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Starting the low carb diet – If you are interested in low carb foods and want a nutrition plan to get started with the new diet, you should first consider some basic principles for the low carb diet. The goal of a low carb diet is to significantly reduce the proportion of simple carbohydrates. Pasta, white bread, potatoes and rice, but also extract flour, high fructose fruits and sugar.
Starting the low carb diet | What do I have to do?
Following a plan of low carb diet, the following foods should be avoided:
- Semolina legumes: include potatoes, corn, bananas, peas, beans, and parsnips (see full list here)
- Fruits with high fructose content: these are mainly bananas, pears, grapes, dates and figs (here you will find a complete list)
- Simple sugary foods: glucose, chocolate, sweets, honey, but also sugary drinks.
- Foods made with flour: noodles, bread and rolls, cakes, muffins.
Starting the low carb diet | What can I eat?
So, the Low Carb diet plan mainly consists of:
- vegetable
- salad
- poultry
- fish
- Seafood and
- Meat too
- Water and herbs
There are also nuts and dairy products on the low-carb menu. An important point here, however, is that there is no fixed “Plan X” that you absolutely must adhere to. Everyone must decide for themselves what the low carb diet (be it Atkins, South Beach, Slow Carb) or an individual mix of these diets will feed them.
When putting together your diet plan, it is important to follow the principles outlined below and the golden rules of low-carb eating. Additionally, a look at the pitfalls of low-carb eating can be helpful in this regard. If you follow these guidelines, you will be completely flexible in designing your nutrition plan and can choose from recipes and eat exactly what you crave.
The list of low carb foods and the food pyramid of low carb , which highlights which foods should play a major role following a low-carb diet and which should play a subordinate role, also provide a good guide for creating a nutritional plan.
Starting a Low-Carb Diet | Principles for a Nutrition Plan
When creating your low-carb nutrition plan, pay special attention to your evening meal: while you are allowed to consume carbs (in a limited way) at breakfast or lunch, your portion of carbs at dinner should definitely be less than 20 grams.
On a low carb diet, it's important to eat enough healthy fats: olive oil, nuts, seeds, fatty fish (salmon, tuna, mackerel, halibut, etc.), very dark chocolate, peanut butter, avocados – all of these foods contain healthy fats and help with weight loss, even if it may seem a bit absurd at first.
Hunger should never arise. Therefore, always eat enough (of the permitted foods) and never wait until cravings come. This is mainly because, as soon as we starve, the body switches to the “primordial principle”: if we radically accelerate the energy supply, we signal the shortage of food to the body. Thus, our organism switches to low energy in order to save energy reserves. Then, when we eat another meal in a normal portion size, the body puts fat reserves in order to be able to fill the next food shortage as much as possible.
Drink plenty: preferably water or herbal teas.
Make sure you eat enough protein. Protein satiates and helps you lose weight. Another plus: the calcium in protein strengthens your bones and teeth.
Basically, when doing the low-carb diet plan, make sure you eat three meals a day and give your digestive tract at least a 5-hour break during which your blood sugar level can return to normal.
Make sure to make your low-carb meal plan as varied as possible. Since low-carb is a long-term dietary change, it’s important to make preparing and enjoying food enjoyable, and you don’t want to go back to your usual low-carb plate after a few weeks of eating low-carb.
Starting a low carb diet | Sports and exercise
The low-carb diet offers a first aid in changing your diet. But you should also adapt other things in your life, because even with this form of diet: Anyone who wants to lose weight should not change their diet in the long term, but deliberately integrate more exercise into everyday life and a balanced sports program for an indispensable part of the week. This is the only way to ensure that the fused flab does not spread again.
You should not set ambitious goals that cannot be achieved in everyday life after a few weeks, when the first ambition has disappeared. You should try to approach the new, more conscious way of treating your body and set achievable goals for yourself.
If you want to integrate a sport into your daily life, make sure that the effort is as low as possible. There should be no expensive purchases or a long journey. It is best to choose a sport that you have already practiced and with which you have had good experiences. Have you been swimming more often? Perfect! Schedule fixed dates in the week for this now!
You should certainly keep in mind that you have not set yourself the weight you want to lose now within a few weeks. Therefore, you should refrain from unrealistic goals and quietly give yourself and your body some time to lose those extra pounds again. Only then are the chances good to maintain your dream weight and not fall back into old eating habits.
Discover the book 101 low carb recipes with tips and recipes to help you lose weight
