Is a Low Carb Diet Easy To Follow?

What Is A Low Carb Diet Plan?

There are lots of cookbooks, websites, diet cookbooks, and low carb food forums out there on how to start a low carb diet. But which low Carb diet is the best one to follow for beginners and how many carbs can be eaten daily?

First, let’s talk about what carbohydrates are and what is meant by Low Carb Diet plan.

Carbohydrates are a fuel source and are found in food like bread, pasta, cereal, and vegetables. There are two types of carbohydrates simple and complex. Simple sugars, like table sugar, is absorbed directly into the bloodstream and gives you a quick burst of energy.

A “sugar high” is achieved which can lead to a crash once the blood sugar level drops. Once the sugar gets absorbed into the tissues the person feels exhausted or depressed.

Starches, on the other hand, are complex carbohydrates which are broken down into simple sugars. Since they have to be broken down, they enter the bloodstream at a more constant rate.

How many carbs can you have per day?

Unfortunately, carb intake varies from source to source.

American Family Physician, defines a low carb diet that restricts carbohydrate intake to 20 to 60 grams/day

U.S. Institute of Medicine restricts carbohydrate intake to 130g/day

But most people who follow a low carb diet would agree 20 to 60 grams per day is reasonable if you hope to achieve weight loss and a healthier way to diet. But again it depends,  some people can tolerate higher carbs in their diets than others so you have to test it out yourself. Keep a record of what foods you are eating and how many carbs are in them then make adjustments to your carb intake.

The recipes on this website are less than 20 grams per serving. So you decide for yourself how many carbs is appropriate to follow.

Low Carb Diets Are Nothing New

Low carb diets have been around for centuries. In fact, a very low carbohydrate diet was used to treat diabetes during the 19th century and Keto Diets were used to treat epilepsy.

According to Healthline 23 studies were conducted on low carb and low-fat diets and it was discovered that people on a low carb high-fat diet stayed satisfied longer than people on a low-fat low carb diet.

People reported that they were in a better mood, their memory improved. Cognitive ability improved throughout the day, they were more focused and were able to complex tasks in a timely fashion. Other health factors such as blood pressure, cholesterol, fats, and triglycerides also improved.

So what should we conclude from all this scientific research? That low carb diets are healthy and easy to follow. Just adjust your carb intake to your special dietary needs. I recommend talking to a registered dietician if you have any special concerns about low carb diets.

I really believe that low carb diets are easy to follow and incorporate into a healthy lifestyle. They don’t require anything more than eating foods like meat, fish, poultry and healthy fats such as butter and oils. You don’t have to follow some regimented dieting system that requires urine and blood tests to see if your body is metabolizing keytone bodies.

Best Low Carb Diet Plan To Follow

A low carb diet is not just a diet is also a lifestyle and when you make any changes in your life it’s going to require time and patience.

In today’s society, we have been bombarded by carbs all of our lives no wonder we are addicted to them. And just like any other addiction, you have to wean yourself off the carbs slowly.

Going cold turkey requires an iron will self-discipline which a lot of people just don’t possess. If you try to go cold turkey chances are that you will backslide to your “old high carb ways” and falsely conclude that low carb diets don’t work.

How to start a Low Carb Diet

I recommend starting off with low carb desserts. We all love anything sweet so start off with the indulgences first, then snacks and appetizers, and finally work your way to the main meals. You will see that building up low carb diet, gradually, will increase your chances of sticking with the diet.

I have included recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and deserts on this website but I also recommend some low carb cookbooks as well for you to purchase. The recipes are really good and they don’t require sophisticated cooking skills to prepare.

But the important thing is to pick a diet plan and stick with it.

This is important

You must pick a day during the week on which you do your meal planning for the rest of the week. So pull out a good low carb recipe book and start making preparations. You don’t need any more sophisticated planning than that or some expensive diet program telling when and what to eat. We are all adults. Meal planning just requires work that’s all.

If you don’t like meal planning I have included some at home food delivery services that require very little planning and minimal preparation. If you don’t want to deal with cooking anything then there are plenty of food services that will deliver low carb meals right to your door.

This is how I do my meal planning. I shop on Saturday and prepare meals on Sunday for the entire week. Focus on salads and other food items that can be stored for a week or more.

Monday: Breakfast: vegetable omelet, Lunch: Chicken Salad Dinner: Pork roast with vegetables Dessert, Peanut butter cookies

Tuesday: Breakfast: Protein Smoothie, Lunch: leftovers from dinner Spaghetti Squash with meat sauce

Rinse and repeat with other menu items for the rest of the week. As you set aside time for planning; sticking with the low carb diet will become easier and easier to follow.

Do I Follow a Low Carb Diet Plan?

I have been on the hunt for a healthy lifestyle and have looked into many diets and fitness programs. I really believe that low carb is the most sensible way to go. Keto diets, Atkins, South beach Weight watchers are all good but they require too much regimentation and measuring your metabolism. I don’t go in for all that testing and regimentation.

The real culprit to giving up on diets is the failure to recognize that dieting is a lifestyle change, not something that you do for meals only.

Planning goes a long way to sticking with something and achieving your goals “Fail to plan then Plan to fail” I can’t emphasize this enough.  Set realistic goals and then develop an effective low carb meal plan.

Feel free to browse the site and look for some healthy tasty low carb meals.

Bon Apetite!!

Low Carb food dude

Always on the look out for low carb foods.