Curb Your Carb Intake

The best way to lose weight is by restricting your carb consumption. The simple carbohydrates that are taken unnecessarily are termed as bad carbs. The way the body processes carbs makes them good or bad. Your body doesn’t need fiber to process simple carbohydrates and so it metabolizes them easily and quickly.

Corn syrup, maple syrup, fruit juices, molasses, soda, honey, granulated sugar, white bread, soda, pasta are some of the food items which have simple carbs or carbohydrates, whereas whole grain bread, cereals, fruits, vegetables, brown rice, bulgur, legumes, dried fruit, and whole wheat pasta contain complex carbohydrates.

You need to reduce your bad carb consumption as these bad carbs lead to a rise in the levels of sugar in the blood which will in turn release a hormone called insulin. Insulin’s main function is to decrease the sugar level in the blood and carry fat throughout the body. If you consume a lot of fat, then your body will have to produce lot of insulin to combat that carb and maintain a low sugar level in the blood. Thus, you feel hungry after eating something like pasta, which leads to low blood sugar levels signaling hunger to the body.

So, you need to always try avoiding simple carbohydrates, especially when you are in the process of losing weight. Of course, sugar tastes good but you must always remember that the results on the body are not worth it. If you really want something sweet, then you can go ahead with fresh fruit juice which is healthy, since it contains fiber and at the same time, satisfies your hunger for sweet. Also, try to have fresh fruit juice and not packed ones as they are also loaded with sugar.

Having bad carbs is just like having wine wherein the one glass leads to another glass. Thus, consumption of bad carbs leads to having more bad carbs. So, if you try to have simple carbohydrates, then you will yourself feel the difference that you will no longer crave for bad carbs. When you feel hungry, try consuming vegetables, especially those which you like. You can also try making the vegetables tasty. For example, if you like cucumbers, you can cut them into small pieces, add a little red wine vinegar and some pepper and voila you have a great tasty dish in hand! Although you will be consuming some calories, you will be eating something that has fiber, good water content, and that fills the stomach quickly.

The best thing about a low carb diet is that you no longer have to keep a check on the number of calories that you take. You can eat some of the foodstuffs that you like as much as you want and still lose weight without even doing anything!

However, in doing so, you will have to change your mind set about how you approach food. Most of the people are tuned to having carbohydrates as their main ‘fast’ food, toast with marmalade as their breakfast, morning starts with pastries or biscuits, fried food for lunch, and pasta or potatoes in the evening. These foodstuffs are self-serving. As mentioned earlier, these foodstuffs will again increase you hunger towards the same food items. Instead of having carbohydrates as your main meal, you must try including meat, poultry, fish, and more vegetables in your diet.