In most cases, excess weight is caused by an excessive amount of fatty tissue accumulated as a result of chemical transformations of carbohydrates entering the body. Although obesity is based on certain disruptions in the endocrine and digestive systems, the most comfortable and painless solution to the problem is to limit the source of excess calories in the daily nutrition process. By stopping or critically reducing the access of easily digestible carbohydrates to the stomach using 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 excess weight 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 this type of nutrition. This is called "drying" - by removing carbohydrates from the diet, subcutaneous fat deposits are removed and the relief and elasticity of ligaments and muscles increases. But life without carbohydrates is a difficult test for those with a sweet tooth who have to radically change their taste preferences, and for quite a long time. It requires not only determination, but also 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 causes a condition that nutritionists call the not entirely correct term carbophobia (literally "fear of carbohydrates"). Avoiding the slightest crumb of bread or a piece of sugar like fire, thinking about nothing but losing weight, sitting "on omelets and cutlets" for months, lovers of carbohydrate-free nutrition inevitably "earn" problems of digestion and metabolism. Some cases are fraught with disorders of high nervous system activity, memory loss, depression and sociopathy.
Prolonged or constant rejection of carbohydrates leads to disruption of acid-base balance in the direction of acidification of the body, which inevitably leads to reduced 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 a scheme of use that allows you to normalize metabolic processes, get rid of excess weight and at the same time not overdo it, pumping the body to its capacity with proteins. It is of animal origin with its harmless chemistry and energy.
Biochemical and anatomical basis of the low-carbohydrate diet
The decisive argument for a low-carbohydrate diet is the specificity of the body's response to the introduction of even a small amount of sugar into the stomach. The pancreas reflexively begins to immediately release insulin into the blood and digestive enzymes into the stomach, which immediately increases appetite (that's why they say appetite comes with food). As a result, when we eat carbohydrate-rich foods 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 proceeds in working order, saturation occurs gradually and fully. Proteins are broken down in the gastrointestinal tract much longer than carbohydrates, so the feeling of satiety lasts several hours and the need for snacks 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 abandon carbohydrates - because they are included even in purely protein dishes, albeit in minimal quantities. But this is not scary, the main thing is not to exceed the specified number of "carbohydrate" kilocalories.
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 dishes and calculate their energy value using special tables or notes in the restaurant menu, but this is an almost inevitable 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 delicious and healthy products based on animal and vegetable proteins.
By the way, the aforementioned critical 250 notorious carbohydrate kilocalories per day should also be earned not from buns and sweets, but by harmoniously including complex carbohydrates (which take a long time to digest) into the diet - vegetables not rich in starch, cereals, whole without yeast. multigrain bread.
Essential components of a carb-free menu
List of protein foods for a protein diet:
- lean meat - chicken, turkey, rabbit, veal;
- offal - boiled heart and liver;
- duck, chicken, quail eggs;
- 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 with caution because mushroom proteins are different from animal proteins;
- sour berries and fruits, as well as avocado;
- nuts and seeds.
Meat and fish should be steamed, baked or maximum grilled, but in no case pan-fried or deep-fried.
A proper diet excludes sausages, sausages and pates, which contain a large number of dubious additives based on carbohydrates and transgenic fats.
When choosing food suppliers, you should choose farms where meat and dairy animals are kept in comfortable conditions and their feed does not contain various growth hormones and antibiotics. 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 production of notorious products. "healthy" products.
Forbidden carbohydrates
Now we come to the main issue for each diet - what is prohibited. The following are prohibited on a low-carb diet:
- bread, except unleavened whole grain;
- everything made from flour - pasta, pizza, pies, khachapuri, cakes, pastries;
- chocolate and confectionery;
- sweet and sour-sweet berries and fruits;
- 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 or even genetically modified oils;
- fruit juices and sodas;
- alcohol in any form.
Devoted meat eaters will find it difficult to resist drinking a glass of red wine with their favorite steak, but here you have to make a choice: health or pleasure? Alcohol, in addition to its direct toxic effect on the body, is also a strong appetite stimulant and is a rather high-calorie product - the calories obtained with it can safely be added to the daily limit for a protein diet of 250 kcal.
7 day menu
Monday
- Breakfast - Cheesecakes made from whole wheat low-fat cottage cheese.
- Lunch - Vegetable salad with herbs, 200 g chicken breast with herbs.
- Snack - Orange.
- Dinner - Turkey with 100g of boiled vegetables.
Tuesday
- Breakfast - Vegetable salad or omelet with boiled vegetables. Unsweetened black tea.
- Lunch - Creamy vegetable soup with pieces of turkey or chicken.
- Snack - Green apple.
- Dinner - Oven-baked salmon.
Wednesday
- Breakfast - Unsweetened muesli with milk and dried apricots or other dried fruits.
- Lunch - Lentil soup with chicken breast.
- Snack – Almonds or other nuts (a handful).
- Dinner - Cherry tomatoes, arugula, canned tuna (1 can) and mozzarella salad.
Thursday
- Breakfast – Oatmeal with unsweetened water. One banana (chopped and can be added to oatmeal).
- Lunch - Vegetable soup with beef 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 pitted cherries and a glass of milk. Mix in a blender.
- Lunch - Rice with chicken 200 gr.
- Snack - Green tea with a piece of hard cheese.
- Dinner - Chicken or turkey with vegetable salad.
Saturday
- Breakfast - Egg white omelet. Unsweetened tea. 1 banana.
- Lunch - 100 g of boiled chicken breast and brown rice.
- Snack - Sandwich made from unleavened bread, soft cheese, ham, lettuce and sliced tomatoes.
- Dinner - Sauteed vegetables with meat. A glass of kefir or unsweetened drinking yoghurt.
Sunday
- Breakfast - 1 boiled egg. Diet bread with hard cheese.
- Lunch - Creamy champignons or wild mushroom soup. You can add chopped turkey or chicken to the soup.
- Snack: Orange, green apple or a handful of hazelnuts.
- Dinner - Vegetable salad, 100 g of baked meat or fish.
Porridge for a low-carb diet
Porridge on water occupies a borderline position. When on a carbohydrate-free diet, it is recommended to include four types of cereals in the menu:
| NO. | Name | Contains protein | Carbohydrate content |
|---|---|---|---|
| one | Buckwheat | %11th | 68% |
| 2 | Pea | 21% | 50% |
| 3 | Rolled oats | %12 | 65% |
| 4 | quinoa | 14% | 64% |
Porridge is especially useful in the intervals between periods of active weight loss, when you need to restore the balance of fats, proteins and carbohydrates in the body.
A dubious alternative: the keto diet In the United States, with its notorious fast food culture, a very popular type of carbohydrate-free diet is the ketogenic diet, which allows you to eat not only proteins, but also animal fats in large quantities. This plan has both supporters and opponents. The main argument of the latter is the harm that fatty foods cause to the cardiovascular system due to the deposition of cholesterol on the walls of blood vessels. It's hard to disagree with this.
Diet timing and precautions
The effect of the diet begins to appear after two to three weeks, you can lose weight within a week after switching to proteins with solid separate meals daily. Limiting fast-digesting foods will almost inevitably cause intestinal disorders such as constipation, bloating, etc. , caused by a decrease in the content of plant fiber in food. When eating meat or fish and seafood, you should drink at least two liters of liquid a day, eat soup, and take mild laxatives if you are constantly constipated. After a month, to prevent the development of permanent carbophobia, you should take a break for two to four weeks. It will restore the disrupted 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 gains, but also gain additional fat deposits and you will have to start fighting. again against excess weight.