Best Healthy Dieting

Low carbohydrate diets have been pretty popular for some years now and some do work.  Unfortunately for us, most low carb diets can be hell on our bodies. So before you decide to start a low carb diet here are a few things you need to know.

Not all carbs are created equal - Simple vs. Complex Carbohydrates.
If you’re trying to lose weight or just stay healthy then the basic rule of carbs is this: simple carbs are bad, complex carbs are good.  Well, what are simple and complex carbohydrates and what is the difference.  It’s all about how fast you can digest them. 

Simple carbs are things like sugar, high fructose corn syrup, processed wheat like white bread, some pastas and pastries.  These foods digest really quickly and put sugar into your blood stream soon after you eat them.  When it comes to fat loss, this can be a problem.  Because your body converts these foods into blood sugar quickly, it won’t use your fat stores for energy.  And if you’re trying to lose weight, this is exactly what you don’t want.  You need to get rid of the fat in your body if you have excess stores.  So you need your body to use the fat as energy and your body needs to be trained to do this.

Complex carbohydrates are foods like whole wheat or whole grain breads, vegetables, beans, and fruits.  These foods provide your body with things that it needs, like fiber, vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients.  They digest slower, providing your body with a steadier source of energy.  And foods like vegetables tend to be lower in calories.

Low Carbohydrate diets can have some serious health issues
There are some health issues that have been linked to eating too little carbs.  The brain needs a minimum of daily carbohydrates each day for proper brain function.  Your brain not only allows you to think, but it controls your body functions as well, like your heart beat, breathing and a host of other functions.

Getting rid of carbs in your diet means getting rid of foods that give you vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and many other things your body uses to fight off disease.

Low carb diets cause your body to break down muscle for energy.  This lowers your metabolism, which means you have to eat even less to keep losing weight.  And when you do come off your diet you will probably gain all of the weight back and then some.

Low carb diets tend to be high in fat.  High fat can be bad for you.  Eating trans fats and saturated fats have been shown to lead to heart disease and other health problems like diabetes, stroke and several types of cancer.

Low carb diets are high protein diets.  Diets high in protein can put a lot of stress on your kidneys and your liver which can lead to disorders.

 

For an easy to follow healthy diet (that is not a low carbohydrate diet) click here.