Is
it healthy? On a low carb diet, you can lose weight consistently,
lower your insulin levels, lower LDL (bad) cholesterols, increase
HDL (good) cholesterols, lower blood pressure, and stabilize
your blood sugar (great for diabetics). "What about fruits
and vegetables", you ask? Since you'll be eating less
of these, it's important to take a good full-spectrum multi
vitamin and fiber supplement. But aren't these good to take
anyway? Yes...
Have
you been consistently subjected to a diet high in sugar or refined
carbohydrates. Your body recognizes only one carbohydrate: sugar.
All carbohydrates you eat, except fiber, are converted into
sugar. A diet that's 70% carbohydrate means that most of what
you eat is sugar. That type of diet is unbalanced. The purpose
of a low carb diet is to bring your body chemistry and insulin
sensitivity back into balance. In order to accomplish this,
you'll need to eat a diet that is unbalanced in the opposite
direction of they way you've been eating all your life.
Once
the weight is gone, and your blood chemistry, blood pressure,
and energy levels are back in the normal range, then you may
be able to start adding some more complex carbohydrates back
into your diet - as much as 150 per day. By eating a moderate
amount of foods like vegetables and berries, and a limited amount
of grains like whole-grain breads and beans, your diet will
then be balanced and you can stop taking the supplements. A
low carb diet is not as unbalanced as you might think, though.
The foods you can eat on a low carb diet contain many essential
vitamins and minerals. It's the way humans were meant to eat
in the first place.
Can too much protein cause kidney
disease?
No. With certain types of kidney disease,
protein intake needs to be restricted because unhealthy kidneys
can't dispose of the nitrogen break-down product as well as
they should. Protein in one's diet cannot cause this condition.
How is eating so much fat good
for your heart?
When on a low carb diet, dietary fat
promotes the production of HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol
that we all need in order to live) - which prevents heart disease.
On
a low carb diet it isn't necessary to count calories.
You can eat as much as you want - whenever you want. Of course,
you still shouldn't over-stuff yourself because that's not
a healthy way to live. Being that some people are metabolically
resistant, reducing total food intake may help to stimulate
or maintain consistent weight loss. Still, it's the carbohydrates
- not the calories which must be kept low.
Since
on a low carb diet you are eating fats and oils, you're rarely
ever hungry. In general, foods high in fat are very satisfying.
Eating high levels of fat will actually cause you to burn fat
faster than if you were fasting! During a fast, your body goes
into starvation mode. This is a very high efficiency state of
metabolism. It actually slows down weight loss.
A
high fat diet combined with very low amounts of carbohydrates
tells your body it isn't starving, and your metabolism
maintains a normal level. While consuming fat is a requirement
for a healthy diet, limit consumption of trans-fats like margarine.
Use real butter. It's a good fat. Good fats are found in olive
oil, flax seed oil, canola oil, and oils found in nuts.
