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If you are interested in losing weight, one of the best ways is to create a nutritious, low carb diet. By cutting back on the carbohydrates in your diet, you will lose weight and combined with regular exercise will be able to lose a great deal of weight and improve your health.
The first step to creating a low carb diet involves deciding upon your recipes. There are some fantastic recipes that you can include. Meats, poultry, eggs, fish and shellfish all contain practically no carbohydrates, as do salad vegetables such as lettuce and arugula, cucumber, celery, alfalfa sprouts, bok choy, radishes, mushrooms, cucumber, and peppers which all have minimal to no carbohydrates.
5 Low Fat Protein Choices Great For Low Carb Diets
In a study by the New England Journal of Medicine found that people on low carb diets, who also consumed more fat and protein than those on low-fat diets, lost significantly more weight and body fat overall.
Now, a major study (Lydia A. Bazzano, et al) shows that those on low carb diets have shown improvement in all major risk factors for heart disease.
Low carb simply works! How you might ask?
It’s really rather simple. Typically, the body uses carbohydrates from food for energy. Carbs are the first “go to” source of energy. When you significantly cut down carbs, the body has no other choice but to use stored fat for energy, a process known as Ketosis.
Ketosis makes your body a literal fat burning machine, it works, and it works very quickly as some see significant weight loss in double digits in the first few weeks of significant reductions in carb intake as documented in member discussion boards on the Atkins Nutritional Program website.
The Atkins low carb diet is a pioneer in low carb weight loss, and is very strict in carb reduction.
Proteins and Fats
Those on low carb diets are likely to be eating more fat and protein, which means making smarter choices about what types of fat and protein to consume. Here are 7 sources for low-fat high protein foods, excellent for people on low carb diets.
1. Nuts
Nuts are an excellent source of protein and also an easy snack to carry around. Peanut butter is ok to eat too, just eat it on a piece of fruit instead of white bread, or just out of the jar if you want. Raw almonds and pistachios are particularly good as they are high in protein and high in omega3 fats but very low in carbs.
Take care to eat raw unflavored nuts without sugary or overly salty coatings.
2. Lean Meats
Lean meats are a popular choice for low fat high protein foods, particularly those who also follow a paleo style diet. Seafood and fish like salmon, fresh tuna, tilapia, shrimp, and crab are all very low in fat and high in protein, and salmon is one of the highest omega3 rich proteins you can eat.
Eat red meat in moderation and instead choose skinless chicken or ground turkey.
3. Beans
Beans can in fact be magic, when you consider that most beans contain 14 to 17 grams of protein and less than 1 gram of fat per cooked cup! If you’re on a low carb diet that should excite you.
Some beans you may want to consider trading the cow for are black beans, pinto beans, soybeans, garbanzo beans, kidney beans, and lentils. Tofu also makes an excellent low fat protein choice. Although ok by itself, if you cook tofu right, it will soak up the flavor of whatever you’re cooking.
Beans are higher in carbs than vegetables so watch your intake, but the more you exercise the more carbs you can eat.
4. Dairy
Cheese and yogurt are great choices. Greek yogurt has become increasingly popular lately, due in large part to its high protein content. Be careful with milk as it does contain sugars. Low carb cheeses are cream cheese, parmesan, cheddar and Swiss.
5. Protein Powder
Pure protein in powder form, just like Arnold Schwarzenegger intended. It was invented to give you an easy and low fat protein option. Add some whey protein powder to your favorite blend.
Protein powder is an ideal and quick meal solution for low carb eaters that will provide you with energy, essential nutrients, and zero carbs.
Many Benefits
There are many benefits of a low carb diet, namely that fast weight loss is expected due to a chemical reaction in the body (Ketosis) when an inadequate level of carbohydrates are available. You will also feel less fatigued, as people who consume a lot of carbohydrates often feel very tired, even when they have just woken up and are well rested.
It is important that you stick to your low carb diet for at least six weeks before you can expect to notice any significant results, so just because you may not lose any weight within the first few days, you should not get frustrated and should keep working and you will notice differences soon to come.
Check with your doctor if you have any health problems or concerns first.
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