Delicious, hearty food combined with creamy, hearty sauces helps you lose weight!It sounds absurd at first, but a low-carb, high-fat diet is a great way to enjoy eating and lose weight at the same time.
Keto diet - fighting fat for slimness
Fat is a unique flavor enhancer that makes our food especially appealing.After all, how can you compare a dry chicken breast to a juicy pork chop in cheese sauce?Same thing.
If you eat enough fatty foods, reducing the consumption of carbohydrates to a minimum, diet nutrition will open up a new side for you - tasty, juicy and nutritious!
We will move on to the TOP 10 methods very soon, but for now let's briefly look at the principle of the keto diet - how it works, forcing the body to lose weight, but at the same time eliminating the feeling of hunger and bad mood that is so common with dietary restrictions.
The basis of the ketogenic diet is food with a lot of fat, an optimal amount of protein and a minimum amount of carbohydrates.The portion of the latter should not exceed 25 g per day (the optimal amount is from 20 to 25 g).
The easiest way to produce energy for our body is glucose, which comes from all kinds of carbohydrates (like an apple, which contains two dozen carbohydrates, as well as muffins and sweets).However, as soon as the supply of this substance is limited, our system begins to use ketones, which are produced in the liver, as fuel.
It induces ketosis, a natural body process that usually occurs when you are very hungry.For example, if even the smallest piece of food does not appear in the stomach for several days, the body begins to feel the lack of glucose (depleted energy source), so ketones are put to work.
In this way, the keto diet helps you lose weight not because of hunger, but because of the low carbohydrate supply to the "processing plant".As soon as the body begins to use fat as an energy source for life, it begins to actively "eat" fat from food, as well as those that "decorate" our sides, stomach and other parts of the body.
Therefore, when following a keto diet, it is important to remember the main thing: your diet should contain as much fat as possible - it will lead the body to leanness.Contrary to prevailing prejudices (fat makes you fat, harmful, etc.), don't be afraid of fatty foods, because on a low-carb diet, they will be extremely beneficial to the body.
Following a ketogenic diet, you will always feel full, refreshed and in a great mood, because fatty foods suppress hunger perfectly and for a long time, and the pleasant creamy taste of food does not allow you to feel deprived of delicious dishes.
This is exactly what happens with other diets, when, for example, the amount of cheese is strictly limited or juicy kebabs from a fatty piece of pork are completely prohibited.
TOP 10 - we eat fat and delicious!
In some cases, the keto diet can be problematic for people who are not used to eating a lot of fatty foods.That's why we're talking about 10 ways to eat more natural fats for the full benefits of both eating pleasure and effective weight loss.
1. Start with whole foods that are rich in fat
It's time to say goodbye to low-fat or low-fat foods.Clean your fridge and kitchen cupboards of dried egg mixes instead of real eggs, artificial cream and low-fat peanut butter.Now your breakfast, lunch or dinner will be really tasty!
Get rid of any foods labeled "light" or "diet" - they have no place in your stomach on a keto diet.Replace skimmed milk with the fattest, enjoy 20% or more cream, eat 9% fat cottage cheese and enjoy the delicate creamy taste of food.
By the way, if you can't find full-fat milk or yogurt in a nearby store, feel free to buy a low-fat product, because you can increase the fat content yourself.For example, add a few tablespoons of heavy cream or sour cream to 1% drinking yogurt.
View the full shopping list.Your goal is to stock your fridge with high-fat foods, including avocados and chicken eggs.
When preparing dishes, try to add natural fats to them instead of avoiding them out of old habit.Fry eggs in melted butter, eat your favorite fatty hard cheeses.
In other words, don't deny yourself the pleasure of eating tasty and fatty food!By the way, you can easily make natural ice cream from cream - you just need to whip it and put it in the freezer.After an hour, your treat will be ready.Use strawberries or apricots as a sweetener - they have minimal carbohydrates (5 g for half a cup of strawberries and 8 g for 2 large apricots).
From now on, give preference to fatty meat.In addition, it is more aromatic, mild and inexpensive, unlike its low-fat counterparts.Include fish such as salmon, mackerel and sardines in your diet – they are rich in fat and are a great addition to your menu.
2. Cook with added fat
Don't be afraid to add enough oil to the pan that the pieces of food are literally floating in it.No more steaming vegetables or frying a dry chicken breast without a drop of fat in foil.Cook low-carb vegetables, fish, meat or eggs with natural fats.
This will make your food even more attractive and nutritious.Use only as much fat as needed to prepare the dish.You can always throw away the leftovers - there's absolutely no point in eating them with a spoon.
3. Use different fats - this way you will diversify the taste of food
Fat can easily change the flavor of food, which is a great way to expand your taste buds for each day of the ketogenic diet.The easiest option is to boil the green beans and season them with a piece of butter to get a pleasant aftertaste.
Do you like it fatter?Then fry the beans in oil, finally sprinkle with sesame oil - you will get a wonderful dish.It is not forbidden to sprinkle the beans with a spoonful of sesame seeds (this will enhance the taste and add a little more fat, which will help the body lose weight).
Experiments are welcome!Don't be afraid to try new combinations of foods and natural fats to see which foods you like best.Make several types of fat at once, which can be stored in the refrigerator or kitchen cupboard:
- vegetable oil;
- olive and coconut;
- lard (any form);
- sesame oil;
- avocado and peanut oil;
- pumpkin seed oil;
- nut oils (macadamia, almond, etc.);
- chicken, duck fat and other types of animal fat.
Use oil everywhere - on a sandwich, in a salad, when boiling, stewing or baking food.
4. Compile a list of low-carb recipes
It is not as difficult as it seems.Write down a dozen simple recipes in a separate notebook so that you don't have to worry about what to cook for breakfast or dinner every time.The main thing is that there are practically no carbohydrates in the dishes.
Here are some ideas for your first meals:
- Chicken casserole with feta cheese and olives.Only 6g of carbs and cooking is as easy as peeling a pear - mix the ingredients and fry until golden brown, don't forget to brush the chicken with spices and butter.
- Meatballs in a creamy tomato sauce with a garnish of stewed cabbage(in butter of course).Only 10 g of carbohydrates before the delicious taste of a fried meatball with a flavorful, rich sauce.
- Keto pancakes with fried pork.Only 8 g of carbohydrates and an amazing taste!Use heavy cream and almond flour to prepare these pancakes, and don't forget to season the finished dish with melted butter.
- A burger with a spacious egg bun, fried meat, cheese, vegetables and herbs.This dish will replace any fast food and will bring only 7 g of carbohydrates!By the way, the "bun" itself is very easy to prepare: you only need to whip the yolks and whites separately, then mix them into a homogeneous mass and bake them in the oven.You probably already know how to grill meat.Good appetite!
Low-carb recipes will help you eat delicious meals, and most importantly, get plenty of fat, which is essential for keto weight loss.
5. Pour oil, sauce or rich sauce over the prepared food.
Do this with everything you eat.You don't need to sip olive oil with spoons, but adding it to your vegetable salad is your sacred duty.Even avocado, known as a very fatty food, goes well with oil.
There are many variations of sauces:
- pure vegetable oils mixed with herbs and spices;
- cheese and cream sauces, as well as their combinations (tomato, mushroom, etc.);
- of melted butter or all the "damned" mayonnaise.
Always add natural fats to your food as this is the foundation of the keto diet.
6. Pretty food = fatty food.Garnish your dishes with fatty foods!
For some reason, when we hear the word "fat," our minds picture a clumsy lump of unsightly fat, or worse, a lump of fat on our own body.So now is the time to turn your thinking in the opposite direction, because fat sometimes looks great, not to mention tastes great!
See what you can decorate the dishes with:
- fatty cheeses;
- avocado slices;
- olives and seeds;
- jerky;
- chopped macadamia nuts;
- roasted sesame, almonds;
- puree of avocado, tomato and herbs;
- slices of bacon or brisket;
- pine nuts.
These simple foods add flavor to your food, provide nutrients and, of course, plenty of fat!They can be added to almost any dish and are perfect for your keto eating plan.
7. Check the snacks - are they really fat?
Snacks and various snacks are best avoided when following any diet, but sometimes they perfectly suppress hunger and make you feel full until the next meal.If you are hungry, choose fatty snacks.It can be cheese, nuts or hard-boiled chicken eggs.
8. Always store cheese stocks in the refrigerator
Because cheese is the best addition to any food.It is perfect as a snack and can be eaten for breakfast or as a snack.Use cheese as a topping - it works well both as a separate dish (for example, a spicy cheese topping in the form of hard-rolled balls of meatballs) and as an aesthetic touch to the main course (in the form of sprinkles).
Prepare wonderful creamy cheese desserts and enjoy the taste for breakfast or dinner.Choose any fatty cheese with a minimum amount of carbohydrates - this high-calorie product will quickly fill your stomach and make you feel satisfied with the food.
9. Add fat to drinks
Your tea, coffee or hot milk will shine with a unique taste if it contains a spoonful of aromatic fat.For example, melt some butter or coconut oil in a bowl.It will take no more than 30 seconds, but the aftertaste of the drink will delight your taste buds for another 15 minutes.
Hot drinks go well with heavy cream or thick country sour cream from farm shops.And by adding butter to a glass of hot milk, you can not only lose weight, but also forget about seasonal colds.Such a simple snack will solve two problems at once: it will quench your thirst and fill your stomach.
While you are tempted by fatty foods and dream of a slim body, do not forget about a smart approach to business.After all, an excess of fatty food in some cases risks giving the opposite result - stopping the weight loss process or sharply increasing the cholesterol level.
Especially if you drink the drink on a full stomach, providing the body with tons of excess energy.This tool is powerful - use it wisely.
10. What dessert to choose during the keto diet?
The first tip of all diets is to give up dessert.However, as with snacking, sometimes it's hard to give up the little pleasures that are so lacking in weight loss.
If you're determined to treat yourself to something delicious, choose recipes that are high in fat and low in sugar, including artificial sweeteners.Unsweetened whipped cream (30% fat or more) with raspberries is an ideal choice for a keto dessert.
You can diversify the menu of lovers with fat bombs with vanilla, cinnamon and cardamom.These "sweets" go well with tea or coffee, always lifting the mood of a slimming person.By the way, such "bombs" contain only 0.4 g of carbohydrates.Write down the recipe, because they are easy and very quick to make!
What you will need:
- 85 g of butter (preferably unleavened);
- 0.5 grated coconut (no added sugar);
- 0.5 teaspoon of ground cardamom (green);
- 0.5 teaspoon of vanilla extract;
- 0.5 teaspoon ground cinnamon.
How to cook:
- Heat the oil to room temperature.
- Fry the coconut flakes until golden brown.
- Mix the butter, most of the chips, spices and place in the fridge for 10 minutes.
- Once the mixture has set slightly, form small balls, roll in the remaining toasted coconut and enjoy!
This dessert can be conveniently stored in both the refrigerator and the freezer (the shelf life is the same as the oil you use).
How to enhance the effect of weight loss on the keto diet?
Fats make our lives tastier, healthier and easier in the truest sense of the word, but in everything moderation is important.Eat moderate portions at each meal, do not overeat.The best advice is to leave the table a little hungry, because the feeling of fullness comes a little later than the end of the meal.
If it turns out that you are hungry, this can always be corrected with a small portion of fatty food, but if you overeat, the diet may be considered a failure.Watch your diet: Be sure to eat high fat and low carbohydrates.Do not deviate from the prescribed course, as this is the basis of the keto diet.
For maximum results, check out some helpful tips below.
1. Make it easy to log in.
At the beginning of the no-carb journey, fatty foods may seem too fat for the body - this is normal, so your task is to weather the "storm".When switching to a new nutritional system, the body and taste receptors begin to adapt gradually, you just need to give them some time (on average 2-4 weeks).
During this period, try to eat more neutral fatty foods (for example, avocado, cheese and meat fried in a small amount of oil).A smooth transition to fattier food will eliminate hunger and allow the body to get used to a new source of energy without unnecessary stress.
Once the balance is reached on the addiction path, the feeling of hunger after the "light fat" diet will decrease.From the organism's perspective, this indicates that the adaptation has been successful, and access to processing fat as fuel is completely open (no more glucose stored from carbohydrate-rich foods).
2. Watch your appetite
If you have adapted to the keto diet more than perfectly, but your stomach has become too demanding about the amount of food, it's time to experiment: try to reduce the amount of natural fat added to food (at the cooking stage or in the finished dish).
When you are hungry, still choose fatty foods over carbohydrates.The latter will reduce your weight loss efforts to nothing.Eat exactly the amount of food you need to satisfy your hunger - let your body burn internal fat stores instead of an extra tablespoon of butter on your plate.
3. Add more fat to your diet when losing weight.
As soon as you reach the desired number on the scale for which you have given up carbohydrates, there are no more fat stores inside the body that have been used as a source of energy day in and day out.
During this period, it is important to listen to the body, tune in with it, to learn to read the signals of physical hunger.This is the period when the amount of fatty foods should be gradually increased.Until you "find" balance, that is, the ability to maintain weight without feeling hungry.
Don't worry that you may not listen to your body and gain excess fat.During your weight loss process, which will take at least 2 months (depending on your starting weight), you will develop good stomach communication skills.
The body itself will tell you how much food is enough to satiate it.To hear the hint, you just need to keep your appetite in hand and resist the temptation to overeat.
4. Eat enough protein food
Protein foods are responsible for effective hunger suppression.If you eat a lot of fatty foods but still feel hungry, check if enough protein goes into the "processing compartment"?A lack of protein can slow or stop weight loss.
Make sure that your daily diet contains an average of 1.5 g of protein per 1 kg of body weight (the amount of protein can reach 1.7 g depending on the weight, so the calculation is always individual).If you work out or go to the gym to rip muscle, you should increase your protein intake a bit.
How Much Fatty Food Can You Eat on a Keto Diet?
The ketogenic diet system does not provide strict restrictions on the amount of calories, so the basic rule is: eat until you are a little full, choose standard portions (or focus on the volume of a 200-gram glass - eat as much as you can).
Have dinner before 8:00 p.m. - this will facilitate the work of the whole body.Don't think that your stomach will be happy with a meatloaf in cheese sauce an hour before bed.Like you, he wants to rest at night instead of working on processing incoming supplies.
By eating well during the day, you will be able to calmly survive a 12-hour break without food (evening + night sleep).As a last resort, eat a piece of cheese or drink a glass of milk with a small spoonful of butter.
This will make you slurp your hunger and go to sleep feeling full.And remember that even light physical activity, such as walking, will significantly improve your weight loss results.
Eat deliciously and lose weight with pleasure!