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The 10 Commandments of beginner Banting

The first thing you need to remember in Beginner Banting is that weight loss is unique to everyone. But there are some standard rules to weight loss that apply to everyone.

During your first few months at Real Meal Revolution, you’ll most likely experience dramatic weight loss as your body adapts to our program.

What we’ve found is that as time goes by, some Revolutionaries can reach a frustrating plateau. The key to mastering the plateau is to use it as an opportunity to listen to your body and learn from it.

Even if you are following the Banting Food Lists to a T and you are obeying the rules like a religion, you might still be able to accelerate your weight loss even more.

Scrutinising your diet closely may give you insights that you may have missed in the past. Perhaps a food you’re eating contains hidden carbs, or you are unknowingly eating foods you are allergic to. There’s no telling until you take the time to get real with yourself and with what you’re eating.

Below is our list of the 10 extra rules to pay close attention to if you are struggling to lose.

The Commandments

  1. Don’t fear fat – This is central to Banting, or Keto. Saturated and monounsaturated fats are NOT bad for you. When you’re cutting out carbs and craving like a mofo, small amounts at a time help make you feel full and can stop you from overeating. So long as you are sticking to the Green List, and avoiding the red list, a little fat as needed is perfectly fine (and healthy).
  2. Eat enough vegetables – Yes – Vegetables should make up the bulk of your diet, which means you’ve got to eat them with every meal. Green vegetables are the best because they are generally lower in carbs and higher in nutrients (nutrient dense). Have a look through all of the different vegetables on the Green List, and make sure that you have enough variety in your diet.
  3. Snacking is a lie – When you’re in fat burning mode (where we aim to get you as fast as possible), there is little need to snack. It is commonly taught that you need to snack in order to maintain your blood sugar. That’s a lie. And the best part of all is that while you’re in fat burning mode, you won’t want or need to snack.
  4. Re-educate yourself – Watch out for carbs disguised as proteins. Eating foods that are perceived to be proteins, like legumes, baked beans, peanuts and quinoa, will undermine your attempts to stay in fat burning mode. Remember, vegetables with high protein content can often be high in carbs too. And eating more protein with more carbs won’t help you. 
  5. Don’t over- or under-eat – New Revolutionaries get nervous about the idea of not snacking and tend to go overboard at mealtimes to overcompensate. Don’t worry about this. It takes practice and you will soon improve your aim. But remember, never force food down your throat. When you are full, stop eating! If you don’t feel like eating a meal, skip it. Anyone who tells you you need to eat more fat to lose weight, has misunderstood the biology. You need to eat fewer carbs. End of story. After that, your next priority is eating less food in general, which is much easier to do when you’re not hungry all time. And, the removal of carbs, along with the (only when required) increase in fat is the most effective way of managing hunger. It must be said that those are severely overweight will benefit from reducing their fat intake too, but we would only advise you to do this once you have stopped craving the carbs.
  6. Don’t eat too much protein – We cannot stress this enough. Keto is NOT high-protein. In general, Real Meal Revolution endorses a low-carb, healthy fat (Keto) diet and not a high protein diet. When you take our program, your protein consumption will only increase marginally. Your fat intake will also only likely increase a little bit. It is your carb consumption that will be rocked, and with marvelous returns.
  7. Be alert! – Many ostensibly ‘healthy’ products and ready-made meals are laced with carbs (thickeners, caking agents, binding agents and more, are usually carb laden). Before you buy something, check the label. If the carb content is higher than 5g per 100g or the label lists anything on the Very Red list, don’t buy it. The best way to shop is to aim to buy foods that don’t have labels (it gets tough, but it is a great ideal to strive toward). The best ‘real foods’ don’t have labels. At Real Meal Revolution we live by the mantra – “If you couldn’t have made it at home, probably stay away!”
  8. Avoid too many fruits and nuts – Although we allow for various quantities of fruit, it is full of natural fructose (the substance that makes it sweet). Fructose is perceived to be a ‘good sugar’ but sugar is sugar regardless of its perceived ‘goodness’. While natural sugar is far preferable to refined sugar, its consumption needs to be strictly controlled. Of all the fruits, berries are best, but even berries need to be restricted in some cases. For limits, check out the different quantities on the Keto Food Lists and how they correlate with the phases. Nuts are lower in carbs and great snack foods, but you must not go overboard. Nuts may cause weight gain in some individuals. That’s why we’ve also limited them during strict keto / Banting. Macadamias are best as they are loaded with healthy fat and almonds are packed with fibre and goodness. Always choose raw or DRY roasted nuts in preference to commercially standard roasted nuts (which are actually deep fried – unless they are specified as ‘dry-roasted’).
  9. Control your dairy – Although dairy is nutrient dense, it does contain lactose, which is a sugar, which can be a stumbling block for most people. When you hit fat burning mode (rapid weight-loss), you should cut down on dairy to a quarter cup per day. Generally, higher fat dairy is lower in lactose, and the grading looks like this: From most to least lactose – low-fat milk, full cream milk, double thick yoghurt, fresh cream, butter, clarified butter. Butter for the win.
  10. Be strong! – Setting goals correctly and putting structures in place to achieve them is something Real Meal Revolution takes very seriously. Even the best archer in the world can’t hit the target if she can’t see it.

THE ELEVENTH COMMANDMENT!

Watch what you drink. We’re faced with a dilemma here. We’re trying to promote health and overall well-being so promoting booze is not in our interest as alcohol is highly toxic. Dry wines, most spirits, low energy beers and a few other drinks are safe BUT that is only from a carb perspective. Alcopops, normal beer, any spirit mixer or cocktail will halt any weight loss you’re experiencing. It’s easy for us to promote low-carb alcoholic beverages but one needs to remember that a low-carb 5% vol. beer is still 5% toxic.Alcohol is also really good at draining motivation, lowering inhibitions, impairing driving ability and and and… So we leave drinking up to you. Consider the Eleventh Commandment our “drinking disclaimer”.