Montignac diet: detailed menu, glycemic index of foods

Diets

30 June 2021, 19:36

• The essence and principles of the Montignac diet: how food helps you lose weight
• What foods are suitable for the Montignac diet?
• Montignac diet menu for the week
• Phases of the Montignac diet

The Michel Montignac diet is a nutritional system named after the French nutritionist who developed it. The technique is designed for two main functions: weight loss and weight stabilization. There is also “collateral damage” in the form of general improvement of the body.

The author of the method suffered from excess weight as a child. He initially started developing it in order to lose weight.

Before presenting his diet to the world, Michel did a long and painstaking job. He studied the scientific works of nutritionists, trying to extract the quintessence from the huge flow of information. Then he began experimenting, enlisting the support of doctors and scientists.

The nutritionist was able to calculate an unusual diet that allows you to lose weight without limiting the amount of food. “I eat, therefore I lose weight” - Montignac’s book of the same name created a sensation in the late eighties. It was published in forty countries around the world, with a total circulation exceeding 16 million copies.

Michel Montignac: author of weight loss techniques

General rules

The Montignac nutrition method was born in 1986 in France.
Its author, Michel Montignac, himself suffered from excess weight. Having carefully studied the peculiarities of metabolism, he developed a nutritional system, which is always accompanied by a table of glycemic indices of foods, thanks to which the author was able to lose 16 kg in 3 months. The Montignac method is not a diet that limits the amount of food for some time, but a long-term and thoughtful nutrition system, the main principle of which is the differentiation of carbohydrates and lipids in one meal.

Michel Montignac

The technique does not limit food intake and is completely balanced. The author recommends products of each group (proteins, fats and carbohydrates), based on their physicochemical characteristics and ability to stimulate metabolic processes.

All these conditions prevent excess weight gain, the occurrence and development of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.

Sample menu

To make it easier to create your own menu for the week according to the Montignac diet, look at the approximate one for each day in the table below. As you can see, there are different drink options for every meal, and serving sizes are unlimited.

Please note that there are special products from the Montignac brand. They are sold in specialized stores and online resources. If you seriously decide to start losing weight using this system, it makes sense to buy them.

Based on this table, you can create a menu for the month if you repeat the diet for a given week 4 times, changing only the days of the week. If you want something new, look for other recipes. Just be careful in which meal (protein-carbohydrate or protein-lipid) you include a new dish.

Basic principles of the Montignac Method

The first, and also the main, principle is the choice of food products based on their physico-chemical characteristics and the ability to awaken processes associated with metabolism in the human body.

The second principle is that there is no need to count calories, since this is ineffective for quality weight loss.

• You need to choose foods with the lowest glycemic index value from those that mostly contain carbohydrates.
• Foods that are mostly lipid-containing should be selected based on their fatty acid properties. Give preference to polyunsaturated fatty acids Omega-3 and Omega-6 (flaxseed and nut oils, fish oil, fish liver, shellfish), and monounsaturated fatty acids (avocado, natural peanut oil, cold-pressed olive oil). Avoid saturated fatty acids (lamb, pork, lard, butter).
• Products that mostly contain proteins must be chosen based on their origin: animal or plant.

Montignac glycemic index. Glycemic index table

While most weight loss diets are based on a significant reduction in calories consumed per day, the Montignac method is based on the glycemic index, dividing carbohydrate-containing foods into “bad” and “good”.

The function of “fuel” in the body is performed by glucose, which is delivered by blood to all vital human organs.

The human body can receive it in 2 ways:

• the first is the ability to independently produce glucose from reserve fat deposits
• the second is getting sugar through food

In both cases, glucose enters the organs through the human blood, and its level is calculated by the glycemic index, which is usually equal to 1 g per 1 liter of blood. When food is consumed, the level of this indicator rises to a maximum o).

With the help of insulin produced by the pancreas, the level of glucose concentration in the blood gradually normalizes, and the “fuel” reaches the necessary organs.

The main functions of the hormone insulin are to lower glycemia and form a “fuel reserve” of the body in the form of fat reserves. Reacting to the ingress of glucose, the pancreas injects an amount of insulin proportional to the level of glycemia.

With prolonged intake of “bad” sugar into the body, the functioning of the thyroid gland is disrupted, which, in order to lower glucose levels, begins to produce an excess amount of the hormone, which in turn contributes to the accumulation of reserve fat masses.

The first stage of the Method (Phase 1) is aimed at ensuring the normal functioning of the thyroid gland by taking exclusively foods that cause low glycemia.

Authorized Products

The first phase of the method is designed to reduce weight. To do this, you should significantly limit your carbohydrate intake: you can eat foods containing carbohydrates with a glycemic index value of no more than 40: wholemeal pasta, cereals, bran bread.

During this phase, the diet requires you to be saturated with foods that do not cause a spike in blood glucose .

So, during this period, fats will not accumulate in the body, and existing reserves will burn, giving energy to the digestion of complex food. Here you should give preference to products with the lowest glycemic index values: vegetables rich in fiber.

Fatty red meat is rarely included in the first phase, so it is better to exclude it altogether in favor of poultry or fish.

In the second phase, when you have already achieved the desired results in weight loss, you can eat pork, veal, dark chocolate, and drink dry red wine no more than once a week.

And, of course, in both phases it is necessary to carefully observe the drinking regime: at least 2 liters of water per day can be alternated with weak green tea.

Table of permitted products

Beverages

Fully or partially limited products

According to the author of the diet, the method allows you to consume absolutely all foods, be it chips, sweets, coffee, etc. Typically, relaxations in the diet are typical for the second phase, when you have already achieved certain results. And it’s worth remembering that a portion of a “bad” product will be “worked off” with a double or triple portion of products with a glycemic index value below 15 and physical activity.

Despite the loyalty of the menu, Michel Montignac pays special attention to the prohibition of potatoes, corn, pasta made from white flour, white bread and honey. By the way, boiled beets and carrots should also be replaced with fresh ones.

One way or another, over time, having experienced all the benefits of the recommended menu, you will not even remember these products.

Table of prohibited products

Montignac diet menu for a week

This is the weekly menu for the first phase of the technique. Remember to eat at the same time every day - it is forbidden to feel hungry here. You should also drink plenty of water, ginger water and weak green tea.

Rules for each meal:

• Every morning, 30 minutes before the main meal (breakfast), it is recommended to start with a portion of fresh, permitted fruit.
• Breakfasts during the first phase must contain 2 protein-lipid meals per week.
• The remaining 5 breakfasts are allowed porridge (usually oatmeal), cooked in water or skim milk without butter, combined with a sandwich of wholemeal bread, cottage cheese and vegetables.
• Lunch in the first phase is always protein-lipid: a combination of meat, fish or poultry, eggs with fresh vegetables.
• For lunch, you can use homemade mayonnaise: without sugar, flour, glucose, starch.
• Dinner in the first phase can be protein-lipid (3-4 times a week) or protein-carbohydrate (3-4 times a week).
• The basis of the diet is separate meals: cereals/rice + vegetables, meat/poultry/fish + vegetables.
• Try to use any oil when preparing dinner in minimal quantities, and also do not season vegetable salad with oil.

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

When you achieve that you are satisfied with your weight, when your well-being improves, and lightness in your body is constantly felt, then you will need to move on to the second phase of the technique. By the way, in order to feel this way for a long time, it is best to stick to this diet all your life.

When you are in the second phase, you can not eat foods with a glycemic index value of more than 50 very often and in small quantities, with the exception of premium pasta, corn, potatoes, white rice, honey, and white bread.

If it turns out that you ate a “bad” carbohydrate, correct the situation with a large amount of fresh vegetable salad, since the fiber contained in vegetables slows down the absorption of carbohydrates and fats and softens changes in glucose levels.

Among other things, in the second phase you can drink alcohol: dry red wine or champagne. You can snack on these drinks with any cheese and vegetables.

The menu of the second phase is very similar to the menu of the first, but all kinds of snacks are added to it, consisting of cottage cheese, kefir, dried fruits, nuts, fruits, vegetables, yoghurts, and muesli. Sometimes you can allow yourself dark chocolate, desserts, pork and veal, but nutrition, one way or another, is still based on the principle of separation: pasta/cereals + fresh vegetables, meat/fish/poultry + vegetables.

Michel Montignac's diet allows you to learn a huge number of healthy and tasty recipes and, in addition, creating them yourself is also not difficult. The table of glycemic indexes recommended by the author is a great help with this.

Montignac diet, glycemic index table

Low glycemic index foods

Medium Glycemic Index Foods

High glycemic index foods

Principles of losing weight according to Montignac

By and large, the Montignac method is not so much a diet as a system of rational nutrition, which allows you to gradually, without stress and side effects, get rid of extra pounds and consolidate the results achieved. The benefits of the diet include:

• lack of feeling of hunger and associated psychological discomfort while on a diet;
• actually achieved health effect - normalization of the gastrointestinal tract, lowering cholesterol levels, improving the condition of the pancreas and liver with their non-fatal dysfunctions;
• the ability to remain on a low-glycemic diet for as long as desired, even for the rest of your life.

The Montignac diet is suitable even for pregnant women and nursing mothers.

For pregnant women, however, there is no point in going on a diet to lose weight, since their weight is determined not so much by nutritional factors as by hormonal levels and direct weight gain due to the little man in the stomach, but for women who have just given birth, the problem of losing weight is sometimes very difficult. spicy. Relative contraindications for the Montignac diet are still present:

• presence of mental disorders;
• severe forms of diabetes mellitus and other pathologies of carbohydrate and lipid metabolism;
• acute infectious diseases;
• recovery period after illness, injury, surgery;
• childhood and adolescence.

During the first time you are on the Montignac diet, it is advisable to have on hand a GI table compiled by a French doctor; in the future, you will simply learn the indicators by heart and will be able to easily navigate them. Montignac pointed out the need to follow three simple rules:

1. Every day you need to drink at least two liters of pure still water.
2. Fats and carbohydrates with high and medium GI should be eaten strictly separately.
3. The optimal interval between meals is 3 hours. You should eat in small portions, at least 4, and preferably 5-6 times a day.

The diet is divided into two phases - losing weight and consolidating the results. At the first stage, only foods with low GI (below 20 units) are allowed. After achieving the set goal, foods of the second group are allowed (20 - 70 units), but foods with a high GI remain almost completely prohibited (they can be consumed no more than once a week and without fat).

Each meal has a basic component of the food triad - proteins, fats or carbohydrates. Breakfast according to Montignac is always carbohydrate-rich; it provides energy for the whole day. Lunch is mostly protein. Lunch is protein and fat, completely devoid of carbohydrates. Dinner consists of either proteins and carbohydrates or proteins and fats. You should have dinner at least 3 hours before bedtime, preferably before 19 hours, even if you are a night owl. Between bedtime and dinner, you can allow yourself a light snack.

Michel Montignac's diet, recipes

The recipes for this diet are so varied that they fit into an entire book by Michel Montignac, “190 Recipes for Delicious Weight Loss.” She became super popular all over the world! So we definitely recommend purchasing it to create useful masterpieces in your kitchen.

If this is not yet possible, pay attention to a couple of delicious dishes that will have a great effect on your figure.

Pumpkin soup with ginger

Pumpkin ginger soup

For this soup for lunch you will need:

• 0.5 kg pumpkin;
• 50 g butter;
• 2 carrots;
• 1 sweet potato;
• 1 onion;
• 50 g ginger root;
• 1 bunch of cilantro;
• 6 cloves of garlic;
• 1 tablespoon olive oil;
• 1 teaspoon coriander;
• ground black pepper;
• salt to taste.

Remove and remove the seeds from the pumpkin, peel the sweet potatoes (if you don’t have any, never replace them with potatoes) and chop them.

Grind the cilantro, onion, carrots and garlic, and grate the ginger.

Place all the prepared ingredients in a baking dish, pour in olive oil, sprinkle with coriander, salt, pepper and stir. Bake for 30 minutes at 180 degrees. Next, move all the ingredients into a saucepan, add water until it covers all the vegetables, and boil for 3 minutes. Puree the soup using a blender.

This soup is ideal served with pumpkin seeds and a splash of cream.

Cod in cheese sauce

• 0.5 kg cod fillet;
• 200 g hard cheese;
• 100 ml cream 15%;
• 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard;
• salt;
• ground black pepper.

In a separate bowl, mix grated hard cheese, mustard seeds and cream, add salt and pepper. Place cod fillets in a greased baking dish. Pour the prepared mixture over the fish and place in the oven preheated to 200 degrees for 20 minutes.

Seafood salad

Seafood salad

This salad is perfect for an evening meal, because you can quickly get enough of it, but at the same time, it is light.

You will need:

• 600 grams of sea cocktail;
• 1 bell pepper;
• 2 tomatoes;
• 1 cucumber;
• 6 pieces of olives;
• 6 pieces of olives;
• 1 bunch of lettuce leaf;
• 1 bunch of greens (dill, parsley, basil);
• 2 cloves of garlic;
• juice of half a lemon;
• 4 tablespoons olive oil;
• salt;
• pepper.

Place lettuce leaves in a salad bowl. Coarsely chop the bell pepper and grill it, place it on lettuce leaves. Next, add chopped tomatoes, cucumber, olives and black olives. Add seafood last.

In a separate bowl, mix chopped garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, herbs, salt and pepper and pour the mixture over the seafood salad.

Delicious recipes

A slow cooker, oven and steamer help you lose weight the Montignac way without much hassle. A quick and delicious lunch can be prepared in just a few minutes.

See the same topic: The first stage of the Dukan diet is attack

Chicken breast in white sauce

Remove the skin, rinse the breast flesh with running water and dry with a napkin. Rub the breast with the pepper and salt mixture on all sides and place on a sheet of foil. Add fresh parsley to taste, a piece of grated cheese and pour over low-fat yogurt. Wrap the foil, making a seam at the top, and bake in the oven for 25 minutes at medium temperature. You can prepare this treat in a slow cooker without foil.

Cream soup

The hot dish can be prepared for both lunch and dinner. If desired, you can use any vegetables: zucchini, cabbage, sweet peppers, tomatoes and others. Cut all the ingredients into small cubes and simmer them in a slow cooker or in a frying pan, without adding oil, so that the vegetables do not burn, add a little water. When the vegetables soften and are ready, grind them in a blender and add salt to taste.

In case of failure

Let's say circumstances are such that you ate a “bad” product, or even more than one.

In the case of the Montignac technique, there is a clear action plan in case of failure:

• Having lost your temper once, you shouldn’t think that everything is allowed until tomorrow and run to the store for donuts. Pull yourself together and make your next meal as healthy as possible within your diet.
• If a breakdown occurs in the second stage, eat according to the rules of the first phase for the next 2-3 days.
• If a breakdown occurs at the first or second stage, you need to reduce salt intake and increase the consumption of green tea and water.
• If you have a breakdown, increase your time doing cardio or walking outdoors.

Description of phases

The method includes some subtleties, knowing which it is easy to achieve the desired results. Michel Montignac noted that food is beneficial if carbohydrates, lipids and fats are properly mixed.

The French specialist’s nutrition system consists of two simple phases: the first is weight loss, the second is consolidation of the result. There are no time restrictions. The first stage lasts as long as necessary to achieve the goal. Someone wants to lose 5 kg, and someone wants to lose 15 kg.

1st phase: “Weight loss”

The first stage is strict, it is aimed at getting rid of extra pounds. There are no strict time limits, but from experience, the first period lasts 2-3 months.

In the first phase the following products are used:

1. Protein and protein-lipid: meat, poultry ham, egg whites, cheeses, seafood. By-products (offal, liver) are excluded.
2. Carbohydrate, protein-carbohydrate: porridge from water-based cereals (oatmeal, wheat, basmati rice), pasta, lentils, chickpeas.
3. Vegetables, raw and boiled. Salads may be seasoned with lemon juice and olive oil.

Drink up to two liters of liquid per day. It is allowed to drink decaffeinated coffee, weak tea without sugar and milk.

2nd phase: “Stabilization and maintenance of weight”

In the second phase, the emphasis is on consolidating the achieved results. The duration of the stage is lifelong. It is aimed not only at stabilization, but also at preventing the development of diabetes mellitus, atherosclerosis, and hypertension.

The list of permitted foods has been increased; you can occasionally consume chocolate, fruit and egg mousses. “Bad carbohydrates” are combined with “good” ones, for example, boiled potatoes are eaten with raw cabbage and tomatoes.

Pros and cons of the Montignac diet

Positive and negative aspects of losing weight

When planning to follow the Michel Montignac diet, a person must take into account its pros and cons. The undeniable advantages include:

• systematic and sustainable weight loss;
• reducing the risk of obesity;
• preventing the occurrence of diseases of the cardiovascular system;
• prevention of type 2 diabetes;
• reduction of “bad” cholesterol;
• cleansing the body of toxins and waste;
• general health.

However, this method of eating has its disadvantages, such as:

• psychological tension due to compliance with product compatibility;
• spending a lot of time preparing dishes (Montignac recommends doing this by steaming or low heat);
• inability to follow the principles of the diet everywhere - at a party, in a restaurant, at events;
• This menu is not suitable for people suffering from diabetes and diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, kidneys or liver.

Despite all the dietary features, this diet cannot harm the body; following the menu, you can lose about 3 kg of weight per month. On the one hand, this is not much, but this is how you can lose weight safely and without the risk of regaining all the lost kilograms.

Montignac diet, reviews and results

The Montignac diet, reviews of those who have lost weight sound extremely positive, has long conquered the world. Indeed, entire families adhere to it, not limiting themselves to delicious dishes. And nutritionists themselves are inclined to support the usefulness of this method, because it contains the main principles of healthy separate nutrition.

• “... I’ve been eating Montignac for 5 years now, and I switched my husband to this diet. Initially, I went on a diet to lose at least 15 kg of weight. During the first phase (over 3 months) only 10 kg was lost, the remaining 5 kg disappeared over the next eight months. Then I got so used to feeling lightness in my body that I decided not to give up this nutrition, and I’m already very used to it. Of course, at first you just need to read a bunch of information and understand the combination of products. The diet ensures a healthy body and spirit throughout life, so the highest praise goes to the diet and its author”;
• “... I recently discovered the book “Secrets of Nutrition” by Michel Montignac in a bookstore and leafed through it. I was captivated by the fact that there were no exhausting short-term diets, after which you want to eat everything in your path, so I bought it. For a long time, about a month, I delved into all the lists, tables, combinations of “bad” and “good” products. And so, with a fairly large amount of knowledge, I decided to build my nutrition according to its principles. I didn’t have much excess weight, so in 2 months of the first phase I lost 5 kg. And then I started eating according to the rules of the second phase, preparing healthy dishes, sometimes the forum helped me find recipes. So already 7 months of my proper nutrition are producing visible results: the quality of my body and skin is at the highest level, my mood is always wonderful, there is no heaviness. And if something is not clear in the diet, or you don’t want to buy a book, the method has its own official website, where all the necessary GI tables and basic principles are presented.”

Doctors' opinion about the nutrition system

To paraphrase a well-known saying, let's say this: as many doctors, as many opinions. Among medical nutritionists there are both those who themselves recommend the Montignac diet to their patients and its fierce opponents. The main arguments of the latter:

• it is not perfectly balanced, so your body will not receive enough important substances;
• it does not take into account calories and portion sizes;
• it is high in protein, which is not entirely good;
• many are outraged by the complete ban on natural sweets (honey and sugar) and the abundance of artificial sweeteners in dietary recipes;
• The influence of the glycemic index on digestion is not a generally accepted fact. Some nutritionists believe that Montignac's research has not yet put an end to this issue.

For the most part, doctors have nothing against the patient studying the diet and gaining useful ideas for himself, but at the same time adhering to them without fanaticism. And consulting a doctor will never be superfluous - at least a local therapist.

Diet price

In order to find out the approximate cost of the Montignac method, we took as a basis the average prices for necessary products in large cities of Russia: Novosibirsk, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Krasnoyarsk, Kazan.

Based on the menu option proposed above, a week in the first phase of the Montignac diet will cost 2500-3200 rubles: you will need to buy about 8-10 kg of vegetables, 3 kg of fruit, 2-3 kg of poultry, 3-4 kg of fish, cereals for morning meals, eggs, dairy and fermented milk products.

The entire first phase of this diet (on average 2 months) will cost about 19,000-26,000 rubles. In the second phase, you will be allowed to give yourself some indulgences, such as sweets, homemade cakes, wine, nuts, dried fruits, fatty meats. Thus, if desired and possible, the cost of a month on the Montignac diet may change slightly and amount to 11,000-14,000 rubles.

Of course, expensive products can be successfully replaced with less expensive ones, but with similar characteristics, and sometimes even more useful: salmon with mackerel, pork with chicken, Golden apples with local ones. It is important to find the most suitable option for your body for the maximum benefit from this nutrition plan and, most importantly, observe the results.

Reviews from those who have lost weight

21 kilograms in 2 months!

The diet is quite varied, balanced, even chocolate is allowed, albeit bitter. I lost 10 kg on this diet and am very happy!

Daria2000

https://otzovik.com/review_3875697.html

You can eat often and plentifully. Due to the fact that the diet turned into a culinary adventure for me with the discovery of new dishes and products, I did not have any breakdowns or bouts of gluttony. The disadvantages of the method include the fact that at first you will have to buy food and create a menu, constantly looking at Montignac’s tables. It took me about two weeks to remember which product belonged to which category. Well, when your husband eats cutlets with fried potatoes, you will have to eat cutlets with vegetables (but you can take extra).

Iya Green

https://irecommend.ru/content/samaya-gurmanskaya-i-effektivnaya-dieta-dlya-menya-rezultat-derzhitsya-3-goda

I'll be honest, I don't think I follow Montignac's method perfectly. Perhaps I misunderstood something while studying it on the Internet, perhaps I violated something. But even with all our shortcomings, my husband ALREADY lost 20 kg in a year! At the same time, eating as much as you want and when you want! Agree, this is worth a lot. From borderline 52–54 clothing sizes, I returned to 46–48.

Anna79

https://irecommend.ru/content/muzh-bez-golodovok-pokhudel-za-pol-goda-na-10kg-za-god-na-20

Photo gallery: Before and after

How nice it is to feel light and slim!
28 kilos in 10 months is an excellent result Age is not an obstacle to losing weight The stronger sex also wants to look good The effort expended is definitely worth it It may seem as if the Montignac diet is reminiscent of a gourmet’s sweet dream: no grueling workouts, hungry rumbling in the stomach, bad mood... Not even portions have serious limitations! Know, count the floating kilograms. However, a slender figure will not just fall from the sky. You will still have to work hard for the coveted thin waist, understanding the clear requirements of the new nutrition system and overcoming the temptation to try something tasty and forbidden. But in order to lose weight comfortably, no effort is spared.