Low carb diet men

A low-carb diet is one of the most effective nutritional strategies for getting lean, causing a drop in your insulin levels, which at the most basic level allows you to efficiently burn fat rather than store it. But getting it right can be challenging, especially if you’re used to having white bread, pasta and rice as meal time mainstays. To maximise your fat loss, follow these simple low-carb diet tips from trainer Rich Phillipps.

Eat more protein

“You want to burn fat, not lose existing muscle mass. But with relatively few carbs to support your workout recovery, eating protein with every real becomes essential. Red meat, poultry, fish and eggs are all ideal options.”

Go green

“A common complaint with low-carb diets is constipation, which is normally a side effect of not eating enough fibrous vegetables. Be sure to include at least one or two handfuls of the green stuff in each meal to avoid this - think broccoli, asparagus and kale. This will also keep your digestive system healthy and help keep you full.”

Feast on fat

“A mistake often made with low-carb diets is not eating sufficient fats and ending up on a low-carb/low-calorie diet. This is a disaster and at the very least will make the diet almost impossible to stick to. To avoid this, cook with butter or olive oil and snack on nuts, which provide essential fatty acids to to replace the calories you’re missing out on due to the lack carbs.”

Add a refuel day

“Try to maintain a very low carb intake (or ideally cut them out altogether) for a fortnight, then you can begin to reintroduce one high-carb ‘refuel’ day per week. This will allow you to replenish your glycogen stores and ensure that your thyroid does’t become sluggish – which would affect your metabolism, resulting in a negative impact on fat loss – thanks to constant low-carb eating. For optimum results, stick to clean carb sources such as oats, sweet potatoes and brown or wholemeal rice."

Still not sure how to get started with low-carb eating? For a slightly simpler (and more beginner-friendly) approach, try the No Sugar, No Starch diet – as recommended by the Duke University Medical Centre’s Lifestyle Medicine Clinic – which offers simple guidelines on different food groups and how much of each you should eat. Here are the types of food you can have, and which ones to avoid.

Every day

• At least 170g salad greens (spinach, rocket, lettuce etc)
• At least 100g non-starchy vegetables (avoid potatoes, basically)

Often

• Meat and poultry
• Fish
• Eggs
• Vegetables (apart from potatoes)

Snacks

• Hard-boiled eggs
• Nuts
• Carrot and celery sticks with houmous
• Cottage cheese
• Beef jerky (with no added sugar)
• Olives
• Avocado

What to avoid

• Bread and other foods containing flour (eg cakes)
• Sugar
• Cereal
• Fruit juices
• Honey
• Canned soups
• Ketchup, sweet condiments and relishes
• Alcohol
• “Fat-free” or “light” products and foods, which often contain hidden sugars and starches
• Artificial sweeteners
• Fizzy drinks