Bookmark Website  | Free Registration  | The Team
The Lounge  | Champions  | The Wire |  Schedule |  Audio  |  Arcade  |  The Top Ten  |  Historical  |  Email  |  Video

Low-carb Diets: Fad, Fallacy, or Fact?


The most common and popular diet fad over the past two years has undoubtedly been the low-carb diet. It has many followers, both in the U.K. and the U.S.A., and its various celebrity endorsements, particularly of the most renowned version, The Atkins Diet, have undoubtedly played a large part in its popularity. Is it merely another fad diet designed to hook the diet junkies amongst us and deliver more opportunities for the food manufacturers to create another new product in response to the "demand"? Or could it be that it is actually a healthy and effective way of losing and controlling weight?

The whole concept of a "diet" is, of course a false one, perpetuated in order to keep the "diet industry" in profit and playing on our insecurities and gullibility. The word diet simply means the food that is customarily eaten on a daily basis. People living in less developed countries and living on a subsistence diet would be totally baffled by the notion that a "diet" is a means of eating less in order to lose weight! However, in the greedy and overfed western world, we either fail to grasp that we eat too much for our needs, or we lack the self control to eat less. Furthermore, we are inundated with opportunities to eat delicious tempting treats at comparatively low cost, and these items are often those with the highest calorie content.

Many studies have shown that reducing our carbohydrate intake is not only an effective way to control weight but also has a part to play in reducing the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, the incidence of which has shown a worrying increase in recent years. It would be a fairly simple step merely to reduce the amount of carbs (bread, rice, potatoes, for example) that we eat on a daily basis. Over time, we would undoubtedly lose weight.

From the point of view of our long-term health however, we need to take a more scientific approach and look at carbohydrates in terms of "good" and "bad" ones. The most commonly consumed carbohydrates in the western world, and particularly the U.K. and U.S.A. are the simple or refined carbohydrates. These include sugar, white flour, potatoes, white rice and products manufactured from these ingredients. They are generally low in fibre and nutrients.

On the other hand, the range of complex carbohydrates, which includes whole grains, many fruits and vegetables, beans and pulses are generally high in fibre and nutrients and can make a valuable contribution to our health and well being. It would be misguided to eliminate these "good" carbohydrates from our diet in the interests of short-term weight loss. Surely it is better to adapt our way of eating on a permanent basis, to one which includes a range of complex carbohydrates, among other elements, and if necessary to just eat less?

Jon Davis gives you the Low Down on Low Carb foods, diets & recipes, so you can make your own intelligent well formed decisions using http://www.LowCarb-LowDown.com


MORE RESOURCES:

PARADE

5 Quick and Easy Breakfast Recipes for Weight Loss
PARADE
While you may think ditching breakfast to “bank” calories for your evening splurge-fest is the smart approach to getting a hot bikini body, it's not! The way to fuel your weight loss mojo is by doing just that—fueling in the morning. It has been ...



Corrections team wins Kansas weight loss contest
Tbo.com
Sam Brownback's weight loss challenge. The corrections employees, who work at the women's prison in Topeka, bested more than 1,000 five-member teams from around the state. The corrections workers shed nearly 265 pounds — about 19 percent of their ...

and more »


Tons of Weight Lost In Governor's Weight Loss Challenge
WIBW
TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW)--More than 22 tons of weight was lost during the Governor's Weight Loss Challenge. Gov. Sam Brownback, Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer and KDHE Secretary Bob Moser celebrated the more than 5-thousand kansans who participated on ...
Fort Scott Finishers among top teams in Governor's Weight... - KOAM TV 7KOAM-TV

all 2 news articles »


Tami Best: Caloric intake for weight loss
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
This gives the total energy needs for the day and any calorie intake less than the total energy needs will promote weight loss. To be more specific, a pound of body fat compares to roughly 3,500 calories. So if you have a calorie shortage of 1,000 ...



Imposing Weight-Loss Guidelines: Another Function of ObamaCare?
Forbes
If hospitals incorporate such a specific goal into their CHNAs, and their patients don't achieve such consistent weight loss, that could provide STOP and other advocates with the clear data they need to oppose continued non-profit status at the IRS or ...



Slate Magazine (blog)

Most Wanted Monday: The Allegedly Insurance-Scamming Weight-Loss Doctor ...
Slate Magazine (blog)
For the better part of a decade, the good doctor flooded Chicago's radio waves with smarmy commercials touting his weight loss clinics, encouraging listeners to “call Dr. Gautam Gupta” and enlist medical science in their weight loss efforts. I could ...



Christina Aguilera Shows Off Weight Loss At Billboard Music Awards (PHOTOS)
Huffington Post
Christina Aguilera has been looking great lately, and her appearance at the Billboard Music Awards was no exception. The 32-year-old singer showed off her newly slim figure in a short black skirt and top that hugged every curve just right, as she ...

and more »


Military wife's surprise weight loss leaves Army husband a big winner
Fox News
It was a hefty surprise -- borne from a much slimmer woman. Deployed for a year in Afghanistan, Army Spc. Larry Shaffer returned to North Carolina this week to discover his wife, Misty, had dropped more than 100 pounds in that 12-month period as a ...



Yahoo! Movies (blog)

Wife Surprises Army Husband With 100-Pound Weight Loss
Yahoo! Movies (blog)
Misty, 24, had kept her weight loss largely a secret, telling her husband that she was trying to lose only a few pounds and sending him photos of herself from the shoulders up so he wouldn't suspect the dramatic transformation. "There were so many ...
Army Wife Surprises Husband With 96-Pound Weight Loss on His Return From ...ABC News (blog)
Have You Seen This? Military wife's weight-loss surpriseksl.com
Military Wife Surprises Husband With Astonishing 100-Pound Weight Loss ...The Stir (blog)
KpopStarz
all 21 news articles »


hCGTreatments / Diet Doc hCG Diets & Weight Loss Plans Announces Improved ...
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Diet Doc offers patients its most advanced medically supervised hCG diet plans, providing improved prescription treatments with updated weight loss procedures, generating fast weight loss and helping patients make a dramatic post-diet impact on friends ...
hCGTreatments / Diet Doc hCG Diets & Weight Loss Plans Offer Improved hCG ...PR Web (press release)
Intermittent fasting secret to weight lossFrontier Post
hCGTreatments / Diet Doc hCG Diets & Weight Loss Plans Announces Its Most ...SBWire (press release)
Houston Chronicle -Watch List News (press release) -Babble
all 15 news articles »

Google News


Advertisement



Section Site Map - Submit News - Feedback - Comments - Advertise with Us

Copyright © 2006 Luminati Inc. All rights reserved.