Part 2 - Drop The Carbs Improve Health - Preparation For Change
Part 2 – Drop The Carbs Improve Health – Preparation For Change
So you’ve decided to take the challenge and go carb free for a while! Maybe you are looking to shed a few kilos of fat? or maybe, get the diabetes / insulin resistance under control? For others, the goal is to put on more active tissue mass to improve overall health. What ever your goals, a properly planned, low carb, ketogenic diet can help.
You wouldn’t move to a new country without doing some preparation first, so why start a new lifestyle without proper planning?
In part two of our four part series our nutritionist talks about some simple preparation and planning you can do to ensure you reach you health destination as quickly and easily as possible.
Tip 1: Get to know your macronutrients
What’s a protein? What’s a fat? What’s a carb?
Knowing what’s what will make it easier to maintain your new lifestyle and to achieve results you are looking for. It’s important to recognise that very few foods are purely a protein, very few foods purely a fat and very few foods purely a carbohydrate. What we want to do is consume foods that maximise the protein and fat content while being low in carbohydrates, especially simple carbohydrates such as sugars.
While, technically vegetables fall under the definition of carbohydrates, in a low carbohydrate, ketogenic lifestyle we emphasise the leafy green vegetables that are low starch and high in fibre to ensure proper movement through the bowel.
Some good examples of each include:
| Protein | Chicken, eggs, fish, lamb, turkey, tofu or tempeh, soft cheeses, plain yoghurt |
|---|---|
| Fat | Eggs, olive oil, coconut oil, avocado, coconut cream, nuts and seeds, soft cheeses |
| Fibre | All leafy green vegetables, broccoli, sprouts, tomatoes, zucchini, snow peas, etc. |
| Carbohydrates | Potato, sweet potato, pasta, grains, cereals, breads |
What do I do with beans?
Beans and legumes are an interesting one. Regularly used as a good vegetarian source of protein they are equally high in carbohydrates. As a rule of thumb, if you have a highly active lifestyle including plenty of exercise, beans can be included in moderate amounts. If you have a mostly sedentary lifestyle use tofu, tempeh and eggs as a vegetarian protein source.
Tip 2: What to eat when eating out
Eating out can be hard when first converting to any new diet. It can be particularly troublesome when trying to live the low carbohydrate lifestyle as so much restaurant and takeaway food is high in carbohydrates.
When eating out these guidelines can be helpful:
- Most restaurants will be only to happy to provide a side of steamed vegetables or extra salad in place of the mashed potato or chips;
- Use olive oil, soy sauce, worcestershire sauce or tabasco sauce in place of restaurant prepared sauces as these are generally high in sugar and carbohydrates;
- Try the cheese platter instead of the ice cream. Cheese is a good source of fats.
Tip 3: Know How Much To Eat
Portion control is important no matter what sort of diet you eat. Fortunately with a low carbohydrate lifestyle, portion control is right at the end of your arm!
If you are trying to lose or maintain weight eat one palm sized portion of protein per meal and three handfuls of the allowed vegetables per meal. This will ensure you get a good mix of protein, fat and fibre.
If you are trying to gain lean muscle mass increase the protein intake to 1.5 to 2 palm sizes and maintain the three handfuls of vegetables.
If you choose to eat snacks, eat three fingers of nuts and seeds or vegetables at morning tea and three at afternoon tea. Alternatively substitute a good quality protein powder.
For the more mathematically minded amongst us this is roughly the following formula:
Protein: Height in cms - 100 = Minimum daily protein requirement in grams i.e if you are 175cm tall eat as a minimum 75g of protein per day.
Fat: Minimum protein requirement x 2.5 = minimum daily fat requirement i.e 75×2.5 = 187.5 gram of fat per day
Carbohydrates: Daily protein requirement x 80% = minimum carbohydrate requirement. i.e 75×80% = 60g of carbohydrate per day