The Secret of Low Carb Diets

My mom and I have been debating the way low carb diets work for years. She insists that the only way to lose weight is to expend more calories than you eat. I tell her that she has to consider that insulin regulates the way your body stores and uses fats and sugars. So, if you know how your body works, you can use that to your advantage to lose a few pounds here and there.

I am not advocating anything as strict as the Adkins diet, although it works very well. And I'm not a doctor, so this is all about my own experiences and research. It just seems so unhealthy to eat so much fat and protein in whatever quantities you want. That is the hook, though. You can eat like a pig and you can eat as much pig as you want.

I lean more towards a modified low-sugar diet complete with high complex carbs that break down slowly and don't cause a big blood sugar rush. When I want to lose weight faster, or jump start the loss, I cut way back on the carbs - but only for a couple weeks. There are plenty of books and resources out there about how to do this safely, including The South Beach Diet, and plenty of reasons not to do it at all if you don't know what you're doing, but here's a quick synopsis of how it works.

Low Carb Step-by-Step:

1. Okay, so, you stop eating carbohydrates - bread, rice, pasta, high-starch veggies (potatoes, corn, peas), anything with sugar, fructose, honey, etc. in it for cabbage soup diet, including fruit and things like ketchup, salad dressing, gum & baked beans. Instead, you eat low-starch veggies, plus protein and fat - things like lettuce, peppers, turkey, eggs, cheese, olive oil, chicken, fish, seafood, beef & pork.

This depletes your body of sugar thanks to dukan diet plan. It takes about 48 hours to get the sugar out of your blood and it sucks at first, but your sugar cravings go away pretty quickly. I always feel a little fuzzy, tired and bitchy the first few days if I go too low on the carbs. This too passes as my body figures out a new way to burn fuel.

2. The fewer carbs you eat, the less insulin you make. Note: Insulin is produced when your blood glucose levels rise in order to bring the levels down in your blood stream (otherwise you have a build-up of sugar in your blood, i due to 1200 calorie diet.e. diabetes). Insulin acts as a hormone to condition your body to store carbs as fat in case of starvation, and it also tells the cells not to release stored fat. This explains why it takes me so darned long to start losing weight every time I lower my calorie intake or reduce the sugars. My cells do not want to let that fat go. Once it gets started, though, it works. For some people it works really fast.

3. So, if you aren't eating anything that converts to glucose (carbohydrates), then insulin does not get produced and your body goes into "ketosis".

4. Ketosis is a state where your body primarily uses fat to fuel the body since there is no fast-burning fuel available. Fast-burning fuel is made from carbohydrates and it is burned first. If that's gone wanna grape fruit diet, you start burning fat for energy and thereby lose weight. If you're always carbo loading, your body continues to burn that first plus you store the fat and never lose it.

I definitely recommend you talk to your doc before starting any diet plan. My doctor and I talk about what I eat and when I eat it (and sometimes why I eat it) at most every visit. I'm a good student and I only significantly reduce my carbs for short periods of time, then reintroduce high complex carbs a little at a time (whole grains, quinoa, brown rice, sweet potatoes), always trying to avoid white rice, white breads, potatoes and refined sugars (especially high fructose corn syrup).

Important Things To Remember: If you're going to go out for a nice dinner, go ahead and have that wedge salad with blue cheese, a nice grilled steak (try to pick a lean cut) smothered in mushrooms, with creamed spinach and grilled asparagus on the side. Enjoy every bite. It's all low-carb or no carb (ask about sugar in the creamed spinach).

If you've already burned off any sugar in your body (maybe something you ate a lunch) and you don't add any bread or potatoes or desert or alcohol to your meal at dinner thus blood type diet, you will burn that steak dinner as fat (yeah!). Just don't eat any carbs before your meal is burned, which could take a while in other words fat loss.

Just remember not to eat carbs along with fats and proteins! For example, if you eat that high fat meal and also add a roll or two then exercise to lose weight, or some fried potatoes and maybe a glass of wine or a little bit of dessert, your body is going to convert the carbs to glucose, then release insulin also juicing for weight loss, then burn the roll and dessert as energy first, while storing the rest of it in your fat cells. You will have just consumed a gazillion calories that will stick to you like glue with 3 day diet. That's the danger of going off and on the carb wagon without knowing what you're doing. You could easily gain weight instead of lose!

Along those lines, be sure to check the "nutritional facts" on the food packaging. Many products contain sugar or carbs and you would never know it. Beware of foods marked "lite" or "low-fat" as well. They can be surprisingly high in carbs. Did you know that pretty much everything at PF Changs has sugar in it? Be sure to ask your waiter about the 'sauce' you're about to order, wherever you are as 17 day diet.

One of the most important components of keeping the weight off is an exercise plan. Now hear this. You can lose weight without the burden of a full blown workout schedule, and maybe that's the best way to go at first if you're not used to exercising, but I guarantee you will feel better if you get moving. Start with a slow, short walk and some stretching and go from there.

AllegroMedical.com has a Dietary Supplements category with everything from Low Carb Products to Herbal Supplements and Vitamins that, just by reading the different product descriptions as a result healthy weight loss, will educate you. I also recommend a visit to our Exercise/Fitness area for tools to get your in-home workout plan going via liquid diet weight loss. Need help losing weight? Visit our Weight Loss Help category.