Bootcamp Light
From this point, if you want you can move to Bootcamp Light. Here are the rules:
1. Eat when you’re hungry - if you’re not hungry, don’t eat
We started off insisting that you had breakfast. This was to stop you getting too hungry and being tempted to eat something carby mid-morning, or at lunchtime. By now, the benefits of a low carb WOE should be kicking in, and you should find that you're easily able to go for some time without eating. So if you don't want to eat breakfast, now you don't have to. Equally, you may find you want breakfast, but you're not hungry at lunchtime - which is fine.
2. Avoid processed food (same as strict Bootcamp)
Focus on pure, natural protein as the basis for your meals – meat/fish/eggs.
You may include processed meats like bacon or (low carb) sausages, smoked salmon, smoked mackerel, gammon - but please don’t have these at every meal or every day. As well as being highly processed they often contain undesirable ingredients, can add unnecessary extra carbs into your diet, and often include sugar.
3. Eat lots of fat (same as strict Bootcamp)
Eating fat helps to keep you feeling fuller for longer. Fry in butter, add butter to vegetables, eat salad with a home-made vinaigrette dressing (not made with balsamic vinegar though, as this is too sweet and has too many carbs), add mayonnaise where you can (just check the carb count on your mayo first). Eat fattier cuts of meat – e.g. pork belly, roast chicken with the skin on and/or eat the fat off your lamb chops. Absolutely no low fat/light foods of any kind
4. Make sure you are eating vegetables and salads with your food (same as strict Bootcamp)
This is where the bulk of your carbs should come from, and this is non-negotiable. But choose only those vegetables that are on the green and amber list. You don’t have to weigh/count carbs – this is one of the great joys of this WOE (way of eating), but if you’re new to low carbing it can be helpful to weigh your portions of veg in the early days, just so that you know how many carbs are in the sort of portions that you like to eat. Keep your focus on those veg which contain 3g carbs per 100g and use these as the focus of your meals. Use those over 3g per 100g sparingly.
5. You may eat some dairy
You should aim to include plenty of butter on this WOE. Fry with it and add it to your vegetables. And if you know that dairy doesn’t impede your weight loss you may eat cheese, but don't overdo it. Full fat yoghurt is the best way to include dairy in your diet - but beware, it does contain carbs. Total Full Fat is the best. If you can't find Total, most supermarkets have a 10% fat Greek yoghurt in their premium ranges. (NB Make sure it's Greek and not Greek-style)
If you’ve been cutting out tea/coffee, you can re-introduce this – but just be careful how much milk you end up drinking. You can end up adding a lot of extra carbs this way.
6. You must drink a minimum of 2 litres of water per day (same as strict Bootcamp)
Even if you’re drinking more tea/coffee than in Bootcamp, this is still a non-negotiable part of this WOE. And the more weight you have to lose, the more water you should drink. Water helps to flush out the ketones that your body will product – so flushing out the fat. However, drinking this amount of water can affect your electrolyte balance; you need to make sure that you get plenty of sodium and potassium. There is less need to worry about restricting salt if you’re eating a low carb diet. Good sources of potassium are salmon and avocado. You could also consider supplements if you have an issue with this.
7. You may drink some alcohol
But please try to restrict this to once or twice a week max. Vodka with soda is the best thing to drink. Or Champagne, red wine or dry white wine. Absolutely no beer/lager, cider, liqueurs, cocktails or full sugar mixers. You can drink spirits with artificial sweeteners, but bear in mind that we are attempting to avoid all things artificial!
Alcohol is the easiest source of fuel for your body, and it will use this over and above anything else that is available to it. Therefore, even if you’re following the diet absolutely to the letter, including alcohol can prevent weight loss.
8. You may eat some fruit
Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and rhubarb are all fine. But please – only once a day at the very most, and keep an eye on your portion sizes. Just for information – these are the carb counts:
Rhubarb – 0.8g carbs per 100g (but don’t forget you may need to sweeten this – and not with sugar!)
Blackberries – 4.4g carbs per 100g
Raspberries – 4.6g carbs per 100g
Strawberries – 6g carbs per 100g
Blueberries - 6.4g carbs per 100g (although this is a bit controversial - I have had differing carb counts from various sources - some saying as much as 12g carbs per 100g)
9. You may eat some nuts/seeds
Nuts/seeds can make a good snack. BUT it is incredibly easy to overdo it, and you can end up eating your bodyweight in carbs. As an occasional snack they are great, but keep it occasional and keep the portions to a small handful at most.
Macadamias are not only luscious, but they are very low in carbs. Sainsbury’s sell little bags of roasted, salted Macadamias that work out at around 4g per bag. (They used to sell these - I don't think they do any more)
Here are some carb counts – BUT – check the back of your packets as I don’t know if these are for raw or roasted nuts:
Brazils 3.1g carbs per 100g
Walnuts 3.3g carbs per 100g
Pistachios 4.6g carbs per 100g
Macadamias 4.8g carbs per 100g
Hazelnuts 4.8g carbs per 100g
Pecans 5.8g carbs per 100g
Almonds 6.9g carbs per 100g
Peanuts 7.1 g carbs per 100g
Cashews 18.1g carbs per 100g
10. Avoid artificial sweeteners
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The aim of Bootcamp was to help reduce the stranglehold that sugar has on us – and to curb your sweet tooth. But it does make some things difficult, e.g. desserts at a dinner party, and it is undeniable that it can be enjoyable – occasionally – to eat something sweet. However, restrict such goodies. For some people, artificial sweeteners can impede weight loss.