Overweight is in most cases caused by an excessive amount of adipose tissue, which is deposited as a result of chemical changes in the carbohydrates that enter the body. And although obesity is based on certain disorders of the endocrine and digestive systems, the most convenient and painless solution to the problem remains to limit the source of excess calories in the process of daily nutrition. By stopping or severely reducing the access to the stomach of easily digestible carbohydrates with a no-carb diet, we automatically trigger a response to burning stored reserves.
What is a no carb diet?
It is on the basis of a carbohydrate-free diet that athletes lose extra pounds before a competition, artists on the eve of filming and public figures when they need to get in shape. Athletes even have a special word for such nutrition. It's called "drying" - by eliminating carbohydrates from the diet, fat deposits under the skin are removed and the relief and elasticity of ligaments and muscles are improved. But life without carbohydrates is a difficult test for those with a sweet tooth, who are forced to change their taste preferencesin a radical way, and for quite a long time. It requires not only determination, but also patience and willpower.
There is also the other side of the coin - the complete rejection of carbohydrates in favor of protein products causes a condition that nutritionists call the not entirely correct term carbohydrate phobia (literally "fear of carbohydrates"). Avoiding the smallest breadcrumb or sugar cube like fire, not thinking about anything elsebut losing weight, sitting for months "on omelette and chops", fans of a no-carb diet "earn" inevitably digestive and metabolic problems, in some cases there are diseases of the higher nervous system, dysfunction, memory loss, depression and social problems.
Below we will look at some examples of a carbohydrate-free diet and a system 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, pumping the body to capacity with animal proteins with far fromto be harmless chemistry and energy.
Biochemical and anatomical basis of low-carbohydrate diets
A decisive argument for a low-carbohydrate diet is the peculiarity of the body's reaction to the entry of even a small amount of sugar into the stomach. The pancreas immediately starts releasing insulin into the blood and digestive enzymes into the stomach, which immediately increase appetite (that's why they say appetite comes with eating). Consequently, when we eat high-carbohydrate foods, we almost always eat more than we objectively need. Protein food does not have such a seductive effect on the "pancreas", the production of hormones and enzymes continues to work, satiety occurs gradually and completely. Proteins break down in the digestive tract much longer than carbohydrates, and therefore the feeling of satiety lasts for several hours and the need for a snacksimply does not occur if you eat three or four protein meals a day.
The principle is 250 kcal
A low-carb diet certainly requires willpower, but its use can be very disciplined. It is enough to remember one number - 250. This is the number of energy units - calories, which are in the daily volume 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's menu, but this is an almost unavoidable cost of a strict diet.
Monocarb 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 the joy of eating, which is promised by tasty and healthy products basedon animal and plant proteins.
By the way, the aforementioned important 250 infamous carbohydrate kilocalories per day should also be obtained not by buns and sweets, but by including complex carbohydrates (long to digest) in a balanced way in the diet - non-starchy vegetables, grains, yeast-freewhole. corn bread
A basic ingredient in a low-carb menu
Here is a list of protein foods designed for protein diets:
- lean meat - chicken, turkey, rabbit, veal;
- offal - boiled heart and liver;
- duck, chicken, quail eggs;
- sea fish fillets, crabs, shrimps, lobsters, halibut;
- dairy products - kefir, yogurt, cottage cheese grains, low-fat sour cream and hard cheese;
- leafy greens (cabbage), artichokes, green beans, peas, 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 avocado;
- nuts and seeds.
Meat and fish should be cooked by steaming, in the oven or at most on the grill, but never in a pan or deep frying.
When choosing food suppliers, priority must be given to farms where meat and dairy animals are kept in comfortable conditions and are not fed various growth hormones and antibiotics. You should not trust price tags in grocery stores - if you are on a diet, carefully read the instructions on the packaging and look in advance at the list of food additives, many of which are harmful to health, but are used in the production of notoriously "healthy" products.
Forbidden carbohydrates
Now about the main thing for each diet - what is prohibited. On a low-carb diet, the following are prohibited:
- bread, except whole grain without yeast;
- everything made from wheat - pasta, pizza, pies, khachapuri, cakes, pastries;
- chocolates and sweets;
- sweet and sour-sweet fruits and berries;
- vegetables rich in starch (potatoes, carrots, corn, beets);
- semi-finished industrial products. No matter what 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 carnivores 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, apart from its direct toxic effects 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 boiled vegetables.
Tuesday
- Breakfast - Omelette with vegetable salad or boiled 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 (handful).
- Dinner - Salad of cherry tomatoes, arugula, canned tuna (1 can) and mozzarella.
Thursday
- Breakfast - Oatmeal with water without sugar. One 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 - A 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, cabbage and sliced tomatoes.
- Dinner - Vegetable roast with meat. A glass of kefir or unsweetened drinking yogurt.
Sunday
- Breakfast - 1 hard-boiled egg. Diet bread with hard cheese.
- Lunch - Champagne or wild mushroom cream soup. You can add chopped turkey or chicken to the soup.
- Snack - Orange, green apple or handful of nuts.
- Dinner - Vegetable salad, 100 g of oven-baked meat or fish.
Porridge for a low-carb diet
Oatmeal on water is in a borderline position. When eating without carbohydrates, it is recommended to have four types of grains on the menu:
| No. | Name | Protein content | Carbohydrate content |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Buckwheat | eleven% | 68% |
| 2 | Pea | 21% | 50% |
| 3 | Oatmeal | 12% | 65% |
| 4 | Quinoa | 14% | 64% |
Questionable option: keto diet In the United States, with its notorious fast food culture, a very popular type of carb-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 harmfulness of fatty foods for the cardiovascular system, due to the deposition of cholesterol on the vessel walls. It's hard to disagree with this.
Diet timing and precautions
The effects of the diet start to show after two to three weeks; with strict daily separate meals you can lose weight within a week of switching to protein. Limiting quickly digestible food will almost inevitably cause intestinal disorders - constipation, flatulence, caused by a decrease in the content of plant fiber in food. When you eat a meat menu or eat fish and seafood, you need to drink at least two liters of liquid a day, eat soups, and if you have constant constipation, take mild laxatives. After a month, to avoid the development of persistent carbohydrate phobia, you should take a break - from two to four weeks. It will restore disturbed protein-carbohydrate balance and intestinal motility. While taking a break from dieting, you should not go far: the diet should be balanced and strict, otherwise you will not only lose all the benefits, but also increase fat deposits and you will have to start the fight against overweight again and again.