What is a Low Carb Diet?
To answer the question, what is a low carb diet, you will first need to know what a carb is and what it does. Therefore, we will continue in this way. The word “carb” is short for carbohydrate.
— Carbohydrates —
A carbohydrate is one of three macronutrients that we need in our diet. A single carb is one in a large group of organic compounds that occur in both foods and living tissues. Carbohydrates are the basic building blocks of everything including proteins and fats. Therefore, when you hear the phrase, low carb diet or low carbohydrate it simply means a diet consisting of fewer carbohydrates in relation to proteins and fats.
Carbohydrates make us feel good initially by providing us with a huge surge of energy. However, a little goes much further than many people realize. As a result, it is very easy to eat more carbohydrates than our body really needs. Then, once we eat more carbs than our body can use for energy, we get sluggish as the body works hard to convert and store all the excess potential energy (carbs) into fats for later use.
The problem comes when we over indulge meal after meal. Then, the body stores more and more fat for “later” use. And as a result, our body’s start to bulge and our clothes start to get tighter. Then, if a person continues to overwhelm the body with an excess fat storage supply, it often result in health problems like diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure.
So, to go back to answering the question, what is a low carb diet?! A low carb diet is a diet in which you reduce the number of carbohydrates consumed. Ultimately, the goal is to prevent excess fat storage from occurring as a result of carb consumption. Thereby allowing the body to tap into fat reserves which will break down the body’s fat to supply the body with energy. While a low carb diet is low in sugars, starches, and certain fibers, it must be high in healthy proteins and healthy fats.
How It Works:
- Eat less carbohydrates.
- Have fewer carbohydrates being converted and stored as fat.
- Allow the body to break down excess stored fat for needed energy.
- Less fat equals a leaner body.
- You feel lighter and healthier.
The list above is the essence of how a low carb diet works. Once you start a low carb diet plan, you will learn how to eat. In this way, you learn how you can eat to feel full, have plenty of energy, and still lose weight. After starting a low carb diet, you will discover that a low carb diet plan for weight loss is very effective.
A Good Place to Start:
1. What is a Low Carb Diet? (Keep reading this page.)
2. Health Benefits of a Low Carb Diet
3. Low Carb Diet Tips to Get Started
4. How to Start a Low Carb Diet
5. Starting a Low Carb Diet
After achieving the health benefits of being on a low carb diet, some people switch to a low carb, high fat diet plan. Incorporating more healthy fats in the diet is a bit of a paradox, but it is done to help maintain some weight with a low carb diet life. Another option to help you maintain some weight is a low carb, high protein diet.
This concludes the answer to, what is a low carb diet?
