Low Cal, Low Carb and Other Fad Diets – An Overview of Effectiveness
Two popular diet plans are the so-called low cal diet and the low carb diet. Let’s have an overview of low cal and low carb diet. All of us know that eating too much, having too many calories, and eating unhealthy foods increase our weight and create many health problems. Thus, it’s advisable to keep a check on the weight and eat a healthy balanced diet which helps in reducing weight. But are the hyped up media darling diet plans really useful?
What Are Low Cal Diets?
As the name suggests, consuming low calorie food in modest quantities makes for the low cal diet. You are encouraged to reduce saturated fats, control carbohydrates and avoid processed food. Good advice generally. High calorie foods such as cookies, chips, carbonated drinks, all fried food, sugary items, butter, oil, etc. are definitely taboo. In the low cal diet, all these things are avoided and more healthy alternatives are used.
What Are Low Carb Diets?
When you restrict carbohydrate intake, you are said to be on a low carb diet. The low carb diet has become very popular in the last 10 years. The Atkins Diet and the South Beach Diet are very popular variations of low carb diet plans. In this program, you limit carbohydrates to no more than 5% or 10% of your meal and you consume more of proteins and fats. Meals consist of meat, vegetables with some low carb sauces and no fruits or cereals.
The reasoning behind the low carb diets is that when you eat less carbs, blood contains less glucose. Thus the body requires energy from some other source, which it now gets from fat cells. This results in reduction of fat.
How Good Are These Diet Plans?
Before jumping to conclusions and choosing a fad diet plan, research the validity and effectiveness of these plans. Frankly, I don’t recommend any of the “Diet of the Month” book circuit diet plans. Find a book written by a reputable authority and eat a balanced diet of foods which are as close as possible to their natural state.
If a “food” doesn’t occur in nature (think Cheetos), perhaps it isn’t really a food at all. Many so called foods are nothing more than processed “substances” manufactured in a factory and containing few, if any, natural ingredients and almost no nutritional value. That’s why you are still hungry after you eat these things. Your body requires nutrition, and these substances provide none.
In summary, there is no magic bullet. There is no miracle diet or workout. It’s all very much common sense if you really think about it. Eat things provided by the earth in as close to their natural state as possible. Eat only the portions you require for your level of activity, and be sure that you actually have a “level of activity.”
