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The Banting Orange List

The Keto lists lay out foods that can be eaten freely, foods that should be eaten with caution, foods that should be eaten very rarely, foods that should never be eaten while you are a member of Real Meal Revolution

The program works to create a smooth transition from your current way of eating (that is presumably contributing to your weight gain) to a state in which your body fuels itself by burning your excess body fat for fuel until you reach your desired weight. 

You can do this without exercise, and without hunger… if you follow the lists closely.

 

The four lists of our Banting / Keto Program are:

  1. The Banting Green List – Eat to Hunger
  2. The Banting Orange List – Exercise Self-Control
  3. The Banting Light Red List – Hardly Ever
  4. The Banting Red List – Never Ever

 

The Orange List is made up of foods that have both notable health benefits and a potential role to play in hindering weight loss (and numerous other benefits) if their consumption is not controlled. They are also delicious.

 

While they are simple to use, the Banting Food Lists are layered in complexity. We compiled them using a base of Banting expert advice and client feedback in equal proportions. We beefed them up with goal setting methodology, enhance key notes like prebiotics, nighshades, enzyme-rich foods and fertilisers with a touch of design thinking and finally, we seasoned with a sprinkle of common sense and practicality.

 

The result?

 

Unbelievably tasty, easy-to-follow, low carb, Banting recipes and meal plans (and a whole bunch of other cool stuff) that deliver results, day in and day out, to our members.

Unlike the Banting Green List, which can be eaten to hunger, The Banting Orange List has its own set of restrictions.

The only rule of Orange is to stick to the guidelines. Only one portion of orange listed food per day. 

 

Nuts on the Banting Diet 

Nuts and nut butters present opportunity and adversity. They are delicious. But they are also fattening.

We used to recommend regular snacking on nuts and biltong (jerky) to bridge gaps between meals, but that was often to the detriment of consistent weight loss. Nuts slow weight loss and in some cases, make you gain weight.

You can still snack on them. But if you’re strict keto, no more than 2tbp per day.

 

Dairy

It’s a strange thing, dairy. There are no animals on earth other than humans who consider the milk of another animal to be a vital food source. The way health authorities promote dairy, it seems as though children should be breast fed by their mothers until they have developed enough to be breast fed by cows.

Whether you are a creationist or evolutionist, there is a solid explanation missing from this picture?

Regardless of whether or not we were designed to consume it, a lot of us can enjoy dairy and benefit from the variety of health benefits and delicious flavours, shapes and forms that it comes in. For others (those who are lactose intolerant) it is less than awesome.

It is thought by many that almost all of us are lactose intolerant to a lesser or greater degree. Standard symptoms of lactose intolerance are abdominal pain, belching, bloating, diarrhea, indigestion, and flatulence. If you experience any or all of these, try cutting dairy and see what happens.

Symptoms, creational intention, evolution and logic aside, weight loss is still the main focus of these lists and we have found that the members who get to Awesome Weight the fastest are the ones who limit their dairy.

Dairy contains carbs and sugar, we have found that even a little bit of dairy can stall weight loss in disproportionate effect to its fat, protein, carb or sugar content. It may be due to hormones. It may be that lactose (the sugar in milk) is nastier than other sugars like fructose, glucose and other ‘oses’. It could be that we don’t really notice half the dairy we eat. We could underestimate how much milk we put in our tea and how much yogurt we eat. We don’t know.

Dairy should be kept low and for some, it should be kept at zero.

Stick to the guidelines. And here they are:

 

Orange Listed Fruits and Vegetables

 

Vegetables are an essential part of our Program. But not all vegetables were created equal.

 

We have listed some fruits and starchy vegetables that we deem totally cool to eat. The only disclaimer being that their consumption needs to be limited to one ‘portion’ per day according to the measurements set out in the lists.

 

Remember to pay special attention to the fruits and vegetables marked with (e) for ‘enzyme-rich’ and (p) for ‘prebiotic’ or fibre-rich foods. You want to get these into your diet as often as possible, but there are more of them on the green list that will be more useful on your road to Awesome Weight.

 

For the sake of colour, flavour and excitement, pick and choose an Orange vegetable every day. The choice is yours:

 

 

Drinks

 

This may come as a massive curveball for many, but caffeine is actually the secret plateau ninja that no one wants to talk about. It might speed you up, but it could be what slows you down on your mission to Awesome Weight.

 

Apart from water, tea is the most widely consumed drink in the world. Coffee (in hot pursuit) is also one of the world largest legal agricultural exports. And tea and coffee have one thing in common. Caffeine. Human beings love caffeine.

 

Contrary to popular belief, tea leaves actually contains more caffeine than coffee beans. But, per cup of brewed black tea or black coffee, coffee (95-165mg/cup) still beats tea (25-48mg/cup) hands down.

 

Caffeine is good in some ways for some people for a number of reasons, but is also bad in some ways for some people for a number of reasons.

 

The best reason to stay away from caffeine while you’re trying to lose weight? It affects your sleep, which affects your stress levels, which affects your blood sugar which effects your fat-storing hormone, insulin (keep you fat) – another reason to stay away from caffeine while you’re trying to lose weight? It has the potential to mess with your ability to burn fat by pushing up your blood sugar which pushes up your fat-storing hormone, insulin (keep you fat), even if you’re sleeping great.

 

If you’re struggling to lose weight on keto, try quitting coffee. Yup. 

 

Legumes and Pulses

 

Legumes and pulses, in the minds of a lot of people, should be on the Banting Red List.

 

We beg to differ. Even in the ‘new realm’ there are dogmas that the LCHF and Paleo cult leaders throw around without properly understanding them. The biggest misconception in LCHF and Paleo is that pulses and legumes will make leaky gut, along with a bunch of other ailments, ten times worse.

 

What about the phytates, and the lectins, and… and our ancestors didn’t eat them, so we shouldn’t. Right? Maybe our ancestors didn’t eat them, but they didn’t eat brie either, and brie is delicious (and nutritious). And the phytates and the lectins? What about them?

 

Phytates (which legumes and pulses contain) bind to nutrients in your digestive tract making the nutrients impossible to absorb. That’s not good. Lectins bind with cell walls in the intestine which may be associated with a number of gut disorders, skeletal muscle issues and pancreas malfunctions. That’s not great either.

 

‘So shouldn’t I quit them immediately?’

 

Not so fast. Firstly, the studies were done on animals that ate mainly, if not only, legumes and second, the legumes they ate were always raw. Humans have a massive variety of foods and only eat legumes and pulses cooked, which reduces the lectin content by up to 70%. So if you’re eating them every now and then, and you’re eating them soaked and then cooked, it’s not such a biggie.

 

Although they can’t kill you, they are higher in carbs than many other good whole vegetables in the green list, so we’ve kept them limited. Wait until you reach your Awesome Weight, then you can tempt fate.

 

Know your legumes and pulses:

 

Fertilizers on the Banting Orange B List

 

You will have seen fertilizers on the Banting Green List. We recommend eating or drinking at least one portion of fertiliser per day.

 

So why are there two fertilisers on the Orange list? I thought they were good for my gut? What’s that about?

The lists and our program  are designed to eliminate all possible risk of you slipping up, in any way. Water kefir and kombucha are dangerous when you are trying to keep your body in fat burning mode because they often contain unfermented (residual) sugar. Kombucha, made at home or bought from the store, could actually be worse than a lime cordial and soda. That sweetness comes from pure cane sugar.

 

So Orange fertilisers are out, or very limited unless your coach says its cool, or you can’t seem to stop losing weight (good on you).

Fruits and Vegetables

 

These fruits and vegetables are Orange because they raise your blood sugar which sends your insulin up, which stops you burning fat, stalling weight loss and potentially making you fat.

So there you have it. The Banting Orange List explained. Exercise control. Make sure you stick to quantities.

Here is what the complete lists look like: