Korean Diet – Quick Guide To Korean Weight Loss Secret!
Looking for the secret to korean beauty and weight loss secret? In this article, I will share to you the quick guide to korean diet plan that you can follow at home.
Korean diet has been gaining popularity and traction lately as more people believe it works and plan to incorporate it in their lifestyle to reduce their weight.
To understand how the Korean diet works, let’s explore its roots and dive into what different components it is comprised of. With this exploration, hopefully you will be able to better decide if the Korean diet is right for you!
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Korean Diet To Lose Weight
The Korean diet encapsulates traditional cuisine and dietary customs, as well as cooking methods that have evolved through centuries. Some of rules and principle of korean diet to lose weight include:
- Cooked rice (bab), the heart of this diet, which forms the basis of every meal.
- Bapsang, a table setting featuring all manner of dishes such as stir-fries, stews and soups, is also an important part of the Korean diet.
- Eating plenty of vegetables and kimchi (a traditional spicy pickled vegetable dish) are integral components.
- Eat protein sources such as fish and legumes in moderate to high amounts, with red meat in low frequency.
- To season meals and provide added nutrition, you can use fermented soy products like doenjang (soybean paste) kanjang (soy sauce) and gochujang (red pepper paste), medicinal herbs and perilla or sesame oil.
- Furthermore, avoid deep-fat fried junk food as much as possible.
Korean Diet Plan
According to Betterme, here are some ideas and example of korean diet plan you can follow at the comfort of your home.
1. Korean Diet Plan: Breakfast
The Korean diet is rich in flavor and nutrition while still being low in calories. Popular dishes including:
- Grilled seaweed, with just 13 calories
- Cabbage kimchi, just 10 calories
- A bowl of cooked white rice which packs 313 calories
- Boiled tofu with soy sauce, coming in at 185 calories
- Dried pollack soup, with only 147 calories.
2. Korean Diet Plan: Snack
Snacks ideas for korean diet plan typically feature staples such as white bread, banana milk, and fresh fruits like oranges and pears for additional nutrition. For example:
- One white bread contains 277 calories
- A bottle of banana milk provides 213 calories
- One orange juice has 90 calories
- A pear has 39 calories.
3. Korean Diet Plan: Lunch
Lunch korean diet plan are relatively low in calories, with some of the most popular traditional dishes containing less than 300 calories per serve. Korean diet lunch plan ideas usually include a combination of small dishes such as:
- Doenjang stew with tofu (99 calories)
- Cooked rice (313 calories)
- Seasoned chicken stew (250 calories)
- Seaweed with cucumber salad (25 calories)
- Cabbage kimchi (10 calories).
4. Korean Diet Plan: Dinner
Dinner plan for Korean diet consists of several low-calorie traditional dishes, such as:
- Bean sprouts with kimchi soup (34 calories)
- Young radish kimchi (12 calories)
- Lettuce and green pepper with seasoned soybean paste (31 calories)
- Pork bulgoggi (214 calories).
- Cooked Rice which typically have the highest calorie – 313 calories
Korean Diet Foods
Here are some delicious korean diet foods you can eat during your korean diet weight loss plan journey.
1. Kimchi
Kimchi is a traditional Korean dish made of fermented vegetables, usually cabbage, and spices. It’s filled with probiotics, antioxidants, and prebiotics that are believed to help promote healthy microorganisms in the gut, reduce inflammation, and boost immunity.
2. Bulgogi
Bulgogi is one of Korea’s most famous dishes. It features marinated beef or pork grilled on a barbeque or skillet and served with rice and other side dishes. Bulgogi is low in fat compared to other meats and provides essential vitamins like iron, zinc, thiamin, folate, and vitamin B12 for energy production and red blood cell formation.
3. Seaweed soup
This popular soup includes seaweed that’s filled with essential minerals like iodine, calcium, magnesium, selenium as well as vitamins A & C that are believed to be effective in helping to reduce inflammation. The soup also contains some protein from tofu or anchovy making it a nutritious meal option!
4. Bibimbap
One of Korea’s classic comfort foods bibimbap mixes steamed white rice with sautéed vegetables such as spinach‒cucumber -bean sprout-mushroom-zucchini-carrot kimchi radish etc., topped with chilli pepper paste (Gochujang) plus egg or meat (optional). This delicious mix of flavourful ingredients makes it a healthy meal high in antioxidants and filling fibre so you get all the nutritional benefits without feeling heavy afterwards!
5. Japchae
Japchae is another classic Korean dish made from stir-fried sweet potato glass noodles mixed with vegetables like mushrooms carrots onion spinach garlic bell peppers etc.. This tasty dish is packed with fiber protein vitamins A & C for immune system support plus Iron for promoting red blood cell formation ;all making it an ideal choice for anyone looking for nutritious yet flavorful foodoptions !
6. Doenjang jjigae (Fermented soybean stew)
Doenjang jjigae is a traditional Korean stew made from doenjang (fermented soybean paste) mixed with onions garlic chili pepper(Gochugaru), mushrooms tofu tteok(rice cakes), zucchini squash potatoes herbs greens etc; all giving it robust flavor& nutrition profile : this hearty yet light stew supplies ample amounts of fiber protein complex carbohydrates plus valuable micronutrients such as phosphorus potassium magnesium !
Korean Diet Drinks
First, try to avoid sugary drink as much as possible, sugar is really dangerous and unhealthy! Here are some drink alternatives you can try instead of sugary drink.
Green tea (녹차)
Green tea (녹차) can be really beneficial to help you lose weight and even improving your skin care. This is due to the rich amount of antioxidants and vitamins it contains – in fact, green tea has 5-8 times more vitamin C than a real lemon!
Do note that green tea should not be consumed in excess and 2-3 cups daily would suffice for your diet needs. Furthermore, you can make use of cold green tea bags to reduce dark circle around your eyes!
Pumpkin Tea (호박차)
Credit to Shoppinginterpark
Pumpkin Tea (호박차) is another korean diet drink alternatives for those who hate drinking plain water. Other than taste much more delicious than water, this tea also help reduce puffiness and constipation.
Other tea alternatives
Here are some other tea you can try in case you don’t like the two teas mentioned above.
- Nok-cha 녹차
- Sollip-cha 솔잎차
- Yeonnip-cha 연잎차
- Bori-cha 보리차
- Yuja-cha 유자차
These teas alternatives can be a great substitute for your sugary drinks such as sodas or alcohol. Koreans usually make one big pitcher of bori cha or other tea and keep it in the refrigerator during hot summer days.
If you want to know more about korean teas, check out my quick guide to korean teas here!
Tips to Maximize Your Korean Diet
Here are some tips you can do to maximize the benefit of your korean diet plan journey!
1. Eat Slowly and Mindfully
Eat slowly to make sure you stop when your body start sending the signal to your brain that ‘it is enough’. Eating fast and quick actually cause you to eat more than you have to, since you don’t give enough time for the body to sent the signal to your brain.
Thus, most people who eat fast, usually eat more like a hungry lion and feel really full afterwards, which is not healthy for both the body and also for your eating habit.
Other than that, make sure to control your sodium and sugar consumption in every dine that you take. It is much easier to control these stuff if you make your own food at home, since all the restaurant usually add a lot of ingredients to their food.
2. Rest Enough!
Many studies has proven that rest is actually one of the best way to reduce the risk of many disease and disorder, incluing obesity.
Without proper rest, your body will have a slower metabolism and worse, release more insulin which cause a lot of problem in your body.
3. Stop Stress It Out!
Stress will never add anything to your weight loss program. On the opposite, it will cause your body to release cortisol and adrenaline, that cause more appetite and slower body mechanism.
If you have high level of stress, consider doing meditation, yoga, prayer or other technique that can help reduce stress.
4. Exercise!
Korean is well known for their walking, hiking, camping and glamping culture. You can easily find guide about the best mountain / Hiking destinations to go wherever you go in Korea.
Korea is covered with mountains, so it is easy for korean to do hiking during the weekend. If you can’t hike, then you can just walk 1 hour a day. Korean usually walk from their lunch or dinner place just to help digest the food.
Sum Up
Korean Diet has become popular in recent years, as many believe due to the fact that most Koreans are slim and have a much lower rates of obesity compare to other country.
While there are some evidence this method help maintain a healthy weight and reduce belly fat, yet it may takes time to get the target weight you desire.
Make sure to make korean diet a healthy habbit, not just for weight loss purpose as it will cause a lot of stress and pressure. If you want a quick weight loss, you might want to consider the famous yet dangerous IU diet!
Alright, it’s all I can share about korean diet. Have you ever try korean diet? Is it work for you? Let me know in the comment sections below!
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