The Korean diet Weight Loss Diet, also known as the K-pop diet, is a whole-food diet inspired by traditional Korean cuisine and popular among Easterners and Westerners alike.

It is promoted as an effective way to lose weight and look like the stars of K-pop, a popular music genre originating in South Korea.

It also claims to help cleanse your skin and improve your long-term health.

This article covers everything you need to know about the Korean weight loss diet.

diet assessment sheet

• Overall score: 3.08
• Weightloss: 2,5
• Balanced diet: 3.0
• Durability: 3,5
• Whole Body Health: 2,5
• Nutritional quality: 5,0
• Evidence-based: 2.0

BOTTOM LINE: The Korean weight loss diet, or K-pop diet, is a whole-food diet inspired by traditional Korean cuisine. It can help you lose weight by changing your diet and exercise habits.

What is the Korean Weight Loss Diet?

The Korean weight loss diet is inspired by traditional Korean cuisine.

It relies primarily on minimally processed whole foods and minimizes the consumption of processed, high-fat or sugary foods.

The diet promises to help you lose weight and maintain it by changing your diet, and all without giving up your favorite foods. It is also committed to brightening your skin and optimizing your long-term health.

In addition to focusing on nutrition, the Korean weight loss diet also emphasizes exercise and even offers K-pop-specific workouts.

Summary The Korean Weight Loss Diet is a diet and workout program designed to help you lose weight, get clearer skin, and improve your overall health.

How to Follow the Korean Weight Loss Diet

The Korean weight loss diet is based on an eating pattern that primarily includes traditional Korean meals.

It promotes the consumption of whole, minimally processed foods while limiting your consumption of overly processed foods. He also recommends avoiding foods containing wheat, refined sugars and excess fat.

Meals typically contain a variety of vegetables, rice, and meat, fish, or seafood. You can also expect to eat a lot of kimchi, a fermented cabbage dish that is a staple in Korean cuisine.

Additional diet rules

To succeed with this diet, we encourage you to follow a few additional rules:

1. Eat fewer calories. This diet does not specify portion sizes or a strict daily calorie limit. Instead, he suggests relying on Korean recipes, soups, and plenty of vegetables without feeling hungry.
2. Regular exercise. K-pop training sessions are planned for this purpose.
3. Eat less fat. It is recommended to limit fatty foods and avoid sauces, oils and seasonings as much as possible. Restaurant dining should also be limited.
4. Minimize added sugars. You are encouraged to substitute water and cookies, candy, ice cream and other baked goods with fresh fruit.
5. Avoid snacks. Snacks are considered unnecessary on this diet and should be avoided.

The diet promises to be very flexible and sustainable. We encourage you to select the Korean foods you prefer to tailor the diet to your taste.

Summary The Korean weight loss diet encourages eating Korean-inspired dishes made from minimally processed foods. To optimize weight loss, it minimizes your intake of wheat, dairy, added sugars, excess fats and snacks.

Can it help you lose weight?

The Korean weight loss diet probably makes weight loss easier for several reasons.

First of all, traditional Korean dishes are naturally high in fiber. Diets high in fiber can help you lose weight by reducing hunger and cravings while promoting a feeling of fullness (, , ).

Additionally, this diet limits snacks, fatty foods, and those with added sugars, wheat, or dairy, further reducing your overall calorie intake. It also encourages regular exercise, which helps increase the number of calories you burn.

Finally, you are encouraged to gradually eat less until you find the amount of food that allows you to lose weight while still feeling full and satisfied.

All of these factors can help you eat fewer calories than you burn. Such calorie deficits have consistently been shown to help people lose weight, regardless of the foods they choose to eat (, , , ).

Summary The Korean weight loss diet is naturally high in fiber, limits snacking, and reduces foods high in sugar and fat. It also encourages regular physical activity. Together, these factors are likely to help you lose weight.

Other benefits

The Korean weight loss diet may offer several additional benefits.

May improve your overall health

The Korean weight loss diet encourages you to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables – two food groups that have consistently been shown to promote health and protect against chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease. , ).

Plus, it includes plenty of kimchi, a popular Korean side dish made from fermented cabbage or other vegetables. Research indicates that kimchi may help lower blood pressure, blood sugar, and total and LDL (bad) (, ).

Fermented foods like kimchi also benefit gut health by increasing your number of beneficial gut bacteria, also called probiotics ().

In turn, these probiotics may help prevent or treat a range of diseases, including atopic dermatitis, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), diarrhea, and obesity ().

Can reduce acne

The Korean weight loss diet is said to limit your dairy intake. There may be evidence to support this claim.

Dairy products appear to stimulate the release of insulin and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-XNUMX), both of which may play a role in acne formation (, , ).

One review noted that people whose diets were highest in dairy were about 2,6 times more likely to have acne than those who consumed the least dairy ().

Similarly, another review suggests that adolescents and young adults who consume any form of dairy products may be 25% more likely to suffer from acne than those who follow a dairy-free diet ().

Nutrient-rich and likely sustainable

The Korean weight loss diet places a strong emphasis on making long-term, sustainable changes to the way you eat and exercise.

It generally favors nutritious, minimally processed foods and limits your intake of foods that are high in calories but low in nutrients.

It doesn't have strict guidelines on how much to eat, nor does it suggest weighing or measuring your food portions. Instead, it encourages you to discover the portion sizes that work for you.

It also offers a variety of Korean recipes to choose from, including vegetarian and gluten-free dishes, making this diet accessible to many.

All of these factors contribute to the high nutrient content of this diet and increase the likelihood that you will be able to stick to it long term.

Summary The Korean weight loss diet encourages making lasting changes. It promotes nutritious and fermented foods that can benefit your health. She also limits dairy products, which may offer some protection against acne.

Potential disadvantages

Despite its many positives, the Korean weight loss diet does have some drawbacks.

Unnecessary emphasis on physical appearance

This diet places a heavy emphasis on losing weight to look like your favorite K-pop celebrities.

Using sociocultural appearance norms as motivation to lose weight may put certain groups of people, such as young adolescents, at increased risk of developing (, ).

Lack of direction

This diet offers very little guidance on how to construct balanced meals.

While some may view the flexibility of choosing the meals they like most as a benefit, others may find it difficult to distinguish between nutrient-rich and nutrient-poor Korean recipes.

This may cause some people to select or not meet their daily nutritional needs.

Unscientific and conflicting guidelines

The Korean weight loss diet recommends you, despite research showing that some people lose more weight by including snacks in their diet (, ).

Additionally, the meal plans and recipe suggestions offered on its website often contain foods or ingredients that the diet suggests avoiding, such as fried foods, wheat, and dairy.

Summary The Korean weight loss diet's emphasis on outward appearance, lack of advice, and unscientific and conflicting guidelines can be considered disadvantages.

Foods to eat

The Korean weight loss diet encourages you to eat the following foods:

• Vegetables. No vegetables are prohibited. You can eat them raw, cooked or, as in the case of kimchi. Soups are another great way to eat more vegetables.
• fruit. All types of fruit are allowed. They are considered a great natural substitute for candy.
• Protein-rich animal products. This category includes meat, fish and seafood. Small portions should be added to most meals.
• Meat substitutes. Tofu, dried shiitake, and king oyster mushrooms are most often used to replace meat in Korean recipes. They can make Korean recipes suitable for vegetarian or vegan diets.
• Rice. White rice and rice noodles are included in many Korean recipes promoted on this diet.
• Other grains without wheat. Dumplings, pancakes or glass noodles made with mung bean, potato or starch are good alternatives to rice.

You are encouraged to determine your portion sizes based on the amount of food that helps you lose weight without feeling too hungry or low on energy.

Summary The Korean weight loss diet is primarily based on minimally processed whole foods and smaller amounts of grains, meat, fish, seafood or meat alternatives.

Foods to avoid

The Korean weight loss diet minimizes your intake of the following foods.

• Foods containing wheat: bread, pasta, pastries or wheat-based flours of all kinds
• Milkman: milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream and any baked goods containing dairy
• Fat food: fatty meats, fried foods, sauces, oily seasonings or foods cooked in oil
• Processed or sugary foods: candy, soft drinks, baked goods or any other food containing

This diet does not require you to cut out these foods completely, but recommends that you significantly reduce your intake. However, this strictly discourages between-meal snacking.

Summary The Korean weight loss diet discourages the consumption of foods containing wheat and dairy. It also warns against processed, fatty or sugary foods and discourages snacking between meals.

Sample menu

Here is a sample 3-day menu suitable for those following the Korean weight loss diet.

Day 1

Breakfast: vegetable omlette

Lunch: kimchi-vegetable soup with pork or

Having dinner: fried rice and vegetables

Day 2

Breakfast: Korean pancakes filled with vegetables, shiitake or seafood

Lunch: bibmbap – a Korean rice dish made with egg, vegetables and meat or tofu

Having dinner: japchae – a Korean glass noodle stir-fry

3th day

Breakfast: mandoo – Korean meat or vegetable balls made from rice and tapioca flour

Lunch: spicy korean coleslaw

Having dinner: kimbap – also known as Korean sushi rolls – filled with your choice of vegetables, avocado, shrimp or tofu

Additional recipe suggestions for this diet can be found at.

However, keep in mind that they may include foods or ingredients discouraged on this diet, such as fried foods, wheat, or dairy.

Summary The Korean weight loss diet includes a variety of minimally processed Korean recipes that are generally high in vegetables and low in added sugars or fat.

The essential

The Korean weight loss diet focuses on whole, minimally processed foods.

It can help lose weight and improve your skin and.

Although it is sustainable and nutritionally balanced, this diet's emphasis on physical appearance may increase the risk of eating disorders.

Additionally, its conflicting and sometimes insufficient guidelines can make it difficult for some people to meet their nutrient needs.