Low Carb and Loving It

Do you know someone who is eating low carb and loving it? Millions of dieters have found low carbohydrate dieting, and they enjoy it as a safe, easy and effective way to lose weight and maintain the loss. Have you considered becoming a low carber? This article will show you how you, too, can be low carb and loving it.

Low-carbohydrate dieting is a way to lose weight by restricting the carbohydrates in your diet. Most low carbohydrate diets range in carbs from about 20 grams a day to 50 grams of carbohydrates per day. Diets typically focus on the following principles:

1. Eliminate all types of sugar including white sugar, brown sugar, maple syrup, molasses, honey and agave. In some diets, sugar substitutes such as stevia, sugar alcohols, and artificial sweeteners are permitted; however, it is not known entirely the effects that these substances have on the body or on the success of a low carb diet. It is usually suggested that sugar-substitutes be consumed minimally, if at all.
2. Make your focus on vegetables and meats. Depending on the low carb plan and the phase of the diet you are in, other foods may be permitted such as nuts and berries.
3. Don’t count calories – count carbohydrates. Most low-carb diets don’t focus on counting calories; however, in many cases calorie counting becomes necessary as you progress on the diet.
4. Eliminate processed grains from the diet. Processed grains include things like flour, rice, cereal, corn and oats. Grains are high in carbohydrates, and many low-carb proponents believe that since we only started cultivating grains at the onset of agriculture, our bodies have not yet evolved to be able to process them.
5. Eat small amounts of full-fat dairy only. Low fat dairy products are typically too high in carbohydrates and milk sugars for most low carb diets. Full fat dairy includes heavy cream, cheese and butter. It is recommended that if you eat dairy, it only be consumed in small amounts.
6. Avoid legumes, which are high in carbohydrates.

Most people who are low carb and loving it are on one of a number of low carbohydrate diet plans. Below are a few of the low carb diet plans available.

Atkins New Diet Revolution

• The Atkins diet – This plan is one of the original low carbohydrate diet plans. It has been around since 1972, when Dr. Robert Atkins came out with his ground-breaking book, The Atkins Diet Revolution. Although Atkins has had a number of critics over the years, his diet has held up and become one of the most popular low carbohydrate diets in the world. The Atkins diet comes in three phases – induction, ongoing weight loss and maintenance. In each of the phases, additional foods are added, gradually increasing carbohydrate levels to a level that best suits the individual dieter. Atkins stresses sumptuous, high fat foods like bacon, heavy cream, butter and beef along with a limited number of vegetables. Fruits and nuts are added later in the diet. Most dieters on Atkins agree that they can sum up why they love being low carb in a single word: bacon.
• Protein Power Life Plan – This diet comes from Drs. Michael and Mary Dan Eades. The Protein Power Life Plan starts out with an intervention phase and then moves into ongoing weight loss and, ultimately, maintenance. While the Drs. Eades put their emphasis on fruit, vegetables, fish and lean meats, their philosophy is that a carb is a carb, so as long as dieters don’t go over the per carb allotment for each meal, they will lose weight. The Life Plan also emphasizes other good health practices like exercise, healthy supplementation and adequate sunlight. Their plan focuses mostly on an ancestral diet type of approach, basing the science behind what our bodies tolerate based on what we ate before agriculture became a way of life.
• The Paleolithic Diet has a number of forms depending on philosophy. In general, the Paleolithic diet focuses on eating as close to exactly as our ancestors did. The philosophy behind the diet is evolutionary – it takes species millions of years to evolve, and humans haven’t been around long enough to evolve to eat the types of foods that we do now. The diet focuses on anything hunter gatherers would have found to eat – high fat meats and marrows, organ meats, nuts, seeds, berries, fruits and vegetables. Dairy, grains and processed condiments such as vinegar are not considered part of the Paleolithic diet, and a number of true Paleolithic dieters also eschew cooking their food.

The three diets above are just a few of the large number of low carb diet plans available. Most low carb dieters love the diet for a number of reasons:

• Appetite is virtually eliminated.
• Energy increases.
• Weight loss is very quick in the initial phases of the diet, followed by more controlled weight loss as the diet progresses.
• In many cases, two of the most delicious foods in the world are allowed – butter and bacon.
• Low carb diets are very satiating.
• Low carb dieters report a reduction of a number of health problems including indigestion, intestinal gas, symptoms related to diabetes, bloating and more.

If you would like to learn more about low carb dieting, there are a number of excellent sources.

• Gary Taubes’s What if it’s All Been a Big Fat Lie is a great primer to why low carb dieting might have a basis in science. His book Good Calories, Bad Calories takes the concepts explored in the article further.
• The PaNu blog explores a number of carb related issues.
• Dr. Michael Eades blog is an excellent low carb reference.
• Active Low Carb Forums is a great place to go get information and support from other low carbers.

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