Posts Tagged ‘low carb diets’

The Effects of Low Carb Diets on Our Health

Sunday, January 17th, 2010

Although you can certainly go on a lot of different types of diets that can be rather effective, there is really nothing that can compare to the weight loss that you’re going to achieve when you’re on one of the low carb diets that are available.  Although they may come in a lot of different forms and under a lot of different names, the basic principles of these diets are going to be the same.  By limiting the amount of carbohydrates that you’re eating during the day, you’re forcing your body to use fat for fuel.

The low carb diets got their big start whenever the Atkins diet became popular.  The Atkins is one of the more strict forms of low carbohydrate diets that are available and during the induction phase, you’re going to be limiting yourself to under 20 g of carbohydrates every day.  This is an extremely low amount of carbohydrates and it is going to quickly force your body into a state that is known as ketosis.  This is recognized whenever ketones are present in the urine then there are specific strips which can test for their presence.  This is the ultimate goal of these low carb diets.

Unfortunately, ketosis is not necessarily the healthiest thing for your body and although it has been shown to help individuals to lose weight by burning fat for fuel, it is also something that diabetics do everything within their power to avoid.  It is also thought by many individuals in the health community that ketosis also causes the eating away at the internal organs along with the consumption of fat for fuel.  Of course, this would not be beneficial to your overall health, even if you were losing a considerable amount of weight.

Other type of low carb diets can consist of such things as a modified protein fast, which has been reported to help individuals to lose as much as 10 pounds of body fat every week.  The unfortunate thing about this particular diet is that it is extremely dangerous for you and you need to be monitored closely in order to make sure that your blood levels don’t go in the wrong direction.  South Beach diet is also a rather popular low carb diet but it is a little more flexible as far as the amount of carbohydrates that you’re going to eat.

If you really want to lose weight and you feel the carbohydrates hold the key to your weight-loss efforts, you might be interested in knowing that you can eat all of the carbs that you want, provided you eat the right kind.  What I am talking about are low glycemic carbohydrates, in which the sugar is released very slowly into the bloodstream.  This gives your body the opportunity to use up all the sugar that comes from these carbohydrates and none of them will be stored as fat cells.  If you eat off of the glycemic index lower end on a regular basis, you will achieve weight loss in a natural way.

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Low Carb Diets

Sunday, January 10th, 2010

There certainly are a lot of different ways for you to lose weight and diet but some of the most impressive come in the form of low carb diets. There are a number of these for you to try and depending on what it is that you are trying to achieve in your weight loss, one of them they work a little bit better than the other.

We’re going to identify several different low carb diets and discuss exactly why you might want to go on them, as well as why you might want to avoid them. It is interesting to note, however, that not much medical research has been done for low carb diets so the only guidelines that we have to go by is personal experience and the personal experiences of others.

Atkins, The Father of Low Carb Diets

One of the diets that first start of the low carb craze is the Atkins diet. This is been around for a couple of decades now and it was first introduced to society in a book that bore the same name and was written by a doctor with the same name.

The Atkins diet is very effective at helping you to lose weight and I, personally, have lost a lot of weight by doing a low carb diet on Atkins myself. The only problem with the diet is that it can be rather restrictive and during the induction phase, you will be keeping yourself at under 20 g of carbohydrates every day which is a ridiculously low amount.

Fortunately, you will be able to move up through the scale and once you have achieved your weight loss goals for the most part you may be able to add additional carbohydrates in your diet in order to make it more interesting. Generally speaking, however, you will not have a difficult time staying on the Atkins diet because your hunger will be switched off as a result of not having any carbohydrates.

Modified Protein Fast

Of all of the low carb diets that are available, the modified protein fast is the most strict and it is also going to be the most dangerous. It is similar to the Atkins diet but instead of allowing you 20 g of carbohydrates per day, it is going to allow you zero. The only thing that you’re going to be able to eat all the modified protein fast are proteins and fats.

This diet can be difficult to stay on but once you’re on it, you’re going to recognize amazing weight loss that will happen very quickly. Some people that have been able to stay on the modified protein fast for a month have lost well over 20 pounds during that time. The important thing for you to realize about this weight loss, is the fact that it is actually fat loss, not water loss or some other type of weight that you are not trying to lose.

The downside to the modified protein fast is the fact that it may have the possibility of killing you. This is such a strict diet that it is often necessary for you to go have your blood tested ahead of time and to have it tested periodically during the time that you are on the fast in order to make sure that you’re not losing critical components that could cause you health problems.

What Happens on Low Carb Diets?

In order for you to understand how low-carb diets work, it is necessary for you to understand, at least a little bit, how carbohydrates react in the body. Whenever you eat carbohydrates, they are going to release sugar into your bloodstream and that sugar is going to be used up by the insulin that is produced by your pancreas as energy. Whenever you do not give your body the carbohydrates than it needs, it is going to need to find the energy from somewhere else.

During the time that you are on the low carbohydrate diet and that you remain on it faithfully, you’re forcing your body into a state that is known as ketosis. This is something that diabetics often see and there are specific urinary strips that will test for in the presence of this phenomena. What ketosis does is force is your body to use fat for fuel since you are not giving it any carbohydrates any longer.

That is why it is imperative that once you’re on a low carbohydrate diet, you stay on the diet permanently, or at least until you’re ready to stop losing weight. As soon as you eat carbohydrates, you’re going to kick your body out of ketosis and it will take you a day or two to get back.

Low Carb Diets and Their Alternatives

It is not always necessary for you to go on one of these stricter low carb diets in order for you to lose weight successfully. As a matter of fact, you may be able to use the type of carbohydrate that you are eating in order to combat the fat that is when your body. This is done through a process of low glycemic carbohydrate eating.

The glycemic index rates how quickly the sugar is released from a carbohydrate into your blood stream. If you’re constantly eating from the low end of the glycemic index, you’re going to get a steady and manageable flow of sugar that will keep you feeling full and allow your body the opportunity to work that sugar off.

Sticking with the low glycemic diet gives you many more options than the low carb diets can give you and it will help you to lose weight almost as quickly. The only problem that you may have I been to one of these diets is the fact that you do not get enough calories so you must have legumes with every meal.

In Conclusion

Sticking with low carb diets is not always going to be the easiest thing but it is going to give you the opportunity to lose weight very quickly. After the diet is over, however, it is going to be your responsibility to make sure that you eat responsibly and keep the weight off.

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