The Banting Orange List
The Keto lists are your trusty guide to navigating what you can eat freely, what requires a bit more caution, and what to avoid completely while you’re with Real Meal Revolution.
The program is designed to seamlessly transition you from your current eating habits—likely the culprits behind weight gain—to a state where your body burns excess fat for fuel until you reach your goal weight.
And the best part? You can achieve this without exercise and without feeling hungry, as long as you stick closely to the lists.
The four lists of our Banting / Keto Program are:
The Banting Orange List – Exercise Self-Control
The Orange List is a delightful mix of foods that offer fantastic health benefits but can also slow down weight loss if not enjoyed in moderation. They’re tasty, tempting, and can be part of your journey, as long as you follow the rules.(Here are added benefits).
Our Banting Food Lists are more than just simple guides; they’re a thoughtful blend of expert advice, real client experiences, and smart goal-setting strategies. We’ve added layers like prebiotics, nightshades, and enzyme-rich foods, all wrapped up in practical, everyday advice.
The outcome? Mouth-watering, easy-to-follow, low-carb Banting recipes and meal plans that consistently deliver results for our members.
Unlike the Green List, where you can eat to your heart’s content, the Orange List comes with its own set of guidelines.
The golden rule? Stick to just one portion of an Orange-listed food per day.
Nuts on the Banting Diet
Nuts and nut butters are a bit of a double-edged sword. Sure, they’re delicious, but they can also be a sneaky culprit in your weight loss journey. Once upon a time, we encouraged regular snacking on nuts and biltong (jerky) to tide you over between meals. But, as it turns out, those tasty treats often slowed down or even reversed weight loss progress.
The good news? You can still enjoy them, but moderation is key. If you’re sticking to a strict keto regimen, limit yourself to no more than 2 tablespoons per day.
Dairy
Dairy is a bit of a conundrum. Humans are the only species that see the milk of another animal as a key food source. It’s almost as if health authorities suggest that kids should move straight from their mother’s milk to a cow’s udder once they’re done breastfeeding! Whether you’re a believer in creation or evolution, there’s definitely something missing from this picture.
Regardless of our biological design, many of us can indulge in dairy and reap the health benefits and delightful flavors it offers. However, for others, particularly those who are lactose intolerant, dairy is far from a dream come true.
In fact, some experts suggest that most people are lactose intolerant to some extent. Common symptoms include abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhea, indigestion, and gas. If you experience any of these, it might be worth cutting dairy from your diet to see how you feel.
Beyond symptoms and the bigger questions of evolution and logic, the main goal here is weight loss. And guess what? We’ve found that those who reach their “Awesome Weight” the fastest are the ones who limit dairy in their diet.
Here’s why: Dairy contains carbs and sugars, and even small amounts can stall weight loss in ways that seem out of proportion to its nutritional content. It could be the hormones, the lactose (a sugar that might be nastier than others), or simply the fact that we often underestimate how much dairy we’re actually consuming—whether it’s the splash in our tea or that sneaky extra spoonful of yogurt.
The bottom line? Keep your dairy intake low, or for some of you, zero might be the way to go.
Stick to the guidelines. Here they are.
Orange Listed Fruits and Vegetables
Let’s face it—not all veggies are created equal.
We’ve handpicked some fruits and starchy vegetables that are totally cool to eat, with just one little catch: you need to limit them to one ‘portion’ per day. Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered with the exact measurements in the lists.
Keep an eye out for the veggies marked with (e) for ‘enzyme-rich‘ and (p) for ‘prebiotic’ or fiber-rich foods. These are your diet’s secret weapons, and you’ll want to incorporate them as much as possible. But don’t forget—there are even more of these powerhouses on the Green List that are your best bet for reaching your Awesome Weight.
For a splash of colour, flavour, and a bit of excitement, go ahead and pick an Orange List vegetable every day. The choice is yours, so make it count!
Drinks
Here’s a curveball: caffeine might just be the secret plateau ninja that’s sneaking into your weight loss journey. Sure, it speeds you up, but it could also be what’s slowing you down on your mission to Awesome Weight.
Let’s talk facts. After water, tea is the most popular drink on the planet. Coffee isn’t far behind, and both are loaded with caffeine—a substance humans are obsessed with. While tea leaves technically contain more caffeine than coffee beans, your morning cup of brewed black coffee still packs more of a caffeine punch (95-165 mg per cup) compared to black tea (25-48 mg per cup).
Now, caffeine can be great for some folks in some ways, but it’s also not-so-great for others in plenty of ways. The big reason to kick caffeine to the curb while you’re trying to lose weight? It can mess with your sleep, stress you out, spike your blood sugar, and ramp up your fat-storing hormone, insulin (which keeps you from shedding those pounds). Even if you’re sleeping fine, caffeine can still mess with your fat-burning mojo by pushing up that insulin.
Struggling to drop the weight on keto? Ditch the coffee. Yup, you heard that right. Give it a go and see what happens.
Legumes and Pulses
Legumes and pulses—controversial, right? Many folks think they belong on the Banting Red List. But hold up! We’re here to challenge that myth. Even in the low-carb, high-fat (LCHF) and Paleo worlds, some dogmas get tossed around without being fully understood. The biggest misconception? That pulses and legumes are going to wreak havoc on your gut, making things like leaky gut ten times worse.
You’ve heard the arguments: “But the phytates! The lectins! Our ancestors didn’t eat them, so we shouldn’t either.” Really? Maybe our ancestors skipped out on legumes, but they also didn’t snack on brie, and brie is both delicious and nutritious. So what’s the deal with these anti-nutrients?
Phytates in legumes and pulses do bind to nutrients in your digestive tract, making them harder to absorb—that’s true. And lectins? They can bind to cell walls in the intestine, potentially leading to gut issues, muscle problems, and even pancreas malfunctions. Not ideal, right?
“So should I just quit them now?”
Not so fast. Here’s the scoop: the scary studies were mostly done on animals that ate nothing but raw legumes. That’s not exactly the way we humans eat, is it? We enjoy a massive variety of foods, and when it comes to legumes, we soak them and cook them, which can reduce lectin content by up to 70%. If you’re indulging every now and then, and they’re prepared right, it’s really not such a big deal.
Sure, legumes won’t kill you, but they do pack more carbs than the green-list veggies. So, we’ve put them on the limited list. Play it safe until you reach your Awesome Weight, and then feel free to flirt with fate.
Ready to know your legumes and pulses?
Fertilizers on the Banting Orange B List
You’ve probably noticed that fertilizers make an appearance on the Banting Green List, and for good reason. We recommend getting at least one portion of these gut-friendly goodies into your diet each day.
But hold on a second—why are there two fertilizers on the Orange List? Aren’t these supposed to be great for your gut? What’s the deal?
Our lists are designed to keep you on track, eliminating any chance of slipping up. Here’s the thing: Water kefir and kombucha, those popular Orange fertilizers, can be risky when you’re in fat-burning mode because they often contain unfermented (residual) sugar. And here’s a shocker—your homemade or store-bought kombucha might actually be worse than a sugary lime cordial and soda. Yep, that sweetness is pure cane sugar talking.
So, Orange fertilizers are out, or at least very limited, unless your coach gives you the green light, or if you’re one of the lucky few who can’t seem to stop losing weight (lucky you!).
Fruits and Vegetables
Ever wondered why these fruits and veggies are in the “Orange” zone? It’s because they have a sneaky way of raising your blood sugar. When that happens, insulin levels go up, and your body decides it’s time to put a pause on fat burning. This can put a halt to your weight loss efforts and might even add a few extra pounds to your frame.
So, there you have it—the Banting Orange List, decoded! Keep an eye on those quantities and stay in control to keep things on track.
And here’s the scoop on the complete list: