it is considered effective. And the result is guaranteed to last for many years.

• Lose weight and don’t limit yourself!

Almost all diets force you to limit the amount of food you eat. Dr. Ionova’s diet implies exactly the opposite. After all, for comfortable weight loss, so as not to constantly break the diet, there should be a small choice. Otherwise, old habits will take over.

Lidia Leonidovna’s method does not “squeeze” a person from the psychological side. A person losing weight has a choice of six food families: cereals, vegetables and fruits, meat, dairy products and foods containing fats.

The choice of whether to have breakfast with yogurt or cottage cheese is up to you. So, you can create a menu for yourself and eat only those healthy foods that you like. According to Lydia, the delight of food is a successful diet.

• Healthy habits are great habits!

A good diet is one that is aimed at radically changing your eating habits. In other words, the diet should instill a love for the right foods, and the love for all sorts of harmful things should disappear.

Lydia Ionova has developed a special pyramid that will help instill a love for the right habits.

• Let's maintain our figure!

Lidia Leonidovna’s pyramid helps reduce cravings for fried, salty, sweet and flour products within a week. The main goal of the diet is to avoid the wrong habit, that is, the habit of eating all sorts of nasty things.

A nice bonus is that the risk of gaining extra pounds when leaving the diet is reduced to “no” and you develop healthy habits.

Two rules of nutrition according to Ionova’s method:

• It is prohibited to consume foods with a glycemic index exceeding 50;
• It is necessary to draw up a menu for the day, strictly according to the Ionian pyramid.

The nutritionist believes that foods with a GI of less than 50 activate weight loss processes. Such products lead to a decrease in human fat deposits. They also normalize blood sugar and arterial pressure.

When burning excess fat deposits, the body produces glucose, which it lacks.

Formation of the daily diet

The nutritional plan presupposes compliance with two basic rules: the use of foods that have a low rate of breakdown and the construction of a daily menu according to the so-called “food pyramid”, where a certain period of time is intended for each type of food. Food can be stewed, boiled, baked; it is advisable to avoid fried foods; salt can be consumed, but in small quantities.

Selection of products according to GI

The glycemic index (GI) is an indicator of the rate of breakdown of a product in the gastrointestinal tract. The faster a product is transformed into an energy source - glucose, the higher its GI. When digesting food with a high GI, the level of glucose in the blood quickly rises and to normalize it, the pancreas begins to intensively produce insulin.

However, this hormone also acts as a distributor and store of energy reserves. Excess insulin prevents the body from burning fat and causes it to be stored. In ancient times, when a person periodically ate until he was full, or went without food for a long time, the function of creating reserves “for a rainy day” was necessary, but now it creates problems with excess weight.

It turns out that foods with a low glycemic index are useful for weight loss. Little glucose is released from it and in order to obtain the amount of energy necessary for life, the body is forced to burn subcutaneous fat. Therefore, the diet should preferably contain foods with a GI ≤ 50. These include:

• fruits and vegetables;
• nuts;
• milk and dairy products;
• whole grain and bran bread;
• unpolished rice;
• buckwheat.

The GI is not much higher for black bread, potatoes boiled in their jackets, pasta made from durum wheat, barley and oatmeal, eggs, and sweet berries.

White bread has the highest glycemic index, followed by sweet pastries, sugar, jam, canned fruit with sugar syrup, white polished rice, mashed potatoes with butter, soft wheat pasta - these should be permanently excluded from the menu or present in very limited quantities.

Calculation of calorie intake

In order to create all the conditions for weight loss on a diet, it is necessary to take into account not only the quality of food, but also the number of calories it contains. It’s easy to calculate the calorie content of your daily diet - the calorie content of 100 g of each product needs to be multiplied by the weight of your portion of food for breakfast, lunch or dinner, then add up all the results obtained.

With little physical activity, the minimum amount of calories per day for men is 1300–1500, for women it is about 1000–1200. If you lead an active lifestyle, these numbers should be multiplied by 1.3. If you do heavy physical labor, the coefficient increases to 1.5.

Ionova's food pyramid

To ensure sustainable weight loss, foods should be consumed at times of day when they are best absorbed. Therefore, in Dr. Ionova’s system, they are all divided into 7 groups. The time of their use in the book “Healthy Habits” is depicted in the form of a pyramid for clarity, which is why the technique was called the “Pyramid Diet”.

The list of product groups is as follows:

• 1 group . This includes representatives of cereals: unpolished rice, buckwheat, oatmeal, pearl barley, as well as legumes - beans and lentils. They should be eaten before 11 am.
• 2nd group. It is recommended to include fish, seafood and meat in the menu from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• 3rd group. Dairy products should be consumed in the afternoon, from 2 to 5 p.m.
• 4th group. It is better to eat fresh or frozen berries and fruits from 17 to 19. The recommended list does not include mango and watermelon (due to the high glycemic index).
• 5 group. Any vegetables, except corn and mashed potatoes, since they have a fairly high GI, should be left for dinner and consumed from 19 to 23 hours.
• 6 group. These are vegetable oils and nuts that contain fats with low cholesterol. It is also allowed to include butter in the daily diet, no more than 20 g. The method states that fats can be consumed once a day.
• 7 group. Water - you need to drink about 2 liters, the required daily volume can be calculated independently, it is 30 ml per kilogram of body weight.

Menu

The recommended menu was compiled by the Dietitian. It is not mandatory and can be adjusted at your own discretion, but taking into account the general requirements of the methodology and observing the time frame for consuming products. Food is taken 5 times a day. Breakfasts, lunches, lunches, afternoon snacks and dinners can be arranged according to the days of the week in any order.

First day

1. Buckwheat porridge with butter, green tea or herbal drink.
2. A portion of boiled shrimp or steamed fish, still mineral water.
3. 150-200 g of medium fat cottage cheese, a glass of 2.5% milk.
4. A grapefruit or two oranges.
5. Two medium-sized grated carrots or beetroot-carrot salad.

Second

1. Oatmeal cooked in water, a glass of water.
2. A portion of chicken fillet boiled in salted water, tea without sugar.
3. A glass of drinking yogurt.
4. A few tangerines or a couple of apples.
5. Tomato salad with herbs and vegetable oil.

Third

1. Pearl barley porridge with butter, a glass of herbal tea.
2. A serving of beef stew, unsweetened black tea.
3. A glass of 2.5% kefir.
4. Several persimmon fruits.
5. Cucumber salad with olive squeeze.

Fourth

1. Oatmeal with water, chicory drink.
2. A portion of boiled turkey meat, still mineral water.
3. A glass of 2.5% milk.
4. 2-3 baked apples (maybe with a spoonful of honey).
5. White cabbage salad with lemon juice and vegetable oil.

Fifth

1. Pea porridge with butter, green tea.
2. A portion of boiled squid or fish baked in foil, still mineral water.
3. 100-150 g of medium-fat cottage cheese, a glass of kefir.
4. Several kiwi fruits or 2 oranges.
5. Boiled broccoli.

Sixth

1. Rice porridge with butter, green tea without sugar.
2. A serving of stewed chicken or a couple of soft-boiled eggs, an herbal drink.
3. A glass of fermented baked milk or yogurt.
4. 2-3 pears.
5. Boiled beet salad.

Seventh

1. Buckwheat porridge with butter, unsweetened tea.
2. A serving of lean boiled beef or a steam omelette of 2 eggs, a glass of water.
3. 50 g hard cheese, a glass of yogurt.
4. A couple of apples.
5. Olive squeeze salad made from carrots and bell peppers.

Reviews and results of losing weight

Daria, 26 years old

I need to recover after childbirth and to lose weight I chose the “Pyramid” system. There are two reasons for this choice. Firstly, this technique was developed by a specialist, not an amateur, so it should not cause harm. And secondly, judging by the rules described and the proposed menu, it will not be difficult to follow the diet. I hope that the results will be as promised by the authors.

Margarita, 38 years old

I have been faithfully following the Ionova diet for a month, but I see almost no results. Is this the result - 3 kilograms in 4 weeks? Despite the fact that for me it didn’t seem particularly easy: porridge for breakfast, a piece of meat for lunch, an afternoon snack - a glass of kefir, and only vegetables for dinner. And then - counting calories for the day... We live at such a pace that we have absolutely no time or desire to bother our heads with this arithmetic. In short, I don't like this diet.

Vera Petrovna Denisyuk, 40 years old

My weight began to increasingly exceed the norm and I decided to get serious about losing weight. I spent a very long time choosing the right option. The main obstacles were not too young age and the presence of health problems. I read an article where experts speak of Ionova’s diet as one of the most effective and safe. I’ve been using it for three months now and am very pleased with the result - during this time my weight has decreased by 8.8 kilos. I’m not going to stop the diet, I’m still overweight, but the diet is easy to tolerate and sometimes I even allow myself to drink a cup of coffee.

Varied and healthy food

Why is diet diversity an important eating habit? It is variety, and not the absence of tasty things, that is one of the main principles of healthy eating. A varied menu not only provides you with vitamins, minerals, amino acids and other essential nutritional factors, but also serves as a guarantee of your commitment to a healthy diet in the future and the prevention of breakdowns. After all, only a variety of food does not become boring, does not cause boredom and the desire to pamper yourself with something tasty, which was usual before the program (depending on gastronomic preferences, sweets, baked goods, fast food, sausage, etc. can act as tasty food).