With the increasing obesity problem and deaths from secondary effects of obesity, more people are searching for an answer. It has been estimated that approximately 32 million Americans are following some type of low carbohydrate diet as a result of fad diets and the rising obesity problems. But it is possible to eat healthy low carbs and lose weight too.
In the 1980’s consumers started cutting down their fat intake. Food manufacturers responded by cutting down the fat in their processed foods so they could label them ‘fat free’. Unfortunately they didn’t take out the calories too. But people didn’t get past the ‘fat free’ label on the food to see that the calories weren’t decreased and consequently total calorie intake has been increasing in the past 10 years.
Since the increase in fad diets, and authors who advocate eating a low carbohydrate diets, there has been a debate raging as to whether or not these diets are harmful to your health. But irrespective of the advantages or disadvantages of a low carbohydrate diet, there are several things you can do to give your diet more healthy choices.
Eating a healthy low carb diet takes just a little bit of planning and energy but the benefits are a return on your energy and a boost to any weight loss efforts you’ve been after.
Your planning should begin before you go to the grocery store. Make a menu for the week and then create your shopping list from the menu. You must also include ideas for snacks and desserts during the day as well. You want to have something in the house to snack on so you don’t have a snack-attack and race out to the store for potato chips and cookies.
Incorporate healthy plant-based fats into your diet instead of saturated or trans fats. Eating a healthy low carb diet includes plant based fats are in nuts, avocados and olives or olive oils. Stay away from the hydrogenated fats which make the fat foods solid at room temperature. Researchers believe that hydrogenation is more harmful to your health than the fats found in animal products.
Multiple studies over the past 10 years have shown that a moderately large to large amounts of animal fats lead to cancer, heart disease and other inflammatory disorders such as arthritis or lupus. Animal fats also increase your cholesterol and triglyceride levels, which increases your risk of diabetes and heart disease.
When you are planning your diet and meal plan, include as many fruits and vegetables as your diet plan allows. The phytonutrients that come from fruits and vegetables will help to decrease blood pressure and protect against cancer, heart disease, diabetes and obesity. You can get into the habit of adding more fruits and vegetables into your diet easily by changing just a few things; berries in your cereal in the morning, a tomato with your lunch or adding different vegetables into your salad at dinner with an apple as dessert.
Eating health low carbs should include as many whole foods as possible. Rather than eating a convenient food snack, pick an equally easy piece of fruit or vegetable from the refrigerator. In order to accommodate the new fad of low carbohydrate meals and snacks manufacturers have learned to process low carb or low net carb snacks that include ice cream, chips and crackers. So Americans are learning they can stay within the dietary guidelines of their low carb diet plan and increase the number of calories they are eating and snacking that is now available.
