In case you are planning to lose weight and become slimmer using a low carb diet plan, you certainly must make it a point to gain some information about carbs before proceeding any further.
Carbs or carbohydrates have always been blamed and looked upon with disdain by people who are desperately trying to get rid of their excess body weight. It is a common trend across the world to accuse carbs for everything that is wrong with the bodies of fat, unfit or obese individuals.
Some people even claim that whatever carbs they eat goes directly and settles as stubborn fat and hangs down from their bellies, hips and thighs and this fat just never seems to want to go away.
Are Carbs Really the Culprits?
Well, carbs may partly be at fault, but the first and foremost fact that you must know about carbs is that they are available as different types. Some carbs are truly notorious for making you unhealthily fat and then there are some carbs that are in fact good for you.
If you know which carbs to keep eating and which ones to exclude from your low carb diet plan, then that could be your magic bullet to fat loss and weight loss. But this step is also a bit difficult as many of the bad carbs are being touted as good for health. If you keep consuming these bad carbs while trying to lose weight, then they can backfire and make you fatter in the long run.
Benefits of Low Carb Diets
A low carb diet plan could be beneficial for people who suffer from certain neurological disorders like Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, Epilepsy, in obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome etc.
The Good Bad and Ugly
Okay now your curiosity has peaked and you really are dying to know what carbohydrates need to go out and which of them need to stay inside your kitchen. Well, here goes.
The good carbs list includes fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds etc.
Then there are some carbs that are touted as good for health but can cause damage to your health like whole wheat bread, whole grain cereals, whole grain pasta etc. The problem is not with the carbs actually. These carbs are healthy if prepared in the right manner. But industrial production processes add a lot of unwanted and unhealthy materials to these carbs and by the time these carbs reach your dining table, they have more of preservatives, additives and chemicals than their inherent goodness.
The bad carbs list includes the refined flours, white rice, sweets, candies, pastries, cakes, sugars etc.
The criterion for determining the goodness or badness of carbs is their glycemic index. Good carbs are those that have a GI (Glycemic index between 0 and 55), while carbs that have GI between 56 and 69 are good to be eaten in moderation and carbs with GI between 70 and 100 are best avoided.
Popular Low Carb Diet Plans
There are numerous low carb diet plans that have gained popularity like the Atkins diet, Dukan diet, South Beach diet, Paleo diet, Keto diet etc. All of them restrict the intake of carbs in the diet and encourage consumption of proteins instead. Some of them completely restrict intake of carbs on certain days of the week and the diet is strictly all-protein on such days.
The permitted foods in such diets are meats of all kinds, fatty fish like salmon, trout and sardines, eggs, dairy products and low carb foods like kale, spinach, broccoli, asparagus etc.