What You Need To Know Before Starting A Low Carb Diet
|
In the last 12 months or so, low carbohydrate diets have captured the hearts and weight loss hopes of the American public. And why not? These diets promise quick weight loss and the ability to keep eating fatty foods. If you love your steak and eggs, this seems like the ultimate diet. However, before signing up, the low carb diet bears a review. Is it really the right diet for you?
The premise of the Atkins or any low carbohydrate diet is that carbohydrates are the source of all our weight loss woes. There is some real substance to the argument in that we Americans have been eating excessive amounts of refined carbohydrates which have caused many of us to become insulin resistant as the body continues to wage war against repeated blood sugar spikes brought on by our poor eating habits.
The Atkins diet and other very low carbohydrate diets take your body out of a sugar burning state by practically eliminating all carbs for an induction period that can last two weeks or more. The body will continue to burn sugar as it primary energy source until it essentially runs dry and then converts to burning fat. During the conversion, the dieter can feel tired, irritable, have headaches or get dizzy. Once you get past this incredibly tough period, you are allowed to eat a few carbs, but generally not more than 60 grams a day. That's like eating one bagel a day and then stopping. This is a difficult road to follow for a liftetime.
In fact, a recent study showed that most adults who start a low carbohydrate diet quit the diet within a year. Admittedly, there is great progress by Atkins and other food manufacturers to dramatically reduce the amount of effective carbs in some food offerings that could be classified as comfort foods (e.g., muffins, brownies, yogurt and more). This helps but you cannot have much if you want to stay within the diet guidelines.
In addition to the loss of almost all traditional comfort foods, by cutting out carbohydrates, the diet is also cutting out a lot of foods that are good for us. Fruits and vegetables have fiber, vitamins and phytonutrients that help keep us healthy. Limiting fiber while consuming a lot of saturated fat, is not the most heart healthy diet.
The low carb diet does take a person out of a primary sugar burning state into a fat burning state. However, some literature makes it sound as though you cannot burn fat any other way. The fact is that we are all burning some fat, we may just be adding more fat faster than we burn it. Modifying the diet to eliminate refined carbohydrates and focusing on high quality protein and good fats will gradually train the body to burn more fat and less sugar.
To their credit, the Atkins group have refined their diet guidelines from their original 'eat all the fat you want' stance to 'eat moderate amounts of good fats'. This is not only a heart healthy step forward but is also likely to help your weight loss efforts as essential fatty acids (the good fats) can help you actually burn more fat. However, when you consider that carbs are already limited on this diet, I'm not sure what you eat except grilled chicken breast, fat free cottage cheese and egg-white omelets. This effectively transforms the diet into a high-protein, low-calorie diet which, if it becomes low calorie, will induce the body to lower its metabolism.
But the one thing you need to know about why the Atkins diet brings about significant weight loss in the first week is that it sends the body into ketosis. Without getting technical, this is a body imbalance that causes your body to flush out toxins (ketones) through your urine like crazy! What you are losing then is primarily water ? not fat. Over the long term, restricting carbohydrate consumption to the levels recommended in Atkins and other similar diets is that they overlook the fact that your body needs carbohydrates to utilize the protein you consume. Thus, just like the low calorie diet, this diet cannot help you increase or even maintain muscle mass if carbohydrates are not consumed at a higher level than they recommend.
Finally, if you go off of the low carb diet, your body will immediately stop burning fat as it's primary fuel source. Adding carbs back into the diet will usually cause weight gain as the water weight loss comes back within days.
If you are committed to fat loss success, then you cannot overlook the body's need for sufficient calorie levels to prevent the body from lowering its metabolism. You also need sufficient protein that the body can utilize to have a shapely figure (this goes for guys and gals), youthful skin and great hair. Keep the fruits and vegetables, permit yourself a serving or two of a whole grain bread or pasta, focus on high quality proteins and good fats, get calcium from low fat dairy products such as yogurt and your body will respond with a slow, steady and healthy weight loss.
Here's to your health as well as your weight loss success!
About The Author
After four years of a near twenty-year Finance career as VP Finance at a global software company, I wanted a fresh challenge. I re-focused my career to pursue my long term personal interest, Health and Fitness, and founded Accelerate Nutrition, Inc. of which I am President. Our website, http://www.accelerate-weight-loss.com is focused at increasing health awareness on diet and fitness issues.
nancy@acccelerate-weight-loss.com
|
|
|
Prejudice And Obesity - Have You Been A Victim?
It's a sad comment on human nature that prejudice and obesity go hand in hand. Ask any person who has battled with obesity and they'll be able to reel off a list of examples.It begins at school, where some children have a knack of singling out anyone who's different from the rest for bullying and taunting. Children who are more overweight than their classmates are easy targets.If they also happen to be of a different ethnic background from the majority of their classmates, their lives can become especially unpleasant.Sadly, this attitude does not end when the child leaves school. Research has shown...(related: Weight Loss)
Move, Move, Move For Greater Weight Loss
The loss of fat comes from fat cells all over the body, not from one or more specific area's so spot reduction of a certain area is not possible. The main priority of this article is to show you the quickest and safest way to lose fat from the body.The key to effective aerobic training that burns off the maximum amount of fat is long-term consistency not intensity. It doesn't matter if you run a mile, jog a mile or walk a mile you will burn exactly the same amount of calories.<...(related: Weight Loss)
A Holistic Approach To Weight Loss & Fitness
World Health Organization has observed that obesity has now reached epidemic proportions globally. More number of people are dying due to obesity and resultant disease. Weight loss and fitness is not just an issue of shedding a few pounds and pumping up the muscles temporarily and ...(related: Weight Loss)
Lapband Surgery: The Rules Of The Road, Part 2
The Constant Quest for Restriction; Not enough vs. too muchRestriction. No one can really describe it but everyone wants it.You have restriction...(related: Weight Loss)
Panic After Wls: Im Succeeding At Weight Loss: Now What?
The fear of success arises in patients when they realize a genuine change is occurring and they are moving forward with their life. To have bariatric surgery is to pursue an allusive dream that is now being realized ? many patients have dreamed all of their lives of successfully losing weight. This time the miracle is working and the pounds are melting away. This time there is no familiar failure, no relapse to bad behavior. This time we are eye-to-eye with success. Weight loss surgery guarantees successful weight loss, and increases the odds for long-term successful weight maintenance.The fear of success is very real because it's about the unknown. We have not succeeded at dieting or w...(related: Weight Loss)
Lose Weight & Achieve A Healthy Metabolism By Balancing And Adjusting Your Meals
How many meals do you eat in one day?Close study of weight loss throughout the past decades has proven to us that eating a small number of large meals daily will lower your metabolism. This diet pattern results in extra weight in fat. However, this fat seems to be easily ...(related: Weight Loss)
The Mini Tummy Tuck Procedure
What is a mini tummy tuck? Officially called a partial abdominoplasty, a mini tummy tuck simply removes unwanted skin and fat from the area below the navel. This type of procedure has substantially increased in popularity. A full tummy tuck, by contrast removes skin and fat from the entire abdominal area. A mini tummy tuck is a good option if there is not a lot of excess skin to remove, and the patient is interested in minimizing a bulging lower abdomen.After pregnancy, the lower abs, or rectus abdominus muscles are stretched and the laxity may remain, emphasizing a lower abdominal bulge. The mini tummy tuck is a popular option for women seeking to return to pre-pregnancy abdominal firmness. A mini tummy tuck is also a good option for men looking to reduce excess tissue after weight loss or even gastric bypass surger...(related: Weight Loss)
A Simple Plan For Weight Loss That Really Works
One pound of fat equals 3500 calories. Want to lose a pound a week? Then you need to consume 3500 calories less per week ...(related: Weight Loss)
The Thermogenic Fat Burner
The term 'thermogenic' refers to a group of drugs or herbs, which have the ability to stimulate the central nervous system and thyroid gland. The idea behind thermogenics is to decrease the appetite with a thermogenic fat burner while incre...(related: Weight Loss)
2 Ways To Start Burning Fat Quickly
1. Start Exercising first thing in the morning.As soon as you wake up in the morning workout for at least 30min to an hour. Studies show that working out in the morning has been shown to b...(related: Weight Loss)
site-map - Copyright © 2007 | Contact Webmaster - shukra1111 [AT] yahoo.com | All Rights Reserved | Weight Loss