New Diet - High Protein /Low Carbs

kida

Been recomended to start a High Protein/Low Carb Diet to try and kickstart wait loss along with weight training. No Pasta,Spuds,Rice or Bread. How should I read the labels on food to decide what is low carb or not?

What are opinions on Brown Pasta,Wholegrain Rice, Sweet Potato and Wholegrain breads as substitutes?

What about Fruits as snacks?

Lunch/Dinners should be no issue, Meat/Fish and Chicken with veg or salads.
I see breakfast as the problem meal, would making my own muesli be the best? Porridge?

Thanks all:)

metamorphosis

What's your taining like and what lifts are you doing if you don't mind me asking?

Basically anything with sugar = carbs. So fruit and root veg are up there.

Now - i would advise to cut back on simple carbs like WHITE bread/pasta/rice/sweets and eat complex carbs. These are wholegrain pasta and rice, porridge, 100% wholemeal bread, fruit and veg. Complex carbs release energy slowly and keep blood suger stable.

Things high in protein that will help you would be cottage cheese, lean meats like chicken and turkey, steak, fish.

Through in a dose of good fats too like unsalted nuts, nut butters.

AN example of a days food might be
Brekkie: eggs or porridge or muesli)no added suger ones)

Snack: nuts/fruit/ryvita/cottage cheese/natural yogurt

Lunch: maybe tuna or meat salad with lots of veg.

Snack: same as other mentionned

Dinner: meat/veg/fish/complex carbs like brown rice or quinoa.

also remember that you are NOT a monk and you CAN treat yourself every now and again.

Hope this somewhat helps.

kida

2/3 days a week, some free weights - mostly the machines - routine designed by gym

El_Dangeroso

Definitely read a book, low carb diets run the gamut from those that are very low carb such as atkins to those that are more lenient such as south beach or the zone. But you need to follow the rules of the specific plan, mixing and matching generally doesn't work.

Also, just to let you know that you replace the carbs in your diet with fat, not protein. Excess protein is converted to sugar anyway. I think the rule of thumb with protein is 1g/kg bodyweight but if your building muscle you might need more.

Here is a pdf for a free e-book on a specific type of low carb diet especially designed for muscle building:

http://www.australia-bodybuilding.com/Fitness%20-%20Anabolic%20Diet.pdf

EileenG

Basic low carb food is stuff like eggs, oily fish, fresh meat, chicken, lots and lots of green veg, some cheese, olive oil, butter, nuts. Generally you have an option to add in some fresh fruit (berries are better), and small amounts of brown rice, root veg etc. Generally no sugar or processed food in any form.

Try to stick to fresh food, and avoid anything which comes in packets. Even brown rice and wholegrain pasta has a lot of carbs.

kida

thanks will look at that pdf, intesting about carbs in brown rice and pasta, how much compared to white ones?

metamorphosis

kida wrote: »

thanks will look at that pdf, intesting about carbs in brown rice and pasta, how much compared to white ones?

The main difference between complex carbs and their white counterparts is that white bread/pasta etc has been stripped of any nutririon. The body will digest these like sugar and they will be digested very quickly in the body. This means that your blood sugar rises very quickly and then plummets leaving you tired and hungry very quickly which is why they are best avoided as it is so easy overeat on them.

Complex carbs digest much more slower in the body, keeping your sugar levels steady which means you are fuller for longer. Also they are full of nutririon and a very good source of fiber.

Depending on the intensity of your training i would be inclined to consume carbs pre and post workout with some protein added in. This will help your muscles recover much more quicker. The rest of the time have plenty of protein and good fats. Good fats are ones that are UNSATUTRATED like natural nut butters, nuts etc.

El_Dangeroso

ULstudent wrote: »

Good fats are ones that are UNSATUTRATED like natural nut butters, nuts etc.

That's a bit of a generalisation, there are unsaturated fats that are really bad for health and there are saturated fats that are exceptionally good for you, like coconut oil for example.

I think the key is unprocessed fat, so EVOO, good quality butter, coconut oil and virgin nut-oils. Avoid transfats and soybean and corn oil.

corkcomp

ULstudent wrote: »

The main difference between complex carbs and their white counterparts is that white bread/pasta etc has been stripped of any nutririon. The body will digest these like sugar and they will be digested very quickly in the body. This means that your blood sugar rises very quickly and then plummets leaving you tired and hungry very quickly which is why they are best avoided as it is so easy overeat on them.

Complex carbs digest much more slower in the body, keeping your sugar levels steady which means you are fuller for longer. Also they are full of nutririon and a very good source of fiber.

Depending on the intensity of your training i would be inclined to consume carbs pre and post workout with some protein added in. This will help your muscles recover much more quicker. The rest of the time have plenty of protein and good fats. Good fats are ones that are UNSATUTRATED like natural nut butters, nuts etc.

+1 the main reson for switching while for brown / wholegrain is the fullness factor, fiber, b vits etc rather than the carb content

metamorphosis

Off topic but in relation to coconut oil:

Ryvita with 1.mashed banana followed by 2. peanut butter followed by 3. coconut oil followed by 4.cottage cheese and follwed by 5.jam. All on top of each other. NOMNOMNOM

metamorphosis

.

confusedgirl

I read that the Zone Diet recommends one loose fistful of higher carb foods like rice, pasta etc and two loose fistful of veggies (with exception of root veg like potatoes of course!) It doesn't "ban" rice, pasta and bread but it does say to see them like a treat to have v occasionally. I'm not recommending the Zone Diet now (I havent tried it) but for carb porton control, I think the fistful idea is a good one. I would recommend porridge tbh-muesli is too sweet to have every day, maybe just have some days. Even if it has no added sugar, the dried fruit would have high enough GI value and are quite sugary even if they are natural. Fresh fruit are always better than dried as a rule. I find a good breakfast one is natural yoghurt with fruit for breakfast-the natural yoghurt will taste horrible at first if you have a sweet tooth but you'll adjust to it. I always hear celebs have egg white omlettes for breakfast too. If all the other options bore me i mix it up with weetabix, allbran and shredded wheat-not as healthy i presume but it gives me slightly more brekkie options!

I would stick to having fruit towards start of the day and bulk up on vegetables but honestly, fresh fruit is still v healthy so dont worry too much about that. The main thing really is less bread and pasta!