Knowing A Healthy Low Carbohydrate Diet

There is a lot of publicity going on about high protein and low carbohydrate diet, but you need to know what a healthy diet is and how to follow it?

In a new diet research, it has been discovered that instead of limiting the amount of carbohydrates in your diet, you should be eating only those that have a low Glycemic Index. Now the GI actually measures the speed at which glucose is released into your blood stream after consumption of a particular food. If all the glucose you consume does not go into use by your body, it is converted into fat and stores up, and this is no good in the quest for weight loss.

Question is, how do you know if a food has a low GI or not? Well, fortunately,

most supermarkets have now started coding their foods so you should be able to see from the packet. Knowing low GI foods is not really that difficult, they are foods that consists entirely or mainly of proteins, fats and/or water.

While dieting, avoid foods that tend to have high GI e.g. 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.

Increase the quantity of water you drink, aim at drinking at least 8 glasses of water a day, drinking water helps weight loss as we sometimes misinterpret our body’s signals and eat when in fact what we needed is to drink water to quench our thirst. Increase the amount of fiber in your diet by eating more vegetables.

When you are following a healthy low carb diet, watching your portion size is important. Though in our country, we are used to consuming large portions of everything. Reducing the size of our meals will help you to lose weight, so will eating a little and often rather than one large meal a day.

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

Drink skimmed milk instead of full fat milk. Drink low fat yogurts but watch for hidden sugars and sweeteners. Keep alcohol intake to a minimum as it does not only 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.