Low Carb Diets

Normally, most people do not like keeping a diet. They usually relate dieting to restraining themselves from food rather than having a particular lifestyle. However, for those who need to lose weight, to take care of their health or simply to maintain their shapely figure, there is a healthy alternative – this is the low carbohydrate diet.

“Low carb diet” forms the basis of many well-known dietary systems, such as the Atkins diet, the Zone, Protein Power, The Carbohydrate Addict's Lifestyle Plan, Sugar Busters, and many others. Moreover, “low carb” is an individual dietary plan that is characterized by the limited consumption of foods rich in carbohydrates (mainly sugar and starch foods).

Low carb diet is the only diet that successfully cures modern diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high LDL cholesterol, high blood pressure, hypoglycemia, anxiety and panic disorder, and others. The traditional low-calorie and low-fat diets, recommended by doctors and nutritionists, do not give satisfactory results and can even worsen the individual’s health, as is the case with diabetes. In fact, a low carbohydrate way of life is the only chance to cure the cause of all these symptoms and conditions – hyperinsulinemia, also known as the popular “Syndrome X”. Moreover, the high-carbohydrate diet is the main cause for obesity among children. Nowadays, medical practitioners and pediatricians have to face a pandemic of diabetes and hypertension among children and teenagers.

The main idea of a low carb diet is to consume fats and proteins rather than carbohydrates. Basically, the most popular low-carb diet is a high-fat diet with reasonable consumption of protein. Regardless of our traditional consumption while on a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet, with low-carbohydrate diets, 60 to 70 percent of the daily calorie intake comes from fat. Carbohydrates should account for 5 to 10 percent of our daily calorie intake. Other nutritionists suggest consumption of up to 40% energy from carbohydrates. This is so because they consider a common mistake the equation of “low carb” with drastically restricted carb intake of some popular diets, such as the Induction phase of the Atkins Diet. Such introductory phases are usually meant to be short and the carbohydrate intake should be increased after that, since it helps to mitigate the negative side effects of the condition called ketosis. It is characterized by acetone excreted in the urine, smelling breath and other side effects such as nausea, tiredness, headaches and temporary fatigue, and loss of appetite. Most of these symptoms will disappear in a week or so. A slow beginning of the diet, with gradual reduction of the amount of the consumed carbs, also minimizes the ketosis side effects.

Being on a low-carb diet enables you to eat until you are full. Low carb diet is sometimes referred to as luxury since the main foods consumed are different kinds of meat, fish, poultry, eggs, and cheese, plus some low-sugar fruit and non-starchy vegetables. However, if you want to improve your health, you should consume fresh and natural low carb foods.