Quick Weight Loss Diets and Carbohydrates

Posted by Quick Weight Loss Coach on May 29th, 2008 at 01:44pm

We’ve talked a lot about high protein and low carb diets, and how they can be part of a quick weight loss program, so now I want to quickly cover the topic of carbs and what they are.

What Is a Carbohydrate?

A carbohydrate is one of the three basic food elements (the other two being protein and fat), and it’s composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. But essentially it’s sugar, and that’s how your body processes it, which is where the insulin problem comes in. As the Oxford American Dictionary notes in its “carbohydrate” entry, carbs are “considered to be fattening.”

It’s easy enough to get rid of the obvious sweets when you’re dieting, but carbohydrates also lurk in starchy foods like potatoes, pasta, bread, grains, popcorn, pretzels, beans, and bananas - not to mention raisins, yogurt, and many other surprising places.

In the low-fat diet era, these foods have been extolled as the healthiest, and as we’ve noted, they’re fine for people who don’t have an insulin problem. But for those of us who do, they’re always going to be a problem that we need to control. And in terms of nutrition, they come dose to being high-class junk food. The nutritious part of the potato is not the starchy white inside but the skin (and the skins are acceptable on a low carb diet).Zucchini pasta has many more nutrients than plain old white-flour pasta.

A rule of thumb is to lose the whites in your diet - potatoes, pasta, and bread - and go for the greens and reds: virtually anything green, plus tomatoes and red peppers.

Sugar is completely out, except for tiny amounts that make a big difference in desserts. In this new way of eating, protein, whether it’s meat, fish, eggs, poultry, cheese, or quorn, is the heart of your meal, accompanied by vegetables and perhaps fruit. And yes, you get to have fat – good fats from nuts, seeds, butter, and oils, even cheese. (If you’re trying to lose weight, though, too much fat will sabotage your efforts.)

Tags: low carb diet, quick weight loss