Low Carb Diet - Fact Or Fiction?

Will a low carb diet plan really help you lose weight
and keep it off? It depends on your common sense!

As is stated in the article excerpt below, just because
you're eating so called diet food you don't have carte
blanche with your portions.

The whole idea behind a low carb diet plan is to reduce
the carb intake, thus reducing the carb storage because
extra carbs get converted to fat and stored as fat.

So why would you think that since a food's low fat or low
carb that you could eat more? That seems to be where
a lot of folks go wrong. Eat less carbs, less fat and less
food overall AND increase your physical activity!

This is a sure plan for wieght loss and health success.

Read the excerpt below and see if you fall into this category.

WBAY-TV Green Bay-Fox Cities-Northeast Wisconsin News
Food Fads, Facts, and Fictions:
LOW-FAT / LOW-CARB FOODS

Fad: You will lose weight by consuming these foods, as
opposed to traditional versions.

Fact: Sometimes low-fat or low-carb foods really are
better choices, but it depends. The best examples of great
low-fat foods are dairy products (e.g., milk, cheese,
yogurt). Calcium is important health-wise, and dairy
products have other health benefits, too.

Think about this: If you switch from 2 tablespoons of
half-and-half in your coffee (39 calories) to skim milk
(10 calories), you've just saved about 30 calories per cup
of coffee. If you have three cups per day that's 90 calories,
or about an 8-pound weight loss in a year.

And the truth is that most people will not notice the
difference over time. Other options where low-fat/carb
choices probably make a difference: mayonnaise, certain
soups, sometimes even cakes, muffins and chips.

Fiction: There are plenty of low-carb and low-fat foods
that don't taste very good, or that have additional sugar
(low-fat foods) or fat (low-carb foods) and end up having
roughly the same number of calories as their traditional
counterparts. If that's the case, you may think you're
getting a better/healthier deal, but in the end you're just
getting hoodwinked.

Another problem is that when we eat lower-carb or
lower-fat foods, many of us tend to believe we have calorie
immunity -- that it's OK to overindulge because it's 'diet food.'
For instance, Keebler Vienna Finger Cookies have 75 calories
apiece, while Keebler Reduced Fat Vienna Finger Cookies
have 70 calories. Now, you do save calories, but it's only 5
per cookie -- and again, you need to be aware of that health
"halo" effect (eating more because it's healthy).

Bottom Line: Don’t just go by what the label says. You also
need to look at the calories, compare the taste and watch your
behavior -- do you end up eating more? Are you really saving
calories?

CHARLES STUART PLATKIN is a nutrition and public health
advocate, author of the best seller Breaking the Pattern
(Plume, 2005), Breaking the FAT Pattern (Plume, 2006) and
Lighten Up (Penguin USA/Razorbill, 2006) and founder of
Integrated Wellness Solutions. Copyright 2006 by Charles Stuart
Platkin. Sign up for the free Diet Detective newsletter at
www.dietdetective.com.





low carb diet plan