Diets, most people hate them, usually can't stick to them, and some don't even see results! One diet however, that is amazing for disabled people, as well as those with insulin resistance, is the low carb, or even ultra low carb diet. A low carb diet is considered to be restricting your carbohydrate intake to 100g a day and ultra low carbohydrate is around 20g-50g restriction a day. For some, this restriction can seem like an absolute farce, but with these foods and tips I'm about to share with you, you'll realise that this diet isn't only easy to stick to, it's probably the least restrictive diet out there that has practically guaranteed results, not just for your weight and waistline measurement, but mainly for the fact that it can kick insulin resistance to the kerb and therefore lower your risk of type 2 diabetes.
You may be wondering why on earth I was crazy enough to start this diet. Well just a week ago, I was told that my ovulation/fertility problems I have thanks to my hormones being completely out of whack was causing me to get insulin resistance. Until now, we've always known that my body was producing way too much insulin than it needs, causing me to go into constant hypoglycemia, which was where my blood sugar would drop dangerously low. The result was that purely to stay alive, I was consuming a 3,000 calorie high carb diet which included around 1 litre of lucozade a day. Many will probably think that this is what caused my weight to go so high after I became disabled, and in a way it did because my body couldn't adjust quickly enough to the lack of exercise I was doing. Before my spine happened, I weighed 56.4kg, within 6 months, my weight ballooned to 84kg thanks to a mix of being stuck on steroids, and not being able to get my body to adjust quickly enough to it's new environment. The problem now though, is that my body is completely resistant to insulin, and isn't able to deal with the 1300kcal, 200g carb diet I got myself onto with the help of my dietitian 9 months after my life changing event occurred. So that's where the low carb diet comes in, to reverse the insulin resistance, reduce my type 2 risk, and lose weight on the way.
The low carb and ultra low carb diets work by forcing your body to start burning fat rather than sugar. To do this, you need to lower your carb intake to the point that you go into ketosis. You'll know when you do, because you'll feel like you have the flu for 2-5 days, during this time and after, you still need to stay on the diet for it to work.
Anyway, here are the foods I'm using in my diet, with restrictions where needed. Some of these food will look like they are high in carbs, but most of it is fibre and therefore non digestible. It's the digestible amount that matters when limiting carbs and burning fat.
1. Full Fat Cheese - Carbs per 100g: around 1.7g/Protein per 100g: around 32.9g/Fat per 100g: around 43.7g
2.Eggs Carbs per 100g: 0.77g/Protein per 100g: 12.58g/Fat per 100g: 9.94g (virtually nil if only using egg white and not yolk).
Meats/Fish:
3. Beef Carbs per 100g: 0g/Protein per 100g: 26g/Fat per 100g: 15g
4. Lamb Carbs per 100g: 0g/Protein per 100g: 25g/Fat per 100g: 21g
5. Venison Carbs per 100g: 0g/Protein per 100g: 30g/Fat per 100g: 3.2g
6. Veal Carbs per 100g: 0g/Protein per 100g: 24g/ Fat per 100g: 8g
7. Chicken Carbs per 100g: 0g/Protein per 100g: 31g/ Fat per 100g: 3g
8. Turkey Carbs per 100g: 0g/Protein per 100g: 30g/ Fat per 100g: 1g
9. Salmon Carbs per 100g: 0g/Protein per 100g: 20g/ Fat per 100g: 13g
10. Trout Carbs per 100g: 0g/Protein per 100g: 20g/ Fat per 100g: 6g
11. Shellfish (prawns, mussels) Carbs per 100g: 0.2g/Protein per 100g: 24g/ Fat per 100g: 0.3g
12. Cod Carbs per 100g: 0g/Protein per 100g: 17g/ Fat per 100g: 0.7g
13. Basa Carbs per 100g: 0g/Protein per 100g: 10g/ Fat per 100g: 5g
14. Haddock Carbs per 100g: 0g/Protein per 100g: 20g/ Fat per 100g: 0.6g
15. Lobster Carbs per 100g: 0g/Protein per 100g: 19g/ Fat per 100g: 0.9g
Fruit/Vegetables:
16. Broccoli Carbs per 100g: 7g/Protein per 100g: 2.8g/ Fat per 100g: 0.4g
17. Tomatoes Carbs per 100g: 3.9g/Protein per 100g: 0.9g/ Fat per 100g: 0.2g
18. Onions Carbs per 100g: 9g/Protein per 100g: 1.1g/ Fat per 100g: 0.1g
19. Kale Carbs per 100g: 9g/Protein per 100g: 4.3g/ Fat per 100g: 0.9g
20. Eggplant Carbs per 100g: 6g/Protein per 100g: 1g/ Fat per 100g: 0.2g
21. Cucumber Carbs per 100g: 3.6g/Protein per 100g: 0.7g/ Fat per 100g: 0.1g
22. Bell Peppers Carbs per 100g: 4.6g/Protein per 100g: 0.9g/ Fat per 100g: 0.2g
23. Asparagus Carbs per 100g: 3.9g/Protein per 100g: 2.2g/ Fat per 100g: 0.1g
24. Green Beans Carbs per 100g: 7g/Protein per 100g: 1.8g/ Fat per 100g: 0.1g
25. Mushrooms Carbs per 100g: 3.3g/Protein per 100g: 3.1g/ Fat per 100g: 0.3g
26. Celery Carbs per 100g: 3g/Protein per 100g: 0.7g/ Fat per 100g: 0.2g
27. Spinach Carbs per 100g: 3.6g/Protein per 100g: 2.9g/ Fat per 100g: 0.4g
28. Zucchini Corguette Carbs per 100g: 3.1g/Protein per 100g: 1.2g/ Fat per 100g: 0.3g
29. Sweetcorn - carbs per 100g: 13.4g/Protein per 100g: 2.2g/Fat per 100g: 1.5g (only use 100g in making bulk supplies of sweetcorn and lentil soup to keep the carb count down)
30. Swiss Chard Carbs per 100g: 3.7g/Protein per 100g: 1.8g/ Fat per 100g: 0.2g
31. Avocado Carbs per 100g: 9g/Protein per 100g: 2g/ Fat per 100g: 15g
32. Olives Carbs per 100g: 6g/Protein per 100g: 0.8g/ Fat per 100g: 11g
33. Strawberries Carbs per 100g: 8g/Protein per 100g: 0.7g/ Fat per 100g: 0.3g
34. Grapefruit Carbs per 100g: 11g/Protein per 100g: 0.8g/ Fat per 100g: 0.1g
35. Lemon Carbs per 100g: 9g/Protein per 100g: 1.1g/ Fat per 100g: 0.3g
36. Kiwi Carbs per 100g: 15g/Protein per 100g: 1.1g/ Fat per 100g: 0.5g
37. Oranges Carbs per 100g: 12g/Protein per 100g: 0.9g/ Fat per 100g: 0.1g
38. Raspberries Carbs per 100g: 12g/Protein per 100g: 1.2g/ Fat per 100g: 0.7g
39. Sweet Potato (restrict to 50g a day due to carb content) Carbs per 100g: 21.3g/Protein per 100g: 1.2g/Fat per 100g: 0.3g
40. Carrot Carbs per 100g: 10g/Protein per 100g: 0.9g/Fat per 100g: 0.2g
Nuts/Seeds:
41. Almonds Carbs per 100g: 22g/Protein per 100g: 21g/ Fat per 100g: 49g
42. Walnuts Carbs per 100g: 14g/Protein per 100g: 15g/ Fat per 100g: 65g
43. Peanut Carbs per 100g: 16g/Protein per 100g: 26g/ Fat per 100g: 49g
44. Chia Seeds Carbs per 100g: 42g/Protein per 100g: 17g/ Fat per 100g: 41g
45. Hazelnuts Carbs per 100g: 17g/Protein per 100g: 15g/ Fat per 100g: 61g
46. Macadamia Carbs per 100g: 14g/Protein per 100g: 8g/ Fat per 100g: 76g
47. Cashews Carbs per 100g: 30g/Protein per 100g: 18g/ Fat per 100g: 44g
48. Coconut Carbs per 100g: 15g/Protein per 100g: 3.3g/ Fat per 100g: 33g
49. Pistachio Carbs per 100g: 28g/Protein per 100g: 20g/ Fat per 100g: 45g
50. Flax seeds Carbs per 100g: 29g/Protein per 100g: 18g/ Fat per 100g: 42g
51. Sunflower seeds Carbs per 100g: 20g/Protein per 100g: 21g/ Fat per 100g: 51g
Oils/Butter/Drinks/Other Food:
52. Full fat butter Carbs per 100g: 0.1g/Protein per 100g: 0.9g/ Fat per 100g: 81g
53. Extra Virgin Olive oil Carbs per 100g: 0g/Protein per 100g: 0g/ Fat per 100g: 100g
54. Coconut oil Carbs per 100g: 0g/Protein per 100g: 0g/ Fat per 100g: 100g
55. Avocado oil Carbs per 100g: 0g/Protein per 100g: 0g/ Fat per 100g: 100g
56. Lentils Carbs per 100g: 20g/Protein per 100g: 9g/ Fat per 100g: 0.4g
57. Water Carbs per 100g: 0g/Protein per 100g: 0g/ Fat per 100g: 0g
58. Coffee Carbs per 100g: 0g/Protein per 100g: 0.1g/ Fat per 100g: 0g
59. Tea carbs per 100g: 0.2g/Protein per 100g: 0.1g/ Fat per 100g: 0g
60. Dark Chocolate (must be above 70%) Carbs per 100g: 11g/Protein per 100g: 3g/ Fat per 100g: 14g
I really hope this helps you when food shopping and as you'll see from the foods above, this diet is far from boring! Let me know how you get on and what your results are like from this diet in the comments below! If you'd like to know more about some of the exercise I'm doing with this diet, you can read about it here.