If you are thinking about going on a low carb diet then you need to consult your doctor or nutritionist first. He will help you in making your diet profile and will see as to which diet program it matches with according to your current situation.

Having said that, here are Top 5 Tips you can take which will supplement your best diet efforts:

1# Cut down on Beverages
Most of the beverages in the market today contain a very high quantity of sugar. These beverages are not good for your health from a nutritional aspect.

Moreover, they surely won’t satisfy your, diet tip, appetite or give you that feeling of “filled up”. Additionally, sugar is a rich source of carbohydrates which will nullify all your efforts.

2# Increase Your Protein Intake
While on diet, most of the calories in your body will be supplied by foods rich in proteins. Hence, make sure you eat a lot of them. Also all meat based foods are rich sources, diet tip, of protein. Moreover sea foods like fish (especially salmon) are also a rich source of protein.

There is no such thing as too much proteins while on a diet. Proteins also help in tissue building of muscles and hence are very beneficial for general health maintenance.

3# Get on With Vegetables
I know many people have a strong dislike for vegetables. But if you’re thinking about going on a diet then you have to change your attitude towards them. Most of the vegetables are already rich in fibers which are essential for proper digestion of food. Starchy vegetables such as potatoes should be avoided in all forms but the non-starchy ones such as greens, cauliflower, avocado, mushrooms etc should become your best friends!

4# Some Fruits to Consider
Usually fruits have high content of sugar in them.

Still there are certain fruits which can be consumed while on diet. These are generally citrus fruits which have very low sugar content and hence are low on carbs. Some of these are Rhubarb, Blackberries, Cranberries, Strawberries, Peaches, Nectarines, Blueberries, Cantaloupes and Papaya. These fruits can also satisfy the cravings of your taste buds in case you get bored from the same diet and want to introduce some change from time to time.

5# Get High On Fats
I know this sounds very bizarre but getting on a diet would essentially mean that you have to depend more on fats for fulfilling the energy needs of your body.

Fats help in filling up the body and will rid you of appetite at least until the next meal. The calorie needs of the body will also be fulfilled by the additional fat that you’ll intake.

Follow these general guidelines while practicing your best low carb diet and you’ll be off to a nice slim figure in no time.

If you want a slim and shaped body, you certainly need to cut your extra carbohydrate intake. But this needs a careful selection of foods. Moving to low carbohydrate diet doesn’t mean just giving up meat for pasta or egg fro morning bread. Below are 9 useful tips to make the changeover or shift from the usual high carb diet to a low carbohydrate diet.

1. Count the carbohydrates. When you eat carbohydrate you must go in for complex ones like wholegrain breads and pasta, pulses and non-starchy vegetables and fruits.

2. Go for foods that lower glucose response. Fruits and vegetables that have the lowest glycaemic index are apples, apricots, broccoli and asparagus.

3. Avoid soft drinks. Soda, sweetened juices, aerated drinks are storehouses of low quality carbohydrates. You must stick to water when one feels thirsty.

4. Stock up on low carb food. You must fill your fridge and kitchen, diet tip, with non-starchy foods, fruits, vegetables, fish, dairy products so that snack time is also easier.

5. If you have to eat out, you must go to a restaurant that offers more than breads or pasta, seafood joint, for example.

6. Read food labels. Food labels have to show the grams of carbohydrates each serving contains. You must read the food labels carefully and keep track of the carbohydrates in the various foods consumed.

7. Nutty nuts. Peanuts and other nuts are full of mono-saturated fats and help contribute to weight loss and hearty health.

8. Change cooking oils. You must choose mono-saturated oils like peanut oil, olive oil, canola oil for cooking and salad dressing. They are healthier for the heart.

9. Stick to lean meats.

Just because you are switching to a low carb diet you need not gorge on fatty meats. These have, diet tip, high levels of saturated fats (bad for the heart). You must opt for lean beef, pork, and poultry. You must remove the skin and any fat you can see.

No matter what diet you are on, you must exercise. It increases metabolism and flexibility, burns calories and strengthens muscles, improves circulation, and your mood. There are many more such benefits. The aim must be 30 minutes moderate exercise a day.

Combined with a healthy, low carb diet, you can lose weight and stay healthy.

Disclaimer: This article is not meant to provide health advice and is for general information only. Always seek the insights of a qualified health professional before embarking on any health program.

Copyright

For many years, going on a diet to lose weight meant cutting carbs drastically, or eliminating them altogether. Although this craze seems to be quieting a little, low carbs diets are still popular, and can be effective. Here are some tips on implementing a low carb diet to your lifestyle.

Why Carbs Are Important

Carbohydrates are important for maintaining our energy levels. Without carbs, we would be lethargic, weak, irritable and mentally drowsy. They are loaded with vitamins, minerals and fiber necessary to stay regular.

The problem that many people seem to have is that they consume far too many carbohydrates, as well as the wrong types.

Why Low Carb Diets Help in Weight Loss

Lowering your carb intake - or at least simple carbohydrates such as white breads and sweets - can drastically lower your overall calorie consumption. Foods such, diet tip, as white bread, white pasta and fried potatoes are very high in calories. On the other hand, a complex carb such as a baked potato with limited dressing and seasoning can fill you up without overloading on the calories.

Since simple carbohydrates are eliminated from a low carb diet, you are encouraged to get your carb sources from foods such as fruits and whole grains, which are very high in fiber and are loaded with nutrients. In addition, low carb diets force you to get a lot of your calories from lean proteins, which are slow to digest and help with muscle building.

When you limit your carb intake, your body is forced to look to its fat stores for energy. If you couple this carb cutting with calorie cutting, you will be making your body burn calories and fat rather the burning over-loaded amounts of carbs that you were once feeding your body.

This will inevitably result in weight loss.

Suggestions for a Low Carb Diet

Here are some useful suggestions when incorporating a low carb diet to your lifestyle:

* Drink lots of water
* Eat smaller, more frequent meals to keep your metabolic rate up
* Get your protein sources from chicken, fish, eggs and beans
* Eat as many vegetables as you wish, as long as they are not drenched in fattening and calorie-dense dressings
* Use low calorie spices such as sea salt or cayenne pepper to add some flavor, diet tip, to your foods
* Load up on the fiber to keep you regular and to keep you feeling full for longer periods of time

Make sure you don’t eliminate carbohydrates completely.

Doing so will drain you of energy and mental alertness that you require to perform everyday functions. Your brain needs carbs for its fuel, so give it what it needs, the healthy way.

Not losing weight on a low carb diet is frustrating for certain. You are restricting the number of carbohydrate grams daily and passing on all of your favorite foods and yet the scale is not showing any progress. Here are the three things you must do to make your low carb diet work including how cheating can help.

1. Count your actual carbohydrate grams. There are many hidden carbs in the foods you eat and you might be thinking you are eating fewer carbs than you actually are. Every body is different but if you are consuming more than 50 grams per day your body may have found a settling point and adapted to your low carb routine.

Drop this number to 30 grams a day for a few days and see if the scale starts moving for you. Note 30 grams is not many carbs, count every one.

2. Are you eating too much or too little? When low carb diets first became popular they came with the promise that you could eat as much as you want and still lose weight. But this promise has quietly faded away. You cannot eat anything you want but you can fill yourself up. If you are not losing weight on your low carb diet then you will want to start by cutting your, diet tip, portion sizes by one-fourth until your weight starts dropping.

On the flip side, you might be eating too few calories and shutting down your fat burning potential.

To know how many calories you should be eating, Google the words “Calorie Calculator”. This will give you a cool little tool that calculates your daily caloric need according to your age, height and current weight and activity level.

3. CHEAT! When you have made sure that tips 1 and 2 above are working for you the best thing you can do to jump start your losing is to schedule a weekly “Cheat Day”.

This is not some “sounds good but doesn’t work” scheme, cheating is actually shown in research and real life examples to work.

Here is why cheating will help…

When you are dieting your body’s metabolism slows, this is the last thing you want when your goal is to lose weight. But you can keep your metabolism humming right along while you diet by scheduling 6 diet days followed by one cheat day. This one cheat day will have carbohydrates allowed, in fact any of your favorite foods will be allowed: pizza, ice cream, bread.

..

Now you will notice your cheat day will cause your body to retain water but this water weight is quickly lost and you benefit from a metabolism that is efficiently burning fat for you all week long. Joel Marion is one of the leading hands-on people showing how this cheat method works and he teaches a program called Cheat Your Way Thin which shows exactly how to, diet tip, make this work.

So if you are not losing weight on low carb dieting try these tips: count your actual carbohydrate grams, find your daily caloric needs and stick to them and add a “Cheat Day” to your low carb week.

These tips should get your scale moving down.

Eating out is a part of almost everyone life and being on a diet shouldn’t prohibit you from enjoying this fun treat. Luckily many restaurants today offer healthy options and some even cater to different diet plans like the Atkins and South Beach Diets.
The rules to sticking to your diet while eating out are the same as when you prepare your own food. Fill up on fruits and vegetables and eat lean meats and fish in small portions. Stay away from all those rolls!
Whether you’re having lunch with the gang, or enjoying a romantic dinner for two, you can enjoy delicious-tasting foods that are low-in calories and good for you, with just a little forethought and planning.

Here’s some tips that might help you stick to your, diet tip, diet while enjoying restaurant cuisine.
1. Think Ahead. Get a menu from the restaurant if you are not familiar with their dishes and select a healthy dish ahead of time. This can save you from ordering something fattening under the duress of hunger pangs at the restaurant.
2. Order first. Be the first one in your group to order and you won’t be tempted to change your mind and order some deliciously fattening dish that one of your companions has orderd.

3. Ask for smaller portions. Don’t be afraid to ask for a kids or seniors sized portion. Most restaurants will accommodate you — and often you’ll pay less as well!
4. Ask about the preparation of any dish you plan to order. You want to avoid anything that is cooked in butter and always ask if they have a heart healthy or fat free option.
5. Drink a large glass of water before the meal. This will help you digest easier, feel full faster and therefore eat less.
6. If everything on the menu is high in fat or calories, ask if the chef could prepare a plate of fresh fruit and vegetables.

Many restaurants offer a vegetarian selection, so if you don’t see it on the menu, ask.
7. When ordering meat or fish, ask that it be grilled or broiled, and prepared without oil or butter. (When you eat it, use lemon or herbs and spices to give it flavor rather than heavy sauces).
8. Order an appetizer and a salad as your meal. Or a soup and salad. For dessert, choose fresh fruit.
9. When choosing soup, remember, diet tip, that cream-based soups have many more calories than broth-based ones.
10.

If you’re having a full meal, split the appetizer and desert with your companion.
11. If you decide to order pasta, tomato sauce has fewer calories than cream-based sauces, just like soup.
12. Choose breadsticks over bread, or if you eat bread, don’t add butter. Stay away from muffins and croissants, and choose whole grain over white.
13. Choose steamed vegetables instead of baked potatoes or other starches. Again, use lemon and herbs and spices rather than butter to flavor them with.
14. Whenever possible, eat like the Europeans do, and have your biggest meal at lunchtime.

Not only will you save money, but you’ll cut down on calories at the same time!
15. Take the time to enjoy your meal. Savor the flavors and textures of your food, and enjoy the company you’re with. When you eat slowly, you give your body’s internal clock the time it needs to know when you’ve had enough. When you’re full, stop eating. Ask your server to remove your plate so you’re not tempted to keep eating while you wait for your companion to finish.
16. Ask for salsa on your baked potatoes, rather than sour cream and butter.

Not only is salsa much lower in calories, but it adds a “spicy” flavor to potatoes.
17. Order salad dressings and sauces “on the side.” This gives you more control of how much to use. Another tip for salad dressing — rather than pouring the salad dressing on your salad, dip your fork into the dressing first, and then into the salad. You’ll get the same amount of flavor, without all the added calories!
18. Choose brown rice over white rice (or french fries), whole grain breads and rolls over white.

Not only are they lower in calories, but they are better for you.
19. Stay away from “all you can eat” buffets and salad bars. It’s too easy to lose track of the amount of food you’re eating, even when it’s salads. If that’s your only choice, then stay away from the pasta, marinated salads, cheeses and fruit salads with whipped cream. Stick to soups, raw vegetables and fresh fruits.
20. Have your soup first. It will help to fill you up, and most soups have fewer calories.
21. If you’re craving something sweet, and don’t want fresh fruit, choose sorbet.

If you absolutely HAVE to have the chocolate sauce, use the same trick as you did with the salad dressing — dip your fork into it first, then your dessert.
22. Split your dessert with your companion. You’ll still feel like you got to be indulgent, and you’ll only have to exercise half as long to burn off the extra calories!
23. When ordering sandwiches, order them with mustard only, rather than mayonnaise. Not only does mustard have almost no calories, but you won’t miss the mayo!
24. If the portion you were served is large, only eat half of it.

Take the other half home. Not only will you get two meals for the price of one, but you’ll cut the calories in half as well!
25. Go for a walk after eating. Stroll along the beach, walk through a park, visit a zoo. You’ll burn calories and get your exercise at the same time!
Lee Dobbins is the owner of Low Carb Resource where you can find more about low carb eating, the glycemic index and dieting.
Visit the dieting article archives for more dieting tips.

What is a low carb diet? Well, it doesn’t take a scientific mind to realize that people, and Americans especially, have difficulty choosing the right foods and an adequate quantity of those foods. To put it lightly, our diets are awful. We are obese with elevated cholesterol levels and blood pressure, and are crippled by arthritis and cancer. Although many maladies are dependent on one’s genetic makeup and can hardly be avoided, a lot can be said for eating wholesome foods to help fortify your body.

One of the most popular diets on the market these days are the low carb diets, such as Atkins, South Beach, or the Zone. Low carb diets typically advocate portion control and a concept called insulin control. When one eats a highly refined, sugary twinkie, the bloodstream is inundated with glucose within 7 minutes and not too much later, the pancreas releases excessive amounts of insulin to transport the blood glucose to where it needs to go. This causes your blood sugar levels to plummet and for the excess glucose to be stored as fat.

This, of course, leads to obesity and heart disease.
So, instead of eating processed, sugary foods, one needs to eat what are called “complex carbohydrates”. These cause a more gradual climb in blood sugar levels and therefore provide more energy that lasts longer. This ingrained pattern of eating junk food out of laziness is what the low carb diets are trying to get rid of. Instead, they are advocating an restriction on starchy pastas, potatoes, and breads, while advocating an increased consumption of good protein sources and fresh vegetables and fruits.

According to research, by ingesting more protein, one’s metabolism has to work harder to break it down for use as energy, thus raising the metabolic rate. So, not only will you be burning more calories, but by limiting the intake of starchy carbs, one is protecting themselves from the complications of type II diabetes. So, low carb, high protein diets seem to make sense but is there scientific merit to their claims?
Yes, when one lowers their intake of starchier and more refined carbs, there are numerous health benefits that come with the territory.

First of all, research has proven that people can lose substantial weight on a low carb diet without restricting calories. Low carb, high protein diets can help lower triglyceride levels, increase HDL cholesterol levels, reduce blood glucose levels for diabetics as well as non-diabtetics, improve insulin sensitivity, lower blood pressure, improve concentration due to regulated blood glucose levels, and lower blood insulin levels. Others have made, diet tip, unsubstantiated claims that low carb, high protein diets left them with fewer headaches, lessened PMS symptoms, healthier, diet tip, looking skin, and even better joint motion.

There is a lot to be said for low carb diets, but if this sounds like the plan to help initiate your path to weight loss, consult your physician or a dietitian before setting out on a diet that, if misunderstood, could certainly be life threatening. Good luck.
Want free weight loss support for your low carb diet? Find low carb diet tips and join our free weight loss support group.

Thanks to Jennifer Aniston, Dr. Atkins’ low-carb diet is the latest craze among weight watchers. However, the furor it has caused in the medical circles is also due to the fact that it is steeped with immense benefits for diabetics. In fact, it is fast gaining precedence over the traditional low-calorie, low-fat diet once prescribed for diabetics

There’s a two hundred year history of people prescribing both high and low carb diets for weight loss. So how does one choose? One factor you should consider is the dangers associated with each diet.
What is a carbohydrate, anyways?
There are three types of nutrients that every body uses:
*Proteins in our diet usually come from Meat and soy products like tofu. Amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, are used to make muscles and enzymes (the proteins that do most of the work our bodies need to survive)
* Carbohydrates are sometimes described as “sugars,” but they’re not just white stuff in you find in the baking aisle.

Simple sugars include the sugar you put in coffee; pasta, bread, and potatoes are among the source of starches, or complex carbohydrates. Most of your body uses carbs for energy, and it’s the preferred energy source for the brain.
* Fats are long, chainlike molecules that are don’t mix with water (oils are fats). They are an efficient way for the body to store energy.
You can see that all three nutrients are crucial for functioning. What happens if you take in more or less of a given nutrient than you need?
The Low-Fat Diet
The low-fat diet reduces fat intake, following the governmental food pyramid that suggests using fats sparingly.

There are many good reasons to limit the amount of fat in your diet:
*cholesterol and fats can result in clogged up arteries, leading to heart disease and possible cardiac damage (in the form of a heart attack), stroke, and kidney disease
*fat packs a lot of calories - if you don’t use those calories up in your daily activities, they will be stored in your fat cells and cause weight gain
Low-fat diets are often higher in carbohydrates than the average American’s diet. Low-fat products take advantage of the fat-carbohydrate trade-off; if you compare “lowfat” cookies with their “normal” counterparts, you may notice that the fat per serving is lower but there is more carbohydrate per serving than the “normal” alternative.

Because fat is flavorful, simple sugar and loads of salt may be added to lowfat products to enhance taste.
Carbohydrates are not as good a signal of satiety. In contrast, when you eat a bit of fat, your body “recognizes” it as a signal to limit the amount of intake. So, while a low-fat diet can help you stay healthy, a no-fat diet may encourage you to eat more than you need. If you make up in carb-calories what you lose in fat-grams, excess carbs will be stored as starch in the liver and fat in your fat cells! So even though your diet is low-fat, you may end up gaining weight if you eat more carbs than you use in daily activities.

Lastly, you need the right sorts of carbs to keep healthy and assist weight loss. Simple sugars are quickly absorbed and use little energy to process - in other words,, diet tip, they add lots of calories to your meal. In contrast, foods with more complex carbohydrates, like starches in whole grain breads - take longer for your body to absorb and use more energy. They also give your body time to recognize that you’re full. Complex carbohydrates are more likely to have vitamins (like potato skins which have lots of B12) and fiber (like whole grain bread), both of which are important for good health.

Low-Carb Diets
Low-carb diets may help you lose weight by:
* making sure that you’re satiated, since both fats are better signals to your body that “food’s here!” than carbohydrates
* promoting ketosis: in ketosis/ Ketones are a byproduct of burning fats and proteins instead of carbohydrates.
* leveling out your hormonal response to carbohydrates. We make the hormone insulin in response to food, particularly sugar, entering the body. It’s been hypothesized that large changes in insulin levels (for example, a large increase in response to a carb-heavy meal) trigger the storage of sugars as fat.

However, if decreasing carbs increases your fat intake, serious problems can result. In some studies, about 30% of people on low-carbohydrate diets showed an increase in cholesterol levels, even if they lost weight on the diet. Studies have also shown that low-carb diets may increase in kidney problems, especially in people who already had some kidney disease.
In addition, some studies suggest that ketosis in the Atkin’s diet is not caused just by fat burn but by burning muscles instead. Muscle loss does result in weight loss, but is unlikely to give you the look you want, or to help you function.

Lastly ketosis can be fatal in diabetic - if you’re diabetic, you should speak with your doctor before starting any diet.
Women have some special issues to think about when looking at a low-carb diet. Some studies show that people on these diets lose a lot of calcium, which makes them a bad idea for women at risk for osteopenia or osteoporosis. In addition, some low-carb diets do not include the right foods for a balanced intake of vitamins; while a few days of missed vitamins aren’t a problem, chronic deficiencies can lead to skin, eye, and bone damage.

And for women who are pregnant or trying to become pregnant, ketones can be dangerous for a fetus as well as for you.
Which Diet Should I Use?
The keys to weight loss are moderation and tailoring. If you’re interested in losing weight, talk with your healthcare provider about tailoring a weight-loss plan that takes into account your current health and weight-loss goals. Lowering calories and balancing nutrients, rather than focusing on a single “culprit” gives you the best chance of long-term weight reduction.

Auchincloss, E, “Byron’s Weight,” Times Literary Supplement, 4896, p 15, 1997
Bravata DM, et al.” Efficacy and safety of low-carbohydrate diets: A systematic review,” Journal of the American Medical Association, Volume 289, issue 14. p 1837-1850. 2003.
Meckling, K, “Comparison of a low-fat diet to a low-carbohydrate diet on weight loss, body composition, and risk factors for diabetes and cardiovascular disease in free-living, overweight men and women,” Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, Volume 89, issue 6, pages, diet tip, 2717-23
Westman, EC, et al “Effect of 6-month adherence to a very low carbohydrate diet program,” American Journal of Medicine , Volume113, p.

30-36, 2002
Olsen, M., et al,”A low-carbohydrate, ketogenic diet versus a low-fat diet to treat obesity and hyperlipidemia,” Annals of Internal Medicine, Voume 140 pages769-777, 2004
Copyright (C) Shoppe.MD and Ian Mason, 2004-2005
Learn more about health, diet and exercise at our weight loss forum.
PhenForum.com is a popular discussion forum for weight loss programs, diet tips, and support to help you burn more fat and lose weight permanently.

The low carb diet craze has become extremely popular amongst dieters. From diet books, free low carb diet plans, online dieting sites, and thousands of low carb recipes, low carb diets have produced favorable results for millions of overweight people. Along with the Atkins Diet and the South Beach diet, there are many other low carb diet plans. The Suzanne Sommers Diet and The Zone Diet are popular choices as well, each promising to be more effective than the other. Each of these diet plans includes recipes, menus, and helpful diet tips designed to help you lose weight quickly and maintain your weight loss.

If you are considering beginning a low carb diet, keep in mind that each low
carb diet plan allows for differing amounts of carbohydrates that you may
consume. Some allow little to no carbohydrates and others allow for only certain
types of carbohydrates. You will find hundreds to thousands of low carb recipes
and meal plans. Switching to a low carb lifestyle is not the answer if bread,
potatoes, and pasta are staples in your diet. If you can live without these
types of foods, low carb may be the perfect diet plan for you.

Low carb recipes limit the amount of carbohydrates you consume while allowing
you to enjoy a variety of foods. There are delicious recipes, diet tip, available that are
sure to please your entire family and limit the number of carbohydrate grams you
are eating at the same time. The South Beach program allows for a gradual
increase, diet tip, in carbohydrates as your body adjusts to your new eating habits. The
South Beach Diet is somewhat less restrictive than The Atkins Diet. The Zone Diet
and The Suzanne Sommers Diet stress not only a low carb lifestyle, but also
combining certain foods to increase your body’s fat burning ability.

Other less
well-known low carb diet plans may be just as effective for you as the more
famous diet plans.

Beginning a low carb diet and lifestyle will require discipline and
determination, but can be very helpful in your quest to lose weight. Search the
diet plans and recipes that are available to you until you find the one that
will best suit your individual needs. Free diet plans and recipes are also
readily available.

There are many products available to help you lose weight. There are
supplements, diet plans, programs and online support systems to
help you manage your eating habits and measure your weight loss progress.

Some
of these companies provide support and help with your dieting program. We can
help you by providing you with a free list of our recommended best sources for
effective weight loss products and services. To view our list of recommended
sources to help you lose weight or to read
more articles about dieting visit: Recommended Weight Loss & Diet Resources Online.
Carrie Reeder is the owner of eZerk, an informational website about various
topics with articles and the latest news. Visit her website to read
articles from various sources on dieting & weight loss.

Every where you turn these days there is a new diet charging its way to the surface in the sea of fad diets. It