Lose Weight, Stop eating sweets, pastries, cake and bread . . . now there are a few phrases that are definitely not welcome on a wet and drizzly 01 January morn! These though, are the most important of the foods to be eaten in far less quantity if any weight is to be shifted. There are all sort of diets out there – the slimming world that lets you eat a few sins a day just to stop you going mad whilst following the otherwise formulated diet books. The keto diet cuts out as many carbohydrates as possible. It dictates which vegetables are best and which fruits – for example, potatoes and carrots are very high in carbs, so cauliflower is often substituted. Rice is also fairly high, so cauliflower is grated finely to make a form of rice. In fact a big cauliflower is the staple in the low carb diet. Most green vegetables are good, spinach has the added bonus of being extra rich in iron and Vitamin C, as is kale. the problem with dropping essentials like carrot is the lack of various other good vitamins and minerals. of the fruit section, apples, grapes, kiwi fruit, oranges and other sweet fruits ae on the excluded list. In fact the only fruit that is to be welcomed are berries – all sorts but especially blueberry, strawberry, raspberry and all her derivatives – all these ae recommended to be eaten daily with some strained Greek yogurt. of course, as sugar is 100% carbohydrate, it is not on the permissible list – many companies have manufactured very good substitutes which are an excellent choice in cooking as they do sweeten products to a certain extent but they add no calories.
The ideal breakfast in a low carb diet is to have quite a lot of the full English of eggs, bacon, mushrooms and tomatoes of course, hash browns are not in the good section. Eggs are at the very top of the protein pile for meals of any sort. The aim on a low carb diet is to increase the protein to help compensate for the reduction in carbs. Most meats have a very high protein count as does fish. Certain fats are also welcomed. It feels a bit odd, eating all the things that for most of our lives, we have been pushed as far from as physically possible. So it is definitely ok to eat proper butter. It’s not ok to eat the low fat varieties though as they contain huge differences in sugar, to compensate for lack of carbs. The major thought behind a keto diet is to gradually get used to eating a very restricted regime of high protein, no carbs, or at least, as low as possible.