Low Carb Approaches – Drop a few dress sizes easily!

Losing weight can be quite difficult at times.  Sometimes you can try your very best and still get no results, needless to say then that this can be very discouraging.  Food advertisements are thrown at us from all directions. It’s on the television, the radio, billboards – advertising is everywhere.  It is targeted specifically at us at meal times.  Advertisements for food are played constantly at prime time television viewing times.  To stay motivated is not the easiest thing to do.

Have you considered a Low Carb approach?  If you are unsure of what Low Carb is all about then read on.

Low Carb is eating a diet that is low in carbohydrates and it has become very popular in recent years.  So what is a carbohydrate and why can this work while other diets don’t?

A carbohydrate is a source of energy found in food and it happens to be the most common source.  They are found in foods composed of starches, sugar and/or fiber.  Most carbohydrates break down into sugar for energy and this is where people become confused.

If you are an athlete then the amount of carbohydrate you consume needs to be very high as you are a very active person, you will be able to burn off the excess energy without gaining weight.  The trouble is that many people eat the diet of an athlete and do minimal exercise.

We have adopted the eating style of our grandparents, who have lived through very lean times. Bread, rice and pasta were staple foods that were eaten because they were cheap and they filled you up.  These days, we are consuming way too much of these foods.  Unfortunately we are all programmed by our parents who were programmed by their parents to eat everything on our plate and if we were still hungry to have more bread etc.   It doesn’t apply in these modern times. Food is plentiful in the western world.

Carbohydrates are found in foods such as sugar, fruit, grains, vegetables and milk.  Eating too much of these foods will make you put on weight, because the excess energy contained in them converts to sugar that needs to be burnt off. If it’s not, well we all know what happens, you get to keep it, and  it is stored as fat.

Proteins and fats make up the other sources of energy and they do not break down into sugar.   It makes sense then to eat more proteins than carbohydrates, even if you are not trying to lose weight.

Many people are interested in the low carb approach to dieting but are unsure of what it is that they can and can’t consume.  It can be tricky as there is so much information out there these days.

There are also so many diets to choose from and the weight loss industry is massive.

So what foods are the ones to keep to a minimum?

1. Cereals, Grains and Breads - White & whole wheat bread, bagels, muffins, barley, oatmeal
2. Pasta
3. Rice
4. Fruit & Vegetables -Apricots, blueberries, watermelon, bananas, figs, grapes, pears, oranges, pineapples, strawberries
5. High sugar foods such as:  Confectionary, table sugar, cakes, fruit juices, lollies (or candy) chocolates, biscuits, packaged cereals, pastries
6. Dairy - Non fat milk, non fat yoghurt, flavoured milks and even low fat milk.

It would seem that all of the tasty foods are off the menu, what does it leave you to eat?  A lot of the foods listed above are on the foods to avoid list in any diet, due to their high sugar content,  you also cannot consume too much of anything on a low calorie diet.

Unlike a low calorie diet, which conflict with low carbohydrate diets, you can eat much more protein.

So what can you eat on a low carbohydrate diet? I have listed some of the foods you can enjoy:

1. Meat – beef, pork, poultry, fish, shell fish (except crab meat) and meats from the delicatessen.
2. Fruit & Vegetables – Artichokes, green beans, cauliflower, Asparagus, spinach, broccoli, yellow & Spaghetti squash, zucchini, okra, onions, all coloured peppers,  tomatoes (in moderation), cucumbers, brussel sprouts, bean sprouts, radishes, mushrooms, celery, lettuce, cabbage, leeks, snow peas, eggplant, turnips, blueberries, blackberries.
3. Dairy – sour cream, cottage cheese, all soft and hard cheeses, feta cheese, eggs, butter, cream cheese, cream.
4. Tea, coffee, diet drinks.
5. Sugar free confectionery,  nuts, pork rinds (Yes – pork rind!!), low carb shakes and bars, olive oil.

This list is only a selection of the foods mostly consumed on a daily basis. If you search you will find much more.

So what would a typical day’s menu look like?

Bacon and eggs for breakfast is on the menu for sure, with tea or coffee.

For lunch you can enjoy a meat salad, so for example you can have chicken, lettuce, cucumber, tomato (remember in moderation) celery, snow peas all mixed up with mayonnaise (which is made of eggs, olive oil, lemon juice, so is low carb) and perhaps some crispy bacon on top to garnish.  Leave out the croutons and replace with some sort of cheese – yummy! Who wouldn’t enjoy that?

For dinner you can enjoy whatever meat you desire, mix it with a salad or vegetables of your choice from the list above and you have a meal.

Basically if you leave out the potatoes, bread, pasta and rice as a rule of thumb, you will be doing great. 

Now what about those snacks in between?  Low carb snack bars are excellent to give you that lift in between meals and when you are on the go and don’t have time to think about what to eat.

Horleys Carb Less Crunch Bars come in a range of different flavours to suit your taste and are the perfect snack to fill you up between meals. At 6g of carbohydrate, 17g protein you won’t have that annoying sugar rush found in so many high carb foods.  Or maybe you might like to try the Musashi SLM Lo-carb Bars – delightful range of flavours, like Strawberry Cheesecake or Chocolate Fudge Brownie – at only 4.6g of carbohydrate, with flavours like that they sound like they should be forbidden.

These bars and more can be found on this website and are the perfect snack for when you get busy, which is often the time when you are most likely to reach for something high carb, and spoil all your good work.

Be prepared and think ahead about what you will eat for the day, pack some low carb bars for snacks and you will be on your way to gaining that beautiful body you have dreamed of.

Your Comments