The ketogenic diet that many people now use to lose weight was actually developed to treat people with epilepsy. Thanks to him, many have managed to reduce the manifestations of this "terrible" disease in their children, and some even completely forget about its existence.
But due to the fact that progress does not stand still, the ketogenic diet is very rarely used for this purpose. But among lovers of slender, slender and inflated body, it has become very popular.
After all, it helps to dry the body, get rid of extra pounds and at the same time maintain muscle mass, which not all diets succeed. Plus, the ketogenic diet works well with exercise, further increasing its effectiveness.
Basic principles of diet
The ketogenic diet for weight loss is based on three main concepts - protein, ketone and ketosis. Protein - their high presence in the diet prevents the body's muscles from drying out, instead taking away energy from fat deposits, thus reducing body fat, which leads to weight loss.
Ketone is a substitute for carbohydrates, which are the energy of our body and are often stored in reserve. From a medical point of view, ketones are the products of fat breakdown. If this process is caused artificially (ie by completely eliminating the use of carbohydrates), then the body will begin to accumulate harmful substances, which in itself is dangerous.
That is why it is extremely important to understand that if you want to lose weight with a ketogenic diet, you must learn to artificially remove these substances from the body. And you can do this in several ways:
- drink plenty of fluids (toxins will simply be expelled from the body and excreted naturally);
- do sports (during exercise the body sweats and toxins are released along with sweat);
- 1-2 times a week to replenish glycogen stores, ie eat carbohydrate foods.
Keep in mind that a ketogenic diet does not completely exclude carbohydrates from the diet, but reduces them to 30 grams per day. This amount is not enough to keep glycogen stores within normal limits. To do this, you need to arrange, so to speak, days for recovery. You should eat as follows - 5 days only protein food, 2 days carbohydrates.
Diet menu
The ketogenic diet menu consists, as you already know, of protein foods. That:
- fish;
- meat;
- eggs;
- cheese;
- cottage cheese;
- milk;
- kefir.
Vegetables are also allowed as long as this diet is maintained. But it should be borne in mind that they contain carbohydrates, so you should consume them too much. You can use the following menu (you can change something, but according to the indications it should be approximately the same).
Breakfast
As a rule, most of us eat scrambled eggs in the morning. And since eggs are on the list of permitted foods, they can be used to make an omelet for breakfast. It is recommended to cook it with a pair of 2 eggs without adding butter. You can eat the omelette in its pure form, or you can add 1 tomato and chopped vegetables to it.
So let's count the carbs. Eggs contain approximately 0. 7 grams, tomatoes and herbs contain 5 grams each. In total, it turns out that such a breakfast contains only 11 grams of carbohydrates. Not bad.
Dinner
For lunch you can cook any meat (100 grams) of your choice (except pork, because it is by no means a dietary product). Beef and veal should be preferred. The meat can be boiled, steamed or baked in the oven without oil. Stewed vegetable stew (portion 100 grams) can act as a side dish. You can also add to your lunch a small piece of cheese (no more than 40 grams), a cucumber and a fresh lettuce.
We count the amount of carbohydrates. Steamed vegetable stew contains about 7 grams, cucumber - 4 grams. There are no carbohydrates in meat and cheese. The total amount is only 11 grams.
Dinner
For dinner, instead of meat, you can eat a piece of fish (about 200 grams), add a few leaves of lettuce, cucumber and tomato. You can also eat a boiled egg. Such a dinner is light and will relieve you of the feeling of heaviness in the stomach.
Let's calculate the amount of carbohydrates in this dinner. Fish - in it, as well as in the meat, there are no carbohydrates, the egg is about 0, 7 grams, the tomato is 5 grams, the fresh cucumber is 4 grams, and the lettuce is 1, 3 grams. A total of 12 grams.
And if you count the total carbs eaten, you get 34 grams. This is very little. If, while maintaining a diet, you feel drowsy or notice that you start to get tired quickly, then you will need to increase the amount of carbohydrates consumed by about 2 times (up to 60 grams).
As this diet provokes the artificial production of ketone, which can adversely affect health, it is necessary to consult a doctor in advance. Otherwise, you risk gaining exacerbations or new diseases as a "bonus".