What Are The Best And Worst Things About Low Carb Diets?

People who are overweight have often tried every diet in the book. Some diets work well at first and then the effect seems to wear off. Some diets are impossible to stick to. Some diets are easy to stick to but ineffective. Others are truly dangerous, and damaging to your wellness and wellbeing. It can be really hard to sort through the dieting minefield, and low carb diets are just one of the many unknown factors in the dieting world.

Low carb diets are generally very popular due to the fact that people who go on low carb diets frequently see really good results. Low carb diets tend to result in quick weight loss and people can lose quite a lot of weight on them too. They are also great for people with diabetes. Diabetics find that a low carb diet can help them to lower their blood sugar levels. The weight loss that occurs on low carb diets is also beneficial for diabetics. Low carb diets steer you away from bad carbs, such as bleached flours and refined sugar – as these are the kinds of carbohydrates that can be addictive, it is really good to find a way of reducing the amount of ‘bad carbs’ that you have in your diet.

Whilst steering clear of these ‘bad’ carbohydrates is undeniably a great idea, steering clear of all carbohydrates may not be. There are plenty of good carbohydrates in things like fruits, vegetables, beans and whole grains, and these foods are actually good for you and don’t need to be eliminated from the diet. People who are on low carb diets also often have a lack of dietary fibre, and this can lead to problems with constipation. In addition to this, low carb diets tend to need to be stuck to for life, because when carbs are reintroduced, the weight can pile back on quickly.

 

Categories: carb, carb diets, carbohydrates, diet, Diets, diets tend, low, people, steering clear, weight, Weight Loss

Is There a Way of Ridding Your Body of Belly Fat?

It seems too good to be true, but it seems that a new diet has been released that promises it’s possible to lose four to nine pounds of belly fat every week without cutting back on calories and without doing any exercise. Jorge Cruise claims that you’ll be able to eat everything you love, including pizza, cheeseburgers and chips, as long as you lower your intake of sugar and processed carbs – this, he claims, will help you to control your insulin levels, which lead to weight gain around the middle. This is in contrast to the trainer’s first book, The 3-hour Diet: How Low-carb Diets Make You Fat and Timing Makes You Thin, which claimed that the secret to weight loss was portion control and a calorie-in versus calories-out approach. If you want to lose weight, and maintain it more importantly, your calorie intake needs to be controlled and you need to keep a regular body of exercise going each week to keep the heart healthy, according to a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association.

 

The Belly Fat Cure consists of eating fats, vegetables and proteins with a small amount of sugar and complex carbohydrates. You need to avoid processed foods entirely though. You’re fine to eat dark chocolate, champagne, wine and beer, but cocktails and sweets are off the list. Alot of the book highlights the ‘belly bad’ meals which fall into the restaurant and fast food categories. There are various meal plans designed for different eating styles, such as meat eaters and carb lovers, so that you can find a plan that suits you. There is also a no excuses plan, which encompasses all the basics. This consists of three eggs and two slices of buttered toast for breakfast, a handful of walnuts for a snack, tuna salad and one pitta bread for lunch, one cup of cottage cheese with honey for an afternoon snack, and grilled chicken or steak with vegetables and brown rice for dinner. Dieters are also advised to drink eight to ten glasses of water a day, as fruit juices and milk are considered to be bad foods for the belly. The only fruits that are ok to eat on this diet are blackberries and blueberries, because they have a lower sugar content that most fruit. It’s met some harsh criticism, with many people claiming that it is simply a gimmick rather than a real cure.

On each day of the diet, dieters consume no more than 15 grams of sugar from six servings of ‘smart’ and fibre-rich carbs – you can calculate the sugar to carb value by comparing the grams of sugar to the number of servings of carbs you’re eating. The food labels will be able to provide this information for you. The theory behind this carb swap is that you get your insulin levels correctly balanced, to limit the risk of sugars turning to fat in the cells which leads to weight gain, wrinkles, lower energy levels and cellular inflammation. As with many fad diets, there is controversy over whether it is just a money-making scheme or whether it actually works for people. For many people, the concept of being able to eat foods which are normally off the menu seems too good to be true. As with any diet or lifestyle change, you should speak to your GP before embarking on a new diet plan to ensure that it is safe for you.

Categories: Belly, Belly Fat, carb, diet, insulin levels, Sugar, weight, weight gain, Weight Loss

Are Carbs Lowering Your Sperm Count?

Diet impacts a large proportion of your health and bodily functions, but what many men aren’t aware of is that it can also affect your sperm count. A new study has shown that carbohydrates and dairy can lower the quality of his sperm – the more he eats, the lower the quality gets. In two other similar studies involving IVF, it was discovered that women who lowered their carb intake whilst upping the amount of protein they ate actually increased their chances of getting pregnant. The studies did show a connection between diet and fertility, but they didn’t prove any cause-and-effect links. The research for IVF was carried out by Dr J.B Russell at the Christiana Care Health System in Newark, Del. The sperm studies were carried out by Dr Jorge Chavarro and Myriam Afeiche, at the Harvard School of Public Health. New studies have shown that there seems to be a downward trend in sperm counts throughout the world for the entire 20th century, and this looks to be continuing into the 21st century as well. The effects of this are not yet clear, but it could well have a detrimental effect. One of the proposed hypotheses is that the exposure to environmental factors, such as environmental oestrogens, could well be the culprit. Obesity is also an important factor, being responsible for many health problems, including fertility.

The carb study involved just under 200 active and healthy men aged between 18 and 22, most of whom were white. The dietary analysis showed that the carbohydrate intake of these men accounted for almost half of all of their calories consumed. However, the carb intake didn’t seem to affect the sperm’s shape or mobility. The more they consumed, however, the lower the overall sperm count was. Where dairy is concerned, the research team noted that the sperm shape was less likely to be normal in comparison to the carb group the more dairy they ate. They noticed that in participants who ate full-fat dairy products, such as cheese, cream and whole milk, the connection was especially strong. The sperm count and movement didn’t appear to be affected by the relationship though. Chavarro stated that the results were still relevant when body weight, alcohol and caffeine consumption, and smoking history were taken into account.

The two other studies involved women undergoing In Vitro Fertilisation. 120 women were first asked to filled out a three-day dietary diary before they had any IVF treatments. Researchers noted that those with a high protein and low carbohydrate intake had a better chance overall of being successful when the egg was fertilised and later becoming pregnant. In a smaller study of just 12 women, who had already tried and failed to become pregnant through IVF, the dietary analysis took place again. When counselled to up their protein and lower their carb intake, there was better success rates across the board. The studies offer a significant body of evidence to suggest that our diets play a bigger role than first thought in the success rates of pregnancy, and of keeping the reproductive organs healthy. Naturally, a healthy and balanced diet is important in any person, so as to keep the organs and bodily processes working efficiently and to maintain a healthy weight. If you’re concerned about your ability to get pregnant, you should seek medical advice from your GP before making any drastic dietary changes, in order to ensure that it is safe for you.

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