The ketogenic diet, which many people are now using to lose weight, was actually developed to treat people with epilepsy. Thanks to this, many people have tried to reduce the manifestations of this "terrible" disease in their children, and some have even completely forgotten 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 the lovers of her fit, slim and full body, she has become very popular.
After all, it helps to dry out the body, lose excess weight and at the same time maintain muscle mass, which not all diets succeed. Plus, the ketogenic diet pairs well with exercise, further increasing its effectiveness.
Basic principles of the diet
The ketogenic diet for weight loss is based on three basic concepts - protein, ketones, and ketosis. Protein - their high presence in food prevents the body from drying out, instead it draws energy from fat stores, thereby reducing body fat, leading to weight loss.
Ketones are a substitute for carbohydrates, which are our body's energy and are normally stored. From a medical point of view, ketones are the breakdown products of fats. If this process is caused artificially (i. e. by completely eliminating the use of carbohydrates), then harmful substances will begin to accumulate in the body, which in itself is dangerous.
So it is extremely important to understand that if you want to lose weight on a ketogenic diet, you must learn how to remove these substances from your body artificially. And you can do this in a number of ways:
- drink plenty of water (toxins will be eliminated from the body and eliminated naturally);
- exercise and sports (during training, the body sweats and along with the toxins in the sweat are released);
- 1-2 times a week to replenish glycogen stores, i. e. eat foods containing carbohydrates.
Note that the ketogenic diet does not completely eliminate carbohydrates from the diet, but reduces them to 30 grams per day. This amount is not enough to keep glycogen stores at a normal level. To do this, it is necessary to arrange, so to speak, recovery days. You need to eat as follows - 5 days only eat protein foods, 2 days carbohydrates.
Diet menu
As you already understand, the ketogenic diet menu includes protein foods. It:
- a fish;
- meat;
- egg;
- cheese;
- fresh cheese;
- Milk;
- kefir.
Vegetables are also allowed while maintaining this diet. But it should be noted that they contain carbohydrates, so you should consume them in excess. You can use the following menu (you can change something, but as directed it should be the same).
Breakfast
As a rule, most of us eat scrambled eggs in the morning. And because eggs are on the list of allowed foods, they can be used to make an omelet for breakfast. You should cook it with a pair of 2 eggs, no oil added. You can eat the omelette in its pure form or you can add 1 tomato and chopped greens.
So let's count carbohydrates. Eggs contain about 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, as it is not a dietary product). Prefer beef and veal. Meat can be boiled, steamed or grilled in the oven without oil. Vegetable stew (100 gram portion) can be used as a side dish. You can also add a small piece of cheese (no more than 40 grams), a fresh cucumber and lettuce to your lunch.
We count carbohydrates. Steamed vegetables contain about 7 grams, cucumbers - 4 grams. There are no carbohydrates in meat and cheese. Only 11 grams total.
Dinner
For dinner, instead of meat, you can eat a piece of fish (about 200 grams), add a few green lettuce leaves, cucumber and tomato to it. You can also eat a boiled egg. Such a light dinner will help you reduce the feeling of heaviness in your stomach.
Let's calculate the carbohydrates for this dinner. Fish - in which, as in meat, there are no carbohydrates, an egg is about 0. 7 grams, tomatoes are 5 grams, fresh cucumbers are 4 grams, and lettuce is 1. 3 grams. Total is 12 grams.
And if you calculate the total carbs eaten, you get 34 grams. This is very small. If while maintaining the diet, you feel drowsy or begin to tire quickly, then you will need to increase your carbohydrate intake by about 2 times (up to 60 grams).
Since this diet stimulates the artificial production of ketones, which can negatively affect health conditions, it is advisable to consult a doctor first. Otherwise, you run the risk of earning exacerbations or new illnesses as a "bonus".