It is normal to hear someone scream “Yass Queen” when Beyonce breaks into song.
Just a few after giving birth through C-section, Beyonce hit the 2018 Coachella stage for a
2-hour set filled with intense choreography.
I was no doubt amazed by her craft.
But there was something more that kept me spellbound.
I was in splits.
I asked myself, “There’s no way she’s getting that body and stamina back so quick!
What ‘s her secret?”
And then she served the secret!
On April 17, 2019, she dropped her Coachella themed documentary named “Homecoming”.
In it, she mentioned going on a 44-day diet with NO carbs, sugar, dairy, meat, fish, and
alcohol.
So what did she eat, you might wonder?
A plant-based diet.
Yes, a 100% plant-eating regime.
She followed “22 Days Nutrition,” plan founded by exercise physiologist Marco Borges,
twice.
After the release of a promotional video on her channel, just last week, the diet plan
received a severe backlash.
It was quickly dubbed as “Starvation Diet” and “Crash diet” owing to its extreme-sounding
nature.
But is it excessively limiting or a smartly designed way to weight loss?
Is it a diet you should definitely go for, or is paying $14 per month for it is completely
wasteful?
Bestie is here to help you make the informed choice.
The program costs $99 per year or, $14 per month.
The planner gives you nutritionally analyzed recipes with printable menus and grocery lists.
It also gives you on-demand food coach’s help if you pay more.
The recipes are plant-based meals with options like garlic cauliflower soup, Thai inspired
salad, protein breakfast bars and smoothies.
Already not sounding like a weight loss plan?
We agree.
To no one’s surprise, there’s no junk allowed.
Staying well hydrated should be your priority.
According to the research, it takes 21 days for a regular person to get into a habit.
On the 22nd day, a subscriber must have become habitual of a plant-based diet is the idea
behind this program.
After you subscribe, you are greeted with a daily “Discover Meals” page in the app.
There are many options available for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
You aren’t left on your own to cheat during those snacking hours either.
You are allowed to munch on cashews and unsalted pistachios.
The app also lets you adjust the preparation time as per your convenience.
Anywhere from 10 to 120+ minutes.
So yes, from your relaxed dinner cooking plans to early morning short on-time cooking plans,
everything is taken care of.
And, That’s what the plan looks like.
Now, let us come down to the assessment.
To ensure it is fair, we’ll be having a faceoff.
Yes, one between plan haters and Beyonce herself.
Let us see who wins.
And, feel free to leave some Bee-emoticons in the comments, Beyhive.
So that we know you’re here.
Number 1: A healthier Choice According to diet professionals, the plant-based
diet is absolutely worth a try.
Nopes she isn’t favouring the plan because she loved Lion King album.
There are solid facts to call the diet worth it.
The list of reasons one should make a shift towards plant-based eating for is long.
Such a diet significantly lowers the risk of several chronic health conditions.
Apart from lowering body weight, it reduces the risk of health diseases, cancer, type
2 diabetes, hypertension and cognitive decline.
Ha!
We told you, the list is long.
So, the first point goes to Queen B. Beyonce 1: Plan Haters 0
Number 2: The Serving Beyonce is truly a legend when it comes to
serving our lives with music.
But she missed the spot with serving number with this diet plan.
The program is well crafted to give you a calorie count for every serving.
But it misses out on giving the number of servings one must be having.
Yeah, that is a big loophole for food hoggers like us to take advantage of.
You’ll find us having 4 servings at once while giving the justification, “Hey, it’s
plant-based.”
I mean, that’s definitely not the way she thought it would be.
But, we are a regular human.
If we aren’t directed how many times to eat, we ASSUME.
The FAQ states “If your focus is on eating clean plant-based meals, you will notice that
you feel satisfied and nourished after your meals, and your health will likely follow,”
But obviously, food quantity is an important factor for weight maintenance.
In the app’s preference page, maximum liberty you get is to choose the per-meal serving
size.
You can make a choice between M for “most women,” L for “most men and active women,”
and XL for “super athletes”.
The plan would give you a recipe accordingly.
What do experts recommend then?
According to senior dieticians, the portion sizes should be increased and snacks need
to be added.
The plan according to her is overly aggressive in terms of quantities.
It sounds more like a “lifestyle diet” than “Crash diet” according to her.
You might not call it a big deal if you tend to take smaller meals, but hey, people like
us exist.
So Bey!
You better tell us how many times we can eat that avocado sandwich.
This one goes to plan haters.
Beyonce 1: Haters 1
Number 3: A Planet-Friendly Alternative
As per research, the “Single biggest way” to reduce our impact on the earth’s environment
could be a plant-based diet.
Meat and dairy production makes up for 60% greenhouse gas emission.
Yup, we are really going there because our environment needs this attention.
Cutting down dairy and meat from our diet can bring our carbon footprint from food down
by 73 per cent.
If applied globally, a significant decrease in greenhouse gas emission will follow due
to a reduction in global farmland usage.
We are talking about a usage reduction of up to 75 per cent.
That’s an area as big as the US, China, EU and Australia, combined.
Freed agricultural land will ultimately lead to wildlife restoration.
Efforts in the correct direction can make or break our future.
It’s high time to save what we are left with.
Beyonce gets this one.
Beyonce 2: Haters 1
Number 4: Lower Than Recommended Calorie Intake
And I…oop!
This is one of the major concerns dieticians had with this recommended diet.
If someone follows, say, “Most Women” plan, this is how a day’s plan might look
like.
4 ingredient pancakes for breakfast, an open-faced mango chutney sandwich for lunch, and quick
red lentil chilli at dinner.
It would give a person only 1067 calories in a day.
Yeah, that’s it.
This is undoubtedly TOO low even if you’re aiming for weight loss.
About 1,600 to 2,400 calorie intake a day for women and 2,000 to 3,000 per day for men
are recommended, in general, depending on their activity level.
Plant-based eating specialists don’t recommend going below 1200 calories a day.
Intake lower than this can potentially slow down metabolism which isn’t the best path
to follow.
Faceoff is getting tougher now!
Beyonce 2: Haters 2
Number 5: The Variability of Diet There is no doubt to the fact that variability
of nutrients was kept as the primary focus in planning this diet.
I mean, thank God.
Beyonce is known for giving a perfect blend of everything in her performances.
This diet plan is no different.
Experts think more people should opt for a plant-based diet.
The diet’s focus on giving a variety of vitamins, minerals and nutrients is a step
in the positive direction.
Some experts were also specifically impressed with the absence of pre-packaged items in
the diet.
There are no recipes with sodium- and sugar-packed ingredients.
Subscribers being introduced to new ingredients like tempeh and tofu is also a commendable
feature.
Variability of this plan takes care of a major concern we often see with other diet plans.
Systems based on calorie count often end up neglecting some essential nutrients one must
get on a daily basis.
Ensuring the variability of ingredients in recipes makes the plan interesting and nutritionally
enriching to follow.
And, we know, interesting recipes means lesser chances of falling back.
The competition in this faceoff is cut-throat.
Probably the only one Beyonce ever faced.
But this point goes to her.
Beyonce 3: Haters 2
Number 6: The Sustainability Everything is easy to start but difficult
to sustain.
According to some health experts, sustainability is sadly a big question mark with this diet
plan.
For some, the cost of the plan is a bummer while for some the concept of “22 days”
is.
To be truthful, it’s been bugging me too.
In order to make a plan sustainable and long term, changes should be gradual.
For a regular human with high protein and carb eating pattern, a sudden shift for 22
days is not the right approach.
I can’t adapt to a new alarm timing easily, forget a diet plan.
The notion of being able to subscribe to the plan today and eat 3 plant-based meals tomorrow,
well, sounds too commercial.
It’s like expecting too much at once.
To add on, plan’s primary targets are middle- to upper-income, highly-educated people.
The price tag on diet plan and ingredients doesn’t make it accessible for low-income
groups either.
Dieticians also point out the struggle people face when too many diet changes are imposed
on them at once.
The best approach is to take it slow, one step at a time.
It prevents falling into the pattern of disordered eating with losing and gaining weight in cycles.
With that, Beyonce lost this round.
Beyonce 3: Haters 3
Wait!
We didn’t expect that to happen.
That leaves us with a tie.
But, fair enough.
One must take home the fact that it is okay to spend your money on this diet plan if you
wish to.
Follow it judiciously if you decide to do so.
But remember, it isn’t gonna turn you into Beyonce overnight.
If you think it will, Tiffany Pollard will surely haunt your dreams.
Jokes apart, the primary focus shouldn’t be losing weight quickly in the first place.
It should instead be getting into the habit of eating healthy and consciously.
Being more awake is all Beyonce wants from us, I guess.
Dropping overnight albums is proof.
And, let’s be real, we aren’t headlining next Coachella in 44 days anyway.
So let us take it slow and steady.
What do think about this diet plan?
Do you think it is a complete miss or tweaking it a little to fit your lifestyle can do wonders?
Let us know in the comments down below.