Excess weight in most cases is caused by an excessive intake of adipose tissue, deposited following the chemical transformations of carbohydrates that enter the body. And although obesity is based on some 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 critically reducing the access of easily digestible carbohydrates to the stomach using a carbohydrate-free diet, we automatically activate the combustion reaction of accumulated reserves.
What is a no carb diet
It is on the basis of a carbohydrate-free diet that athletes lose extra pounds before competitions, artists on the eve of filming and public figures when they need to get back into shape. Athletes even have a special term for such nutrition. It is called "drying": by eliminating 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 difficult test for sweet tooths, forced to radically change their taste preferences, and for a fairly long period of time. It requires not only determination, but also a fair amount of patience and willpower.
There is also the other side of the coin: the complete rejection of carbohydrates in favor of protein products causes a state that nutritionists call the not entirely correct term carbophobia (literally "fear of carbohydrates"). Avoiding the slightest crumb of bread or a piece of sugar as a fire, not thinking about anything other than losing weight, sitting for months "on omelettes and cutlets", fans of a carbohydrate-free diet inevitably "earn" digestive and metabolic problems, in some cases they are fraught with disorders of the activities of the upper nervous system, memory loss, depression and sociopathy.
Prolonged or constant rejection of carbohydrates causes a disturbance of the acid-base balance in the direction of acidification of the body, which inevitably leads to a decrease in immunity and premature aging. A side effect of a prolonged low-carb diet is problems with the intestines, kidneys, arthritis, gout and other ailments.
Below we will look at several examples of a carbohydrate-free diet and a scheme for its use, which allows you to normalize metabolic processes, get rid of excess weight and at the same time not go to extremes, pumping the body to the maximum with proteins animal origin with their chemistry and energy that are anything but harmless.
Biochemical and anatomical basis of a low carbohydrate diet
The decisive argument in favor of 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 begins to reflexively release insulin into the blood and digestive enzymes into the stomach, which instantly increase appetite (this is why they say appetite comes with eating). As a result, when we eat carbohydrate-rich foods, we almost always eat more than we need. Protein foods do not have such a seductive effect on the "pancreas", the production of hormones and enzymes proceeds regularly, saturation occurs gradually and completely. Proteins are broken 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 eat three or four protein meals a day.
Principle 250 kcal
Most likely, it will not be possible to completely give up carbohydrates, simply because they are included even in completely protein dishes, albeit in minimal quantities. But this is not scary, the main thing is that the specified number of kilocalories of "carbohydrates" is not exceeded.
A low-carb diet certainly requires willpower, but its use can be very disciplined. It is enough to remember a single number - 250. This is the number of energy units - calories, contained in the daily volume of carbohydrates entering the body. Of course, we will 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 inevitable cost of any strict diet.
Mono-carbohydrate diet: effective, but monotonous
An ideal low-carb diet for quick and guaranteed 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 already mentioned 250 notorious kilocalories of carbohydrates per day should be obtained not from buns and sweets, but by harmoniously including complex (long to digest) carbohydrates in the diet - non-starchy vegetables, cereals, whole yeast-free cereal bread.
Basic ingredients of a no-carb menu
Here is a list of protein foods intended for a protein diet:
- lean meat: chicken, turkey, rabbit, veal;
- offal – stewed heart and liver;
- duck, chicken, quail egg;
- fillets of sea fish, crabs, shrimps, lobsters, sea cephalopods;
- dairy products: kefir, yogurt, cereal cottage cheese, low-fat sour cream and hard cheese;
- leafy vegetables (cabbage), artichokes, peas, beans, courgettes, onions, garlic, aromatic herbs. You can eat mushrooms, but with caution, since mushroom proteins are different from animal proteins;
- sour berries and fruits, as well as avocados;
- Nuts and seeds.
Meat and fish should be steamed, baked or at most grilled, but never pan-fried or fried.
A proper diet excludes sausages, sausages and pates which contain many dubious additives based on transgenic carbohydrates and fats.
When choosing food suppliers, preference should be given to farms where meat and dairy animals are kept in comfortable conditions and do not receive various growth hormones and antibiotics in their feed. You should not trust the price tags in supermarkets: if you are on a diet, carefully read the instructions on the package and study in advance the list of food additives, many of which are harmful to health, but are used in the production of notorious "products "Greetings".
Carbohydrates prohibited
Now the main thing for any diet: what is prohibited. On a low-carb diet the following are prohibited:
- bread, except wholemeal, without yeast;
- everything made from flour: pasta, pizza, cakes, khachapuri, pies, pastries;
- chocolate and sweets;
- sweet and sour fruits and berries;
- starchy vegetables (potatoes, carrots, corn, beets);
- semi-finished industrial products. Regardless of what manufacturers write on the packaging, they almost always contain additives and preservatives of genetically modified carbohydrates and even fats;
- fruit juices and carbonated drinks;
- alcohol in any form.
Convinced meat eaters will hardly 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 with it can be safely added to 250 kcal, which is the daily limit for a protein diet.
Menu for 7 days
Monday
- Breakfast - Cheesecake made from low-fat ricotta with bran.
- Lunch - Herb vegetable salad, 200 g herb chicken breast.
- Snack - Orange.
- Dinner - Turkey 100 g with stewed vegetables.
Tuesday
- Breakfast - Omelette with vegetable salad or stewed vegetables. Sugar-free black tea.
- Lunch: Vegetable cream soup with pieces of turkey or chicken.
- Snack: green apple.
- Dinner: baked salmon.
Wednesday
- Breakfast: unsweetened muesli with milk and dried apricots or other dried fruit.
- Lunch: lentil soup with chicken breast.
- Snack - Almonds or other dried fruit (a handful).
- Dinner - Salad of cherry tomatoes, arugula, canned tuna (1 can) and mozzarella.
Thursday
- Breakfast: oatmeal with sugar-free water. A banana (can be cut and added to oatmeal).
- Lunch - Vegetable soup with veal meatballs.
- Snack - Orange or grapefruit, a glass of citrus juice.
- Dinner: lean steamed fish.
Friday
- Breakfast: mix of 1 banana, a glass of fresh or thawed pitted 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 with unleavened bread, soft cheese, ham, lettuce and sliced tomatoes.
- Dinner: sautéed vegetables with meat. A glass of unsweetened drinking kefir or yogurt.
Sunday
- Breakfast: 1 hard-boiled egg. Dietary bread with hard cheese.
- Lunch: creamy champignon or wild mushroom soup. You can add chopped turkey or chicken to the soup.
- Snack: orange, green apple or a handful of nuts.
- Dinner - Vegetable salad, 100 g of baked meat or fish.
Porridge for a low carbohydrate diet
Porridges on water occupy a limiting position. When following a carbohydrate-free diet, it is recommended to include four types of cereals in the menu:
| NO. | First name | Protein content | Carbohydrate content |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Buckwheat | eleven% | 68% |
| 2 | Pea | 21% | 50% |
| 3 | Oatmeal | 12% | 65% |
| 4 | Quinoa | 14% | 64% |
Porridges are especially useful in the intervals between periods of active weight loss, when it is necessary to restore the balance of fats, proteins and carbohydrates in the body.
A dubious alternative: the keto diet In the United States, with the infamous fast food culture, a very popular type of carbohydrate-free diet is the ketogenic diet, which allows you to eat large amounts of not only protein, but also animal fats . This scheme has both supporters and opponents. The main argument of the latter is the harm of fatty foods to the cardiovascular system, due to the deposition of cholesterol on the walls of blood vessels. It's hard to disagree with this.
Diet times and precautions
The effect of the diet begins to appear after two or three weeks; with separate, strict daily meals, it is possible to 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 fibers in foods. When you eat a meat menu or eat fish and seafood, you need to drink at least two liters of fluids a day, eat soups and, if you suffer from constant constipation, take mild laxatives. After a month, to avoid the development of persistent carbophobia, you should take a break, two to four weeks. It will restore the disturbed protein-carbohydrate balance and intestinal motility. During the break from the diet, you should not overdo it: the diet must be balanced and strict, otherwise you will not only lose all your gains, but also gain additional fat deposits and will have to start the fight against excess weight once again.