Low Carb Tips

Unless youve been living under a rock, you’re probably aware that trans fats are thought to contribute to heart disease, weight gain, and other health problems. These transformed fatty acids are commonly referred to as Trans Fatty Acids or TFAs and are present in most of the packaged foods found in the grocery store and your pantry!

Trans fats are produced by hydrogenation – the process of heating an oil and passing hydrogen through it. This process turns liquid oils into solid (margarine, Crisco) and extends the shelf life of most processed foods. The high temperatures used to heat the oils also destroy the essential fatty acids and transforms them into trans fats (short for transformed fatty acid). These fats compete with essential fatty acids for absorption in the body and are thought to contribute to coronary heart disease by raising LDL cholesterol levels (bad cholesterol), while lowering the HDL levels( good cholesterol). They also increase platelet aggregation, which in turn increases the chance of blood clotting, strokes and heart attacks. And if that isn’t bad enough, they also create free radicals that have been linked to cancer.

If you are on a low carb diet, chances are that you don’t eat very many processed or fried foods so you wont be consuming much food with trans fats. If you are sticking to mostly low fat meats and vegetables youre probably in pretty good shape as far as trans fats ingestion goes. Margarine is high in trans fats, but there are several brands out there that have no trans fats so if you are eating a lot of margarine, you may want to look into the brand you are buying. Mos of the foods high in trans fatty acids like chips, doughnuts, muffins, cakes, candy, soups, breads, margarine, cheese spreads, and cookies are no-nos on a low carb eating plan so cutting them out of your diet has the added health benefit of reducing your intake of these fats.

How do you know if a food has them? Well, the food industry doesn’t make it easy, they rarely put their content on the labels so you will need to figure it out by reading the ingredients. When buying packaged foods beware of the word hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated in the list of ingredients. These foods will contain trans fatty acids. If you are leading a low carb lifestyle you probably won’t be buying these foods anyway so not to worry!

About the Author

Lee Dobbins is webmaster of http://www.lowcarb-resource.com where you can find more information on low carb living.

Written By: Lee Dobbins

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You read a lot about low carb diets, such as Atkins. All my life, through all the diets Ive done and all the reading Ive done, opinions about eating carbohydrates have varied widely. Yes you should, no, you shouldnt at all, just eat low carb vegetables, whatever.

I want to clarify something about carbs that is very important. There are two kinds of carbs, simple or refined carbohydrates, and complex or unrefined carbohydrates. You cant really talk about whether carbs are good or bad for you till youve defined what it is you are talking about.

Complex carbohydrates are foods left in their natural state or very close to it. Brown rice, potatoes, beans, barley, oatmeal are all examples of these kinds of carbs. These high fiber carbs are absorbed slowly in your body. They provide a stable source of energy and minimize blood sugar spikes. This means that your body doesnt have to produce so much insulin to balance out your blood sugar.

Refined carbohydrates are processed foods. Things like white flour, white sugar, corn syrup, white rice are all simple carbohydrates. The process of milling or refining these foods, removes fiber, nutrients and oils. White flour even has to have B vitamins added back in, to provide basic levels of necessary vitamins.

Because there is so little food value in these foods, they are absorbed quickly, cause your blood sugar to spike, thus causing your body to produce insulin to offset this. If you eat these kinds of foods constantly (white bread, sweet roll, cookie, white rice) your body is constantly producing insulin, and it can lead to insulin resistance. In other words, it takes more insulin to level out your blood sugar. This may lead to Type 2 diabetes.

Because these simple carbohydrates are so quickly absorbed, you get hungry again faster. This can lead to overeating and cravings. Your blood sugar goes up again and the whole cycle starts over again.

So, now when you talk about low carb diets, or high carb diets, the important distinction is what kind of carbs. Eating lots of white bread, sugared breakfast cereals, donuts, those are the wrong carbs to eat. Eating whole wheat bread, brown rice, oatmeal, vegetables of all kinds, those are the right kind of carbs to eat. They will give you a feeling of fullness, provide vitamins and minerals and fiber, and keep your blood sugar on a more even keel.

About the Author

Barbara Pfieffer writes about gaining real health on her blog, Real Health

Written By: Barbara Pfieffer

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Low carb diets can be classified as food plans that require keeping carbohydrates as low as 3% and never more than about 25 to 30%. This is much lower than the 50 to 60% recommended by most good scientists and valid research. Low carb diets include programs like Atkins, Protein Power, The Zone, Sugar Busters and the South Beach diet.

As you can see by the chart below, the Ornish and Pritikin diets at 70% and 80% carbs, are definitely high carb. One means used to distract peoples attention away from the fact that the Atkins diet is basically an unhealthy food plan is to compare a low carb diet to a high carb diet. However, neither one is the best solution.

Although the in-depth research of Dr. Dean Ornish, using his high carb/low fat diet, has uncovered some amazing findings and produced phenomenal results in reversing heart disease, as a weight loss program and regular eating plan, it has some drawbacks. The Ornish diet, as with Pritikin, is proving to be too low in healthy oils from fish, olives, nuts and seeds. Plus, it may also raise triglycerides and lower HDL (good) cholesterol.

This chart shows you carb, fat and protein comparisons:

Carbs Fat Protein

Ornish/Pritikin 70-80% 5-15% 10-15%


Diets at both the top and bottom extremes have their problems. Anyone can lose weight on a diet fad or otherwise – for a week, a month or even six months. But, for a weight loss program to be truly effective, your diet must become part of your lifestyle and the basis of everyday food choices. Besides health concerns, too many people find both low carb and high carb diets difficult to stick with for a lifetime. Your best bet is to develop a low calorie, healthy eating lifestyle that includes regular moderate exercise.

Moss Greene is the Nutrition Host at Bellaonline.com. Visit her web site at http://www.bellaonline.com/site/nutrition to find out how to look better, feel your best and have more energy -naturally. Join her free health and fitness newsletter by going to http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art2919.asp

nutrition@bellaonline.com

Written By: Moss Greene

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When I decided to lose weight I of course decided to do as much planning as possible. It seems the older I get the harder it is to do anything without completely planning it out. Anyways, I had already been on the all protein diets and knew that they worked. The only problem was I could never stick to them for very long.

So I decided to research the net a little more and see if I could find some other program that I had not yet heard about. I noticed something kind of strange, the more I looked around at different weight loss articles.

The two types of people that seemed to be claiming their way of eating was the best, were either vegans or the no carbohydrate eaters. This made sense to me. I mean, I know people who have lost lots of weight eating no carbohydrates. And if you know anyone who is a vegan, you know that they are generally very slim.

So I researched some more and came across some articles on food combining. These people claimed that you can eat whatever you want as long as you combine it properly. You can eat pasta as long as you only eat it with vegetables. Or, you can eat meat as long as you only eat it with vegetables.

This made sense because either way you are going to be eating a lot of vegetables, which nobody would argue, is a good thing. So I started my modified protein vegan style diet.

I went almost a month eating meat and veggies, when my weight loss seemed to plateau. So after that I decided to try a pasta diet, properly combined, for a while. And guess what, I lost some more weight the week I ate the carbohydrates.

A little over a month and I had lost 30 pounds and have kept it off for nine months now. So my question is this.

Do you think the vegans have the answer? Maybe,

Do you think the protein lovers have the answer? Maybe,

Do you think the food combining theory carries some weight?

I would say so. I would say it carries about 30 pounds of weight.

This article was written by Jason Barger. Jason is the founder of Primal Health Systems and author of Primal Weight Loss-The Guide to Losing Excess Weight. To find out more about him and his health programs you can visit http://www.primalhealth.com

info@primalhealth.com

Written By: Jason Barger

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Low carbohydrate diets will indeed help you to loose weight, but who likes the word “diet” anyway? The secret is to make low carbs a way of life for you and your family. Our bodies are made up of protein, fats, and carbohydrates – and of course, water and vitamins and minerals which all work together to make up our blood system, our tissues, bones, and organs to give us energy everyday. The problem for most people is when these major components get out of balance. Our systems are designed to withstand some turbulence (like eating a whole pizza or a gallon of ice cream) once in a long while, and then it will bounce right back whenever the proper nutrition is again added into the system. But, not major upheavals.

Most of us tend to overdue it on processed carbs. We drink too much soda instead of good clean water, eat drive-thru twice a day, and then come home for a dinner of chicken and mashed potatoes (from a box). This is not a balanced diet! The carb level on a day like this is through the roof! Really, the only thing good here was the chicken (protein) and possibly that little burger that was in-between all that bread and fries from the drive-thru! Where are the fruits and veggies? You need the balance. They do have carbs in them, but “good” carbs, and they also contain vitamins, minerals, and fiber. They are naturally sweetened, too. As you can see, there is little room in this days’ intake to squeeze in some healthy food, so the best suggestion is to lower the carb intake by changing your lifestyle to a low carbohydrate diet.

A simple low carb diet means eliminating those bad, starchy, sugary junk foods, and unnatural foods that come pre-packaged and replacing them with some of the healthy, fresh, or at least canned or frozen veggies and fruits. Reducing the processed food will allow you to take in more protein which makes you feel satisfied longer, and builds tissues and muscle. In the long run, a person who cuts down on their carbs, and beefs up the rest of their metabolism with 8 glasses of water a day, and 15 minutes of exercise, natural types of food, will lose weight on a consistent basis. Let low carbohydrate dieting become a way of life for you, and you will feel much better for much longer.

About the author:

This article was written by T.Potter. You can visit Low Carb Guide for further information and low carbohydrate resources.

Written By: T.Potter

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There are essentially three types of diets these days. There is the Atkins diet which stresses low to zero carbs. There is the low fat diet which stresses no fats and there is a vegetarian diet which stresses low fat and low protein but allows higher carbohydrates. Today I would like to demystify the need for carbs. And then in the future we can deal with fats and protein as well as what diet is best.

Carbohydrates are the main component of grains, rice, fruits and vegetables. You essentially need carbohydrates for energy and fibre. When your body is looking for a source of energy it tends to use the simplest form available. The very simplest form of energy is glucose and although this is pure table sugar its next closest form is found in fruits as sucrose. These carbohydrates are called simple carbs because they are easy for your body to break down into energy. If your body can not find one of these sources of sugar for energy it will move down the food chain and try one of the next most easily available carbs next would be grain based or what we look at as white carbohydrates such as bread, potatoes, or rice. (Chocolate bars although not an official food group are closer to sugar than veggies or other carbs). Your body will use any of the complex carbs as well as vegetables for fuel before moving to fats or proteins.

Now that we can see where our carbs site in the energy chain it is a good idea to see what happens when we eat one and what happens to our energy from them. When you eat a sugar it immediately increases your blood sugar otherwise known as your insulin level. When you blood sugar spikes from sugar, chocolate, or pop you will get a bit of a euphoric feeling from this extra unneeded energy but because it is quick pickup it is also a quick drop for energy and thus you will get a sugar crash 30-45 minutes after the initial energy peak, this is very bad and bad for your body. If on the other hand you only had potatoes or bread or rice for your carbs you would have no nice spikes but no crashes either and would feel after a couple days on a very more even keel, you would feel like you energy is pretty good all the time but never to low or to high. This is the key that we are looking for.

About the Author

Bill Nadraszky has been a health and fitness junkie for years. You can find more articles at his fitness site at http://health-fitness.xptechsupport.com

Written By: Bill Nadraszky

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One of the most popular diets is the low carb one. But because of its popularity the number of diet plans is growing, and growing and growing. When you have to decide it is so difficult: the very large amount of information freezes you. Youre blocked and you have to find a way to continue what you have begun: a low carb diet.Thats why I have decided to present you some diet plans for a low carb diet.

One of the most known is the Atkins diet. It mainly consists of four phases: first phase has the purpose to induce benign dietary ketosis that will help the body to produce the fat mobilization substance; once this substance is being produced the body is forced to disgorge and burn up deposited body fat; this is the time when you start loosing weight. The second phase continues the process and tries to remove some of the food restrictions. This will last until you achieve the desired weight.

The third phase prepares you for the last one. Now you will change your diet into a maintenance diet and you will lose very slowly the last extra pounds. The last phase is the maintenance diet and its purpose is to maintain the target weight for life. This is achieved by setting a fairly strict diet that will forever keep off the lost weight. The person is urged to stick to the carbohydrate level they feel happiest on without gaining weight.

Another popular diet plan for a low carb diet is Eat Fat Get Thin. This is a high fat, low carb plan, which allows 60g carbohydrates per day and calories are unrestricted. The method is to reduce your intake of refined carbs. In order to do this you can eat as much as you want of any meat, fish, poultry, cheese, cream butter and eggs; you can also have green leafy vegetables. You are allowed to eat vegetables and fruits, avoiding the sweeter ones. You should cut of foods with a large amount of sugar and cereals, and you should give up eating bread, or eat as less as you can. This diet was a success for the one who wrote it, and it can be for you, too.

Another diet plans are: Life without Bread, The Diet Cure, Fat Flush Plan, Neanderthin, South Beach Diet and many, many others.

About the Author

If you find this information useful you should visit the site http://www.free-online-diet-plans.com where you will find lots of interesting articles related to this topic, all original and wrote by Andreea Dinescu.

Written By: Andreea Dinescu

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Note: This is one of the many quick and easy beef recipes that tastes fabulous with minimal effort thanks largely to sour cream. You can fix this meal in less than 30 minutes. Because it is so easy to do – and tastes absolutely delicious – it is a great meal to serve at your dinner parties. The dish is absolutely best if you use beef tenderloin. There is little waste, and you are better off serving smaller portions than using a lesser-quality in larger amounts. This is great served over any type of pasta.

Serving size,1 1/3 cups. Carbs per serving5.4 grams of carb. NUMBER OF SERVINGS: 4.

Ingredients: 1 1/2 pounds beef tenderloin, trimmed well salt to taste freshly ground pepper to taste 12 ounces small button mushrooms 2 Tablesps coconut oil 1 ounce butter 3/4 cup stock or broth 2 Teasps Wondra flour 3/4 cup sour cream 2 Tablesps freshly chopped parsley (or small sprigs)

Pound meat thin. Cut in strips about 1/4 inch wide and 2 inches long. Put on a large plate and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. If you have time, refrigerate meat for an hour or longer. Wipe mushrooms clean with a damp paper towel. Trim off hard ends of stems. Heat a large, heavy skillet on medium-high. Add the oil. Quickly brown the meat in the hot oil on both sides, about 2 minutes total. Remove meat to a holding plate. Add the butter to the skillet. Reduce heat to medium-low. Ad the mushrooms and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the beef stock and stir to loosen particles on the bottom of the skillet. Add the flour and stir into the broth. Simmer for about 2 minutes on low. Add the meat and the sour cream and heat through. Adjust seasoning, sprinkle with parsley, and serve immediately.*

*Sub-Note: If you are not prepared to serve the meal promptly after you have added the flour and stirred the stock, remove the pan from the heat until you are. (If this is going to take longer than 30 minutes, refrigerate everything until you are ready.) Reheat mushrooms and stock in skillet until bubbly. Proceed with recipe.

About the author:

This article may be freely distributed as long as this resource box remains intact. If you want more Low Carb recipes, please visit The Low Carb Diet eBook

Written By: Adrian Kennelly

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