The low carbohydrate diet tends to be one that avoids sugary foods such as bread and pasta. Carbohydrates are sugars and instead of foods with this non-essential nutrient the low-carb way of eating encourages moderate protein, natural fats and vegetables
The low carbohydrate diet tends to be one that avoids sugary foods such as bread and pasta. Carbohydrates are sugars and instead of foods with this non-essential nutrient the low-carb way of eating encourages moderate protein, natural fats and vegetables.
Feel full longer. People’s appetite tends to be somewhat suppressed on low-carb diets, so that people can eat fewer meals and snacks and still be satisfied: Although it's not about calories!
Studies have shown that there's no reason to avoid natural fats. In fact the most recent study by the British Medical Journal that assessed over 19 individual studies of this subject found that people eating higher levels of natural fat lived longer (See the study here)
One of the benefits of eating things like butter, cream, avocados and olive oil is that you feel fuller for longer. No more cravings and hunger pangs!
Eating low-carb means having an ample amount of vegetables (they do contain some carbs but they're wrapped up in fibre so you can eat lots!) and avoiding sugary foods, such as fruit juices. Because you're not pumping lots of fast-acting carbohydrates into your body your blood sugar tends to be stable and not rise and fall. You don't have that sugar rush and then a dip in energy just a few hours later. This has many health benefits (see studies here) One of which is safe weight loss. Maintaining a healthy weight is also found to easier for most people
Eating low carb or Keto is easy. Most people find the increased intake of vegetables gives them a boost in energy and often reported benefits include better skin, clearer thinking and a general improved sense of well being.
The leafy green vegetables can in the early days increase gas and for those that avoided greens the stomach can feel bloated for a few days. All of these side effects will lessen over time as you adapt to living on less sugar (sugar is a carbohydrate.)
A 2012 study also showed that people on a low-carb diet burned 300 more calories a day – while resting! According to one of the Harvard professors behind the study this advantage “would equal the number of calories typically burned in an hour of moderate-intensity physical activity”.
Imagine that: an entire bonus hour of exercise every day, without actually exercising. A later, even larger and more carefully conducted study confirmed the effect, with different groups of people on low-carb diets burning an average of between 200 and almost 500 extra calories per day.
You don't have to believe 'health gurus' as you can test this for yourself at home. Eating a high carbohydrate meal will raise your blood sugar and for the same price as a new book you can buy a blood glucose monitor and check for yourself what some so-called 'healthy foods' are doing to your body. Eating low carb makes the readings consistently lower (or you can see a clinical study here)
Most people can safely start a low-carb diet but in these situations you may need some preparation or adaption.
The main fear among some commentators is the fear that they might be a potentially higher risk of heart disease. Modern studies do not support that theory, and many risk factors appear to improve on a low-carb diet. (see the British Journal Of Nutrition's findings in 2016 here)
Check out this great video about how the calorie counting theory doesn't work out well for most people.
The scale is not necessarily your friend. You may want to lose fat – but the scale measures muscles, bone and internal organs as well. Gaining muscle is a good thing. Thus weight or BMI are imperfect ways to measure your progress. This is especially true if you’re just coming off a long period of semi-starvation (calorie counting), as your body may want to restore lost muscles etc. Starting weight training and gaining muscle can also hide your fat loss.
Losing fat and gaining muscles means great progress, but you may miss this if you only measure your weight. Thus it’s smart to also track the disappearance of your belly fat, by measuring your waist circumference.
I recommend aiming for “excellent” but it’s not always realistic. Young people can usually achieve this,