- Rules
- What are the rules of the slow-carb diet?
- Foods to Eat
- What can you eat on a slow-carb diet?
- Foods to Avoid
- What foods should you avoid on a slow-carb diet?
- Cheat Day
- What is the cheat day on the slow-carb diet?
- Supplements
- What supplements are recommended on the slow-carb diet?
- 4 Benefits
- 4 benefits of the slow-carb diet
- Risks
- What are the risks and side effects of the slow-carb diet?
- Tips
- How to get the best results from the slow-carb diet
- Sample Meals
- What does a sample meal plan on the slow-carb diet look like?
- Should You Try It
- Should you try thes low-carb diet?
- Comments
- **COMMENTSTAGLIST**
- More
- **OTHERTAGLIST**
Here is everything you need to know about the slow-carb diet
The slow-carb diet is a flexible eating strategy that can help you lose weight by focusing on restricting carbs and other foods for six days and having one cheat day a week.
On a slow-carb diet, you eat foods from the five main food groups that take longer to digest, such as vegetables, legumes, fats, animal protein, and spices. While you are encouraged to exercise and take supplements, the supplements are optional and not mandatory.
Here is everything you need to know about the slow-carb diet.
What are the rules of the slow-carb diet?
1. Avoid “white” carbs
The slow-carb diet requires you to stay away from starchy foods and anything made from grains (including corn, rice, and quinoa), potatoes, and flour. Instead, you should eat carbs that take longer to digest, such as low-carb vegetables and legumes.
It is important to remember, however, that each person digests high-carb foods differently.
2. Eat the same few meals repeatedly
Eating the same meals over and over again will reduce the pressure of dieting and the risk of overeating. You can select a few go-to slow-carb recipes and mix and match them to build meals for the week.
3. Do not drink calories
Compared to solid calories, liquid calories are less filling and have very little nutritional value. This means that when on theslow-carb diet, you should stay away from soda, juice, smoothies, alcohol, and milk.
For best results, you should stick to water, tea, or coffee. Though red wine and diet soda are low in calories, they can indirectly contribute to delayed weight reduction.
4. Avoid fruits
While fruit is good for you, one of the goals of this diet is to avoid high-sugar foods, which include fruit. Fruits are high in fructose, which is transported into cells via a different transporter than glucose. Once fructose is in the liver, it produces glycerol and increases fat formation. This is less likely to happen when there is a deficit of fructose in the body.
Avocados and tomatoes are the only exceptions to this rule because they contain relatively little sugar.
5. Take one day off per week
You can set aside one day each week where you can eat whatever you want. On a cheat day, you can ignore the rules and indulge in foods you have been craving.
What can you eat on a slow-carb diet?
Foods that are allowed on the slow-carb diet include:
- Protein
- Chicken
- Pork
- Beef
- Egg whites and a few yolks
- Whey protein supplement
- Legumes
- Soybeans
- Black beans
- Pinto beans
- Lentils
- Vegetables
- Cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and kale
- Fermented vegetables, including sauerkraut and kimchi
- Peas
- Asparagus
- Spinach
- Fats
- Nuts
- Ghee
- Olive oil
- Grape seed oil
- Macadamia oil
- Spices
- Salt
- Garlic salt
- White truffle salt
What foods should you avoid on a slow-carb diet?
You should avoid the following foods on the slow-carb diet:
- Fruits: Apples, bananas, oranges, berries, etc.
- Starchy vegetables: Potatoes, yams, beets, etc.
- Grains: Wheat, corn, rice, cereal, oats, etc.
- Sugar: Honey, agave, maple syrup, etc.
- Dairy: Yogurt, cream, half and half, cheese, etc.
- Drinks: Soda, alcohol, juice, smoothies, etc.
Foods that some slow-carb dieters may be able to successfully reintroduce into their diets include:
- Pumpkin
- Squash
- Beets
- Parsnips
- Sweet potatoes
- Carrots
- Jicama
- Berries
- Sugar-free cottage cheese
- Parmesan cheese and other hard cheeses
What is the cheat day on the slow-carb diet?
On your cheat day, you can eat any food you want and as much as you want. While you can choose any day to be your cheat day, most people choose Saturday.
Having a cheat day once a week is intended to prevent your metabolic rate from slowing down as a result of low-calorie consumption. Dieting and restricting calories can damage thyroid function, which can make it harder to lose weight because it can cause your body to burn fewer calories.
What supplements are recommended on the slow-carb diet?
While it is not necessary to take supplements on the slow-carb diet, proponents of the diet claim that they may help you stick to your eating plan by reducing appetite and promoting recovery after exercise.
Because a slow-carb diet increases urination and causes some people to lose too much water and electrolytes, you may want to include more of these minerals and electrolytes in your daily routine through food and supplements. This is particularly true if you enter ketosis while following the diet, which occurs when your body starts producing ketone bodies to be used for energy instead of carbohydrates.
The slow-carb diet suggests taking potassium, magnesium, and calcium supplements. Other supplements include:
- Policosanol
- Alpha lipoic acid
- Green tea extract (which contains epigallocatechin gallate)
- Garlic extract
The proposed benefits of taking these supplements include the following:
- Enhance energy
- Boost metabolism
- Combat oxidative stress
- Support concentration or focus
- Reduce inflammation
A high-quality probiotic, multivitamin, and vitamin D supplement can boost gut health, energy, and immune function, making the slow carb-diet more effective.
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4 benefits of the slow-carb diet
1. Helps with weight loss
Eating carbs that are slow to digest can bring you many of the same benefits as a low-carb diet. One of these benefits is weight loss.
Studies have reported that foods high in fiber and protein can help reduce weight and lower the risk of obesity by increasing satiety. Additionally, you may be able to reduce your calorie intake using this method without experiencing significant hunger.
Low-carb diets can help reduce insulin release, a critical hormone that results in an anabolic, fat-storing state. Improved cardiometabolic function and advantages beyond metabolic health may result from decreased insulin secretion.
Although not randomized, a controlled clinical experiment claimed that it tested this diet on 3,500 people for 4 weeks and discovered the following results:
- 84% of the participants lost weight
- The average weight loss was 8.6 pounds
- 14% of participants dropped more than 14 pounds
2. Supports healthy blood sugar levels
There is evidence to support the claim that the slow-carb diet can help normalize blood sugar levels. As a result, it improves glycemic control and reduces the risk of insulin resistance, type II diabetes, and metabolic syndrome.
3. Easier to sustain
While the diet can be restrictive, there is some flexibility because of one cheat day a day.
Giving yourself a break and enjoying your favoritemeals may help you eat healthilyand stick to the diet the majority of the time. Looking forward to the cheat day can also help you feel less deprived and make it more likely that you will not quit the diet entirely.
4. May you save money and time
The slow-carb diet is easy to follow and inexpensive. You may discover that it helps you get into the habit of cooking more at home since the meals are usually simple and can be prepared using affordable items that are widely available.
What are the risks and side effects of the slow-carb diet?
Overall, the slow-carb diet appears to be risk-free for most people, but there are some drawbacks to consider. For example, eliminating fruit entirely from your diet can be viewed as unnecessarily restrictive and difficult to sustain.
Overdoing it on a cheat day can be dangerous because it can hinder your weight loss efforts, cause digestive problems, and increase cravings. This is especially true if you eat a lot of unhealthy, highly processed foods on your cheat day.
If you are worried about consuming too much animal protein, perhaps due to its negative effects on the environment, you can incorporate more plant protein in your meals, such as beans, lentils, and tempeh.
Eating the same meals over and over can get boring and reduce the variety of nutrients you consume. If you find yourself feeling sluggish or overly hungry, you may want to consider increasing the variety of foods in your diet.
How to get the best results from the slow-carb diet
Prioritize your food and beverage selections for optimal results
Eat plenty of vegetables and eggs. According to a study, egg and vegetable consumption was strongly correlated with weight loss results in the slow-carb diet.
In contrast, alcohol consumption was linked to poor performance. As a result, on the slow-carb diet and cheat day, it is best to limit overall alcohol consumption.
Get the right amountofprotein at each meal
The slow-carb diet suggests having a meal with at least 30 grams of protein within an hour of waking up. This may help you maintain blood sugar levels throughout the day and promote satiety.
After breakfast, meals should be had 4 hours apart, typically resulting in 3-4 meals per day. Each meal should contain more than 20 grams of protein.
Even though it is recommended to avoid snacking, if you feel hungry after a meal, you can have a small meal of just protein or protein and veggies.
Limit calorie-dense foods that are easy to overeat
On the slow-carb diet, healthy foods such as almonds, nut butter, and hummus are permitted, but it is easy to overeat them. Watch your portion sizes and make sure you are limiting your consumption of high-calorie foods.
Do not count calories
Rather than counting calories, focus on eating slow-carb items until you are full. To make the most of your meals and feel full for longer, chew each bite carefully and slowly. This will help lower your glycemic response and prevent cravings.
Start small and build from there
Begin with small, reasonable dietary changes and gradually incorporate more rules into your routine as you get more comfortable.
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What does a sample meal plan on the slow-carb diet look like?
Some appropriate types of meals for the slow-carb diet include the following:
- Slow-carb breakfasts
- Scrambled egg whites (or with one yolk)
- Spinach omelet
- Cottage cheese with sliced almonds
- Slow-carb lunches
- Grilled chicken with asparagus
- Lentil bean salad
- Spinach salad with tuna fish
- Slow-carb dinners
- Salmon with roasted broccoli
- Stir-fry with all the allowed vegetables and soybeans
- Grilled steak with cauliflower
Should you try the slow-carb diet?
If you like the idea of sticking to a strict low-carb diet most of the time while still having some flexibility, the slow-carb diet may be a good option for you.
Slow-carb foods such as lentils and beans are generally avoided on keto diets because they still contain a substantial amount of carbs. However, you can enjoy these while you are on a slow-carb diet.
From 
Nutrition and Healthy Eating Resources
Medically Reviewed on 9/14/2022
References
Image Source: iStock images
Low-carb diet: Can it help you lose weight? https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/weight-loss/in-depth/low-carb-diet/art-20045831
Low Carbohydrate Diet https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK537084/
Very Low Carbohydrate and Ketogenic Diets and Cardiometabolic Risk https://www.acc.org/latest-in-cardiology/articles/2020/10/07/13/54/very-low-carbohydrate-and-ketogenic-diets-and-cardiometabolic-risk
Carbohydrate intake and short-term regulation of leptin in humans https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9084976/
