Excess weight is in most cases caused by an excessive supply of adipose tissue, deposited as a result of chemical transformations of carbohydrates entering the body. And although obesity is based on certain disturbances in the endocrine and digestive system, the most comfortable and painless solution to the problem remains to limit the source of excess calories in the process of daily nutrition. By stopping or critically reducing the access to the stomach of easily digestible carbohydrates by means of a carbohydrate-free diet, we automatically trigger the reaction of burning accumulated reserves.
What is a no carb diet
It is on the basis of a carbohydrate-free diet that athletes lose extra kilos before competitions, artists on the eve of filming and public figures when they need to get in shape. Athletes even have a special term for such nutrition. It is called "drying" - by removing carbohydrates from the diet, subcutaneous fat deposits are removed, and the relief and elasticity of ligaments and muscles is improved. But life without carbohydrates is a severe test for those with a sweet tooth, who are forced to radically change their taste preferences, and for quite a long period of time. It requires not only determination, but also a lot of patience and willpower.
There is also the other side of the coin - a complete rejection of carbohydrates in favor of protein products causes a condition that nutritionists call the not entirely correct term for carbohydrates (literally "fear of carbohydrates"). Avoiding the slightest crumb of bread or a piece of sugar like fire, thinking about nothing but losing weight, sitting for months "on omelette and chops", followers of a carbohydrate-free diet inevitably "earn" digestive and metabolic problems, in some cases fullwith disturbances in the higher nervous system, activities, memory loss, depression and sociopathy.
Below we will look at several examples of a carbohydrate-free diet and a scheme for its use, which will allow you to normalize metabolic processes, get rid of excess weight and at the same time not go to extremes, pump the body to capacity with proteins of animal origin withtheir far from harmless chemistry and energy.
Biochemical and anatomical basis for a low-carbohydrate diet
The decisive argument for a low-carbohydrate diet is the particularity of the body's reaction to the entry of even a small amount of sugar into the stomach. The pancreas immediately begins to reflexively release insulin into the blood and digestive enzymes into the stomach, which immediately increase appetite (this is why it is said that appetite follows eating). As a result, when we eat foods rich in carbohydrates, we almost always eat more than we objectively need. Protein foods do not have such a seductive effect on the "pancreas", the production of hormones and enzymes continues in a functional state, saturation occurs gradually and fully. Proteins break down in the gastrointestinal tract much longer than carbohydrates, so the feeling of satiety lasts for several hours, and the need for snacks simply does not arise if you have three to four protein meals a day.
Principle 250 kcal
A low-carb diet certainly requires willpower, but using it can be very disciplined. It is enough to remember a single number - 250. This is the number of energy units - calories, which are contained in the daily amount of carbohydrates that enter the body. Of course, we have to carefully weigh all the dishes and calculate their energy value using special tables or notes on the restaurant menu, but this is an almost unavoidable cost of any strict diet.
Carbohydrate mono-diet: effective but monotonous
An ideal low-carb diet for guaranteed and rapid weight loss involves separate daily meals - on the first day of the diet you eat only chicken, on the second - only eggs, on the third - only cheese or cottage cheese. This is the fastest, but also the most "tasteless" and monotonous way to lose weight. Not everyone is ready for such sacrifices, so we will lose weight without fanaticism and combine business with pleasure - a healing effect with gastronomic pleasures promised by tasty and healthy products based on animal and plant proteins.
By the way, the aforementioned critical 250 notorious carbohydrate kilocalories per day should also be obtained not from buns and sweets, but by harmoniously including complex carbohydrates (long to digest) in the diet - vegetables that are not rich in starch, grains, whole yeast-free. grain bread.
Basic ingredients in a no-carb menu
Here is a list of protein foods intended for a protein diet:
- lean meat - chicken, turkey, rabbit, veal;
- giblets - stewed heart and liver;
- duck, chicken, quail eggs;
- sea fish fillets, crabs, shrimps, lobsters, sea squid;
- dairy products - kefir, yogurt, cottage cheese, low-fat sour cream and hard cheese;
- leafy vegetables (cabbage), artichokes, green peas, beans, zucchini, onions, garlic, garden herbs. You can eat mushrooms, but with caution, as mushroom proteins are different from animals;
- sour berries and fruits as well as avocados;
- nuts and seeds.
Meat and fish must be cooked by steaming, in the oven or at most on the grill, but under no circumstances in a frying pan or deep-frying.
When choosing food suppliers, give preference to farms where meat and dairy animals are kept in comfortable conditions and do not receive various growth hormones and antibiotics in the feed. You should not trust price tags in supermarkets - if you are on a diet, carefully read the instructions on the packaging and study in advance the list of food additives, many of which are harmful to health, but are used in the manufacture of notorious "healthy" products.
Forbidden carbohydrates
Now about the most important thing for every diet - what is forbidden. On a low-carbohydrate diet, the following are prohibited:
- bread, except wholemeal without yeast;
- everything made from flour - pasta, pizza, pies, khachapuri, cakes, pastries;
- chocolate and confectionery;
- sweet and sour-sweet fruits and berries;
- vegetables rich in starch (potatoes, carrots, corn, beetroot);
- industrial semi-finished products. Regardless of what the manufacturers write on the packaging, they almost always contain carbohydrate additives and preservatives, and even genetically modified fats;
- fruit juices and carbonated drinks;
- alcohol in any form.
Committed meat eaters will find it hard to resist a glass of red wine with their favorite steak, but here you have to choose: health or pleasure. Alcohol, in addition to its direct toxic effect on the body, is also a powerful appetite stimulant and a rather high-calorie product - the calories obtained from it can safely be added to the 250 kcal that is the daily limit for a protein diet.
Menu for 7 days
Monday
- Breakfast - Cheesecakes made from low-fat cottage cheese with bran.
- Lunch - Vegetable salad with herbs, 200 g chicken breast with herbs.
- Snack - Orange.
- Dinner - Turkey 100 g with stewed vegetables.
Tuesday
- Breakfast - Omelet with vegetable salad or stewed vegetables. Black tea without sugar.
- Lunch - Vegetable cream soup with pieces of turkey or chicken.
- Snack - Green apple.
- Dinner - Salmon baked in the oven.
Wednesday
- Breakfast - Unsweetened muesli with milk and dried apricots or other dried fruit.
- Lunch - Lentil soup with chicken breast.
- Snack - Almonds or other nuts (a handful).
- Dinner - Salad of cherry tomatoes, arugula, canned tuna (1 can) and mozzarella.
Thursday
- Breakfast - Oatmeal with water without sugar. A banana (can be chopped and added to oatmeal).
- Lunch - Vegetable soup with veal meatballs.
- Snack - Orange or grapefruit, a glass of citrus juice.
- Dinner - low-fat steamed fish.
Friday
- Breakfast - Mixture of 1 banana, a glass of fresh or thawed cherries and a glass of milk. Mix in a blender.
- Lunch - Chicken pilaf 200 g.
- Snack - Green tea with a piece of hard cheese.
- Dinner - Chicken or turkey with vegetable salad.
Saturday
- Breakfast - Egg white omelette. Unsweetened tea. 1 banana.
- Lunch - Boiled chicken breast 100 g with brown rice.
- Snack - Sandwich made from unleavened bread, soft cheese, ham, salad and sliced tomatoes.
- Dinner - Vegetable sauté with meat. A glass of kefir or unsweetened drinking yogurt.
Sunday
- Breakfast - 1 hard-boiled egg. Slim bread with hard cheese.
- Lunch - Cream of mushroom or wild mushroom soup. You can add ground turkey or chicken to the soup.
- Snack - Orange, green apple or a handful of nuts.
- Dinner - Vegetable salad, 100 g oven-baked meat or fish.
Porridge for a low-carbohydrate diet
Crops on water occupy a borderline position. When dieting without carbohydrates, it is recommended to include four types of grain on the menu:
| None. | Name | Protein content | Carbohydrate content |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Buckwheat | eleven% | 68% |
| 2 | Pea | 21% | 50% |
| 3 | Oatmeal | 12% | 65% |
| 4 | Quinoa | 14% | 64% |
A questionable alternative: the keto diet In the United States, with its notorious fast food culture, a very popular form of carbohydrate-free diet is the ketogenic diet, which allows you to eat large amounts of not only proteins, but also animal fats. This arrangement has both supporters and opponents. The main argument for the latter is the damage of fatty foods to the cardiovascular system due to the deposition of cholesterol on the walls of the blood vessels. It's hard to disagree with this.
Diet timing and precautions
The effect of the diet begins to show after two to three weeks; with strict daily separate meals, you can lose weight within a week of switching to proteins. Limitation of quickly digestible food will almost inevitably cause intestinal disorders - constipation, flatulence, caused by a decrease in the content of plant fiber in food. When eating a meat menu or eating seafood, drink at least two liters of fluid a day, eat soups, and if you have persistent constipation, take mild laxatives. After a month, to avoid the development of persistent carbophobia, you should take a break - from two to four weeks. It will restore the disturbed protein-carbohydrate balance and intestinal motility. While taking a break from the diet, you should not go far: the diet must be balanced and strict, otherwise you will not only lose all your gains, but also gain additional fat deposits, and you will have to start the fight against excess weight again.