Why a Low Carb Diet Menu is the Best For Weight Loss
For many years, eating a low fat diet was the ticket to losing weight.
After all, fat has 9 calories per gram, and carbohydrate has only 4 calories per gram.
A whole range of low fat foods hit the market: low fat cheese to use on pizza, low fat pasta sauce for paste dishes and low fat margarine to butter your toast and sandwiches...
Yet our waist line got bigger not smaller, and the more we chased the low fat diet, the fatter we got.
Why? Essential fatty acids found in foods such as extra virgin olive oil, seeds, nuts, avocados, and oily fishes such as salmon and mackerel are actually good for weight loss.
The unhealthy fats, or trans-fatty acids of partially hydrogenated fats such as margarine and processed fast foods are the ones to avoid.
For the past seven years, ever since a study in 2002 concluded that dietary fats were not a contributor to weight gain, the focus has shifted to carbohydrates and sugars.
Unfortunately, our society is bombarded with foods containing an excessive amount of carbohydrate.
A subway anyone? How about McDonald's with fries and a shake? Pizza night? Pasta? Sugary cereal? Topping the Glycemic Index (GI) foods list at 80 or over are: French baguette (95), Lucozade (95), Baked potato (85), Cornflakes (83), Rice Crispies (82) and Prezels (81) to give a few examples.
Glucose is obviously 100.
So if you are having sugary cornflakes for breakfast, a French baguette sandwich for lunch and baked potatoes for dinner, you are overloading your system with too much carbohydrates, and your chances of losing weight is looking a bit grim.
On the lower end of the GI scale at under 40, we have: Apples (38), wholemeal spaghetti (37), chickpeas (33), dried apricots (31), kidney beans (29), lentils (29) and cherries (22) to name a few.
So why is a low carb diet menu so important for weight loss? When you consume an excess or a large amount of carbohydrates, you body kicks into overdrive and delivers a large dose of a hormone called insulin to deal with all the excessive carbs.
This large dose of insulin tends to convert the starch and sugars into fat.
The resulting high blood sugars in your body will also mean the body is using carbohydrates as energy, rather than fat.
Plus what it cannot use will be converted into more fat.
The result? The fat stays and more gets added with each high carb intake.
Eating a low carb diet will mean your insulin level will be on a more even keel.
A high fiber, low GI meal will satisfy your hunger more and help control your appetite.
Your body will also start using fat as energy (provided you are not a total coach potato!).
A note on snacking..
..
Healthy snacking is good for you.
It will stop you from eating excessive amounts at meal times and will maintain a more balanced level of blood sugar.
Numerous studies have shown that eating smaller meals more frequently helps weight loss.
You will feel less hungry and the quantity you eat will be smaller.
Healthy snacks would include fruit, nuts and vegetable.
Finally, a low carb diet does not mean a no carb diet.
Just limit your intake of bread, cereal, pasta, rice, potatoes and other high GI foods, and you will be well on your way to a healthier weight.
Instead of carbohydrates being the center of the dish, make protein and vegetables the main items.
Just use carbohydrate as the side condiment, (a bit like the token decorative vegetables you get in restaurants) and not as the main dish.
After all, fat has 9 calories per gram, and carbohydrate has only 4 calories per gram.
A whole range of low fat foods hit the market: low fat cheese to use on pizza, low fat pasta sauce for paste dishes and low fat margarine to butter your toast and sandwiches...
Yet our waist line got bigger not smaller, and the more we chased the low fat diet, the fatter we got.
Why? Essential fatty acids found in foods such as extra virgin olive oil, seeds, nuts, avocados, and oily fishes such as salmon and mackerel are actually good for weight loss.
The unhealthy fats, or trans-fatty acids of partially hydrogenated fats such as margarine and processed fast foods are the ones to avoid.
For the past seven years, ever since a study in 2002 concluded that dietary fats were not a contributor to weight gain, the focus has shifted to carbohydrates and sugars.
Unfortunately, our society is bombarded with foods containing an excessive amount of carbohydrate.
A subway anyone? How about McDonald's with fries and a shake? Pizza night? Pasta? Sugary cereal? Topping the Glycemic Index (GI) foods list at 80 or over are: French baguette (95), Lucozade (95), Baked potato (85), Cornflakes (83), Rice Crispies (82) and Prezels (81) to give a few examples.
Glucose is obviously 100.
So if you are having sugary cornflakes for breakfast, a French baguette sandwich for lunch and baked potatoes for dinner, you are overloading your system with too much carbohydrates, and your chances of losing weight is looking a bit grim.
On the lower end of the GI scale at under 40, we have: Apples (38), wholemeal spaghetti (37), chickpeas (33), dried apricots (31), kidney beans (29), lentils (29) and cherries (22) to name a few.
So why is a low carb diet menu so important for weight loss? When you consume an excess or a large amount of carbohydrates, you body kicks into overdrive and delivers a large dose of a hormone called insulin to deal with all the excessive carbs.
This large dose of insulin tends to convert the starch and sugars into fat.
The resulting high blood sugars in your body will also mean the body is using carbohydrates as energy, rather than fat.
Plus what it cannot use will be converted into more fat.
The result? The fat stays and more gets added with each high carb intake.
Eating a low carb diet will mean your insulin level will be on a more even keel.
A high fiber, low GI meal will satisfy your hunger more and help control your appetite.
Your body will also start using fat as energy (provided you are not a total coach potato!).
A note on snacking..
..
Healthy snacking is good for you.
It will stop you from eating excessive amounts at meal times and will maintain a more balanced level of blood sugar.
Numerous studies have shown that eating smaller meals more frequently helps weight loss.
You will feel less hungry and the quantity you eat will be smaller.
Healthy snacks would include fruit, nuts and vegetable.
Finally, a low carb diet does not mean a no carb diet.
Just limit your intake of bread, cereal, pasta, rice, potatoes and other high GI foods, and you will be well on your way to a healthier weight.
Instead of carbohydrates being the center of the dish, make protein and vegetables the main items.
Just use carbohydrate as the side condiment, (a bit like the token decorative vegetables you get in restaurants) and not as the main dish.
Source...