The ketogenic diet, which many people now use for weight loss, was actually created to treat people with epilepsy. Because of it, many 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 fans of a sleek, slim and pumped body, it has become very popular.
Above all, it helps to dehydrate the body, remove excess pounds and at the same time maintain muscle mass, for 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 basic concepts - protein, ketone and ketosis. Protein - their high presence in food prevents the body from drying out muscles, instead it takes energy from fat reserves, thus reducing body fat, which leads to weight loss.
Ketone is a substitute for carbohydrates, which are our body energy and are often stored in reserve. 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.
Therefore, 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);
- go for sports (during exercise, the body sweats, and along with sweat toxins are released);
- 1-2 times a week to replenish glycogen stores, i. e. eat carbohydrate foods.
Note that the ketogenic diet does not completely exclude carbohydrates from the diet, but reduces them to 30 grams per day. This amount is not enough to maintain glycogen stores in the normal range. To do this, it is necessary to set, so to speak, days of healing. You should eat as follows - 5 days only protein food, 2 days carbohydrates.
Diet menu
The ketogenic diet menu consists, as you already understood, of protein foods. Ajo:
- a fish;
- Meat;
- eggs;
- cheese;
- cottage cheese;
- milk;
- kefir
Vegetables are also allowed while maintaining this diet. But keep in mind that they contain carbohydrates, so you should consume a lot of them. 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 allowed foods, they can be used to make an omelette for breakfast. It is recommended to cook with a pair of 2 eggs, without adding oil. You can eat the omelette in its pure form, or you can add 1 tomato and chopped greens.
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 in no way is it a dietary product). Beef and veal should be preferred. Meat can be boiled, evaporated or baked in an oil-free oven. Boiling boiled vegetables (100 grams portion) can act as a side dish. At your lunch you can also add a small piece of cheese (not more than 40 grams), a cucumber and fresh green lettuce.
We count the amount of carbohydrates. Steaming vegetables contains about 7 grams, cucumber - 4 grams. There are no carbohydrates in meat and cheese. The total is only 11 grams.
dinner
For dinner, instead of meat, you can eat a piece of fish (about 200 grams), add to it some green salad leaf tea, a cucumber and a tomato. You can even eat a boiled egg. Such a dinner is easy and will relieve you of the feeling of heaviness in the stomach.
Let’s calculate the amount of carbs at this dinner. Fish - in it, as in meat, there are no carbohydrates, an egg is about 0. 7 grams, a tomato is 5 grams, a fresh cucumber is 4 grams, and lettuce is 1. 3 grams. The total is 12 grams.
And if you calculate the total carbohydrates eaten, you get 34 grams. This is too small. If, while on 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).
Since this diet provokes the artificial production of ketone, which can negatively affect the state of health, it is necessary to consult a doctor in advance. Otherwise, you risk gaining new exacerbations or illnesses as a "bonus".