Posts Tagged ‘Ketosis’

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Is A Fast Weight Loss Diet A Healthy Choice?

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009

With the countless fad diets on the market pushing misleading and deceptive claims it’s no surprise that nearly everyone who wants to lose weight is looking for a fast weight loss diet plan or program. An example of fast weight loss diets include low carb diets which instruct you to limit how many carbohydrate foods you eat.

In fact, fast weight loss diets, such as the Atkins Diet and the South Beach Diet, often have phases instructing you to put your body in a a state called “ketosis” where it switches from using carbohydrate for energy to using fat by eliminating carbohydrate from your diet. Not only will you lack many vital nutrients by doing this, it is very extreme and unnecessary, and very difficult to follow through.

What no-one tells you is that it’s only realistic for your body to lose two pounds a week of fat and anything else you lose on a fast weight loss diet will be either muscle or water loss. Not only is this very bad for your health but your body uses up fewer calories as you lose muscle. Water loss also causes you to become dehydrated, since your body is 75% water.

Another side effect of fast weight loss diets is that sudden changes in your diet where you eat a lot less than normal could trigger your body’s natural starvation response. Your body will then conserve its energy and won’t let go of your body fat, which is why often dieters find their fat loss stalling despite how low their calories are.

Something else to consider is that it is very likely that you will re-gain any weight you lost on a fast weight loss diet when you complete your diet. This is due to the extremely restrictive nature of low-carb diets which can result in cravings and subsequent binges as you fall back into your old way of eating, and is also due to the muscle loss which slows down your metabolism.

On top of all this you also have fast weight loss diet programs which tell you to pay for monthly supplies of “necessary” shakes, bars and other supplements while making huge weight loss claims in return. Since 9 out of 10 dieters return to dieting after putting the weight they lost back on imagine how many customers are sucked into the hype, invested hundreds of dollars on fast weight loss diets, only to find that despite all that money they invested they’re back where they started!

The key to successfully and permanently losing the fat is not to drastically lower calories, nor to label carbs as evil and avoid them like the plague, as many fast weight loss diets advocate. Instead, you will get more effective results by changing your eating habits and eating smaller, but more frequent meals and cutting way back on processed, fatty and high-sugar foods.

Fast weight loss diet plans and programs should be avoided if you want to lose the fat safely. The only solution to permanent weight loss is to make healthy eating part of your lifestyle by replacing your negative habits, and incorporate regular exercise into your routine. This should include both aerobic exercise which helps melt the fat off and strength/resistance training which will build muscle to speed up your metabolism and avoid muscle loss, something many fast weight loss diets are guilty of.

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Discover All About The Atkins Diet – Also Know As The Low Carb Diet

Saturday, August 15th, 2009

Nearly everyone has heard of the Atkins Diet by now, even if not necessarily clear on what it is. Some may even know it as the source of “low-carb” diet craze in the country, but don’t know much about it beyond that. Considered as controversial as it is revolutionary, the Atkins Diet has worked successfully for a tremendous number of people, and not so successfully for a good amount of others. This article aims to place a neutral and objective eye on this popular weight loss program.

Re-introduced in the 1990’s (after an initial period of popularity in the 1970’s), the Atkins Diet is the brainchild of Dr. Robert Atkins.

The diet works in several phases, the first – or the “induction period” – lasting only 2 weeks. In this phase, dieters are not to eat any more than 20 grams of carbohydrates of any form each day. The bulk of a person’s diet during this period, then, is fats and proteins. Usually, a dieter will reach their 20 gram limit on carbohydrates simply from the small amounts in foods like salad dressing, cheese, sauces, condiments, and vegetables.

Forbidden from a participant’s diet during this 2 week induction period are fruits, grains, breads, cereal, milk, and vegetables with a high-glycemic index (a measure of the effect a food has on the body’s blood sugar).

During this period, the body enters a state called “ketosis”, where it begins burning its own residual deposits of fat in order to produce the energy for which it previously had been relying on your regular consumption of carbohydrates.

Atkins also asserts that the source of most weight problems people experience is an “insulin-resistance” that causes overweight bodies to have difficulty converting carbohydrates into glucose (or sugar) which becomes energy. In this state of ketosis induced by the induction phase of the Atkins Diet, the insulin function of the body is affected in such a way that impedes the production of more fat.

After the two week induction period ends, dieters are then permitted to increase their carbohydrate allowance by 5 grams each week. In other words: they’re allowed 25 grams of carbs per day throughout week 3, 30 grams of carbs per day throughout week 4, 35 g in week 5, etc.

Depending on the person’s body type and weight objectives, this gradual increase in carbs should level off somewhere between 40 g and 90 g per day. At this point, the dieter is considered to have entered the “maintenance” phase of the diet, where they ought to remain for the rest of their lives. Although counting calories is not a part of the Atkins Diet, studies by the North American Association for the Study of Obesity found that adhering to the restrictions imposed by the Atkins Diet led to a decrease of 1,000 calories from participant’s daily caloric intake.

A quick perusal of the recommendations published by most traditional health experts and health organizations will reveal that 40-90 grams of carbs per day is still a miniscule amount compared to that of what they consider a “standard” healthy diet.

The Atkins Diet also contradicts authorities (US FDA and the American Cancer Society included) that extol the virtues of eating fruits, vegetables, and whole grain breads and cereals. According to Atkins, even “healthy” carbohydrates are harmful in large quantities.

Studies by the Annals of Internal Medicine and the New England Journal of Medicine have actually found that participants on the Atkins Diet experienced an improvement in heart disease indicators.

Like the 80’s and 90’s were to “low-fat” and “fat-free”, Dr. Atkins has helped make the early 21st century “low-carb”. Whether that’s for better or worse is up to you.

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Low Carb Diets – What Are They and How Do They Work

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

Low carbohydrate diets have been made popular by weight loss schemes such as the Atkins diet and South Beach diet. They are appealing due to the fact that the foods you can eat are essentially the opposite of most other diets. That is, you eat a lot of protein and fats and very restricted carbohydrates.

The basis of this diet is that you require carbohydrates to produce insulin, and it’s this that makes you metabolise the fats in your food. Without the carbohydrates, you put yourself in the position that the food you eat goes essentially undigested. Your body reacts by using up it’s stored carbohydrates (in the form of glycogen) very quickly and you then go into a state of ketosis. This results in a very rapid initial weight loss since a lot of water is also stored with the glycogen.

Depending on the particular diet, the carbohydrate restriction can be very severe – for example on the Atkins diet, in the initial phases you may eat no more than 15-20 grams of carbohydrate a day. Also, the type of carbohydrate becomes important too. It becomes permissible to eat restricted amounts of fruit, but the real issue is refined carbohydrates, as these cause spikes in insulin production.

So, the foods which are a no-no are things which contain milled white flour and white sugar (and other sources of refined carbohydrates). These include

* Sugar
* Bread
* Cakes
* Sweets (candy to our American friends)
* Alcoholic drinks
* Rice
* Pasta
* any non-diet drinks
* almost all ready-meals

and also, in the initial strict part of the regime,

* Potatoes
* Rice
* Fruit
* Vegetables (apart from a small quantity of leafy green vegetables)

The things which you may eat are

* Any unprocessed fresh meat
* Unprocessed fish
* Eggs
* Cream
* Oils
* Cheese
* Nuts

A typical day on this kind of weight loss regime might consist of a cheese omellete for breakfast, perhaps some chicken and salad for lunch followed by steak and salad for dinner. So this type of diet is good if you are a meat eater, but near impossible if you are a vegetarian. It also seems to be more popular than some other regimes with men.

Some variations on this type of weight loss scheme allow you to eat fruit, but at least 30 minutes before any meal and at least 4 hours after any meal. This is so that the natural sugars in the fruit do not mix with the protein and fats in your main meal.

Still other variations also restrict your calorific intake to further hasten your weight loss.

However, do bear in mind that like all diet programmes, it relies on denial. In this case, denial of items like bread, sugar, alcohol, coffee, most desserts, many sauces, and almost all pre-packaged foods. It’s also relatively expensive since it’s all meat, fish and cheese.

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Vince Lewis is webmaster for Free-Diet-Tracker.com which provides free tools for those trying to lose weight. Note that the site is run by dieters for dieters and so the site is totally free, not a free trial.

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Specialist Diets versus Healthy Eating – Which Approach is Best for Weight Management and Health Maintenance?

Wednesday, July 29th, 2009

This article discusses some of the advantages and disadvantages of both specialist diets and basic healthy eating. I must emphasise that these are my own views and opinions, and I accept that not everyone shares or supports them! I have tried to offer evidence for the statements I have made throughout this article.

When I refer to specialist diets I am generally referring to diets such as the Atkins, Cabbage Soup, Drop a Jean Size, Slim-fast, low carbohydrate diets and low fat diets, to name but a few. But what do all of these diets have in common?

The majority of specialist diets aim to give people a simple to follow approach for restricting calorific intake, hence leading to weight loss. This is often dressed-up as something more than just calorie restriction, but the outcome is still the same. Usually this is achieved by limiting, or removing, one or more of the macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins or fats) from some, or all meals throughout the day. So how does this impact on the nutritional requirements of the human body?

One example is the Atkins diet, which aims to alter the way the body produces energy by virtually removing carbohydrates from every meal. In Dr Atkins’ book he refer to a state called Ketosis, where fats are converted directly to energy when carbohydrates are not present. This diet has been seen to be very successful at achieving weight loss in a number of studies. But how can a diet be good for you if it alters your body’s natural energy production mechanisms? Ketosis only takes place when the body is starved of carbohydrates, but the central nervous system relies solely on carbohydrates for energy. How can this promote good health?

Another example of these types of diets is low fat diets, which acknowledge that fat accounts for a greater number of calories per gram than protein or carbohydrates. Hence they aim to minimise fat intake to reduce calorie intake. Although saturated fat can be harmful to the human body in large quantities, essential fatty acids play many important roles such as temperature regulation, hormone synthesis and most importantly, the absorption of many vitamins and antioxidants. Restricting fat in your diet can therefore lead to vitamin deficiencies, which can have a dramatic effect on a person’s overall health.

I am sure by now you are feeling confused about what diet you should follow in order to manage your weight and to maintain your health. My advice would be to aim to follow a general healthy eating plan, whilst trying to evaluate and approximate your calorie intake. For many of you this will not be information that you haven’t heard before, but you may have found it difficult to develop a healthy eating plan for yourself. On my website I have tried to provide the information that you will need to construct this plan. Take a look at the section on ‘Balancing Calories’ and the ‘Healthy Eating Guide’ (both in the Nutritional Information section of my site) and use the information to modify or overhaul your existing diet or eating habits.

So what are the disadvantages of following a healthy eating plan? The only thing that can be construed as a disadvantage (and wrongly so!) is that you will not see the miracle weight losses you see when you start a specialist diet. To address this point, (and to promote healthy eating) more often than not the vast quantity of weight lost in the first week of a specialist diet is due to water losses. When you hear of people losing 3 or 4 kilos in one week of dieting you may be amazed, but let me try to quantify this for you. To lose 1 kg of fat you must burn 7000 calories more than you consume and to lose 4 kg of fat would require a calorie deficit of 28,000 calories, but on average most people’s bodies burn around 2500 calories per day (17,500 per week). So as you can see it is almost physically impossible to lose 4kg of fat in 1 week. If you follow a healthy eating plan, taking in 500 calories less than you burn each day, you will lose 0.5 kg per week, every single week and your body will still receive the nutrients it requires maintaining a good level of health. You will also be developing an understanding of healthy eating, which you can employ for the rest of your somewhat longer life!!!

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Please visit our website for more information www.healthierlifestyles.co.uk. Online store: www.healthierlifestyles.co.uk/shop/ . One-to-One Personal Trainer and Nutritional Advisor

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High Protein Diet – Opposite to a Low Carb Diet?

Monday, July 27th, 2009

High protein diets are usually associated with low carbohydrates, even though people who have high protein requirements, like professional body builders, are not advised to go on a low carb diet. Protein is one of the most important nutrients necessary for health. The body uses it to build muscle, replenish cells, keep the blood in optimum condition, and basically to keep the body operating smoothly. If done properly, a high protein diet will keep you strong, healthy, and happy.

A high protein diet can provoke weight loss, as several studies have indicated. Proteins are composed of amino acids, and science has shown that if your amino acids are deficient, you are prone to a number of health problems, including obesity. If you concentrate on protein-rich foods and minimize your intake of refined food that have a high carbohydrate and sugar content, after a while, your body will enter into a state called ketosis. Instead of burning carbohydrates as fuel, the body will turn to fat as its primary source of energy. Simply put, the less carbs you have in your body to burn, the more fat your body will use to give you the energy you need to live from day to day.

In addition, it has been proven that eating protein-rich foods leaves you feeling full longer and you will find that you are much less inclined to snack or go on an eating binge. This is because your blood sugar and insulin levels are kept within the normal range you’ll be keeping undue hunger at arm’s length.

Going on a high protein diet does not mean, however, that you are free to gorge on any and every type of protein. You would do well to avoid fried foods dripping in oil or margarine-smothered products. The reason for this is because these foods contain so-called trans-fats and other bad oils and fats that can lead to clogged arteries and heart disease. However, there is a wealth of other types of fatty, protein rich foods that are quite nutritious.

As is common knowledge, meat is an excellent source of protein. Pork and beef contain ample amounts of this nutrient. But if you are concerned about fat, you should limit your portions of dishes containing meat. On the other hand, there is no need to worry about oils and fats if you eat fish and other seafood. Aside from being rich in protein, they contain essential fatty acids that improve your blood cholesterol levels and help prevent ailments like stroke and coronary artery disease. So you need not have any qualms about indulging your appetite at a seafood buffet – most of them can do no harm, only good.

Many plant products also have a rich amount of protein in them. Soy-based produce like tofu and soy milk are suitable for those trying to lose weight on a high protein regimen. So are pulses and beans. Not only are they protein-rich, they are usually low-fat and low-carbohydrate as well.

There have been concerns that a diet rich in protein can have adverse health effects. Some health experts claim that too much protein can deplete the body’s calcium supply and lead to diseases like osteoporosis. Another concern is that the kidneys are forced to deal with more byproducts, thus lessening their efficiency. And there are indications that too much protein increases uric acid levels, which can lead to gout or kidney stones. However, the jury is still out on whether protein is the major culprit in these conditions. More, longer-term research is needed to determine this although there are also many studies that are being conducted to explore these problems, their extent, and their possible resolutions.

A high protein diet may not be for everyone, but for a vast number of people, it not only helps them in their weight loss efforts, it keeps them healthy, too! If you are considering going on this diet, always remember your limits and stick to the rules. It’s possible to modify it a little bit in various ways (such as reducing the intake of saturated fats) to suit your personal taste, but don’t deviate from the “main course.” Choose your protein sources wisely, don’t forget to exercise, don’t be a glutton (it’s one of the seven deadly sins, after all) and just watch the pounds melt away.

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Carb-club.com provides you with information on all kinds of issues like high protein diet and diets like the Atkins diet, the South Beach diet, the Zone diet, and more. Come take a look at www.carb-club.com/

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