Barley - a budget way to lose weight

Benefits and harms

This grain has been used since ancient times both for cooking and as medicine, because the benefits of pearl barley are invaluable. It contains microelements (phosphorus, iron, calcium and others), vegetable protein, which is easily absorbed by the body, fiber and vitamins A, E, B and PP.

The amino acid lysine is another important element that is part of pearl barley. It is thanks to this substance that the body successfully fights excess weight.

Lysine gives you a feeling of fullness for many hours after eating. In addition, this substance promotes the production of protein (collagen), which ensures the elasticity of the skin. When consumed regularly, pearl barley for weight loss helps to normalize intestinal function, this happens thanks to the fiber contained in the cereal. Unprocessed cereal is an excellent diuretic, and can also eliminate inflammation and spasms.

Principle of the technique

Any weight loss should be comfortable and gradual; it is, of course, possible to exhaust your body with strict diets and hours of physical exercise, but there will be no benefit from this, only irritability and fatigue will appear.

Barley for weight loss will not only help you get rid of excess weight, but will also normalize your digestive system. You will be able to notice the results after just one week. At the first stage, the body will be cleansed of harmful substances, which is expressed by increased urination and sweating. The second stage begins with burning fat.

The calorie content of pearl barley in water is minimal (50 kcal per 100 grams), and even if you eat it in large quantities, you will still lose weight. But a quick feeling of fullness will not allow you to consume it unlimitedly; one plate will be enough to leave you feeling hungry for several hours.

Barley porridge is used for a mono-diet. Conditions for this method of losing weight:

1. Seasoning porridge with salt, sugar and butter is prohibited.

2. Barley should be cooked in water without adding milk.

3. 0.5 kg of ready-made porridge should be distributed over five meals.

4. During a mono-diet, you can only drink water and green tea.

If losing weight is not your main goal, but you only need to cleanse the body, spend a fasting day on pearl barley.

Barley diet

If you choose a mono-product diet, divide the daily intake of pearl barley porridge by 4 times, supplement the diet only with clean drinking water, you need to drink at least 2 liters of it. To diversify the taste sensations, you can add herbs, herbs and vegetables during the cooking process. Eat pearl barley without switching to a mono-diet, but to achieve slimness it is important to monitor your diet: it can be supplemented with plenty of vegetables and fruit desserts. The filling of pearl barley, stewed with onions and mushrooms, can be used as a filling for cabbage rolls or bell peppers.

To achieve good results, watch your portion size. Barley will not bring weight gain only if you eat no more than 150 grams of ready-made porridge at a time, but you can eat no more than 600 grams of barley per day.

Is it possible to eat barley when losing weight in the evening or is it better to limit it to morning consumption? Nutritionists say that it is useful at any time of the day. In the morning it will give you a boost of vital energy, especially if you supplement barley with low-fat kefir for breakfast. In the evening, cereal will nourish the nervous system, put it in order overnight, promoting sound and healthy sleep.

Sample menu for weight loss

• A serving of porridge can be varied by adding fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, cauliflower or boiled beets.
• You are allowed to eat steamed fish a couple of times a week.
• You can also diversify your diet with fiber-containing fruits such as avocados, pears, bananas and grapefruit.
• It is allowed to eat an omelet made from one egg and half a glass of milk for breakfast.
• Vegetable soups, low-fat cottage cheese and no more than 100 grams of boiled lean meat per day are also acceptable.

But these products are strictly prohibited during a mono-diet:

• Raw fruits and vegetables containing coarse fiber can cause constipation and severe abdominal pain.
• Fermented milk products that are prepared on the basis of sourdough (yogurt, kefir) - this can lead to bloating and gas formation.
• Black bread and bran.
• Juices and dried fruits.

Recommendations for preparing pearl barley

If you intend to lose weight, you will have to eat barley in its pure form, without salt, sugar, oil and any fats, and cook only with water, so as not to increase the calorie content. To preserve the maximum amount of nutrients, it is recommended to soak 12 hours before cooking. This way the cereal will swell, become more pliable and will not require a very long heat treatment. To cook, you need to transfer the soaked cereal to boiling water (in the ratio of 1 cup of product to 3 cups of water) and cook for 30-40 minutes over low heat until tender. After cooking, it is recommended to wrap the pan with pearl barley and leave it to cool.

The most useful ways of preparing cereals, from the point of view of preserving microelements, are:

• cooking in a double boiler (this will take about an hour);
• cooking in the oven at temperatures above 200 degrees;
• cooking in a slow cooker will take longer, about an hour and a half;
• cooking in the microwave is the least healthy of all the options, but it is the fastest; in this case, pearl barley will be ready in just 30 minutes.

Is it possible to sometimes eat pearl barley cooked in broth while losing weight? This dish increases the calorie content, so you will either have to reduce the portion or still cook it with water. But, of course, you can add onions and carrots to it.

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Soup

Ingredients:

• Two medium potatoes.
• 1.5 liters of vegetable broth.
• One glass of cereal.
• Onion.
• Two small carrots.
• Parsley, spices, bay leaf.

Preparation:

1. Peel the carrots and onions. Place them, without cutting, into a pan of water. Cook until done. This way you will have a flavorful vegetable broth. You can throw out the carrots and onions; you won't need them.

2. Rinse the barley thoroughly and pour boiling water over it. Leave for 30 minutes to swell and soften. After the time has passed, add the cereal to the broth and cook for 10 minutes.

3. Add potatoes cut into small cubes to the barley, add a little salt, and cook everything together for 20 minutes.

Pour the finished soup into a bowl. Sprinkle chopped parsley on top.

Barley with raisins

Ingredients:

• Multi-glass of pearl barley.
• Half a glass of raisins.
• Three multi-glasses of water.
• Salt.

Preparation of pearl barley with raisins:

1. Rinse the cereal in several waters.

2. Clean the raisins from debris, wash and soak in boiled water for 15 minutes.

3. Place the cereal in a bowl, fill it with water, add prepared raisins and salt.

4. Mix all ingredients and cook for an hour in the “Buckwheat” mode.

Fish cutlets with pearl barley

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup pearl barley.
• One small onion.
• 0.5 kg telapia (fillet).
• Greens and salt.

Preparation of pearl barley with fish cutlets:

1. Thoroughly clean and rinse the cereal.

2. Grind the peeled onion in a blender.

3. Rinse the fish fillet and pass through a meat grinder, combine with onions and pearl barley, add herbs and salt, and form cutlets from the fish and pearl barley mixture.

4. Pour some water into the multicooker bowl and place the formed cutlets. Cook on the “stew” mode for 20 minutes.

Grated beets or carrots are perfect as a side dish for this dish.

Nutritionists' opinions on pearl barley

Nutritionists have a positive attitude towards consuming pearl barley during weight loss. The glycemic index of this product is only 22, which allows you to add it to your diet, in principle, without restrictions. The cereal consists of 73.7% complex carbohydrates, which are not stored in fat reserves, but give a long-lasting feeling of fullness. Fiber helps cleanse the body and set it up for the correct operating mode.

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On the Internet you can find many recommendations for using pearl barley as a monoproduct when losing weight. The effect of this approach to the diet will appear already on day 4-5, swelling will go away, and volume will decrease. But like all such one-sided mono-food diets, the effect will be very limited in time. Is it possible to eat pearl barley along with other foods when losing weight? Not a single nutrition specialist raises questions.

To lose weight without harm to the body, you don’t need to put yourself in extreme conditions, you just need to take care of your nutrition, monitor your diet, and the weight will begin to melt on its own. The same applies to the pearl barley mono-diet.

It is much healthier to simply add pearl barley to your diet in order to fully appreciate its benefits for yourself. By the way, you can eat pearl barley with vegetables to lose weight.

Vegetables and pearl barley

Ingredients:

• Pearl barley – 1 cup.
• A couple of cloves of garlic.
• A handful of grated cheese.
• Olive oil.
• Three tomatoes.
• Two bell peppers.
• Onion.
• Two small young zucchini.
• One eggplant.

Preparation:

1. Wash the peppers and bake them, without cutting, in the oven for about 20 minutes. Cool the finished peppers and cut into rings.

2. Wash the eggplants and zucchini, trim off the peel and stems, cut into circles, and fry in a small amount of olive oil.

3. Peel the tomatoes, onions and garlic and cut them into large pieces, which are then passed through a meat grinder or chopped in a blender. Add a little salt and spices to the resulting sauce.

4. Boil the washed and peeled cereal in water.

5. Get a flat large plate. Place pearl barley on it in an even layer, then zucchini, eggplant and peppers, pour sauce over everything, spread grated cheese on top.

Pearl barley porridge recipes

Option #1

The best option for preparing pearl barley for weight loss is porridge in water without salt and spices, and not seasoned with oil. It is not difficult to prepare such a dish.

In fact, you will need more time than an hour if you want to prepare a truly healthy dietary porridge. In the evening you need to soak the cereal. To do this, pour 1 cup of pearl barley or less into a saucepan and add 1 liter of water.

You can cover it with something so that nothing gets into the pan. It will swell overnight. In the morning, drain the water and add fresh water - about 3 glasses (750 ml).

Place the pan on low heat and cook for about 40 minutes. Look at the condition of the porridge - it should become thick. Then remove the pan from the heat and let the porridge brew. We don’t remove the lid, or even better, wrap the pan in a towel.

If you don’t have time to soak or you simply forgot to do it the night before, you can do this: pour the washed cereal with the same amount of hot water and boil over high heat for about 5 minutes.

After this, drain the water and throw the cereal itself into boiling water. Next you need to cook for about 40 minutes. When finished, we also set the pan aside so that the porridge reaches the desired consistency.

Option No. 2

If you do not adhere to a strict diet and want to diversify your pearl barley porridge, you can cook it with zucchini, especially if their season has begun.

Ingredients:

• pearl barley – 1 cup;
• zucchini – 500 g;
• tomatoes – 2 pcs.;
• water – 1 l.;
• salt, pepper - to taste.

Cooking time: 1 hour.

Calorie content: 102 kcal/100 g.

Boil the pearl barley according to the previous recipe. While the porridge is cooking, you can work on other ingredients. To do this, cut the zucchini into slices and let them stand in salted water so that they release all their bitterness.

At this time, peel the tomatoes and cut into cubes. First place the zucchini and then the tomatoes in a preheated frying pan. When the vegetables are half cooked, add the prepared porridge and let them simmer for another 10 minutes.

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Add salt and pepper to taste. You can also decorate the dish with fresh herbs.

Porridge with mushrooms

This pearl barley is dietary, so there is no oil or other components prohibited by the mono-diet.

Ingredients:

• One onion.
• Any mushrooms – 150 grams (both champignons and wild mushrooms are perfect).
• Greenery.
• 1.5 cups of cereal.
• Half a liter of vegetable broth.

Preparation:

1. The evening before cooking, rinse the barley and soak it overnight; in the morning, rinse the barley again, drain all the liquid and put it in a plate.

2. Peel and chop the onion, fry in a minimum amount of vegetable oil.

3. Add pearl barley to the onion, pour in a little water, and simmer for 5 minutes. Then add the vegetable broth prepared in advance from onions, carrots and herbs. When the pearl barley swells, you can add chopped mushrooms.

4. If you choose champignons, then they do not require additional processing other than washing. It is better to boil wild mushrooms for 10 minutes in salted water.

5. Mix all ingredients, add spices and simmer until mushrooms are ready, about 20 minutes.

Place the finished dish on a plate, garnish with dill or any other herbs.

How to cook pearl barley for weight loss

In order for pearl barley porridge to bring maximum benefits and promote weight loss, it must be prepared correctly:

• the first option is to take 1 part of the cereal and 5 parts of water, put the cereal in boiling water and cook after boiling for 1.5 hours over low heat;
• the second option is to take 1 part of the cereal and 2 parts of water in the evening and bring the porridge to a boil, then remove from the stove and wrap it well, leaving it overnight. In the morning, add water and cook for another 30 minutes.

Moreover, when cooking, salt cannot be added to the porridge.

You can eat a serving of porridge (200 g) in its pure form 2-3 times a day, or cook different dishes with pearl barley, diversifying your menu, for example, pumpkin and pearl barley soup, vegetable stew with pearl barley, “pearl barley” vinaigrette , or stew it with vegetables and lean meat.

If you are determined to actively lose weight on this healthy cereal, then you can use the pearl barley diet, which comes in two versions, a stricter one, the menu of which is dominated by pearl barley, designed for 5 days, and a gentle one, with a more varied menu, lasting 7 days.

Reviews

For the most part, the reviews are only positive; the main thing that people who have gone through the pearl barley mono-diet note is that there is no feeling of hunger. It is thanks to this that it is not difficult to hold out until the end of the diet.

Another important point noted by those losing weight is that cooked meals can be carried with you to work so as not to accidentally break down. The ideal option would be pearl barley in a thermos. The dish will remain hot, and you will have a healthy meal for lunch during working hours.

But there are also negative reviews. Here they complain about the monotonous menu and the inability to consume sugar and flour.