The High Protein Low Carb Diet

When many people think of low carb diets they imagine they must be very high protein.  Whilst the elimination of the majority of carbs almost inevitably leads to a correspondingly high consumption of protein foods such as meat, fish and eggs, the majority of the calories in a high protein diet, so called, should actually come from the fat in those proteinaceous foods.

So the high protein low carb diet is based around meat, fish, eggs, poultry, cream, butter, olive oil, coconut oil, lard, and nuts.  Great salads can be enjoyed including a drizzle of olive oil.  Lovely "full English" style breakfasts can be indulged in - bacon and eggs and high quality sausages, fried in olive oil or coconut oil.  Lovely dinners of duck, goose or rib eye steak can be had, succulent and tasty, with green leafy vegetables.

A high protein diet is not about counting calories and depriving yourself, in fact you should eat until you are satisfied, but that doesn't mean busting at the seams!  It is still a good idea to be aware of your eating and to only eat until you're no longer hungry, not wait until you are so full you can't move.  The combination of protein and pure fats ensures it is almost impossible to really overeat.  If you kept on eating the way you might do with carb and fat laden foods like ice cream, cookies, potato chips or cake, you would feel pretty sick much sooner.  Hence the idea is that the diet will be calorifically self-limiting anyway.

Ketosis is something you strive to achieve on a high protein low carb diet.  The state of ketosis is not a dangerous one (do not confuse it with a similar-sounding condition, ketoacidosis).  It is what happens when your metabolism, in the absence of excessive carbs, turns to burning fat for energy instead of carbs.  This means that the liver produces chemicals known as ketones, made from fat, and you burn these for energy instead of glucose and glycogen.  Ketones cannot be stored again as fat, so they are excreted in the urine.  Test strips can be used which reveal the presence of ketones in the urine and confirm whether you are in ketosis, and achieving healthy weight loss.

Make sure you don't avoid good fats on a high protein diet, so that you feel fuller for longer, and encourage ketosis and the burning of fat for fuel.  Some Doctors believe that the consumption of excessive protein puts strain on the kidneys but not everyone agrees with this.  As long as you don't go low-fat as well as high protein low carb, you should be OK for healthy weight loss.

How to Choose a Variety of Low Carb Foods

So, you've decided to embark upon a low carb way of eating, and now you are checking out low carb foods.  The most obvious of these is meat: only the most processed of meats contain any appreciable amount of carbohydrate, so avoid cheap burgers and sausages which are stuffed with fillers such as breadcrumbs. Home-roasted or fried meat or chops are a great choice, but if you must have a processed meat, choose something like Polish Kabanos, or salami, as these are nearly all lean meat with a healthy - yes, healthy - amount of fat too.

Low carb foods will contain a good deal of protein, or fat, or both, if they are to be at all filling.  Low carb vegetables such as salad greens or cabbage are great additions to the low carb diet, but nobody is suggesting you live on just these and pretend you are satisfied!  For satiety (that feeling of fullness) you must have foods containing protein, and particularly fat.

So the best low carb foods are fish, meat, poultry, dairy products, eggs.  Choose the oilier fish or the fatty meat on a low carb diet regimen, as the fat contributes to your feeling sated, it also enables your body to become a fat burning machine by changing your metabolism from one which burns carbs to one which burns fat - including body fat - for fuel.  Protein is needed for building the body, sure, but don't choose low-fat, ultra-lean protein on this regime as proteins eventually turn to glucose in the body just as carbs do, it just takes longer.  Also some experts theorize that excessive protein intake puts extra strain on the kidneys, but this is still contentious.

The only carbohydrate you should be having, especially in the early stages of a low carb diet (which tend to be stricter) is found naturally in fruit and vegetables.  Fruit should be severely curtailed, particularly if you are diabetic and trying to get blood sugars under control, as fructose is a sugar found in fruit which produces high blood sugar levels quicker than anything else.  Still, a few berries like strawberries, blueberries, blackberries or raspberries are fine - a few, that is, not a bowlful, and not after every meal! 

The most low carb foods among fruits and vegetables are those high in fibre.  If the majority of the carbohydrate content of a food is in indigestible fibre, then that will not elevate your blood sugar or stimulate insulin to take that blood sugar and convert it to body fat.  Therefore the most low carb of the vegetables are leaves, be they salad greens, or green veg such as cabbage, broccoli or cauliflower.  Generally, the sweeter a veg, the more carb-laden it will be, so carrots are to be avoided. 

When you get to the later stages of most low carb diets, a larger variety of low carb foods are available to you, such as low carb potato substitutes, notably creamed cauliflower or celeriac.  You can also make breads - yes, breads - using faux flours made usually from nuts and seeds instead of grains, like ground flaxseed, ground almonds or hazelnuts, or pumpkin seeds.  There is no limit to the ingenuity of the low-carber when finding low carb foods, and all these things are generally much more palatable than dry, low-fat alternatives.