Fats have always been considered the number one enemy of the figure, but nutritionists around the world say that carbohydrates pose a more serious problem. We are specifically talking about fast carbohydrates, which are converted into glucose in the human body in a very short time. If we do not use the glucose obtained for physical activity as quickly, the body stores it in adipose tissue - in reserve. This fact is a real torment for those with a sweet tooth, because the most delicious desserts and baked goods are sinning with fast carbohydrates. However, you can not completely exclude them from your diet, otherwise a serious error will appear in the body.
Slow carbohydrates, which are included in the menu of a low-carb diet, provide sufficient energy. This diet is recognized by many nutritionists as the safest, since a person does not limit his diet to a critical level, and the body does not panic, thinking that restless times of hunger have come. It is better not to consider such a diet as a short-term method of losing weight, but as a transitional period to a proper nutritional system. Let's look at the basic principles of a low-carbohydrate diet, its effectiveness and an approximate diet for a few days.
The main nuances of dietary nutrition
With a low-carbohydrate diet, the emphasis is on protein-containing foods, carbohydrates and fats are given to the necessary minimum in the daily diet. Due to the emergence of a deficiency of the main supplier of glucose, the body begins to use up fat reserves in order to obtain the energy necessary for the full functioning of all systems. The basic postulate of such dietary nutrition is that starvation should not be allowed, otherwise the body will go into standby mode and not eat fats, fearing that real hunger will come soon when they are needed more. It is necessary to competently reduce the consumption of carbohydrates, replacing them with the necessary amount of protein. The minimum amount of carbohydrate-containing products will provide a person with the necessary vitamins and minerals, without interfering with weight loss.
This diet option - low-carb - is shown even to diabetics. You already have a lot of sugar in your blood, and overeating on carbohydrate foods will make your condition worse. When a large amount of carbohydrates in the blood enters the human body, the level of sugar increases, which is why insulin is released. Insulin release when you lose weight is bad because it slows down and even temporarily stops fat burning. When carbohydrate bombardment causes a lot of insulin to be produced, carbohydrates are taken up by fat cells and turn into fat themselves.
There is only one way out of this situation: to limit the consumption of carbohydrate-containing foods and dishes. Then no insulin gets into the bloodstream and fats are broken down faster. Another good low carb diet is that it suppresses food cravings. How does this happen? Insulin stimulates the center of the brain responsible for appetite. If it is not released into the blood, the person does not rush to eat.
The appetite suppression seen on a low-carb diet is also due to the formation of ketone bodies. It is important to simultaneously increase the amount of protein in the diet while reducing carbohydrates. The body will use it for energy and it will also help maintain muscle during weight loss. It is necessary to consume protein in the amount of 4-5 grams per 1 kilogram of human weight. And the amount of carbohydrates is reduced to 1-1. 5 grams per kilogram of weight. You need to keep track of your daily calorie intake. In order to lose weight and not harm your health, you need to eat at least 1200 calories a day.
An important rule of a low-carbohydrate diet is fractional meals in small portions. You can eat 5-6 times a day, dividing the menu into 3 main meals and 2-3 snacks. Breakfast is recommended one hour after waking up and dinner 2-3 hours before bedtime.
All berries and fruits should be excluded from the diet, with the exception of green apples. But they can be eaten only a couple of times a day and before lunch. During a low-carb diet, you need to follow the drinking regime and drink 1. 5-2 liters of pure water per day. Juices and soda should be excluded as well as alcohol. It is allowed to drink green tea or herbal decoction.
Gross mistakes are harmful to health
Doctors and nutritionists focus on the fact that you cannot do without carbohydrates completely. It is only necessary to reduce their consumption and replace fast ones with slow ones. If you go to extremes, you can deal a serious blow to your health. The body obtains energy from glucose and when it is deficient it begins to extract the necessary resources from the muscles. That is, the layer of fat on your body will not go anywhere, but even before that, undeveloped muscles will become even thinner.
The complete absence of carbohydrate-containing foods in the diet leads to an early deficiency of glycogen, which is stored in the liver and muscle tissue. According to doctors, it takes less than a day to deplete these reserves. In this case, the liver begins to clog with fats that break down as a result of nutrition. They are later difficult to remove from this organ and, in advanced situations, lead to the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus.
The next serious threat is long-term use of a low-carb diet to lose weight. Protein begins to accumulate in the body, and its excess leads to disruptions in the process of protein metabolism. As a result, stones can form in the kidneys and uric acid crystals can form in the joints. You also need to understand that when carbohydrates attract liquid, proteins, on the contrary, expel them from the body, which can lead to dehydration of tissues with a long diet. After such a weight loss, you may find that your skin has become noticeably drier and even sagging.
On the one hand, the ketones produced suppress appetite and activate fat burning. On the other hand, long-term low-carbohydrate diets can disrupt the functioning of various body systems and aggravate chronic diseases. Ketones begin to build up in the body and try to eliminate the excess. However, in this case, the body cannot work on a point basis and, together with ketones, removes useful minerals. In particular, potassium and sodium are attacked, the lack of which leads to dehydration and the development of diseases of the cardiovascular system. When ketones are excreted via the liver and kidneys, they are subjected to additional stress. A person may experience negative symptoms such as dizziness, insomnia, irritability.
A low-carbohydrate diet is difficult to tolerate for people whose profession involves creativity or great intellectual load, since mental activity decreases due to a lack of glucose.
Protein foods are often saturated with cholesterol, which is also not good for health, especially for the state of the cardiovascular system. Long-term use of a low-carbohydrate diet with a lot of protein can also lead to a calcium deficiency in the body. A low-carbohydrate diet is strictly forbidden during pregnancy and while breastfeeding. It should also not be used for weight loss in children and adolescents.
Efficacy of the diet and product properties
Nutritionists have conducted studies to examine the effectiveness of a diet based on low carbohydrate intake. According to the data received, experts have noticed that people who adhered to this diet for 3 months lost more excess weight than those who excluded fatty foods from the diet. Study participants who were in the low-carb diet group found that they felt fuller more quickly with meals. This is because fats and proteins break down more slowly than carbohydrates. And accordingly, a person stays full longer. All participants in the three-month experiment were able to lose at least 10 kilograms of excess weight.
The basis of a low-calorie and low-carbohydrate diet are foods containing protein. Create a menu that contains the following items:
- diet meat;
- meat by-products;
- Fish and seafood;
- Mushrooms;
- dairy and dairy products;
- eggs;
- non-starchy vegetables;
- nuts and seeds;
- cereal porridge.
For meat, avoid eating pork and lamb, and for vegetables, completely exclude corn, peas, beans, lentils, potatoes, olives, and black olives. From cereals, it is allowed to consume no more than 150 grams of brown rice and buckwheat per day. You can also include some bran in your diet to stimulate normal bowel function, as protein-rich foods can cause constipation.
Even during the day you can eat a few sour fruits, but in no case do not eat avocados, grapes and bananas. Due to their high calorie content, these species cannot be included in the diet menu. Try to eat fish and seafood at least a few times a week. The protein that is part of their composition is much easier for the body to digest than that found in meat. Chicken eggs are a good source of protein, but you can't eat more than three of them a week.
The list of banned foods to avoid on a low carb diet includes:
- Bread and pastries;
- candy, cakes, sugar;
- Pasta;
- smoked meat;
- sauces, ketchup, mayonnaise;
- juices, compotes, lemonades;
- Vegetable preservation and preserves.
Vegetables high in slow carbohydrates are recommended to be eaten raw as they contain more of the beneficial vitamins and minerals that the body needs on a low-carb diet. If you cannot do without heat treatment, then it is better to steam vegetables or boil them in lightly salted water. Choose milk and sour milk products with a fat content of no more than 2. 5-3%. You should not eat them with meat, it is better to combine them with sour fruits. Add a small amount of moderate-fat hard cheeses to the menu. However, do not use processed cheese, as it is characterized by a high fat content.
It is better to cook the meat yourself than to buy sausages, sausages and sardines. They contain a lot of fat and spices, especially salt, which significantly inhibit weight loss.
Creating a complete low carb menu
A week is not enough to get significant results. You need to be on a low-carb diet for at least a month to really lose weight. We present a variant of the seven-day menu that you can repeat four times or change individually.
| Enjoy the meal | Plate |
|---|---|
| The first day | |
| breakfast | Portion of cottage cheese with apple, green tea |
| snack | Natural yoghurt |
| Dinner | Braised fish with vegetables |
| snack | Green apple or orange |
| Dinner | Buckwheat with chicken fillet |
| Second day | |
| breakfast | Egg and milk omelet, green apple, green tea |
| snack | cup of kefir |
| Dinner | Braised beef, fresh vegetable salad |
| snack | plain yoghurt, apple |
| Dinner | Mushroom soup without meat |
| day three | |
| breakfast | Some hard cheese, orange, green tea |
| snack | A handful of walnuts and an apple |
| Dinner | Chicken broth with brown breadcrumbs |
| snack | Low-fat natural yoghurt |
| Dinner | Boiled chicken fillet and stewed cabbage |
| day four | |
| breakfast | buckwheat |
| snack | Natural yoghurt |
| Dinner | Boiled chicken breast with steamed vegetables |
| snack | An apple |
| Dinner | Portion of boiled brown rice with steamed fish |
| day five | |
| breakfast | Boiled eggs (2 pieces) with hard cheese (40 g), green tea or coffee without sugar |
| snack | All unsweetened fruits |
| Dinner | Boiled beef and fresh vegetable salad |
| snack | A glass of low-fat kefir and an apple |
| Dinner | Braised chicken with vegetables |
| day six | |
| breakfast | Portion of cottage cheese and green tea |
| snack | Natural yoghurt |
| Dinner | Chicken broth and vegetable salad |
| snack | A glass of kefir with bread (2 pieces) |
| Dinner | Boiled rice with baked fish |
| day seven | |
| breakfast | Buckwheat porridge and green tea |
| snack | Glass of freshly squeezed apple juice |
| Dinner | Mushroom soup and vegetable salad |
| snack | All unsweetened fruits |
| Dinner | Roasted lean pork and vegetable salad |
You can rearrange the menu in places. Or, if it suits you, repeat one option for several days in a row. But mixing dishes from different days is not worth it, so as not to exceed the recommended calorie limit.
Appetizing diet meals
You can cook grilled mackerel. To implement this recipe you will need:
- Mackerel - 1 pc. ;
- dill - to taste;
- lemon - 1/3 pcs. ;
- Garlic - 3 cloves;
- olive oil - 30 ml;
- Salt, pepper, favorite spices - to taste.
Gut the fish and rinse thoroughly under running water. Thinly slice the lemon and slice the garlic. Make several cuts of medium depth on each side of the fish so you can insert the filling. Salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice. Thoroughly rub the entire surface of the fish, inside and out, with seasoning to soak it completely. Put the filling in the middle of the mackerel - sprigs of dill and a little garlic. And put garlic slices and lemon slices on the outside of the incisions.
Wrap the stuffed fish in cling film and place in the fridge for half an hour to marinate. Fire the grill, grease the grillage with olive oil, so later it will be more convenient for you to get the finished fish. Unwrap the mackerel and place on a grill over the coals. Cook the fish, turning it occasionally to avoid burning. On average, the preparation on the grill takes half an hour. You can replace this option with baking in the oven. Try not to remove the foil, then the crust will not work, but the fish will remain juicy.
When it comes to a low-carb diet, the simpler the food, the healthier it is.
At lunchtime you can prepare a warm salad with duck fillet. For this you need:
- Duck fillet - 1 pc. ;
- leaf lettuce - 1 bunch;
- Sesame - 1 tbsp. L ;
- Olive oil - 6 tbsp. L ;
- cucumber - 1 pc . ;
- Lime - 1 pc. ;
- honey - 1 tsp;
- salt, black pepper, ground ginger - to taste;
- Soy sauce - 2 tbsp. l.
Beat the fillet a little on both sides and season, pour over the soy sauce and leave to marinate in a bowl for half an hour. Prepare the spicy dressing in a separate bowl. Squeeze lime juice, add 3 tablespoons of olive oil, a little ground ginger and black pepper, a teaspoon of liquid honey. Mix all ingredients. Cut the cucumber into thin strips and pluck the lettuce into small pieces. Place the fillet in a pan, draining the juice beforehand, and fry in 3 tablespoons of olive oil until tender. Cut the finished meat into cubes and put on a cucumber salad pillow. Garnish with dressing and serve warm salad on the table.
You can also prepare a warm liver salad with chickpeas. For this you need:
- chicken liver - 0. 5 kg;
- milk - 1 glass;
- Olive oil - 7 tbsp. L ;
- pickled cucumbers - 2 pcs. ;
- onion - 1 pc. ;
- Zucchini - 1 pc. ;
- chickpeas - 100 g;
- sesame - 1 tsp;
- Salt and pepper - to taste.
Soak the chickpeas in water for a few hours, then drain the liquid and rinse under running water. Pour water again and put on fire, bring to a boil, cover and cook over low heat. Drain water from cooked chickpeas. Soak the liver in milk and then sauté in oil. Cut the onion in half rings and send it to the liver, then there - diced zucchini. Pour in some water and simmer until the dish is done. Cut the cucumbers into rings and add to the meat, send the chickpeas there. Season with oil and mix and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Endurance and sports will bring significant results
With all the benefits of this system, not everyone will be able to stick to a low-carb diet for a long period of time. "I can't eat like that. After a few days I've had enough of meat, fish and eggs. I really want a mundane piece of bread and a bowl of oatmeal. I realized that this system didn't suit me, " the 28-year-old sums up.
But if you push yourself and stick to a more or less long low-carb diet, positive results will not be long in coming. "In 20 days I was able to lose 7 kilograms, although I did not in any way hurt myself and put together a varied diet. A huge plus is that I don't feel hungry at all, " said a 22-year-old girl about her victory over the overweight.
When you supplement a low-carb diet with physical activity, the results get even better. "We lost weight as a family. As a result, I lost 8 kilos in 3 months. After the birth, I actively walked with a baby with a stroller. My sister lost 15 kilograms in the same period. She has joined moderate exercise. But the husband immediately drove 10 kilograms for 1. 5 months, but he was actively involved in sports, "said the 30-year-old woman.
Losing weight on a low-carb diet is definitely possible. However, you should not completely avoid carbohydrate-containing foods in order not to harm your health. It's better to lose weight little by little, but with joy, than to cut down on everything at once and sink into depression.