The slow-carb diet was created in 2010 by Timothy Ferriss, author of the book The 4-Hour Body.
Ferriss claims that it’s effective for rapid weight loss and suggests that it is possible to lose body fat by optimizing any of these three factors: diet, exercise or your supplement regimen.
Like the ketogenic diet, the slow-carb diet is based on a very low intake of carbohydrates.
The plan is based on five fundamental rules that dictate the basics of the diet. In general, it involves consuming a limited list of foods for six consecutive days, with one free day once a week.
This article outlines everything you need to know about the slow-carb diet.
What Is the Slow-Carb Diet?
The slow-carb diet is based on five rules, which the author claims are easy to follow.
The ease of this diet is built on the minimum effective dose (MED) principle. This concept is defined as “the smallest dose that will produce the desired outcome.”
In other words, it’s about getting maximum results by doing the minimum amount of work. Therefore, this diet focuses on following a handful of guidelines that promise to help the body maximize its ability to burn fat and lose weight.
While following the diet, you can only eat from a list of allowed foods for six consecutive days. Then, you have one day per week when you can eat anything you want.
During the diet days, you should limit yourself to four meals per day and avoid consuming refined carbs, fruits or high-calorie drinks.
The slow-carb diet only incorporates five main food groups: animal protein, vegetables, legumes, fats and spices. Each meal consists of as much as you want of the first three food groups, plus small amounts of the last two.
Additionally, the plan suggests taking dietary supplements to help enhance the weight loss process. However, this is not mandatory.
Like the ketogenic diet, the slow-carb diet seems to be based on the premise that eating a lot of protein and very few carbs could aid weight loss by increasing the breakdown of fat for energy, increasing feelings of fullness and reducing fat stores
Rules of the Slow-Carb Diet
The slow-carb diet is based on five straightforward rules.
Rule #1: Avoid “White” Carbohydrates
This diet requires avoiding any “white” carbohydrates.
These include all kinds of processed carbohydrates that are made from refined flour, including pasta, bread and cereals.
If you are looking to increase strength, you’re allowed to consume these foods within 30 minutes of finishing a resistance-training workout. However, if you want to lose weight, you should avoid these foods altogether during diet days.
Rule #2: Eat the Same Few Meals Over and Over Again
The creator of this diet states that even though there are thousands of foods available, there is only a handful of foods that will not cause you to gain weight.
The idea is to mix and match the allowed foods from each food group to build meals and repeat these meals every day.
Rule #3: Don’t Drink Calories
This diet recommends drinking plenty of water throughout the day. Other suggested drinks include unsweetened tea, coffee or any other calorie-free beverage.
The basis of this rule is that beverages provide little to no nutritional value. Therefore, the diet suggests that you only obtain your calories from nutritious foods, not drinks.
Rule #4: Don’t Eat Fruit
Even though fruits are technically part of a balanced diet, the slow-carb diet suggests that fruits are not helpful when you’re trying to lose weight.
This idea is based on the fact that fructose, the sugar in fruits, could delay the weight loss process by increasing blood fat levels and decreasing fat-burning capacity.
Rule #5: Take One Day off per Week
The slow-carb diet allows you to choose one day per week when you can eat anything you want.
On this day, you do not have to follow any of the other rules. As such, this eat-anything day is meant for you to indulge in any food and beverages you might be craving without fear of gaining all the weight back.
What Foods Can You Eat?
This diet is based on five food groups: protein, legumes, vegetables, fats and spices.
Within those groups, the diet only mentions a few foods that are allowed. According to the diet’s creator, the more options you have to choose from, the more likely you are to deviate from the diet or quit.
Below is a list of foods that are allowed on the slow-carb diet:
Protein
- Egg whites with 1–2 whole eggs
- Chicken breast or thigh
- Beef, preferably grass-fed
- Fish
- Pork
- Lactose-free, unflavored whey protein powder
Legumes
- Lentils
- Black beans
- Pinto beans
- Red beans
- Soybeans
Vegetables
- Spinach
- Cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and kale
- Sauerkraut and kimchi
- Asparagus
- Peas
- Green beans
Fats
- Butter
- Olive oil for low-heat cooking
- Grapeseed or macadamia oil for high-heat cooking
- Nuts such as almonds
- Ghee
- Creamer — dairy-free and only 1–2 teaspoons (5–10 ml) per day
Spices
- Salt
- Garlic salt
- White truffle sea salt
- Herbs
What Foods Should You Avoid?
The slow-carb diet suggests only a few foods that you may eat as much and as often as you want. However, it also outlines some foods to avoid during the weight loss process and forever after.
Below are some of the foods this diet recommends you stop eating:
1. Fruits
As rule number four states, fruits are not allowed in the slow-carb diet.
Fruits contain fructose, a simple sugar that can increase blood fat levels, according to the slow-carb diet.
Additionally, the diet suggests that fructose can enhance the absorption of iron in humans and decrease the levels of other minerals like copper.
Therefore, the diet recommends you refrain from eating any fruit or drinking fruit juice on diet days. However, you can still consume them on the cheat day.
2. Dairy
Dairy is not recommended on the slow-carb diet.
This diet explains that even though dairy products have a low glycemic index, they cause your insulin levels to rise, which seems to be detrimental to weight loss.
The diet says the spike in insulin caused by dairy is comparable to that of white bread. For this reason, the plan states that it is best to avoid dairy during the diet days.
Nonetheless, cottage cheese is allowed on the slow-carb diet. The diet’s author claims that it contains high levels of the protein casein and lower lactose levels than other dairy products.
3. Fried Foods
The slow-carb diet does not allow any fried foods to be consumed on the diet days.
Fried foods are occasionally cooked with bread crumbs, which are not allowed in the diet. Also, fried foods are high in calories and often low in nutritional value.
source article https://www.healthline.com/