Category: Keto Weight Loss Guide

Posted on

9 Lower-carb alternatives to grains

A bowl of mixed vegetable couscous, featuring carrots, peas, and corn, garnished with fresh basil leaves—a colorful dish perfect for anyone exploring keto weight loss options—served on a folded grey napkin and white speckled plate.

Reproduced from a Business Insider article, here are plenty of lower-carb grain alternatives to add to your plate. Not all of these will be available in your local food market, but some surely will be.

“The good news is that if you’re looking to limit your carb intake, there’s plenty of options for you — especially when it comes to replacing grains.” – Business Insider

So start experimenting.

Broccoli and cauliflower as lower-carb grain alternatives

Cauliflower rice is enjoyed on a LCHF Banting ketogenic diet.
Cauliflower rice is enjoyed on a LCHF Banting ketogenic diet.
Finely chopped green broccoli pieces, closely packed together, showing a fresh and vibrant texture—perfect for keto weight loss meals.
Broccoli is similar to cauliflower rice. Make riced broccoli easily using a box grater or a food processor.
A close-up of cooked quinoa mixed with sautéed mushrooms and leafy green kale. The ingredients are well combined, creating a healthy and colorful dish perfect for keto weight loss meals.
Quinoa is a nutritious alternative to rice and contains fifteen times less carbohydrate content. Avoid quinoa during your LCHF Banting Transformation weight loss phase but enjoy it in moderation when you have achieved Preservation.
Two baked sweet potato halves on a wooden surface, scored in a crosshatch pattern and sprinkled with herbs and spices—a delicious side that fits well into balanced keto weight loss meal plans.
Delicious sweet potatoes are prebiotic vegetables and can be prepared in a myriad of different ways.
A pile of kohlrabi, some with purple skin and others light green, with leafy stems still attached—perfect for keto weight loss diets thanks to their low-carb, nutrient-rich profile and slightly rough, patchy surface.
If you’re lucky enough to get this cabbage turnip fusion at your vegetable market, then enjoy it as part of your Banting, low carb healthy fat diet for it’s anti-oxidant and extremely low carb, 9 grams of net carbs, benefits.
Ripe butternut cut into two halves is enjoyed as part of a LCHF Banting ketogenic diet.
The Japanese konjac plant is used to make Shirataki rice and noodles that have zero carbohydrates and calories, and zero gluten and soy. It is flavoured by the other ingredients in the meal.
Get your konjac products at Wellness Warehouse.
A butternut squash cut in half lengthwise sits on a white cutting board, revealing its bright orange flesh and seeds—an eye-catching option for keto weight loss meals. A knife and its handle are partially visible in the background.
Butternut squash is another delicious side vegetable although I personally opt for pumpkin instead because it has half the number of carbohydrates that butternut has and is equally delicious. A South African favourite barbecue side is made with butternut. The pips are removed from butternut halves. Then fill the space with fried onions, garlic, chopped peppers and mozzarella cheese. These are then enclosed with aluminium foil and cooked on the barbecue grid.
A white bowl filled with yellow rice, perfect for a keto weight loss meal, garnished with chopped green herbs and placed on a striped mat with pastel colors.
Super affordable, prebiotic vegetable cabbage rice only has five grams of carbohydrate per cup and can be used for anything as a lower-carb grain alternative.
Close-up of freshly spiralized zucchini noodles, or zoodles—perfect for keto weight loss—showing thin, curly strands in light green and white shades.
Delicious zucchini noodles have only six grams of carbohydrate per cup.

Reference:

Business Insider

Posted on

Prepare for weight loss

Illustration of a human stomach and intestines filled with clusters of variously colored bacteria, representing the gut microbiome and its connection to keto weight loss against a soft, abstract background.

As you prepare for weight loss recall what Hippocrates said in 400 BC: “All diseases begin in the gut.”

Gut problems as you prepare for weight loss

Hippocrates may not have been entirely right.  Current medical thinking is increasingly emphasising the importance of the intestines. There are links between digestion, mood and health. According to the Real Meal Revolution, many Banters who are heavier and insulin resistant appear to have poor gut health.

In my own case, I know this to be true as I had digestive problems for decades. Then I began to prepare for weight loss. I began to feed my gut biome and eliminate harmful substances. As a result, my depression and anxiety disappeared.  Stable, upbeat moods replaced depression and anxiety.

Here’s what we know for sure about this enormous organ:

  • It is considered to be “the second brain”
  • The small intestine is responsible for around 95% of the digestion and absorption of the food we eat.
  • The total surface area exposed to both the nutritious and harmful things we consume has been calculated to be anywhere from the size of  a badminton court to the size of a tennis court!
  • Key to the effective and healthy functioning of the small intestine is the symbiotic relationship it enjoys with our gut flora. These trillions of microorganisms line the intestinal wall. They form a vital living interface between the partially digested food on the inside and the intestinal wall on the outside.
  • Gut flora manufacture vitamins B and K, and act as an organ of the body by releasing hormones into the bloodstream. (As we have seen, hormones interact with the brain and signal the body to change its behaviour in response to a change in its environment. Irritable bowel syndrome, IBS and other bowel problems such as constipation and bloating are now thought to directly affect our mood, contributing to emotional shifts and even anxiety and depression.)
  • Our gut flora also plays an important hand in managing the body’s metabolism and it forms part of the body’s immune system by making antigens from potentially harmful bacteria that the immune system can use to ward off disease.

It is critical that it should take into account the healthy development and maintenance of your gut flora.

Avoid abrupt changes

Avoid abrupt changes, such as a wildly fluctuating diet.

The excessive use of antibiotics or the infestation of harmful bacteria, can seriously compromise this vital organ. Rebuilding and supporting the gut flora should be regarded as a foundational step to metabolic health.

For more on gut health read…….

Gluten Freedom by Alessio Fasano (Wiley, 2013) or find his videos on YouTube.

References:

Real Meal Revolution Banting 2.0 by Jonno Proudfoot and the Real Meal Revolution Team, (Burnet Media, 2016)