Is a low-carb diet really healthy for us?
I want to go on a diet and trying to decide which is best for me…
Is a low-carb diet actually healthy or does it do more harm than good?
Healthy Diet
Diet Healthy and Diet Nutrition Informational Help
I want to go on a diet and trying to decide which is best for me…
Is a low-carb diet actually healthy or does it do more harm than good?
You can drop you carb intake to 400 cal/day without problems. Below that you could develop ketosis (once advocated by Atkins) but that is considered dangerous. You still have to maintain a low calorie count, but you will lose weight faster for the first few months. After a year, there is no difference between low carb and low fat diets as to total weight loss; eventually it's only calories that count.
you need to lower yr carb intake to lose weight. this article has weight loss programs and exercises you might like to look at
Atkins (and low-carb diets like it) are some of the worst possible "fad diets" out there. It severely restricts your amount of carbohydrates and also allows you to eat way too much protein and fat. This will put your body into a state called ketosis or ketoacidosis, which is a serious condition that occurs when dangerous levels of acidic substances called ketones build up in the blood. This is where your body goes into emergency mode due to not getting enough carbohydrates, and then begins to burn muscle and other proteins for energy.
Another important thing to know is that your central nervous system is only fueled by carbohydrates (not fat nor protein) and if you are not getting enough carbohydrates, your body will not be able to function properly.
Most people cannot remain on this diet for long and will regain their weight back plus more when they get off it. If you remain on this type of diet for long it can be deadly.
Nov. 1, 2000 (Long Beach, Calif.) — Dieters who lose weight the Atkins way may really be doing it the old-fashioned way: by simply eating fewer calories. Even so, very few people on the diet maintain their weight loss over the long term, according to studies presented here at a meeting of obesity experts.
An outspoken critic of the Atkins diet — Harvard researcher George Blackburn, MD, PhD — says the studies offer the first hard, scientific evidence to disprove the theory behind the diet.
Blackburn doesn't deny that Atkins followers lose weight, but "you get no points for weight loss — only for keeping it off. Very few people can stay on this diet beyond a few days or weeks," he says. Although Blackburn currently is involved in Atkins diet research — some of which Robert Atkins, MD, helps pay for — he was not involved in the studies reported at this conference.
First introduced in the 1970s, the Atkins diet makes carbohydrates taboo — breads, cereals, rice, pasta, fruits, and vegetables. The idea is to change the body's metabolism by making it get most of its fuel not from carbohydrates, as is normal, but from protein and fat. This leads to an altered state called ketosis. The theory behind the diet is that the body loses weight more efficiently when forced into a state of ketosis. One reason for this may simply be that ketosis makes a person lose his or her appetite.
To test this theory, Bernard V. Miller, MD, and colleagues at The Research Institute and Clinical Pharmacology Research Center in Cooperstown, N.Y., intensively studied nine men and nine women who agreed to follow the Atkins diet. All of the men and six of the women were medically diagnosed as obese, and the three remaining women were overweight.
As expected, all subjects went into a state of ketosis each day they stayed on the diet. And they lost weight — nearly 12 pounds, on average. But when Miller and co-workers looked at the number of calories consumed, they discovered that the Atkins dieters were taking in far fewer calories than they did before starting the diet.
"While the Atkins diet causes ketosis, weight loss appears to be result from caloric restriction," Miller tells WebMD.
"It is possible that people who are doing the diet on their own may eat less," Colette Heimowitz, MS, director of education and research at The Atkins Center for Complementary Medicine in New York, tells WebMD. But when patients participate in the programs at the center, the staff monitors their eating habits. The nutritional counselors advise patients to get 1,800 calories a day, she says. Ultimately, what does it matter whether it's calories or ketones, asks Heimowitz, as long as people are losing the weight?
Successful weight loss and maintenance of that loss has been the area of research by Holly Wyatt, MD, a researcher at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. She and her colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh and Brown University studied people who have successfully lost a lot of weight — at least 30 pounds — and who have kept it off for more than a year.
Wyatt took a look at the diets reported by more than 2,600 men and women. Only 25 of these people ate diets containing less than 24% carbohydrates — more carbohydrates than the Atkins diet allows. Those eating the low carbs tended to have kept their weight off for shorter periods and tended to exercise less than other people — most of whom ate lots of carbohydrates.
"If there were successful, long-term weight losers on the Atkins diet out there, we would have found them," Wyatt tells WebMD, noting that she found very few Atkins dieters among the group. "If it worked over the long term, we think we would have seen a substantial number of those people."
Wyatt says that the people lost their weight using all kinds of strategies. But nearly all of them kept the weight off the same way — by physical activity equivalent to walking at least 4 miles a day.
Wyatt says the Miller team's study confirms what most doctors think about the Atkins diet — that it works by restricting calories.
"It's not a magic, fat-burning diet — it's fewer calories," she says.
Blackburn goes even further. "This diet only has testimonials; it has not been adequately scientifically tested. To his credit, Dr. Atkins is funding this research. We are doing a study at Harvard to get the evidence that the public needs."
Feb. 11, 2004 — Much like the controversy surrounding the health of diet guru Robert Atkins, MD, at the time of his death last April, the debate about the safety of the low-carbohydrate diet Atkins became famous for isn't likely to calm down any time soon.
Critics of low-carb approach say the high-fat content of the Atkins diet, which advocates meat, eggs, and cheese and limits bread, pasta, and fruit, raises the risk of heart disease. But low-carb devotees say the diets are safe and effective in promoting weight loss, which in turn lowers the risk of heart disease.
But researchers say the facts boil down to this: There simply isn't enough data on low-carb diets to support either argument.
"There are two extremes, but I think there is no evidence to support either extreme in terms of benefits or harmful effects of this kind of diet," says Frank Hu, MD, PhD, associate professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Many Questions, Few Answers
The prevailing view during the last 20 years has been that a low-fat diet is the best way to achieve weight loss and reduce the risk of heart disease. But the epidemic of obesity that the U.S. is currently experiencing indicates that low-fat diets may not be the solution.
"The question now is whether the other extreme, a low-carb diet, is the answer," says Hu.
During the "induction" phase of Atkins, in which carbohydrates are most strictly limited, people typically consume as much as 60% of their calories from fat, including "bad" saturated fats from animal sources that raise cholesterol levels and "good" unsaturated fats, such as those found in olive oil and fish, which have favorable effects on cholesterol profiles.
Although the Atkins diet has never specifically prescribed recommended amounts of fat or protein, an Atkins educator recently told The New York Times that only 20% of a dieter's calories should come from saturated fat.
Hu says getting even 20% of calories from saturated fat is still too high. The American Heart Association and many other health organizations recommend a maximum intake of 10% of total calories from saturated fat in order to reduce the risk of heart disease.
"Based on what we know so far, you can expect that if you eat this kind of diet for many years, there could be harmful effects on heart disease and diabetes," says Hu. "The benefits of weight loss may outweigh the potential harmful effects of saturated fat and cholesterol within the short-term, but in the long-term we don't know."
The Evidence on Low-Carb Diets
Researchers hope studies currently underway will help answer some of those questions about the safety of low-carb diets. Until then, only short-term studies have addressed these issues.
A review of the research currently available on the safety and effectiveness of low-carb diets published last year in The Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that there was "insufficient evidence for or against the use of these diets."
"Despite the large number of Americans who have apparently adopted this approach to weight loss and/or weight maintenance, we know little of its effects or consequences," write researcher Dena Bravata, MD, of the Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research at Stanford University and colleagues.
Some short-term studies have shown an improvement in cholesterol levels after six months on the Atkins diet. But Bravata's study showed that of the few low-carb studies that included information on cholesterol levels of the participants, there was no change in total, LDL ("bad") and HDL ("good") cholesterol levels. In contrast, the larger number of studies on higher-carbohydrate diets that included information on cholesterol levels showed a significant decline in total cholesterol levels.
Researchers say the lack of long-term data on low-carb diets severely limits their ability to evaluate their safety and effectiveness in promoting weight loss as well as reducing the risk of heart disease.
"The bottom line is that there is no single diet that is optimal for everyone," says Hu. "But if you choose the healthy sources of fats, carbohydrates, and protein, you can have many options to design a healthy diet not only for weight loss but also for the prevention heart disease and diabetes."
Millions who are faithful to low-carbohydrate regimens to lose weight are missing out on fiber-rich foods essential to healthy hearts, experts warn.
"By eating a low-carbohydrate diet, you are selecting out those foods that may be rich in healthy carbohydrates," said Jeannie Moloo, a Roseville, Calif., dietitian and a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. She said these nutrient-packed foods "lower LDL, the bad cholesterol, and blood insulin levels. They may also reduce blood clots."
Weight-conscious individuals continue to turn to low-carb regimens to trim waistlines. But according to nutritionists such as Moloo, they're forgetting that not all carbohydrates are created equal.
"First, there's refined carbohydrates — that's where the nutrition has been removed and [manufacturers] have sometimes added sugar to the product — foods like white rice, white bread, cookies," Moloo said, adding she has no problem with dieters cutting out these carbs.
"Refined carbohydrates release their sugar quickly into the blood, causing a dramatic spike in insulin," she said. They are the "worst offenders" in terms of raising risks for cardiovascular disease.
On the other hand, there are the "good carbs" — foods such as fruits, vegetables and, especially, whole grains — all packed with micronutrients, minerals, antioxidants and fiber.
In one recent study, involving data on the diets of more than 350,000 men and women, researchers found that, for every 10 grams of cereal fiber consumed daily, risks for death from heart disease dropped by 25 percent.
Fiber is simply the undigested part of any food, and it can come in a water-soluble or water-insoluble form.
"When it comes to preventing heart disease, the water-soluble form is the one that's been shown to lower cholesterol levels," Moloo said. "However, the water-insoluble form is important, too, because it may help slow down the digestive process, thereby lowering blood sugar and insulin levels."
And there's more to fiber-rich foods such as whole grains than just fiber. "The bran and the germ contain fiber, vitamins, thiamine, niacin, riboflavin, various minerals, vitamins and antioxidants," said Katharine Tallmadge, a Washington, D.C., dietitian and a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association.
"In fact, researchers haven't really figured out if it's the fiber or these other phytochemicals that pass on these health benefits," she said.
Daily servings of good carbohydrates are crucial to maintaining a healthy cardiovascular system, Tallmadge said, but separating the good from the bad at the supermarket isn't always so easy.
"It's tricky, because a lot of breads, for example, are called '7-Grain Bread,' 'Whole Wheat Bread,' 'Oat Bread,' etc. But if you look on the ingredient list and the first ingredient is 'wheat flour,' that does not mean whole wheat," she said. Instead, stick to breads where the first ingredient clearly reads whole wheat, Tallmadge said.
The "Nutrition Facts" panel gives another clue to whether a cereal, bread, cracker or other product is truly high in nutritious fiber. "Look at the dietary fiber line on the Nutrition Facts label and select a bread that has at least 3 grams of fiber per serving," Moloo said.
There's less guesswork with the amount of fiber found in fruits and vegetables. "Fresh, frozen or canned fruits and vegetables, it's pretty much going to be the same," Tallmadge said.
The bottom line, according to both experts, is that by ignoring fiber-rich foods, individuals on low-carb diets aren't doing their hearts any favors. "They are eating a very unhealthy diet, and that's a tragedy," Tallmadge said.
Popping a fiber supplement won't change that, she added. "Because it isn't just the fiber that helps us — it's fiber-rich foods. In fact, when they isolate fiber and study it separately, they don't get the same [heart-healthy] result."
Remember that complex carbohydrates are GOOD for you and vital to proper body functions.
First of all, carbohydrates are the body's preferred form of fuel. All carbohydrates contain the same number of calories: 4 calories per gram. So whether you're eating an orange or drinking a soft drink, the calories of carbs are the same.
The terminology "good carbs" generally refers to carbs that are more than just empty calories. So good carbs would be in fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and even refined grains, because all of these foods have nutritional goodness. Even white rice, or the maligned white potato, contains vitamins and minerals. Products like brown rice are preferred to white rice, not because of the nutritional value, but because of the fiber. We all need plenty of fiber in our diets every day. One of the best ways to get fiber is from carbohydrates.
The other advantage of fiber is one type of fiber can help lower blood cholesterol. The other type of fiber slows down the absorption of food. It is this role of slowing down the absorption of food the reason why it has become known as the good carbohydrate.
The carbohydrate choices you make are significant, because carbohydrates — especially those from whole-grain sources — can play an important role in healthful eating and disease prevention.
Carbohydrates are the fuel your body needs to function. Your brain, for example, primarily uses a carbohydrate as its source of energy. Most of the carbohydrates are plant based. Grains, vegetables, fruits and legumes (such as peas and beans) are typical sources. Dairy products are the only animal-based foods with significant carbohydrates.
Nutrition experts generally agree that 55 percent to 60 percent of your total daily calories should come from carbohydrates. And because carbohydrates aren't equal, there's growing evidence that you should be choosy about those you eat.
With simple carbohydrates, it's important to drink milk and juice and eat the right amount of fruit. But table sugar and other sweeteners provide unwanted calories and in large amounts can have health risks.
With complex carbohydrates, avoid loading up only on low-fiber, starchy carbohydrates — such as potatoes and processed grains like white rice, pasta and white bread. These carbohydrates are more rapidly converted to simple sugars by your body. Instead, try to eat plenty of complex carbohydrates that include a good dose of fiber. In particular, legumes, whole grains and whole-grain foods appear to offer real health benefits. Round that out with the recommended servings of fruits and vegetables for a complete and healthful mix of dietary carbohydrates.
Carbohydrates are the fuel your body needs to function. Your brain, for example, primarily uses a carbohydrate as its source of energy. Most of the carbohydrates are plant based. Grains, vegetables, fruits and legumes (such as peas and beans) are typical sources. Dairy products are the only animal-based foods with significant carbohydrates.
Here are five important ways that complex carbohydrates help your body naturally attain and maintain your ideal weight:
1. Complex carbohydrates have less than half as many calories as the same amount of fat. One gram of complex carbohydrate has four calories; one gram of fat has nine calories. For example, if you have 1oz of cheedar cheese, approximately 8g will come from fat. That means 72 calories of that 1oz of cheese is coming from fat. Alternatively, 1oz of pasta has less than 1g of fat or less than 9 calories coming from fat, and more than 20g (more than 90 calories) coming from complex carbohydrates. The healthy choice is obvious.
2. Studies have repeatedly demonstrated that our bodies do not absorb 10 to 20 percent of the calories in many complex carbohydrate foods. This fact is especially true for starchy foods, such as pasta, bread, legumes, and rice. Ironically, these are the very foods that many overweight people avoid. Our digestive enzymes cannot finish the job of breaking down these starchy complex carbohydrate foods in the small intestine. Partially digested food passes into the large intestine where no further absorption can take place. In a sense, these are free calories! Next time you look at a calorie counter, you can subtract 10 to 20 percent of the calories listed for starchy complex carbohydrate foods.
3. Complex carbohydrate foods require a lot of energy to digest. These energy calories are given off as heat from your body instead of being stored as fat. This process is called thermogenesis, which literally means "heat-producing". When your diet is high in complex carbohydrate foods, you burn more calories as heat after a meal. If you eat more complex carbohydrates than your liver can store, 23 percent of the extra calories are given off as heat from your body and the rest is converted into fat. In contrast, when you eat fat, it is digested, absorbed, assimilated, transported, and stored as fat with an efficiency rate of 93 percent. (These percentages are derived from a 1987 article by W.P.T. James, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.) Over eating carbohydrate foods, even refined sugars, is much less damaging to you than eating fat.
4. Starchy complex carbohydrate foods such as bread, pasta, rice, and bananas make you feel full after meal. They actually shut off the hunger message from your brain. Nutritionists call this feeling satiety. Eliminating this feeling of hunger is an integral part of weight loss. Diets that require people to go around feeling hungry all the time are certain to fail. Fatty foods also produce that feeling of satiety, but they are much higher in calories, as well as being more damaging to your health in other ways. When you eat fat, you get fat. We'll be looking at fats in an upcoming section.
5. Complex carbohydrate foods provide the chemical links necessary to burn off body fat. In fact, if your carbohydrate intake is too low, you cannot completely breakdown your body fat. This inability makes it difficult for you to shed extra pounds. It also means that you build up toxic wastes (ketone bodies) in your system, causing headaches, dehydration, and overwhelming hunger pangs.
The reason that 95 percent of all dieters regain the weight they lose, is because they're working against their bodies' metabolisms and setting the stage for long-term failure. It's not the bread and pasta you eat that makes you fat; it's the high-fat butter and sauces you put on them that do the damage. By themselves, starchy complex carbohydrates are tailor-made diet foods. It is wise to include these foods, but try not to have more than one of bread, pasta, rice or potatoes at any given meal. This will prevent "carbohydrate overloading", while enabling you to enjoy carbohydrates that are filling and pleasing to the eye. Be patient with children, recognize that distractions will occur, and be flexible in your approach.
I have some suggestions for you to consider for weight loss.
Always check with your doctor before beginning any exercise and nutrition plan.
You need a good combination of aerobic activity and resistance training combined with a healthy diet. It is not recommended to lose more than 1-3 lbs a week. If you want to lose weight the correct and safe way that will stay off for the long-term, you need a good comprehensive exercise and nutrition plan.
A good program looks like this:
Always warm up and cool down
Muscular Strength & Endurance-you need a good resistance training program that includes exercises for all muscle groups (hips, chest, upper and mid back, legs (quads and hamstrings), shoulders, lower back, upper arms (biceps and triceps), calves, forearms, abdomen, and the gluteus maximus).
Your intensity should be 70-80% 1-RM or 8-12-RM, 8-12 reps, 1 or more sets, 3 times a week for 6 weeks or more when you begin a resistance program. You should begin with 1 exercise for each major muscle group and make sure the days you do resistance training are not consecutive meaning you don't exercise the same muscle group two days in a row. As you continue your program you can add more exercises, add weight, and change up your program to include more days or just work specific muscle groups on specific days. As your muscles grow stronger you will be able to reduce the rest time between each set. You should rest for about 30 seconds between sets.
Muscle is metabolically active and therefore when you gain muscle it burns more calories and helps to raise your metabolism.
If you do not have money for a gym membership or do not have access to one, here is a great website to create a work out plan only using your body weight.
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/exercise…
You can also search for all kinds of exercises that use weight.
Here is another great website for finding some good exercises for different parts of the body.
http://www.preventdisease.com/fitness/St…
Here is a great link to a comprehensive musculoskeletal atlas of the body to help you understand what exactly you are working
http://www.preventdisease.com/home/muscl…
Also, if you are having trouble deciding what type of program you should be doing, here is a website that may help you to better understand the different forms of strength.
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/kelly2.h…
Cardiovascular Endurance-This part is extremely important for fat burning and enhancing your overall cardiovascular performance. You need to include a warm-up and cool-down. In order to have an effective cardio plan you must first make sure you remain in your target heart rate zone for at least 30 minutes a day (you can start out doing this for 3 days a week and build up) and then you can build up to 45-60 minutes a day. This will seriously help to burn fat as well as raise your VO2Max which is basically a number that represents the capacity of your cardiorespiratory system. The higher the number the more efficient your cardio system is. You can learn more about VO2 at the following website.
http://www.preventdisease.com/news/artic…
In order to determine your target heart rate, do the following:
know these numbers:
maximum heart rate= (220-age)
resting heart rate=(get this by counting your pulse for a minute when you first wake up in the morning)
heart rate reserve=(maximum heart rate-resting heart rate)
then calculate training intensity:
TI= Heart rate reserve x percentage(use 70%-85%) + resting heart rate
Now your training intensity number is important because this is the number you want to reach for a particular training intensity. This is the number your heart rate has to get to in order to be in the optimum cardio training zone.
You can perform the TI equation for 70% and then another for 85% to get a good range for your heart rate. This is your own personal target heart rate zone.
You can either count your pulse yourself or use a heart rate monitor while you are exercising. You can buy one at most electronic stores. I recommend the heart rate monitor because you don't have to do anything and it lets you know where you are. Some even beep when you reach your zone or when you go above it. Mine has a strap you put on under your clothes and a watch that shows you your heart rate as well as other things. Now of course, any type of heart rate monitor will not be perfect because there are factors that are not taken into account, but it is one of the most accurate ways to keep track of your heart rate that is easily available to the public.
Here is a website to help you calculate your target heart rate zone
http://www.preventdisease.com/healthtool…
Here is a good website for some information on how to measure your physical activity intensity
http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/physical…
Now, I needed to tell you all of that so I can let you know what cardio activities will fit this type of requirement.
The following are great activities for a good aerobic plan:
cycling, jogging, running, walking, rowing, stair climbing, elliptical machine, aerobic dance, bench step aerobics, hiking, in-line skating, skiing, rope skipping, swimming, and water aerobics.
Any of these activities are acceptable only if you make sure your heart rate stays within your target heart rate zone. This does not count your warm-up or cool-down either. You need at least 30 minutes within your zone for the best benefits because for most people your body does not begin to burn fat until you have been working aerobically in your heart rate zone for at least 30 minutes. Of course all exercise is good for you, so even if you do not make it to your heart rate zone, it still is good for you and there will be benefits from it. Just work your way up, start slow, and you will be gradually improving your body's cardiovascular performance and burning fat. Once your body gets used to performing aerobically it will begin to burn fat faster than someone who is not on a cardio program.
You can find calculators at the following website to calculate about how many calories are burned by different activities.
http://www.preventdisease.com/healthtool…
Here are a few websites that will help you to begin a fitness walking program
http://www.preventdisease.com/fitness/fi…
http://www.preventdisease.com/fitness/wa…
Or if you prefer, you can begin a jogging program
http://preventdisease.com/fitness/fitnes…
Body Composition-this includes your body fat percentage, bone frame, as well as how much muscle you have. Most people focus on only weight, but you should not put as much focus on that as much as what your body fat percentage is (get it tested at an exercise facility with skinfold calipers). You should also get circumference measurements done. This includes your neck, shoulder, chest, waist, abdominal, hip (buttocks), thigh (proximal), thigh (mid), thigh (distal), knee, calf, ankle, arm (bicep), forearm, and wrist. You should be able to do this at a gym. You should get all of this information done before you start your program and then you can see how you improve.
You can calculate an estimate of your body composition and target weight here:
http://www.preventdisease.com/healthtool…
The following website will help you to understand a little more about body composition
http://preventdisease.com/news/articles/…
Flexibility- Most people do not even think about this, but it is very important because it helps to prevent injury and it helps you to perform every day activities. It also has an effect on all your other programs. You should perform 10-12 flexibility exercises every day. Slowly stretch the muscle to a point of mild discomfort but not necessarily pain. Hold stretch for 10-30 seconds, and do 3-5 reps for each stretch. This should take about 15-30 minutes per session. If you do not have time to do this every day, try to do it 2-3 times a week.
Here are some good websites to learn more about flexibility and stretching
http://preventdisease.com/fitness/fundam…
http://www.cmcrossroads.com/bradapp/docs…
Diet- You have to make sure that you eat right and that means following the food guide pyramid. All those low carb diets or fad diets out there will not help you lose weight safely. You can read more about the risks of low carb diets at the following website
http://www.preventdisease.com/news/artic…
Know that 1 lb. of fat is equal to 3,500 calories. So if you eat 500 calories less per day for a week than you normally would (by either cutting back or changing what you eat or even by burning 500 calories from exercise) that is 3,500 calories and you should lose 1 lb. that week. I know that does not sound like a lot, but it is a proven fact that you should not lose more than 1-3 lbs. per week because it is not safe nor does it stay off. If you work to lose 1-3 lbs a week then it is much more likely to be the safe way and will stay off for long-term if you continue to live a healthy lifestyle.
I do not like the word diet because most people think of a diet as a short-term way of losing weight when the most effective way of losing weight is to completely change your lifestyle.
Here are some ways to change the way you eat:
Always follow the food guide pyramid with focus on fruits and vegetables and lean meat such as chicken or fish.
Make sure you get enough fiber and water in your diet. You should get 20-30 grams of fiber every day along with plenty of water. You can go to the following websites to learn more about fiber and tips on how to get more in your diet.
http://www.webmd.com/solutions/fiber-sup…
http://preventdisease.com/home/tips65.sh…
http://www.webmd.com/solutions/fiber-sup…
http://www.fiberseekers.com/fiber_counte…
http://www.webmd.com/solutions/fiber-sup…
You should drink a total of 8 eight-ounce glasses of water a day at least. This is different for everyone, but you should be able to figure out about how much water you need a day. You can go to
http://preventdisease.com/news/articles/… to learn more about how much water you should drink.
Get your carbs from complex carbohydrates (pasta, rice, grains, cereals, potatoes, dried beans and peas) that contain whole wheat. When you buy something such as bread make sure the first ingredient is whole wheat and does not contain the word enriched. You can learn more about carbohydrates at the following website.
http://www.preventdisease.com/fitness/we…
You can also learn how to choose healthy breakfast cereals at the following website
http://www.drmirkin.com/nutrition/N180.h…
Learn what serving sizes are and how to properly use them. This is very important because the average American consumes way too much and it is because serving sizes are out of control. You can find out more about this at the following website
http://dietnews.webmd.com/content/articl…
Even when you go out to eat or to fast food places you can eat healthy. Choose low fat or low calorie food items such as a salad ( fat-free cheese and dressing), grilled chicken sandwich, etc. When you go out to eat you can also split an entree with someone or ask them to put half in a to-go box in the back before they even bring it to you. Here are some great websites to learn more about eating healthy on the move or in fast food places
http://www.webmd.com/content/article/99/…
http://www.webmd.com/content/chat_transc…
http://www.webmd.com/content/article/76/…
http://www.webmd.com/content/chat_transc…
Always eat breakfast and never skip any meals. I have also done research on this and this helps to keep your metabolism up and makes sure you do not overeat, among many other things. Try for 3 meals a day with 2 snacks.
The importance of breakfast and tips on eating a better breakfast
http://www.webmd.com/content/article/116…
http://www.webmd.com/content/article/76/…
http://www.webmd.com/content/article/111…
http://www.webmd.com/content/article/61/…
http://www.webmd.com/content/article/100…
http://www.webmd.com/content/article/11/…
http://www.webmd.com/content/article/79/…
http://www.webmd.com/content/article/41/…
http://www.webmd.com/content/article/90/…
http://www.webmd.com/content/article/61/…
http://www.webmd.com/content/article/97/…
http://www.webmd.com/content/article/43/…
http://www.webmd.com/content/pages/18/10…
Try as much as you can to stay away from saturated and trans fat because they are both bad for you and should be consumed as little as possible. Mono and polyunsaturated fats or good for you but fat should only make up 25-35% of total calories. If the food label ingredient list contains "partially hydrogenated" that means it contains trans fat and should be avoided when possible. The following website offers a plan to follow to help fight fat
http://msn.prevention.com/article/0,5778…
Good fat, bad fat, the facts about Omega-3
http://www.webmd.com/content/article/91/…
Watch out for your caffeine intake, you can find how much caffeine is in certain things at the following website.
http://health.yahoo.com/topic/nutrition/…
A lot of people also focus on high protein but in reality you only need .8 grams of protein for every kilogram of your body weight.
People who are on a resistance training program may consume up to 1.2 grams of protein for every kilogram of body weight.
So for me I weigh 135 lbs. and I figure my body weight in kg as follows:
135 divided by 2.2= 61.4 kg
61.4 kg x .8= 50 grams of protein a day.
61.4 kg x 1.2=74 grams of protein a day.
My range is 50-74 depending on my exercise level.
You can check out this online calculator to find out about how much protein you need.
http://www.preventdisease.com/healthtool…
The following website also has a list of the 29 healthiest foods or “power” foods and why they are so
http://www.bellybytes.com/articles/29foo…
There is a formula you can use to calculate an estimate of how many calories you would need to eat every day to either maintain your current weight or to lose weight based on different factors.
You can go to this website to calculate an estimate of your total daily energy requirement from your BMR+AMR.
http://www.preventdisease.com/healthtool…
Here is a helpful website to understand how to manage your metabolism
http://preventdisease.com/home/weeklywel…
Also here is a helpful website to find out what nutrients a food contains
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/se…
Here are some other websites to help you understand how to eat healthier
http://www.preventdisease.com/fitness/nu…
http://www.preventdisease.com/fitness/we…
http://www.mypyramid.gov is a great website to use to keep an online track of calories and many other things. It is free and also provides you with additional information to help you lose weight.
Here are some great websites to give you some tips on eating healthy on a budget:
http://diet.ivillage.com/issues/ichoices…
http://magazines.ivillage.com/goodhousek…
http://www.uottawa.ca/health/information…
http://www.ideamarketers.com/library/art…
You can check out the following website to get the facts on some common diet myths
http://dietnews.webmd.com/content/articl…
The following website will help you learn about how to eat for a power workout
http://www.webmd.com/content/article/42/…
Avoid brown bag boredom
http://www.webmd.com/content/article/111…
100 Calorie Snacks
http://www.webmd.com/content/article/94/…
Here is another website to check out to understand the modes of fitness better.
http://preventdisease.com/fitness/fundam…
I have a powerpoint presentation on several of the fad diets that people are on today if you would like to contact me for it.
I also have a powerpoint presentation on the importance of breakfast if you would like more information on that also.
I would recommend you find a certified personal trainer and a registered dietician in your area to help you lose weight.
It is very important to know that not all personal trainers are educated the same and therefore you must make sure if you use one they are properly certified. The following website gives you more information on this subject.
http://www.preventdisease.com/news/artic…
i think you should definately do the low carb diet until u reach ur goal weight.. it may not be 100% healthy but neither is being fat so..yeah and also i did the no carb diet for 1 month last summer eating one chicken caesar salad for lunch and lost about 1 1/2 lbs a day..by the end of the summer i lost 45 lbs. so its definately worth it