Vegetarian Daily Diet

What are the main aspects of a low carb diet?

Hi everyone I am thinking of doing a low carb diet ready for my summer holidays in mid August. What foods can I eat? How much should I eat? Does anyone have any simple recepies for food I can have at lunch while at work? How much weight will I loose? I only need to loose a stone and a half. Any info at all would be much appreciated as I have never done this diet or anything similar. I am a carb addict so I'm hoping when i stop eating as many carbs the weight will fall off. Truthfully, how hard is it to stick to it? Thanks everyone :o) x

Public Comments

1. I done a low carb diet a while ago and lost around 10 pound, it is quite easy to stick to as you are just eating protein which fills you up. The only thing is if you start eating carbs again the weight will go back on, which is what happened to me! Basically you can eat as much of any protein you want ie. Lean meats, fish, eggs, cheese, only carbs you should eat are fruit and veg (although some low carb diets say avoid this, but thats not healthy) Omeletes are quick and easy to make and fill you up. Good luck
2. The key is moderation and balance. Here a link for an article that will explain things a bit better . During the introduction phase of a high protein diet such as Atkins they instruct you to omit all carbs, including fruit and even limiting vegetables. This introduction lasts for two weeks. After this phase you can begin to incorporate some carbs back into the diet but limiting yourself from 25-40 grams of carbs per day. These carbs should be unrefined and unprocessed. A refined carbs would be white , bread, pasta, white rice, sugar laden products, candy , ect. You should consume as many healthy carbs as possible, fruits, vegetables, WHOLE GRAIN bread( if whole grain is not the first ingredient in the ingredients list find another bread.) , brown long grain or wild rice. You might also want to look up the glycemic index which is what the diet is based on. the glycemic index is a rating sytem of how carbs effect the blood sugar. the atkins diet is one that keeps the blood sugar in check. It can be difficult to folllow but i belive a well balanced diet with moderation is always best instead of eliminating any food group. hope i helped thanks. http://www.dentalplans.com/Dental-Health-Articles/Low-Carbohydrate-Dieting-Exposing-the-Myths-and-Realities.asp
3. I don't recommend a low carb diet. As long as your body burns more calories than you take in, you will lose weight. Make a lifestyle change - eat smaller portions of better foods. If you burn 1000 calories more a day than you consume, you'll lose 2 pounds per week. All of the health experts say you shouldn't lose more than 1 - 2 pounds a week. The low-carb diets make you lose more, but once you go off the diet most (if not all) of the weight will come back. It can also lead to long-term damage.
4. Long term damage rubbish! I think you will find there is a lot more research on the benefits of a low carbohydrate diet then there is for a low fat one. You do not need to eat lean meats on a low carb diet, a low carb diet really shouldn't be low fat and there is plenty of research plus more to come to show that a high fat low carb diet will not harm your heart. In fact too many carbohydrates are more likely to cause problems and elevate your triglycerides not a high fat, low carb one. What foods you can eat? Try this, it is in reference to Atkins Induction, has all the rules and allowed foods during induction: http://www.apinchofhealth.com/resources/lowcarb/atkins-induction.html How much should you eat? Well that depends on your calorie needs though you should find the natural appetite suppresant that comes with the diet should reduce your calories for you without you even knowing about it! I will say one thing, you do not and should not need to eat low calorie on a low carbohydrate diet. Thats just crazy. You want a safe 2 pound a week weight loss? after the first 2 weeks are out of the way it is easily done. The first couple of weeks you will lose more but it is because you lose a lot of fluid, its all good so don't worry. The first week will be the hardest as you try and get your head around not eating bread etc but after a little while you will find it is the easiest diet to stick to as you are not constantly thinking about food and hungry all the time. Your mood and energy levels will even out and you will find you start to think clearer. If during the first week or two you feel a bit like you have a flu try taking a pottasium supplement. A lot of people call this the induction flu, I find it is caused by initial fluid loss, after the first couple of weeks your body readjusts its electrolyte balance and it rights itself but in the mean time a pottasium supplement often works wonders. Plenty of Atkins induction recipes here: http://www.apinchofhealth.com/forum/vbb/showthread.php?t=4685 (plus more to be added) Quiches, salads and muffins are great for lunches, leftovers are good too. Good luck :)