“Diet” is often a scary word, because diet usually means deprivation. But there is a healthier and easier alternative that doesn’t deprive you of the foods you love to eat – the low carbohydrate diet.
People diet for two reasons, to lose weight, or to improve overall health – or both. If you’re a healthy adult who’s not overweight and who has no family members who are obese, the USDA food pyramid will work just fine. Just keep in mind that the carbohydrates they recommend are the ones contained in whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. However, even those who are healthy and who are not overweight can maintain their health and vitality by living a low carbohydrate lifestyle.
For those who are overweight, or who have diabetes, the low-carlorie and low-fat diets recommended by most dieticians simply don’t work. Moreover, for diabetics, they can actually worsen their condition. The only diet that strikes at the real cause of obesity, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, hypoglycemia, and type 2 diabetes is the low carbohydrate way of life.
When you move to a low carbohydrate way of life, you replace carbohydrates with fats and proteins. While diets vary in their recommendations, a low-carb diet is synonymous with a high-fat and moderate protein diet. Those on a low-carb diet should get at least 60 to 70 percent of their daily calorie intake from fat. Carbohydrates should make up less than 10 percent, and in some cases, less than 5 percent of your daily calorie intake.
As Americans, we’ve been told for years to eat a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet. Americans are now the fattest people on the planet – and we’re getting fatter at an alarming rate!Adult-onset diabetes is becoming a problem and we know better than to think that fat is the problem – carbohydrates are.
On a low-carb diet, you can eat until you’re full. You can eat meats, fish, poultry, eggs, and cheese, plus a limited amount of green vegetables (asparagus, spinach, broccoli). Plus, there are plenty of low carb alternatives that taste just like the foods you aren’t allowed to eat on a low carb diet. So now you can!
Part One: What is a low carb diet?
Part Two: How does a low carbohydrate diet burn fat?
Part Three: But is the low carb diet a healthy way of life?
Part Four: Can you be successful on a low carb diet?
