Despite your efforts, the pounds are hanging on or coming back? Instead of counting calories, select foods! Based on the drastic reduction of carbohydrates in favor of fats, the ketogenic diet allows you to wean yourself off sugar, control cravings, and lose weight quickly and sustainably. How to implement the ketogenic diet? What foods are allowed? Answers.
Against your curves, to try to lower your BMI , you have tried everything without success? Perhaps you have chosen the wrong method… Born in the American hospital environment and acclaimed to treat diabetes and excess weight, the ketogenic diet – known as keto – successfully shakes up nutritional codes.
Definition: what is the ketogenic diet?
Evelyne Bourdua-Roy, founder of the ‘Reversa’ clinic in Quebec to define the ketogenic diet. “By reducing carbohydrate consumption in favor of fats, we allow the liver to produce ketone bodies, which are a complementary fuel for the body. Thus, we reduce blood sugar and insulin levels , a storage hormone, which leads to a hormonal metabolic shift encouraging the burning of fat stored in the body.”
This is not the only virtue of this diet: “by stabilizing blood sugar levels and insulin secretion, the keto diet puts an end to cravings and snacking , especially since the ketone bodies produced and the higher fat consumption have an appetite suppressant effect. Finally, it allows you to free yourself from sugar addiction ,” continues our expert. Tempted by this unconventional approach? Discover its detailed principles now.
How does the keto diet work? What to eat?
While in a regular diet, energy intake comes mainly from carbohydrates, moderately from lipids and little from proteins , in a ketogenic diet , it is the opposite. Here is how to reverse this balance.
Eliminate starchy and sugary products
“To achieve ketosis and lose weight , you need to consume a maximum of 20 to 30 grams of carbohydrates per day,” says Magali Walkowicz, dietician-nutritionist. To achieve this amount, we eliminate all carbohydrate foods: sugar and products that contain it, but also cereals, potatoes, wheat and its derivatives (pasta, semolina, etc.), legumes and flours.
Eat enough meat, fish, eggs, tofu
These foods have the advantage of being rich in proteins , the basic building blocks of our cells, without containing carbohydrates. Bourdua-Roy .To simplify, 100 grams of meat or fish contain about 25 grams.” To cover our daily needs, we need to eat meat , fish or eggs at every meal.
Rehabilitating good fatty foods and good fats
In the ketogenic diet, we seek to increase the proportion of fats while remaining reasonable: “you have to put enough lipids because they become the main fuel of the body, but not too much either to force it to destock”, warns Magali Walkowicz.
We are therefore rehabilitating fatty meats and fish (paying attention to the origin), oils (rapeseed, olive and nuts), fatty dairy products (Greek yogurts, hard cheeses, crème fraîche and butter), seeds and nuts. “We also use coconut oil, whose medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) facilitate the transition to the state of ketosis.”Balanced recipes every week
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Select vegetables and, above all, fruits
Salty or sweet, most industrial products contain hidden sugars in different forms and names. The best way to control your carbohydrate intake is to do your own shopping, menus and dishes. There are a host of recipes adapted to the ketogenic diet (keto breads and desserts, sauces, dishes, etc.): the possibilities are endless.
Drink to hydrate your body
“The ketogenic diet causes a loss of water because the glycogen particles (the body’s sugar reserves) are stored with 3 or 4 water molecules,” explains the doctor. “When you deplete your reserves, the water is excreted and released by the kidneys.” So make sure to drink enough (water, infusions, broth, etc.).