To lose weight and reach a healthy weight in a safe and healthy way, Let us introduce a healthy diet you can turn into a lifestyle. It’s rich in whole grains, veggies, and fish. It’s also easy to follow and stick to. The Scandinavian diet is similar to the Mediterranean diet. For example, it relies on a high amount of healthy fats and lowers the chance of many diseases like heart disease.
Suitable foods in this diet:
This diet focuses on fresh foods, and bans all processed foods like most healthy foods. It also depends on lean meats, fresh fish instead of canned, and healthy fats that aren’t processed like avocado and plant oils such as olive oil. A key feature of this diet is it doesn’t stick to strict meal times. So you can eat with family or friends. Plus, it’s flexible enough to meet your needs if you don’t want certain foods like dairy or meat.
Food list:
There are some foods allowed in this plan, and others that are not allowed. Below, we list them for you and also give healthy substitutes for the banned items.
Allowed foods:
- Whole grains: At least 25% of the calories in this plan come from whole grains like barley, oats, brown rice, oat pasta, and whole grain bread. But make sure they don’t have added sugar or honey.
- Fruits and vegetables: This plan includes one cup of fruits and vegetables, preferably fresh and seasonal, not frozen. It focuses on cruciferous veggies like cabbage and lettuce, and starchy vegetables like potatoes and carrots.
- Dairy products: This plan includes low-fat or fat-free products like milk, cheese, and yogurt. But it doesn’t allow products with added sugar like fruit yogurt or flavored milk.
- Fish: This diet recommends eating fatty fish like salmon, mackerel, and herring at least twice a week, plus one meal of low-fat fish like tilapia.
- Healthy fats: The Scandinavian diet cuts down on saturated fats and boosts healthy fats in your meals. So eat nuts, olive oil, fatty fish, and seeds.
- Meats: This diet lets you eat poultry and lean meats. Try to always choose chicken and turkey. Avoid red meats because they have a lot of fat, like beef.
Foods not allowed:
There are some foods we eat daily that aren't healthy and cause ongoing harm. So this diet bans them, and they are:
- Processed foods: Processed foods are not allowed in this plan because they have high amounts of salt, added sugar, and saturated fats.
- Added sugar: Avoid sweetened drinks like tea and coffee. You should drink them without sugar. You can have one serving of low-sugar fruit like berries.
Scandinavian diet shopping list:
There are some foods you should have in your fridge before starting this plan. They help you stick to the diet since you rely on them a lot, and they are:
- Dark leafy greens like spinach, arugula, kale.
- Vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, peppers, carrots.
- Fruits (grapefruit, orange, mixed berries, banana, apple, pineapple).
- Whole grains (whole wheat bread, brown rice pasta, quinoa, barley).
- Fresh fish (salmon, tilapia, sea bass, herring, anchovies, tuna).
- Low-fat animal protein (chicken breast, turkey breast).
- Legumes (soybeans, black beans, lentils, chickpeas).
- Healthy fat sources (almonds, walnuts, chia seeds, flax seeds, olives, olive oil).
- Dairy products (yogurt and low-fat milk, cottage cheese).
- Eggs.
Sample meal plan:
This plan helps you eat a variety of tasty meals, so here’s a 5-day meal schedule for you:
Day one:
Breakfast: Oatmeal with yogurt and grapefruit.
Lunch: Chickpea bread with tuna and a salad.
Dinner: Grilled salmon pieces with spices and a cup of cooked brown rice.
Day two:
Breakfast: Cottage cheese sandwich with veggies, strawberry pieces.
Lunch: Cream soup with broccoli.
Dinner: Grilled chicken breast, a cup of couscous, and green salad with olive oil.
Day three:
Breakfast: Avocado egg toast with berry juice.
Lunch: Tuna sandwich with some walnuts.
Dinner: Small cup of barley with grilled shrimp.
Day four:
Breakfast: A slice of whole wheat bread with cream cheese and onion slices.
Lunch: Chicken salad with avocado.
Dinner: A cup and a half of shrimp with pasta.
Day five:
Breakfast: Omelet eggs with low-fat cheese.
Lunch: Quinoa salad and sardines with whole wheat bread.
Dinner: Two tilapia fish with cherry tomatoes and barley.
Features of the Scandinavian diet:
The Scandinavian diet has some advantages, and like other diets, it also has some drawbacks. We need to know them to decide if it's right for our lifestyle or not. Some of these advantages are:
- Nutrition: This system relies on foods with nutrients your body needs like whole grains, vegetables, legumes, animal protein, and fruits. This way your body gets all the vitamins and minerals it needs and gives you the calories needed to live a normal, healthy life.
- Health benefits: Research shows this diet helps lower blood pressure, reduces the risk of strokes, and helps your body stay more active.
- Environmental awareness: This diet promotes eating foods available in your environment and doesn’t need lots of expensive imported foods.
- Flexibility: There are no strict rules here, and you don’t need to buy pricey products to make your meals. So, you can pick from many vegetable choices and fresh foods around you.
Downsides of the Scandinavian diet:
The downsides of this diet aren't serious, but still need mentioning:
-
Sometimes expensive: If you don’t live somewhere with fresh fish, buying it might be costly for you. That’s why nutritionists suggest this diet mainly for coastal city residents.
- Time: Since this diet has no ready-made meals, you have to cook most dishes yourself, which takes a lot of time.
Losing weight and getting used to a healthy lifestyle should be easy, safe, and fit you. So you can get help from Fitness Garage trainers to create a plan tailored to your physical condition, health, goals, and ideal weight.
