The Slow-Carb Diet was popularized in The 4-Hour Body by Tim Ferriss, and first mentioned by him in a 2007 blog post titled "How to Lose 20 lbs. of Fat in 30 Days ... Without Doing Any Exercise". Ferriss claims to have lost about 25 pounds (11 kg) of body fat in six weeks on the diet.
The slow-carb diet limits the type of carbohydrates that can be eaten to those with a low glycemic index, which are processed more slowly by the body, resulting in a lower rise in blood sugar and insulin. Low-glycemic index carbohydrates include legumes and non-starchy vegetables, contrasting with high-glycemic index foods such as white bread, potatoes and sugary foods.
The diet can be summarized as the elimination of starches and anything sweet (including fruit and all artificial sweeteners), and a strong preference for protein, legumes and vegetables. The main foods are eggs, fish, meat, lentils, beans, vegetables, fermented foods and drinks (natto, kimchi, sauerkraut), unsweetened tea or coffee, and water. Calorie-dense nuts and legumes such as pecans, chickpeas, hummus, and peanuts are allowed under careful portion control. All dairy products are to be avoided except cottage cheese, butter and ghee.
A core element to the regime is the inclusion of a full "cheat" day each week in which the participant is encouraged to eat up to four times their necessary calorific intake without any restrictions, though starting the day with a compliant breakfast is recommended.
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The Diet
Basic Principles
There are five basic principles to the slow-carb diet.
- "Avoid any carbohydrate that is, or can be, white."
- "Eat the same few meals over and over again."
- "Don't drink calories."
- "Don't eat fruit."
- "Take one day off per week and go nuts."
Foods
There are five main food groups that are consumed on a slow carb diet: animal protein, vegetables, legumes, spices and fats/oils/nuts. A typical slow-carb meal will consist of one portion each of the first three groups and small amounts of the last two. Examples of foods in these groups are chicken, eggs, lamb, pork, fish and beef for protein, broccoli, cauliflower, eggplant, peas for vegetables, black beans, chickpeas, kidney beans and lentils for legumes, basil, garlic, ginger and salt for spices, coconut oil, macadamia nut oil, olive oil, almonds, brazil nuts, cashews for fats/oils/nuts.
Prohibited Food and Drink
Except on "cheat days", the following are prohibited:
- "White carbohydrates." This is a rule of thumb and doesn't include such white foods as cauliflower. The targets are sugar (including honey and sugar added to soft drinks, ice cream or even canned vegetables) and starchy carbohydrates such as grains and potatoes. Grains include bread and pasta, and also whole grains such as brown rice ("can be white").
- Most fruits. Exceptions are sour fruits like lemons and limes, and savory fruits such as tomatoes and avocados (in moderation - "no more than one cup or one meal a day" ).
- Trans fat (e.g., margarine), high omega-6 seed and vegetable oils (e.g., canola oil).
- Artificial sweeteners (Saccharin, Sucralose, Equal etc.) and most natural sweeteners (e.g., agave nectar).
- Most dairy products. Milk has a low glycemic index (15-30) but a high insulinemic response (90-98) and so is discouraged except for people using resistance training to gain muscle (see "Occam's Protocol" below). An exception is cottage cheese, which is allowed because of its high casein content. Butter is allowed for cooking ) and The 4-Hour Chef makes considerable use of ghee.
- Calorie-rich alcoholic drinks. "Don't drink calories" means avoiding most alcoholic drinks, with the exception of dry wines (<1.4% residual sugar) consumed in moderation (1-2 glasses per day). In The 4-Hour Chef this position is softened to include some spirits.
Cheat Day
One day per week is reserved as "cheat day" when all foods are allowed, similar to the carb-loading day in a cyclic ketogenic diet. As well as reducing the psychological stress of dieting, this serves to protect against the lowered metabolic rate that often accompanies dieting. To moderate the effects of binging, Ferriss recommends making breakfast a normal slow-carb meal, consuming a small amount of fructose just before the first "binge" meal, consuming liquids with caffeine and citric acid, and exercising with brief muscular contractions (e.g., air squats). The diet should not start on cheat day but 4-5 days before.
Supplements
Ferriss recommends supplementing the diet with potassium, magnesium and calcium to make up for electrolytes lost as a result of general fluid loss. To speed up weight loss, he also suggests a combination of supplements he abbreviates as "PAGG": policosanol (20-25 mg), alpha-lipoic acid (100-300 mg), decaffeinated green tea flavanols (325 mg), garlic extract (200-650 mg). Policosanol is an extract of plant waxes which Ferris found lowered cholesterol and helped fat loss, though he admits there is little in the scientific literature to support this. Alpha-lipoic acid helps to store glucose as glycogen in muscles or the liver rather than as fat "by recruiting GLUT-3 glucose transporters to the muscular cell membrane. This both mimics insulin and increases insulin sensitivity ... it also demonstrates triglyceride inhibition." Green tea flavanols (epigallocatechin gallate) are also thought to increase GLUT-4 recruitment to muscles cells and decrease GLUT-4 recruitment to fat cells. It may also increase apoptosis of fat cells. Finally, Ferriss recommends aged garlic extract containing allicin and S-Allyl cisteine, while expressing puzzlement at its apparent beneficial effects in fat loss, since bio-availability of allicin drops to near zero a few days after extraction from garlic cloves.
The stack is administered as follows:
- Before breakfast: AGG
- Before lunch: AGG
- Before dinner: AGG
- Before bed: PAG (no green tea).
PAGG is not recommended for pregnant or breast-feeding women, and dieters should consult a doctor if they have any medical condition, especially those involving taking blood-thinning drugs such as warfarin. An adequate supply of B vitamins is also strongly recommended.
Low Carb Alcoholic Drink Recipes Video
Scientific Support
Although The 4-Hour Body contains copious references to the scientific/medical literature, no controlled, peer-reviewed study of the slow-carb diet as such exists to date. However, since it is a low-glycemic diet, much of the literature on this type of diet would apply. Low-glycemic diets have been found to increase weight loss and to help maintain it due to a lower reduction in base metabolic rate compared to low-fat diets. "A large body of evidence, which now comprises observational prospective cohort studies, randomized controlled trials, and mechanistic experiments in animal models, provides robust support for low GI carbohydrate diets in the prevention of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease." In contrast, 2010 U.S. government dietary guidelines do not consider glycemic index an important factor in weight loss, while the 2015 edition remains silent on the issue.
Ferriss has conducted his own informal study of the diet in conjunction with Lift Worldwide, using an app to track 3,500 people for four weeks. 84% of those who stuck to the diet lost weight, and average weight loss was 8.6 lb (3.9 kg). There was no control group for this experiment.
Criticisms
Largely due to the author's earlier success with The 4-Hour Workweek, the slow-carb diet provoked much comment in the blogosphere, both positive and negative. Responses in mainstream websites and print publications have been more muted.
A review of The 4-Hour Body in WebMD was skeptical of the diet, quoting Barry Sears (creator of the Zone diet): "Skip the 4-hour body and opt for a 24-hour-365-day-a-year body, because you need a plan that makes sense that you can live with." In the same article, Michael Aziz (creator of the Perfect 10 Diet) claims the cheat day is "dangerous". On the other hand, the review praises the avoidance of "white" carbohydrates and the recommendation to eat the same few meals repeatedly.
The Harvard Business Review quoted Dr. Tieraona Low Dog: "many people will lose weight if they follow it, though I don't think that the diet is capable of all the claims in the book." Dr. Low Dog also warns about "the very limited number of vegetables to choose from," though in fact apart from starchy vegetables such as potatoes the slow-carb diet allows free choice in vegetables.
The slow-carb diet has not been reviewed in any scholarly publications.
Slow-Carb Recipes
In The 4-Hour Body, Ferriss recommends eating the same few meals repeatedly so that the stress of cooking meals doesn't add to the stress of adopting a new diet. However, in its sequel, The 4-Hour Chef, he provides a large number of recipes for slow-carb meals, grouped and sequenced to provide instruction in basic cooking techniques. The Slow Carb Diet Cookbook: A Companion to the 4-Hour Body came out shortly after The 4-Hour Body but is now out of print.
In addition, a number of websites and blogs provide slow-carb recipes, such as 4 Hour Body Recipes and Finding My Fitness.
Variations
Occam's Protocol
For people whose aim is muscle gain rather than fat loss, Ferriss describes a variation on the slow-carb diet combined with a weight-training regime, naming it "Occam's Protocol" (named for its simplicity). This uses a standard slow-carb diet with three additions:
- protein shakes;
- small amounts of whole grains such as brown rice or quinoa in non-shake meals;
- lots of milk and milk products (up to a gallon of milk a day).
The weight training component emphasizes basic compound exercises in a split routine, one set to failure, and long breaks between sessions.
Recommended (but not essential) supplements are cissus quadrangularis, alpha-lipoic acid, L-glutamine, and creatine monohydrate.
Primarily Plant-Based Version
In an appendix to The Four Hour Body entitled "The Meatless Machine", Ferriss sketches out "primarily plant-based versions" of the diet, from pescatarian to vegan. He does not recommend using soya products as a substitute for meat because of their phytoestrogen content, but does recommend vegetable-based protein powders.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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