Fad diets are a dime a dozen. There are weight loss pills, crazy diets of grapefruit and liquid meals, cookies for dinner and ice cream for dessert. There’s even low-calorie, pre-prepared entree delivery brought straight to your door. All this craze of diet plans comes a barrage of criticism, as well. The diet is either unhealthy because you don’t get enough food, or too much of the unwanted or undesirable food. Even celebrities are getting involved. There are a number of celebrity weight loss diets that work. People are dying to know how Kirstie Alley lost 100 pounds.
In recent years, one of the most popular diets to have come out of the dark is the low carb weight loss plan. There are many varieties of the low carb weight loss program.
There are many misconceptions about low carb diets. Many people have thought this was a new fad diet or that it was a new diet altogether. Many were skeptical because the low carb weight loss plan requires the omission of certain foods. The truth is that low carb weight loss programs are not new and are actually taught to medical professionals as a valid and natural way of eating. The popularity of low carb diets, as well as low fat diets, have always risen and fallen throughout the years and is actually totally acceptable to the health community when followed correctly.
The basic concept is a very simple process. The body uses carbohydrates as energy and while doing so will ignore fat that is consumed (which is just another natural source of energy for the body.) Most of these carbohydrates (the bad ones) are gleaned from sugar. It has no substance and will cause a burst of energy that will result in a crash after a few hours. These are the bad carbs that will ultimately cause obesity, diabetes and insulin resistance. Some, misguided people, erroneously believe that a low carbohydrate diet will actually cause diabetes. This is impossible since a low carbohydrate actually helps to prevent the body from turning excess sugar into too much insulin for the pancreas to absorb. Therefore, it begins to sit in the body and clog arteries and blood vessels.
The carbs that are consumed are the healthy carbs such as found in foods rich in fiber and low in sugar, and gluten (gluten is turned to sugar in the body.) These carbs are insoluble and will not be stored in your body as bad carbs do. It is a huge misconception that low carb dieters consume mostly fat and protein. Factually, low carb dieters will eat more vegetables and fruits than anything else as well as healthy nuts. Fats (Tran’s fats) are discouraged while saturated fats are accepted. One large criticism is that because a low carb diet is considered a fad, it is often thought of as a lifestyle not maintainable because you can go off of the diet. Most never consider that one can go off of a low fat diet, as well. Any change of eating habits is subject to reversion. You will simply have to work out what is best for you in your situation.
