Low-carbohydrate Diet: Benefits, Contraindications And Sample Menu

A low-carb diet is just a diet for one or two months, it's a way of life. And although it has certain restrictions on products (for example, it is necessary to exclude soda, sugar, bakery products), it is not much stricter than the usual, but so vague in understanding proper nutrition.

Grilled meat, fish, fatty dairy products, berries, vegetables and a variety of greens - and with all this variety, you can still successfully lose extra pounds! Isn't this what every girl dreams of? But, as elsewhere, there are pitfalls here - which is why we strongly recommend that you consult a doctor before switching to a low-carb diet.

The essence of a low-carbohydrate diet

Everyone who has ever tried to lose weight knows that in order to get rid of excess weight it is necessary to give up sweet and starchy foods. True, most often fat-containing foods are also excluded from the diet - butter, meat, cream, mayonnaise. As a result, girls, in an effort to find a dream figure, eat lettuce and green tea, which inevitably leads to a breakdown and even more weight gain. This approach to losing weight is fundamentally wrong. To lose weight, you need to eat, just the diet should be different from the one you followed before.

Moreover, many of the fair sex forget: it is healthy fats that are the basis for the formation of sex hormones in the ovaries, adrenal hormones and vitamin D, which is responsible for the expression of several thousand genes!

Nutritionists are constantly studying the impact of certain foods on human health. The result of their work is various nutrition systems aimed at maintaining good health, a stable emotional background and achieving ideal physical shape. In the middle of the 2000s, Swedish scientists proved that the widespread and massive consumption of sugar and starch, rather than fat, as was previously believed, is much more harmful for the figure. This led to a real revolution in nutrition.

Numerous new studies confirm: the real enemies for those who are losing weight, purposefully going, step by step, to the cherished figure on the scales, are fast carbohydrates. These simple sugars are included in the process of digestion already in the oral cavity. In response to their intake, the pancreas intensively forms and secretes insulin, a hormone of a protein nature, the task of which, having contributed to the transport of glucose from the blood to the cells, is to return the body to its original equilibrium values ​​- that is, to homeostasis. That's just important and the process of secretion of this hormone. Imagine a steep hill with an almost vertical rise and the same sharp descent - something like this would look like an insulin secretion graph.

In other words, in our body after the next eaten candy, an instant increase in sugar levels is observed and its same rapid fall - a state of hypoglycemia develops after this. Follow your subjective feelings after, say, toffee, helpfully offered by a work colleague: at first, there is an increase in strength and energy - and it seems to you that you are ready not only to finish with a weekly report in an instant, but also to climb Everest. It takes ten, twenty minutes - and performance drops sharply. There is fatigue, there is a headache.

Fat-containing foods have a completely different effect: they give the body a long feeling of satiety, provide it with energy, which is enough for a fairly long period. Just compare: when carbohydrates are burned inside the furnaces of our body, a manufacturing factory in the form of cells and tissues receives a little more than 4 kilocalories, while fat brings twice as much - 9 with a small tail.

Recently, another myth has been debunked that the brain needs glucose for normal functioning, which supposedly can only be obtained from pure sugar. Large-scale research in the field of physiology and nutrition suggests the opposite: senile dementia is more common among sweet lovers, and those who have consumed moderate amounts of carbohydrates throughout their lives retain clarity of thought until the end of their days.

Indeed, nervous tissue uses glucose as a substrate for energy (that is, the firewood that it sends to mitochondrial stoves) - this is a favorite, but far from the only way to ensure its vital functions. With prolonged starvation and a decrease in the intake of carbohydrates from food, our brain, at first, of course, with reluctance, but switches from gasoline to gas - or rather, from glucose to ketone bodies.

Seriously reduce the amount of carbohydrates in the diet, doctors recommend patients with type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, polycystic ovary syndrome, Alzheimer's disease and acne.

A low-carb diet for weight loss is very easily tolerated by many women, as it is not accompanied by bouts of hunger. Adherents of this style of eating note that they do not experience cravings for the use of foods containing a large amount of sugar and starch. In this regard, there is no need to clearly standardize the amount of allowed carbohydrates, however, nutritionists still give certain recommendations - from 20 to 100 g of carbohydrates per day. Naturally, the source of their income should be cereals, vegetables and fruits, but not refined sugar and premium flour (and even more so refined).

However, the constant counting of calories eaten and the resulting feeling of guilt, if you do not fit into the daily norm, entails only a loosening of the emotional background - and then losing weight comes around with psychosis. Add enough physical activity and make sure that satiety doesn’t automatically equate to overeating, and then you definitely won’t need very arbitrary calculations of calories by applications on your phone.

• Eat only natural fats, decisively refusing synthetic ones.

• Keep food processing to a minimum.

• Eat with pleasure, getting physical and aesthetic pleasure. Stay alone with your plate - do not let phones, newspapers and TVs distract you from eating: do not forget that digestive juices are secreted even before the food touches the taste buds of the mouth - this is the so-called cerebral or complex reflex phase of secretion.

There are no serious contraindications for a low-carbohydrate diet, however, people with chronic diseases (in particular, adrenal fatigue syndrome) should consult their doctor. Insulin-dependent patients, patients with cardiovascular problems should take into account the characteristics of their condition and be guided by the recommendations of nutritionists.

How mitochondria work in the body

It would seem, why would a person far from science need to understand such a complex issue? However, understanding the basics of cell functioning will allow us to better understand what processes take place in the depths of our body. We will only touch on the effect of ketones and insulin on mitochondrial activity to show exactly how we can improve our health status just by making dietary changes.

Insulin plays an important role in this process. It depends on him how the body will dispose of the generated energy: spend it on current needs or store it for a rainy day. Elevated insulin levels trigger synthesis reactions - including fats. This is the hormone of ANABOLISM - that is why everything grows on it: both muscles (due to the increased formation of proteins), and cancer cells (in fact, uncontrolled division is the basis of the tumor).

A carbohydrate deficiency leads to the fact that insulin is produced in a limited amount - just enough to cover the body's need for it. This triggers the process of ketogenesis: fatty acids are processed into ketones, which serve as fuel for cells - including brain neurons, as mentioned earlier.

8 types of low-carb diets

1. Basic low carb diet

   In a nutshell, it can be described as follows: less carbohydrates, more protein (compared to your usual diet). The basis of the diet is meat, fish, eggs, cereals, vegetables, fruits, nuts, natural fats.

   As for the recommended amount of carbohydrates, it depends on the goal:

   • maintain weight or supply the body with energy for intense sports activities - 100-150 grams. Fruits and starchy vegetables are allowed;

   • moderately reduce weight - 50-100 grams; potatoes and sweet, high-carbohydrate fruits (like bananas and mangoes) are banned;

   • quickly get rid of excess fat - no more than 50 grams. Lots of vegetables, but little fruit.

1. ketogenic diet

   If you reduce carbohydrate intake to a minimum, insulin levels will drop to basal levels, which will trigger the onset of ketosis, a state in which fatty acids are broken down to extract the energy the body needs. Ketone bodies are formed in the liver, which itself does not have the enzymes to use them as energy - in fact, it is a factory that produces goods for export. These molecules serve as fuel for the muscles, kidneys and brain.

    

   The ketone diet includes foods rich in protein and fat, while the amount of carbohydrates is limited to 20-50 (and often 5-10) grams per day.

2. Low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet (LCHF - low carb, high fat).

   This style of eating differs from the usual version by focusing on the inclusion of whole foods or minimally processed foods in the diet. It is most common in Scandinavia, where eco-friendly ways of eating and living in general are traditionally popular.

3. low carb paleo diet

   Adherents of this method of losing weight and maintaining health believe that only those foods that were available to humans at the dawn of its appearance, in the Paleolithic era, can be eaten. You can eat meat and fish, seafood, eggs, fruits, vegetables and wild berries, nuts, seeds and roots. In a word, what the ancient man could collect or catch with his own hands is allowed. Everything that appeared as a result of the development of agriculture and the food industry is banned: sugar, cereals, sausages and confectionery, semi-finished products. The main idea of ​​such a diet is the belief that by the time a reasonable person appeared, nature had prepared everything necessary for his good nutrition.

    

4. Atkins Diet

   The popularity of this weight loss system has not fallen over the past forty years. Allowed meat, fish, seafood, eggs, salad and other non-starchy vegetables, mushrooms, dairy products, nuts. Fruit should be limited due to its high fructose content.

   The diet consists of four stages:

   • in the induction phase, it is recommended to eat less than 20 g of carbohydrates for two weeks. The diet consists of protein foods and vegetables that do not contain starch.

   • in the phase of stable weight loss, the amount of carbohydrates is increased by 5 g weekly. 3-5 kg ​​before the desired weight, this phase ends.

   • in the stabilization phase, carbohydrates are added by 10 g per week.

   • in the maintenance phase, it is allowed to include healthy carbohydrates in the diet. If the weight starts to grow, their number decreases again.

5. Eco Atkins

   For adherents of plant nutrition, a special version of the Atkins diet has been created. Since animal products are not used as a source of protein, the essential amino acids are obtained from soy, legumes, nuts, and gluten. This inevitably increases the amount of carbohydrates consumed compared to the classic Atkins diet, however, against the background of traditional nutrition, there are very few of them on the vegan menu. In addition, the frequent use of cereals is also negatively reflected in intestinal permeability - it increases, which leads to the entry of elements of the bacterial cell wall into the systemic circulation and activation of reactions from the immune system.

6. Zero Carb Diet

   Few decide to completely eliminate the use of carbohydrates in order to start the process of active weight loss. However, there are people who include only animal products in their diet. Their menu includes dishes from meat, fish, eggs and animal fats. They do not eat vegetables, fruits, and especially cereals. How safe this style of eating is is not known for certain, since relevant scientific studies have not yet been conducted.

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   Definitely, the complete absence of fiber (a kind of broom that cleans the intestines, as well as stimulating its motility) will adversely affect the body. The resulting constipation and stool problems form a vicious circle, leading in turn to bacterial overgrowth and, consequently, increased intra-intestinal pressure. The latter will negatively affect the mechanisms of secretion of pancreatic juice and bile.

7. mediterranean diet

   Based on the traditional diet of the inhabitants of the Mediterranean coast and includes fish, seafood, olives, vegetables, cheese and durum wheat pasta. It differs from the classic low-carbohydrate diet by a reduced content of red meat and animal fats and a large amount of vegetable, namely olive, oil. According to research, this lifestyle helps Mediterranean people suffer less from obesity, cardiovascular disease and type II diabetes.

Benefits of a low carb diet for weight loss

Research provides strong evidence for the effectiveness of a low-carbohydrate diet for weight loss. At the same time, people do not feel hunger, do not experience constant cravings for prohibited foods. This is due to the specifics of protein breakdown and the sufficient calorie content of fats.

A low-carb diet helps to quickly get rid of fat deposits in the abdomen, including visceral reserves around the internal organs. This greatly reduces the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer.

Research results show that overweight people who followed a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet for 4 months achieved significant weight loss compared to a group of patients whose diet included low fat.

Another advantage of a low-carbohydrate diet is the long-term preservation of the achieved result. There is evidence that a daily intake of less than 50 g of carbohydrates allows not only to get rid of excess weight, but also to forget about such a problem as obesity for a long time. So, published information according to which 88% of the participants in the experiment, adhering to a low-carbohydrate diet, lost 10% of their original weight and kept the results for a year.

The main difficulty for many losing weight is an irresistible craving for foods containing fast sugars. The high-fat version of the low-carbohydrate diet helps to overcome the addiction to sweets and starchy foods faster than a restricted-fat diet. In addition, the inclusion of fatty foods in the menu better suppresses hunger, allowing you to do without disruptions.

Health benefits of a low-carb diet

Excess weight causes the appearance of many pathological conditions, so it is necessary to get rid of the accumulated kilograms, even if there are no tangible health problems yet. A low-carbohydrate diet should become the main nutritional principle for patients with diabetes, heart, reproductive and neurological diseases.

• Diabetes

  Changing the diet to reduce the amount of carbohydrates while increasing fat has numerous beneficial effects in obese patients with type 2 diabetes. Adhering to such a diet, they stabilize the level of glucose in the blood and can take smaller dosages of pharmacological drugs prescribed for this pathology.

• neurological disease

  A low-carbohydrate diet has long been recommended for people with epilepsy as a simple and effective way to reduce the risk of seizures. In Alzheimer's disease, as well as to prevent its occurrence, neurologists advise including more high-fat foods in the diet and minimizing the intake of simple carbohydrates.

  According to some reports, a low-carbohydrate diet has a positive effect on the cognitive abilities of older people, and addiction to sugar and processed carbohydrates, on the contrary, leads to the rapid development of dementia.

• Heart diseases

  By adhering to the principles of nutrition with a minimum content of carbohydrates, patients with heart problems can significantly improve their condition.

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  One study involved 55 overweight subjects. After 12 weeks of following a low-carbohydrate diet, they had a decrease in triglycerides, C-reactive protein (one of the main markers of inflammation), and an improvement in “good” HDL (high-density lipoprotein) cholesterol.

Foods to Avoid on a Low-Carb Diet

Compliance with the diet involves the exclusion from the diet of the following products:

• Cereals and starches: bread, rolls, pies, pasta, rice, and other cereals.

• Sugary drinks: juices, tea with sugar, milkshakes, fruit smoothies, sports drinks, cocoa, sweet lemonades.

• Sweeteners: sugar, honey, agave, syrups.

• Vegetables high in starch and sugar: potatoes, sweet potatoes, zucchini, beets, peas.

• Alcoholic drinks: beer, sweet cocktails and sweet wines.

• Commercially available low-calorie and diet foods. Such labeling is often misleading: light mayonnaise contains starch, while products for diabetics contain fructose.

• Semi-finished products and sausages: not suitable due to the high content of sugar, starch and soy. They are also a hidden source of gluten.

• Fruits can be consumed in limited quantities, berries - in small portions.

These are general recommendations for all types of low-carb diets. The exact amount of carbohydrates that can be consumed during the day depends on the goal and, accordingly, the type of diet. So, to achieve ketosis is possible only with the maximum reduction of carbohydrate-containing foods. Other types of diet are allowed to include up to 50 and even 100 g of carbohydrates in the diet.

List of allowed products

To get rid of excess weight without feeling hungry and harming your health, the creators of low-carbohydrate nutrition systems focus on foods high in fat and protein.

This list includes:

• Eggs. They have a lot of healthy fats and almost no carbohydrates. In particular, it is a source of biotin, fat-soluble vitamins (A, D and E), as well as choline, a precursor of one of the main mediators of the nervous system, acetylcholine.

• Oils. All types of oils can be used in the diet, but olive, coconut and avocado oils are considered leaders in terms of benefits for the body.

• Fish. It is better to give preference to fatty varieties - salmon, trout, sardines. Their sufficient consumption will provide the body with omega-3 fatty acids, thereby significantly reducing the risks of pathologies of the cardiovascular system and cognitive impairment.

• Meat and poultry. Veal, chicken, turkey, rabbit meat are recommended.

• Dairy. Cream, unsweetened yogurt, butter, cottage cheese, cheeses.

• Non-starchy vegetables. Any greens, broccoli, all types of lettuce, asparagus, cauliflower, peppers, mushrooms.

• Avocado. A unique fruit with a high content of healthy fat.

Sample menu for the day

1. Breakfast

   The effectiveness of a low-carb diet is influenced not only by the right choice of products, but also by the way they are cooked. The main principle is simplicity. The fewer processes involved in cooking, the better.

   Sample breakfast for NU-diet:

   • Two poached or soft-boiled eggs, or ghee omelet with cherry tomatoes and cheese, or fried eggs with bacon.

   • Cottage cheese or soft cheese.

   • Salad of fresh vegetables and leafy greens with avocado.

   • Seasonal berries (by volume - a tea cup).

   • Green or herbal tea, unsweetened coffee with cream, mineral water.

    

2. Dinner

   The main ingredient for lunch should be meat or fish:

   • Boiled veal or beef.

   • Salmon or trout.

   • Seafood.

   Cooking methods - grilling or frying, baking, boiling.

   For first courses, you can not use potatoes and vermicelli, soup-puree, mushroom or zucchini is allowed.

   Cauliflower and broccoli, asparagus, pumpkin with cream or cheese sauce are used as a side dish.

   Fresh vegetable salads - white cabbage, bell peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce with the addition of vegetable oil.

   Drinks: any tea without added sugar and honey, rosehip broth, berry juice, unsweetened apple compote.

3. Dinner

   The main rule: a minimum of carbohydrates, everything else is possible. Choose any products from the list of allowed and invent dishes to your taste. You can use the following examples as a guide:

   • Lamb stewed with zucchini or eggplant.

   • Chicken liver in creamy sauce.

   • Fried veal with poached cauliflower with cheese sauce.

   • Grilled salmon with asparagus.

   • Turkey skewers with fresh vegetable salad.

As you can see, you don't have to starve on a low-carb diet. The body receives all the necessary elements and calmly reacts to the rejection of excess carbohydrates.

At the first acquaintance with a low-carb diet, people who want to lose weight often have a question: is it really possible to get rid of excess weight by eating fatty foods? Really. The only condition is a complete rejection of sweets and starchy foods, soda and juices, rice and pasta. Carbohydrate deficiency triggers the mechanisms of weight loss, which we described above.

We do not recommend using fruits: instead of starving the worm, fructose, bypassing all the paths of saturation, will only serve to fuel hunger.

A sample menu of a low-carb diet for weight loss for a week looks like this:

Breakfast:

• An omelet made from two eggs and a small amount of full-fat milk or cream.

• Two pieces of hard cheese.

• Coffee with coconut milk or cream.

Dinner:

• Pork steak.

• Salad of fresh vegetables with olive oil.

• Cream cheese (3 tablespoons).

• Tea without sugar.

Afternoon snack (optional - but still better to aim for the most physiological three meals a day):

• 20–30 pcs. pre-soaked almonds.

• Baked apple (without raisins, sugar and honey!).

   

Dinner:

• Greek salad (bell pepper, cucumber, tomato, feta cheese, olives).

• Mushrooms grilled or fried in vegetable oil.

• Baked fish.

Menu for the week

To simplify the process of losing weight as much as possible and save your time, we suggest that you use the menu for every day to strictly follow the low-carb diet. If desired, you can make changes to it without going beyond the list of allowed products.

• Breakfast. Cheese omelet, salad of vegetables and herbs, avocado toast, unsweetened coffee with the addition of a piece of butter or coconut oil and berries.

• Dinner. Pork steak on the grill or pan, leaf lettuce, salty homemade cheese.

• Dinner. Veal in creamy sauce, cabbage salad.

• Breakfast. Pike perch cutlet, sliced ​​​​cucumbers and tomatoes, natural yogurt as a dessert (you can add coconut, almond flakes and some berries whipped in a blender).

   

• Dinner. Mushroom soup, chicken tabaka, homemade eggplant and bell pepper caviar.

• Dinner. Duck breast with vegetable garnish.

• Breakfast. Omelet with ham, green salad with sour cream dressing, a handful of your favorite nuts, green tea.

• Dinner. Zucchini puree soup, fried cheese, baked apple (it is better to choose unsweetened varieties).

• Dinner. Fried veal, cauliflower stewed in cream.

• Breakfast. Poached eggs with avocado, spinach, salted salmon.

• Dinner. Pike cutlets, grilled vegetables.

• Dinner. Pork and broccoli casserole in sour cream sauce with cheese crust.

• Breakfast. Soft-boiled eggs, zucchini pancakes with ricotta cheese, olives, cocoa.

• Dinner. Chicken fillet on a vegetable pillow.

• Dinner. Salmon steak with pumpkin puree.

• Breakfast. Omelette with ham and sun-dried tomatoes, hard cheese, a handful of nuts and berries.

• Dinner. Back of a rabbit with poached and fried asparagus.

• Dinner. Chicken leg, sauteed with mushrooms and eggplant.

• Breakfast. Poached egg with salmon and spinach, roasted turkey, coffee without sugar.

• Dinner. Turkey steak, cauliflower in a creamy sauce.

• Dinner. Dried meat and mashed broccoli.

We remind you that for those wishing to switch to a low-carb diet, this weekly menu is just a guideline for creating an individual diet. It is impossible to take into account the taste preferences of each person. The main thing is to adhere to the basic principle underlying the low-carb diet: low carbohydrates, high fats.

low carb diet for diabetes

The principles of a low-carbohydrate diet differ depending on the type of diabetes. Insulin-dependent patients should eat a balanced diet that includes foods with a low glycemic index.

A low-carbohydrate diet for type 2 diabetes has some features:

• The main share of the medical menu is vegetables and herbs. For women, the norm of non-starchy vegetables is 500 g per day if she does not spend a lot of energy, and up to 800 g - with physical work or regular sports.

• In order to prevent high cholesterol levels, diabetics follow a low-carbohydrate diet without saturated fats. Preference is given to healthy unsaturated fats, which are found in low-fat varieties of fish, as well as vegetable fats. This means that pork, lard, salmon, salmon are not recommended. Instead, nutritionists advise diabetics to eat more nuts, avocados, olives, and also use vegetable oils for cooking.

• A complete rejection of carbohydrates in such patients is contraindicated, as this is fraught with a drop in blood sugar levels and a deterioration in well-being. Carbohydrates should be distributed evenly throughout the day, with vegetables being the best source.

• For snacks, you can use protein products with a low glycemic index, which quickly satisfy hunger - pre-soaked nuts are perfect.

• In type 2 diabetes, a low-carbohydrate diet with a menu that includes a minimum of sugars may require adjustment of previously prescribed doses of drugs. It is necessary at the first stage to constantly measure the level of glucose in the blood: if it has become lower as a result of a change in diet, the doctor will reduce the dosage of hypoglycemic drugs. A consultation with an endocrinologist is mandatory; it is not worth adjusting the medication on your own.

Low-carbohydrate Diet for Restless Adrenal Syndrome

Restless Adrenal Syndrome occurs due to constant stress. One of the symptoms of this condition is hypoglycemia and accompanying hunger, irritability, headache.

Treatment is accompanied by proper nutrition, which is based on three key points:

• In no case do not abuse sweets. Eaten candy for a while will make you feel better, but then it will invariably lead to a sharp decrease in the concentration of glucose in the blood and subsequent ailments.

• Any sausage is better to prefer an ordinary piece of meat. Products obtained as a result of complex technological processing contain a lot of substances that are contraindicated in such a diagnosis.

• Gluten and vegetable oils containing pro-inflammatory omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids will have to be eliminated from the diet.

In addition, a low-carb diet for men and women with fatigued adrenal syndrome implies a complete rejection of coffee. It's all about cortisol, the production of which under the influence of caffeine increases. As a result, the metabolism slows down, and the process of losing weight slows down.