Excess weight in most cases is caused by an excessive amount of adipose tissue, which is deposited as a result of chemical transformations of carbohydrates entering the body. And although obesity is based on certain disorders in the endocrine and digestive systems, the most convenient and painless solution to the problem is still limiting the source of excess calories in the daily diet. By cutting off or critically reducing access to easily digestible carbohydrates through a no-carb diet, we automatically trigger a response to burn our stored reserves.
What is a no carb diet
It is on the basis of a carbohydrate-free diet that athletes shed extra pounds before competitions, artists - on the eve of filming, but also public figures when they need to improve their shape. Athletes even have a special term for such a diet. This is called "drying" - eliminating carbohydrates from the diet removes subcutaneous fat deposits and improves the relief and flexibility of ligaments and muscles. But life without carbohydrates is a severe test for sweet-tooths, who are forced to radically change their taste preferences, and for quite a long time. It requires not only determination, but also quite a lot of patience and willpower.
There is also the other side of the coin - the complete rejection of carbohydrates in favor of protein products leads to a condition that nutritionists call the not quite correct term carbophobia (literally "fear of carbohydrates"). Avoiding the smallest crumb of bread or piece of sugar like fire, thinking about nothing but losing weight, sitting "on omelettes and meatballs" for months, fans of a no-carb diet inevitably "earn" digestive and metabolic problems, in some cases full of disorders of the higher nervous system. activities, memory loss, depression and sociopathy.
Prolonged or permanent refusal of carbohydrates causes disturbances in 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 long-term 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 its application scheme, which allows you to normalize metabolic processes, get rid of excess weight and at the same time not go to extremes by pumping the body with proteins. of animal origin with its not-so-harmless chemistry and energy.
Biochemical and anatomical basis of low-carbohydrate diet
The decisive argument for a low-carb diet is the peculiarity of the body's reaction to even a small amount of sugar entering the stomach. The pancreas immediately begins to reflexively secrete insulin into the blood and digestive enzymes into the stomach, which immediately increases the appetite (that's why they say that appetite occurs when you eat). As a result, when we eat foods rich in carbohydrates, 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 takes place in working order, saturation occurs gradually and completely. Proteins take much longer to break down in the gastrointestinal tract than carbohydrates, so the feeling of satiety persists for several hours, and the need for snacks simply does not arise if there are 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 foods, albeit in a minimal amount. But it is not scary, the main thing is not to exceed the specified number of "carbohydrate" kilocalories.
A low-carb diet definitely takes willpower, but it can be very disciplined. It is enough to remember one single number - 250. This is the number of energy units - calories - contained in the daily amount of carbohydrates that enter the body. Of course, we will have to carefully weigh all the foods 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 monodiet: effective but monotonous
An ideal low-carb diet for guaranteed and fast weight loss includes separate daily meals - on the first day of the diet, eat only chicken, on the second day - only eggs, on the third day - only cheese or cottage cheese. It is the fastest, but also the most "tasteless" and monotonous way to lose weight. Not everyone is ready for such sacrifices, so let's lose weight without fanaticism and combine business with pleasure - a therapeutic effect with gastronomic pleasures promised by tasty and healthy products based on animal and vegetable proteins.
By the way, the above-mentioned critical 250 infamous carbohydrate kilocalories per day should be obtained not from buns and sweets, but by harmoniously including complex carbohydrates (long digestible) in the diet - with low-starch vegetables, cereals, unleavened whole. grain bread.
Basic components of a carbohydrate-free menu
Here is a list of protein foods for a protein diet:
- lean meat - chicken, turkey, rabbit, veal;
- offal - stewed heart and liver;
- duck, chicken, quail egg;
- sea fish fillets, crabs, shrimps, lobsters, marine cephalopods;
- dairy products - kefir, yogurt, grain 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, because 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 in no case not in a pan or deep-frying.
A proper diet excludes sausages, sausages and pates, which contain many questionable additives based on carbohydrates and transgenic fats.
When choosing food suppliers, preference should be given to farms where meat and dairy cattle are kept in comfortable conditions and do not receive various growth hormones and antibiotics. You should not trust the price tags in supermarkets - if you follow a diet, carefully read the instructions on the package and in advance study the list of food additives, many of which are harmful to health, but notorious "healthy" products are used.
No carbohydrates
Now about the main thing for every diet - what is forbidden. When maintaining a low-carbohydrate diet, it is forbidden to:
- bread, except whole wheat without yeast;
- everything from flour - pasta, pizzas, pies, khachapuri, cakes, pastries;
- chocolate and confectionery;
- sweet and sour sweet fruits and berries;
- vegetables rich in starch (potatoes, carrots, corn, beets);
- industrial semi-finished products. Regardless of what the manufacturers write on the package, they almost always contain carbohydrate additives and preservatives and even genetically modified fats;
- fruit juices and carbonated drinks;
- alcohol in any form.
Die-hard 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, without its direct toxic effect on the body, is also a strong appetite stimulant and quite a caloric product - the calories obtained with it can be safely added to the 250 kcal, which is the daily limit of the protein diet.
Menu for 7 days
Monday
- Breakfast - cheesecakes from low-fat cottage cheese with bran.
- Lunch - Vegetable salad with greens, 200 g chicken breast with greens.
- Snack - Orange.
- Dinner - Turkey 100 g with stewed vegetables.
tuesday
- Breakfast - Omelette 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 fruits.
- Lunch - Lentil soup with chicken breast.
- Snacks - 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 mashed and added to oatmeal).
- Lunch - Vegetable soup with veal meatballs.
- Snacks - Orange or grapefruit, a glass of citrus juice.
- Dinner - steamed fish with low fat content.
on Friday
- Breakfast - mix 1 banana, a glass of fresh or thawed pitted cherries and a glass of milk. Mix in a blender.
- Lunch - Chicken pilaf 200 g.
- Snacks - Green tea with a piece of hard cheese.
- Dinner - Chicken or turkey meat with vegetable salad.
on Saturday
- Breakfast - Egg white omelette. Unsweetened tea. 1 banana.
- Lunch - Boiled chicken breast 100 g with brown rice.
- Appetizer - Sandwich from unleavened bread, soft cheese, ham, salad and sliced tomatoes.
- Dinner - Vegetable stew with meat. A glass of kefir or unsweetened drinking yogurt.
sunday
- Breakfast - 1 hard-boiled egg. Diet bread with hard cheese.
- Lunch - Cream soup from champignons or wild mushrooms. Chopped turkey or chicken can be added to the soup.
- Snack - Orange, green apple or a handful of nuts.
- Dinner - Vegetable salad, 100 g of oven-baked meat or fish.
Porridge for a low-carb diet
Porridge on water takes the limit position. Following a diet without carbohydrates, it is recommended to include four types of cereals in the menu:
| No. | First name | Protein content | Carbohydrate content |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Buckwheat | eleven% | 68% |
| 2 | Peas | 21% | 50% |
| 3 | Oat flakes | 12% | 65% |
| 4 | Quinoa | 14% | 64% |
Porridge is especially useful in between periods of active weight loss, when it is necessary to restore the balance of fats, proteins and carbohydrates in the body.
Questionable Alternative: The Keto Diet In the United States, with its notorious fast food culture, a very popular type of low-carb diet is the ketogenic diet, which allows you to eat large amounts of not only protein but also animal fat. This scheme has both supporters and opponents. The main argument of the latter is the damage of fatty food to the cardiovascular system due to the deposition of cholesterol on the vessel walls. It's hard to disagree with that.
Diet timing and precautions
The effect of the diet begins to appear after two to three weeks, with strict daily separate meals, you can lose weight within a week of switching to protein. Limitation of fast-digesting food will almost inevitably cause intestinal disorders - constipation, flatulence, caused by a decrease in the content of vegetable fibers in food. When eating a meat menu or eating fish and seafood, you should drink at least two liters of fluid a day, eat soups, and if you have persistent constipation, use mild laxatives. After a month, to avoid the constant development of carbophobia, you should take a break - from two to four weeks. It will restore the disturbed protein-carbohydrate balance and intestinal motility. When taking a break from the diet, you should not overdo it: the diet must be balanced and strict, otherwise you will not only lose all your benefits, but also get additional fat deposits and have to start a fight. against excess weight all over again.