Many of you reading this may be surprised that low carb diets are still being used as a way to lose large amounts of weight, but they are, and they actually may be a little easier to stay on long term than most other diets that use a lot of carbs and fiber, or diets that mix protein and carbs in a certain amount, such as the Zone or South Beach. Zone and South Beach are still somewhat carb reduced, but they are not like the earlier low carb diets like Atkins and the almost zero carb options.

Low carb diets, to be considered low carb and also to keep insulin levels down pretty low where the body starts to burn fat instead of sugars and carbs, actually needs to be pretty low. About thirty grams of carbs and under is the ideal number to actually shed quite a bit of weight. This means that you should really eat a lot of protein and meat and cheese, which a lot of people shun because these foods tend to be higher in fat than others.

However, being on a low carb diet doesn’t mean you have to shove fatty foods in your mouth at every turn. There are leaner options like turkey sausage, turkey bacon, low fat egg scramblers, low fat cheese and chicken and lean fish.  You just have to be careful to not totally shun veggies, as they give you the fiber, which makes you go the bathroom. Not having any fiber in your diet will definitely screw things up and have you in pain for a while!

Low carb diets work by essentially keeping your insulin levels low. When the blood sugar or insulin levels are low in the body, the body does not burn the sugar and carbs in the blood stream as energy. Instead, it pulls fat from the blood and burns fat. This means that over time, your body’s fat stores begin to whittle down, as do you behind and your belly with it!

That’s essentially why low carb diets work so well, and the lower carb you go, the quicker you will probably take the weight off. It’s amazing how fast I took off a few pounds that just would not come off after a typical high carb, low fat diet.  They just melted right off after just a week of really watching my carbs, so it does work to get fat off the body and maintain lean muscle.

Whether it can be a way of life – well, that’s up to you – and you also have to be careful to not make it unhealthy by taking in all fatty foods with no nutritional value. That takes practice, but you can do it and you can find foods that fit this bill well.

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