Wondering which meal plan to choose?

by Linda | Articles, Recipes

Wondering which meal plan to choose?

Exciting news awaits those exploring the meal plans offered by the LK Fitness app – Keto/Banting, Low GI, and Mediterranean – as they prove equally effective!

This article aims to provide you with comprehensive insights into each of our three distinctive meal plans. To further assist your decision-making process, examine the Guidelines outlined for each plan under the ‘Eating Plans’ section on the app.

For those still deliberating, consider a practical approach: dedicate a week to follow one meal plan, then seamlessly transition to another the following week, until you’ve experienced all three. It’s essential, however, to avoid mixing eating plans within a single day for optimal results.

The idea is to incorporate the meal plan eventually into your lifestyle. Therefore, we suggest you read on before making your decision.  

Keto/Banting

MEALS CONSIST OF ROUGHLY 65% FAT + 20% PROTEIN + 15% CARBOHYDRATES 

• That’s why Banting is ideal for people who are:
  • Insulin resistant or struggling with obesity.
  • Unable to lose weight when they eat carbohydrates, e.g. bread, potatoes, rice, sugar and other starches.
  • Chronically hungry and struggle with cravings.
  • In other words – if you feel bloated after eating bread or other carbohydrates, or if you gain weight as soon as you eat carbohydrates or sugar, this is the meal plan for you.

• Banting is a high fat, low carb meal plan where you cut out carbohydrates and sugar completely and allow more good fat into your diet.
  • You get your energy from fats like olive oil, butter, full cream products, cheese, nuts etc.
  • The carbohydrates you ingest are vegetables.
  • Your Banting guidelines have GREEN, ORANGE and RED lists that tell you exactly what you may and may not eat.
  • You may consume alcohol moderately, such as dry white wine, red wine, dry champagne or whiskey and water/soda. However, if you use alcohol and still struggle to lose weight, cut out alcohol altogether.

• With the Banting lifestyle, you only eat when you are hungry.
  • Thus, this meal plan is just a guideline. If you aren’t hungry, you can skip meals altogether.
  • If you do get hungry between meals, then you didn’t ingest sufficient fat in your previous meal and should adjust your fat consumption at the next meal.

• Did you know?
  • Recent research has shown that it isn’t the fat in your diet that causes heart disease, but rather refined carbohydrates and sugar.
  • Our Banting meal plans have been compiled by Anel Kirsten, a dietician from Cape Town and Dr Schoombee from Stellenbosch.

Low GI

MEALS MOSTLY CONSIST OF FOODS WITH A GI (GLYCEMIC INDEX) VALUE OF 55 OR LOWER

• Therefore, Low GI is ideal for people who:
  • Struggle with irregular insulin secretion, and thus find it difficult to lose weight.
  • Still want to eat carbs like bread, pasta and potatoes, rather than limiting carbs to just vegetables.
  • Prefer to avoid high-fat foods. (Tip: Never combine carbohydrates with high fat!)
  • Cannot eat refined carbohydrates without it causing fluctuations in their insulin levels.

• The Low GI plan is also a low-fat plan, where you completely cut out high-fat foods and refined carbohydrates, and instead allow more good carbohydrates (with low GI index) in your diet. Low GI carbohydrates are better because they release energy slowly.

• With the Low GI lifestyle, one regularly eats small meals.
  • If your portion sizes are too large, you will not lose weight. A portion should fit in the palm of your hand.
  • If you find it necessary to snack, you can eat fruit between meals. Two extra fruits per day are allowed, or 1 extra fruit and one small container of low-fat or fat-free yoghurt per day.

• Did you know:
  • Our low GI meal plans were compiled by Anel Kirsten, a dietician from Cape Town and Dr Schoombee from Stellenbosch.
  • You can use the Glycemic Index (GI) to make carbohydrate exchanges. See below:

Mediterranean

MEALS CONSIST OF ROUGHLY 50% CARBOHYDRATES-INCLUDING GRAINS AND VEGGIES + 35% FAT + 15% PROTEIN

Get our Mediterranean e-Books here.

• Therefore, Mediterranean is the ideal plan for people who:
  • Love foods such as low carb vegetables, fish, whole grains, fruits, nuts, beans, legumes and olive oil.
  • Enjoy tasty, flavoured foods. The plan uses garlic, rosemary, basil and oregano to give dishes flavour.

• With the Mediterranean lifestyle, you eat when you’re hungry, and stop as soon as you’re full.
  • Fruit is usually eaten as a snack or with a meal.
  • Red meat intake is limited, whilst processed foods are not part of the Mediterranean eating plan at all.
  • Eggs play an important role in the Mediterranean diet. Since they have little access to red meat, eggs are the main source of protein. Eggs are usually served with vegetables, salad or as an omelette.
  • Eating fresh and healthy foods will help you lose weight because you no longer rely on processed and packaged foods, which are loaded with sugar, salt and unhealthy fats.
  • The benefit of consuming a large variety of plant-based proteins and whole-grain carbohydrates is that your blood sugar levels remain stable and you feel satiated for a longer period of time, which will prevent you from overeating.

• Did you know:
  • Our Mediterranean eating plans were compiled by Anel Kirsten, a dietician from Cape Town.
  • The whole purpose behind this particular meal plan is to eat like people in the Mediterranean region by eating fresh fruits and vegetables, healthy fats, whole grain products, legumes, fish and other fat-free proteins.
  • In addition to what you eat, healthy lifestyle habits such as daily exercise, stress reduction and enough sleep are important components to incorporate into your lifestyle, particularly if you want to lose weight or maintain your goal weight.

*Note: If you have any allergies or problems with certain foods suggested in the meal plan, or if you want to tailor it to your health requirements, you should discuss this with your doctor or a dietician.

Download the LK Fitness App to get your daily meal plan.

You can switch between 3 meal plans – Keto/Banting, Low GI & Mediterranean and get daily exercise programs at 3 different levels daily.

Your first 7 days is FREE! Click here to download now.