Tuesday, May 26, 2009

How Low Carb Diets Work

By Nikki Keating

There are those that will refer to the low carb diet as a mere fad diet from a decade ago. This is not the best way to properly describe the diet because fad infers it is not a good diet strategy. In actuality, the low carb diet is one of the quickest, easiest, and most successful diets one could ever employ.

Yes, low card diets work and they can greatly eliminate excess fat. Best of all, low carb diets do not require calorie counting or severely restricting what you eat. So, for those who may be wondering how this diet works, here is a brief overview of the most important points.

In order for your body to function, it needs energy. Carbohydrates, fats, and, to a lesser extent, proteins are used to burn fuel to create energy. Carbs are the body's first choice and it is critical to avoid eating carbs when you are not active. This is because unused carbs turn immediately to fat. However, if you dramatically reduce the amount of carbs you eat your body will shift to burning stored fat. That means when you reduce your carb intakeyou lose weight.guaranteed!

Carbs include bread, rice, fruit, vegetables, sugars, and starches. During the early stages of a low carb diet, it is necessary to completely wipe out all carb intake. Instead, replace them with meats, chicken, fish, eggs, cheeses, and other low/no carb foods. This way, the carbs in your body are burned up. Once they are gone and not replaced, you will drop a great deal of retained water (Carbs are a major culprit of water retention) and then you will start to metabolize your stored fat.

There is another point to consider when starting a low carb diet. If you increase the amount of exercise you get, you will lose weight even faster. Exercise requires a great deal of energy expenditure. When you begin to burn calories with exercise, there are no carb calories to utilize so the body burns fat and a little bit of protein.

Instead, the body will burn fat and a small amount of protein. This strategy is the same one body builders do when they want to get lean and ripped for a competition. You do not have to work that hard as even a little bit of minor working out can be a blast. 20 minutes of light cardio, for example, could easily help reduce one's weight with minimal effort.

Then again, you do not even have to work out all that much. Many people who do not even work out find themselves losing a great deal of weight with a low carb diet. Again, the body must burn energy in order to function. Without carbohydrates, it will perform its basic metabolic functions through the utilization of fats.

It really is unfair to refer to the concept of low carb dieting as a fad. It is a very successful diet plan that has been used for decades and will continue to be used for many decades more for one simple reason. The low carb diet works.

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