Low carb diets are pretty much what they sound like. It’s an eating strategy that limits the carbohydrates you eat in a day. You’re here because you can live without mountains of pasta, rice, potatoes and bread at every meal or a piece of pie for dessert. You don’t have a candy bar in your desk drawer right now (and it’s not because you’ve already eaten it). You’d rather eat smaller amounts of high-quality carbs and fill the rest of your plate with lean proteins and healthy fats.
What Are Carbohydrates?
Carbohydrates are one of the three macronutrients that make up our foods (carbs, fats and proteins). They can be found in foods such as starchy vegetables, grains and fruits.
Since you’ll be reducing your carbohydrate intake, this means that you’ll need to boost your fat and protein. How you’ll be doing that depends on the specific low carb diet you’ll be following as there are many different options from which to choose. Each one has its own take on the amount of carbs you can eat in a given day and how you balance the rest of your nutrition.
What are Low Carb Diets?
The idea behind low carb diets is that you force your body to use energy in a different way, encouraging it to use stored fats as one of your energy sources, allowing you to lose weight more quickly.
Though there are certain risk factors associated with this process, such as in the case of people who have type 2 diabetes or metabolic syndrome, you have indicated that these are not among your health concerns. Still, before making any major changes to the way you eat, it’s always a good idea to talk to your doctor, particularly if you have any health conditions. That way, you can know with confidence that you’re on the right track and that it will be safe for you.
Understanding Carbohydrates
As you begin your low carb diet, you’ll need to build a bit of an understanding of carbohydrates. This will help you to make better food choices every day. The first thing you should know about carbs is that they’re not all created equal. For one thing, there are two primary types of carbohydrate: simple and complex. Among the simple carbs are the refined form (such as table sugar) and the natural form (such as fructose in fruits and lactose in milk). Among the complex carbs are the refined form (such as white flour) and the natural form (such as beans and whole grains).
Where are Carbs Found?
The types of foods in which you’ll usually find the most carbs are:
- Fruits
- Vegetables
- Grains
- Dairy
- Legumes (such as beans, peas and lentils)
- Seeds
- Nuts
That said, processed foods are typically chock full of refined carbohydrates – both simple and complex – as white sugar and white flour make their way into a huge proportion of packaged foods. White bread, pasta, baked goods (cookies, muffins, cakes), candy and sweetened beverages such as many juices and sodas all have a high content of refined carbs.
How Your Body Uses Carbs
Once you know what carbs are, it’s helpful to understand how your body uses them. Essentially, carbohydrates are the top energy source for your body. They’re the fastest macronutrient your digestive system can process and offer you nearly instant energy. Complex carbohydrates are broken down into simple sugars during digestion. From there, they’re absorbed directly into your bloodstream as glucose (otherwise known as blood sugar). Natural complex carbs are usually digested more slowly than refined ones as they are usually found in foods containing more fiber. In this way, they benefit your body in ways other than basic fuel. They’re filling, too.
When blood sugar levels rise, your pancreas starts to secrete insulin. Insulin is a hormone that helps the cells throughout your body to absorb the glucose so it can be used to power all their various functions. In this way, it provides the fuel for absolutely everything you do from breathing to running that first half marathon. If there’s any unused glucose left over, it’s sent to your liver, muscles and other cells so it will be available when needed, or it’s converted into body fat for more long term storage.
Following Low Carb Diets
When you’re following a low carb diet, it means you reduce your blood glucose and, therefore, your insulin levels. Because that easy energy isn’t available, your body has to look elsewhere to fuel its functions and activities. This causes it to start using the body fat that has been stored and, as a result, weight loss.
Now that you have all that information swimming around in your brain, you’re likely thinking that it’s all well and good, but what will you be eating until you reach your weight loss goal? That depends on the low carb diet you’ve selected.
That said, the majority of low carb diets usually limit the amount of grains, fruits, starchy vegetables, legumes, breads, pastas and sweets. Sometimes nuts and seeds make it to that list, too. How much of each of those foods is allowed is dictated by the specific diet you’ve selected.
What is The Most Common Low Carb Diets Strategy?
Overall, a low carb diet is usually defined as being an eating strategy in which you don’t eat any more than 2 ounces (60 grams) of carbohydrates every day. That represents around 250 of your total daily calories. For most of us, this represents a massive change in what we eat each day as the majority of us consume far more carbohydrates than this type of diet allows.
While some diets will have you stick to that restriction over the longer term, others begin very low but will then allow you to gradually increase your carb intake over time so that you won’t shock your system and rapidly regain the weight once you start eating a more macronutrient-balanced diet again after achieving your goal. By then, you’ll have earned that dinner roll and it will taste great.
How Can Diet Pill Reviews Help if You Plan to cut Carbs?
Diet pill reviews may not be a direct part of your weight loss strategy, but they can still be handy for choosing the right support for you. The reason is that they can help you to know which pills are likely to be best suited to the specific type of low carb diet you plan to follow. By getting to know these products, you’ll know what kind of support will be available to you throughout your weight loss efforts, particularly at the start when you’re setting your new habits.
The right products won’t do the job for you – and they won’t claim to. Instead, look for options that have clinically researched ingredients and that will offer you assistance in overcoming the challenges you find the most difficult. You’ll still need to keep up with your dieting, but you will be able to do so without falling behind from common struggles such as fatigue or a sluggish metabolism.
