What Is A Healthy Low Carb Diet

What Is A Healthy Low Carb Diet

With all the adverse publicity on high protein low carb diet, how do you know what is a healthy diet to follow?

The new diet research says that rather than just limiting the amount of carbohydrates in your diet, you should be looking to eat only those that have a low GI index - glycemic index

The GI Index measures the speed at which glucose is released into your blood stream following consumption of a specific food. If you do not use all the glucose you consume, your body converts it to fat and stores it. Not ideal when you are trying to lose weight.

So how do you know if a food is low GI or not?

Most supermarkets have now started coding their foods so you should be able to see from the packet. The foods that you would normally avoid on a diet also tend to be high GI i.e. cakes, biscuits, white bread, white pasta etc.

The good news is that chocolate is a low GI food but this doesn’t mean that you can eat loads of it! Avoid any added sugar based ingredients and opt for a plain bar of dark chocolate if you want to treat yourself.

Barley, quinoa, new potatoes and yams are all low GI foods so would be good staples for your healthy low carbohydrate diet.  Apples, dried apricots, citrus fruits, plums and tomatoes are all good low GI fruits but avoid Watermelons, peaches and bananas.

You should increase the quantity of water you drink especially as most slimmers increase the amount of fiber in their diet by eating more vegetables. You should aim to drink at least 8 glasses of water a day. Drinking water helps to lose weight as we often misunderstand our body’s signals and eat when in fact we are thirsty.

When you are trying to follow a healthy low carb diet, it is useful to watch your portion size. As a nation, we are used to consuming large portions of everything. Reducing the size of our meals will help you to lose weight as will eating a little and often rather than one large meal a day.

Never skip breakfast as countless studies have shown that you re likely to consume more calories later in the day than you save by not eating this important meal. Eating soup – the old fashioned kind not the instant microwaveable variety, will help to keep your energy levels stable and lead to less cravings.

Drink skimmed instead of full fat milk. Eat low fat yogurts but watch for hidden sugars and sweeteners. Keep alcohol intake to a minimum as not only does it contain empty calories but also lowers our inhibitions leading us to eat the wrong foods.

Keep yourself busy. We often eat due to boredom rather than hunger. Get moving every day to increase the amount of energy you consume. Reducing your food consumption while increasing your activity will help you lose weight as will following a healthy low carbohydrate diet.

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6 Tips for Staying Positive During Weight Loss

6 Tips for Staying Positive During Weight Loss

Staying positive throughout the weight loss process can be difficult. A few setbacks and you may be ready to give up. Staying motivated throughout your weight loss journey requires focus on the goal and positive thinking – but what do you do when you’re feeling less than positive about your efforts?

Use these 6 Tips for Staying Positive During Weight Loss:

1. List Your Reasons: 
List your reasons for choosing to lose weight. Whether it's for health reasons, or simply to be able to fit into your favorite dress again – list it.
Then make several copies of the list, and place them where you'll be able to see them regularly. Keeping your goals in front of you will help you remember why you're doing all this in the first place.

2. Never Say Diet: 
Don't use the word diet if you can possibly avoid it. This conjures up images of deprivation, and you end up feeling sorry for yourself. Instead, tell yourself (and others) that you’re not on a diet, but that you are trying to make healthier choices.

3. Don’t Use the 3 letter "F" Word: 
Avoid using the word fat when describing yourself. This includes your thoughts. Thinking about how fat you are and how bad you think you look will only bring you down and stress you out. Stress often equals eating another bag of cookies.

4. Use Positive Adjectives: 
Instead, use another adjective that you prefer. Heavy, voluptuous, overweight - these all have nicer connotations than “fat” and will help you to see yourself in a more positive light.

5. Focus on the Positive: 
Think about all the things you like about your body, as well. If you have great hair, for example, focus on that as you attempt to lose weight. This takes the focus off of the body parts you dislike, and helps to get rid of the stress.

6. Find a Role Model:
Instead of focusing on celebrities that are thin, find a celebrity that is larger and attractive, or one that is struggling with weight loss. This allows you to choose a realistic role model.
Positive body image can be difficult to find when you're struggling to lose weight. Focusing on your positive mental and physical traits will help you to be comfortable in the body you have.
This allows you to work towards better health, instead of simply working to be skinnier. Overall, this is a much healthier approach to weight loss, and will help you stay positive throughout the process.

This article is for informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, nor should it be interpreted or substituted as medical advice. Prior to making changes to your physical exercise routine and your diet, you should always consult your personal physician. Better safe than sorry.

Water Retention and Weight Gain

Water retention and its subsequent weight gain is a particularly bothersome issue for women of all ages, let’s learn all about it.

Understanding water retention
Water or fluid retention is also referred to as edema. It occurs in the circulatory system and may cause bloating, and swelling in the extremities, such as the legs, feet, and ankles.
People who lead extremely sedentary lifestyles with little exercise or those who are bedridden are susceptible to this condition.

Edema can also be indicative of kidney disease or heart failure, so if you have a severe case of it, or a severe sudden onset, get emergency medical care.
For the non-severe varieties, that cause swelling, bloating and discomfort and there is no underlying medical condition, making changes in your diet and exercise habits can help.

Why does Water Retention Happen?
When the body retains water, it means that there is extra water around in the tissues that lie between the cells in the body. There are several reasons why this could happen, including the following:

• Carbohydrates—carbohydrates increase water retention, this is why bloating often occurs after a carb heavy fast food meal and may wake up with an extra five pounds on the scale, all in water weight. Let’s start with the carbohydrates. Every one gram of carbohydrate requires three to four grams of water in order to store and process it. In order to translate that into a familiar language, say you eat a medium potato. You’ll get 37 grams of carbs, which needs 110-150 grams of water. That’s about 5 ounces, just below a half pound. On a moderately high carbohydrate diet, the average person will eat around one and a half pounds of water weight just from the carbohydrates in the diet. If you stop eating carbohydrates, you’ll lose that pound right away.
• High levels of salt in the diet is also responsible for excess retention of fluids and if salt is present in every processed meal you eat, you’ll retain even more fluids.
• Sex hormones—this is especially true for women. Water retention gets more complicated for women. Most women will retain water during their menstrual cycle. In general, 92 percent of women will have water retention in the week before their menstrual period starts. Once menstrual bleeding actually begins, the water weight drops off once again. Some women will have persistent water retention, even after their period. During your period, there are notable changes in your hormone levels, which lead to an increased amount of potassium and sodium in your system.
• Cortisol—chronically high levels of the stress hormone cortisol is a problem for many reasons, and water retention is one of them. It is difficult to say how much cortisol will increase water retention. It can also increase body fat so that the weight you gain from cortisol is probably both from fat and water. If you’re stressed out and feeling puffy or bloated, some of that is probably from water.
Your body is able to retain enough water to equal about 5 pounds per day, depending on the kind of foods you take and the amount you consume. 

If you add up all those causes of water retention, you can easily get ten pounds of fluctuation from just water. This is especially true for premenstrual women or from anyone who just ate a high carbohydrate dinner. 

PMS and water retention
PMS or premenstrual syndrome is a common cause for water retention in many women. There have been no exhaustive studies that link water retention with premenstrual syndrome. However, lack of essential vitamins and minerals and added salt are triggers for the retention of water in some women.

A British researcher suggested that low blood sugar during PMS could lead to water retention. She argues that low blood glucose levels cause the body to retain water by releasing adrenaline. This signals the body to release more blood sugar. Once the glucose leaves the body, the cells are then filled with water leading to weight gain and bloating.

Recognizing water retention
Water retention is marked by an increase in weight of about 2-5 pounds per day. This is a common sign of swelling, which is characterized by having a bloated abdomen. 
Sometimes your clothing can be too tight. Many women who have this problem complain of pain in the swollen areas of their bodies, particularly the feet and ankles.

Key Steps In Reducing Water Retention
• A crucial step in dealing with water retention is to eat less salt, and avoid processed and junk foods, which are high in salt. Read food labels and avoiding processed food products. Try putting the salt away so you won’t be tempted to use it. The use of calcium supplements with your meals can lessen the risks of retaining fluid. 
• Increase magnesium intake, one study found that  women who took 200 mg of magnesium every day, had less retention during PMS and other studies have shown similar results. You can get magnesium naturally from whole grains, nuts, green vegetables, and dark chocolate.
• You might want to consider working out during your menstrual period to avoid water retention and weight gain. Exercise will increase the blood flow to your kidneys for excretion. 
• Make sure you remain hydrated throughout the day by drinking a lot of fluid. 
• Other ways to reduce water retention include natural diuretics such as lemon water and grapefruit. 
• It also helps to eat 5 to 8 smaller meals throughout the day, instead of 3big meals. 

5 Healthy Tips for Weight Loss

Eating healthy is a vital component of slimming down. Dietary fads that focus on eating one type of food (for example carbohydrates) or totally eliminating others (such as fats and sugars) never last because for your body to stay healthy it takes many of these foods, however in moderation.

5 Healthy Tips for Weight Loss are:

a) Understanding what to eat

b) Knowing when to eat

c) Understanding how much to consume
d) How to simplify your purchasing

e) How to correctly prepare your food intake

There is so much information available on what to eat that we occasionally get so confused we quit before we get started. Understanding what to eat isn't as difficult as it seems. The key is within the food pyramid. The majority of your diet plan (Six to seven servings) ought to be made up of grains (the bottom of the pyramid). These include wholegrain breads, cereals, rice and pasta. Next are fruits and vegetables which will provide the fibre, vitamins and essential minerals that the body needs. The closer the vegetables and fruit are to their natural state, the more nutritious they will be (processing removes nutrients). Dairy and protein (milk, cheese, meat) are what is necessary for strong bones and muscles. Maximize nutritional impact by selecting lean cuts of meat for your 2 -3 daily servings. The top the pyramid is oils and fats, meaning they should be consumed sparingly. Full of flavor, but low in nutritional value, select unsaturated fats, nuts and vegetable oils.

Knowing when you should eat is one thing we all know, becasue it is something our parents told us, eat when you're hungry and stop when you are full. Unfortunately, this really is one of the most difficult items to control. Because of busy schedules and existing bad eating habits a lot of us often eat by the clock, breakfast at 7, lunch at noon, dinner at 6pm, whether we're hungry or not. A whole lot worse, is that we often snack constantly (or regularly) between meals, so rather than three balanced meals, we are more likely to eat Five to six unbalanced ones.Just how much to eat is equally as big an issue as knowing when to eat. Today things are super-sized, value-sized and pretty much over-sized. Two daily servings of meat are not much since an amount is just 2 oz. A typical restaurant steak is at least 8oz, that is twice your everyday requirement. The same goes for virtually all the foods we eat. A serving of salad dressing (from the fat and oil group) is just 1 tbsp, not the more than 1/4 cup we unknowingly pour on in the salad bar. Understanding portion control is essential to maintain a healthy diet.

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Simplifying your shopping might seem at odds using the need to eat a wide variety of foods to maintain a well balanced diet but it's not. The more ingredients you include in a recipe, the more processed foods and empty calories you add to your diet. By continuing to keep recipes simple, not only will meals taste better, but they will also be filled with all of the nutrients your body needs, provided you do not cook it out of them.In addition to choosing healthy food, how you cook them will determine just how much nutritional value you end up, which is why it is also important to know how to properly prepare the foods you consume. Although raw carrots are the most nutritious, does it matter should you boil or steam them before serving as a side dish? Boiling removes all of the carrots essential vitamins, which end up discarded using the water, while steaming maintains their color, texture and nutritional value. So how you ready your meals are just like essential as what you're preparing.If you bear in mind these five simple tips, you'll be on your way to eating healthier and losing weight.

Weight Loss Success With The Power Of 2

How do you rate the difficulty of dieting and losing weight on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 meaning it's very easy for you and 10 meaning it's really hard?

The average difficulty rating seems to be around 8. That's an unscientific, anecdotal based estimate.

If you "failed" at diets in the past and look at your next weight loss attempt with trepidation, it's most likely because you have a high dieting difficulty self-rating.

Unfortunately, diets, of necessity, force you to do things, eat foods, and eat in certain ways that are outside of your norm. Plus, you probably need to eat less than you're used to and if you don't do that right you get hungry and grouchy and hate the whole experience.

Dieting means you need to change your routines if not your habits which is always a challenge.

When you add it all up, dieting causes a lot of stress and pushes your personal difficulty rating off the charts.

The Power Of 2

One good way to help relieve a lot of the stress and move that difficulty rating from an 8 (or whatever yours is) down in the 3 to 4 range or even less, is to use the Power of 2 by finding a good dieting buddy.

Depending on your personal "how-to-diet" preferences, especially if you're socially oriented, finding a buddy or even a group may be the very foundation of your success. Your own personal missing link to weight loss success.

And even if you're not ordinarily the social type, at least giving the Power of 2 dieting buddy idea a try can't hurt.

As in any good partnership, if you find a good, compatible match for your dieting buddy, you will: 

• Help each other overcome your dieting weaknesses
• Support each other in maximizing your dieting strengths
• Give each other both the rational and emotional support needed for success
• Encourage and "cheer lead" each other during tough times

The Power of 2 in dieting, if done correctly, will give you exponential success.

How To Choose A Dieting Buddy

There are 5 steps to choosing an exponentially powerful dieting buddy: 

1. Pay attention to how you like to do things. You'll discover your natural, inborn, innate preferences, strengths, traits, and characteristics. See how you can use your preferred behavioral style in conjunction with and in support of your diet - regardless of the diet you choose.


2. Make sure your buddy knows, understands, and will support your dieting behavioral preferences.


3. Learn your buddy's traits and characteristics - and his/her dieting behavioral dieting preferences, too. They may be the same as yours or may be radically different.


4. Make sure you know, understand, and will support your buddy's dieting behavioral preferences.


5. Agree with your buddy, in advance, how you are going to help and support each other. Exactly how you do that in reality will evolve over time. It will take some testing, trial, and error. But, if you start with at least a loose agreement on how to help and support each other, it will go a long way to helping both of you reduce your dieting difficulty rating and lead quickly to easier and more successful weight loss.

Example

Let's say you're the type of person who does everything at a fast pace, you're socially oriented, creative, and love fun, adventure, and being spontaneous. You don't like structure, routine, or boredom. You're also impatient and expect quick results.

You can see right off the bat that any sort of highly structured diet is a challenge for you. That doesn't mean you can't do it. Quite the contrary. You can be successful on a highly structured diet. If you take into account your natural traits, characteristics, and preferences, and, in a sense just plug them into the diet, you can make any legitimate diet work for you.

So let's now assume you find a dieting buddy with the same traits and characteristics as you. The two of you can support and help each other find ways to spur each other's creativity, make your dieting fun, and challenge each other to find ways to insert some spontaneity and flexibility without deviating too far beyond the bounds of your diet.

Or, maybe you find a dieting buddy who is quite different. Someone, let's say, who has tremendous patience, loves routine and structure, follows rules, is detail oriented, and just likes consistency and stability.

As long as the two of you really "get" each other and respect your differences in life and in dieting styles, are willing to admit your own dieting downfalls or weaknesses, and committed to get involved in each other's dieting efforts with openness and honesty, you'd make a great dieting buddy pair...better than someone who is just like you.

You'll help your buddy to get motivated...to get moving with the diet...to take some risks. You'll encourage her to stay with the diet when it's hard for her. You'll show her how to have a little fun with it.

In turn, she'll help you see that yes, you can have quick results, but "quick" in terms of reality. She'll model some patience for you. She'll help you stick to your dieting routine when you start feeling it's too restrictive. She'll give you an outlet for your emotional frustration when you start having that inevitable sense of boredom with the whole thing.

Finding a random dieting buddy where you don't know and understand each other's traits, characteristics, and dieting behavioral preferences, however, can prove disastrous. If you don't have a good sense of how you should go about dieting or how your buddy should go about dieting, it's impossible to help and support each other in positive and constructive ways. It could easily raise your dieting difficulty.

But, when you choose someone and can really get in tune with each other's best and most effective approaches to dieting and losing weight, you'll significantly reduce your dieting difficulty rating and greatly increase the ease and success of your weight loss efforts.

The Power of 2 can be quite dramatic.

Copyright - 2011 - Dexter Godbey - All Rights Reserved

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