A "Selective" Carb Diet for Weight Loss
26 Sep 2007 02:34:40 PM
By Graeme Bradshaw
Diets Don't Work?
The number one complaint from people who go on and off diets is that it takes no time to regain the weight each time and harder to lose with each diet. They are right. There is now clear evidence demonstrating the body’s response gets "stingier" regarding weight lose with each new diet. The crash diet approach ruins the metabolism/hormone balance resulting in chronic weight gain. Sensible dietary and lifestyle changes are what you need for long- term success in weight management, not a fad diet.
Low-Fat OR Low-Carb?
You may have heard of how a “low-fat” or a “low-carb” diet may help weight loss. Our recommendation is, do not go on a low-fat and low-carb diet at the same time, it will not work! It is a recipe for failure. You will soon be binging as you’ll need more fuel. And you need healthy fats and well selected carbs for healthy metabolism.
Choose ONE style of weight loss diet – Low and “Selective” Fat or “Selective” Carb
A Selective-Carb diet is recommended for most people, if the fat is especially on your belly, you crave sugary food or beer, you have diabetes or are over 55.
High cholesterol? Body-fat all over, not just the belly? Crave salt, spirits and have cardiovascular risks like high blood pressure? Or do you exercise a lot? You should choose a very low and selective-fat diet, and get into or maintain an exercise program. If in doubt we at IMI can provide more assistance.
If you are taking the low sugar/selective carb approach, do use vegetable oils (e.g. olive oil on salads, ideally also to include healthy oils such as flaxseed). Don’t be strict on high fat foods, such as cheese, eggs, meat. Eat quality fats. You need good fat to lose fat! Eat plenty of vegetables as filler.
That way you will not feel constantly hungry.
Most people have success with a selective-carb diet.
And make sure you have a healthy supply of Omega-3 as this provides the kind of fat that you body needs to lose fat and maintain healthy weight. This may sound paradoxical and we will explore more in our future issue. You can get Omega-3 from fish oil (best assimilable source) or flax oil or from some nuts. 2 servings of deep sea fish per week high in omega 3 fatty acids is the least you need. See our recommended products here.
Right-Weight Diet Plan - keys to successful selective carb approach:
• Very little sugar added foods, no sugared soft drinks
• Low or no alcohol while losing weight - eliminating two alcoholic drinks daily reduces yearly calories by over 70,000, equal to around 9 kg of fat!
• Much less reliance on starches to fill you up, filling with vegetables instead
• Breakfast? Yes! Missing breakfast will cause you to crave sugars later in the day. Eggs are a good start on most lower carb menu’s – e.g. try out Spanish omelets
• Take lots of fibre – fruit (kiwi, berries) and vegetables (four serves = four cups daily) the fibre is filling and slows release of food from the stomach, and thus satisfying
• Exercise four hours per week all year round. The single common attribute of long term weight loss “success stories” is a maintained exercise programme.
• Refer to food charts for selective carb/ low GI/wheat-free and really come to understand about sugars, fats, GI, healthy eating and exercise tips
Common blocks to success:
• Too many (low quality) carbs cause more craving for sweet foods. Too low a carbohydrates level is going to fail too – as you need around 30 grams per meal of healthy slow release carbohydrate a meal, otherwise sooner or later you’ll binge to make up.
• Try a wheat-free diet if you are not getting anywhere, and follow it carefully for a month – the allergy is commonly a block to weight loss
• Detoxification or hormone balancing are the next places to look at for a breakthrough if this fails
• Take our questionnaire to identify possible medical reasons for your weight gain
Remember :
Our recommendations:
Diets Don't Work?
The number one complaint from people who go on and off diets is that it takes no time to regain the weight each time and harder to lose with each diet. They are right. There is now clear evidence demonstrating the body’s response gets "stingier" regarding weight lose with each new diet. The crash diet approach ruins the metabolism/hormone balance resulting in chronic weight gain. Sensible dietary and lifestyle changes are what you need for long- term success in weight management, not a fad diet.
Low-Fat OR Low-Carb?
You may have heard of how a “low-fat” or a “low-carb” diet may help weight loss. Our recommendation is, do not go on a low-fat and low-carb diet at the same time, it will not work! It is a recipe for failure. You will soon be binging as you’ll need more fuel. And you need healthy fats and well selected carbs for healthy metabolism.
Choose ONE style of weight loss diet – Low and “Selective” Fat or “Selective” Carb
A Selective-Carb diet is recommended for most people, if the fat is especially on your belly, you crave sugary food or beer, you have diabetes or are over 55.
High cholesterol? Body-fat all over, not just the belly? Crave salt, spirits and have cardiovascular risks like high blood pressure? Or do you exercise a lot? You should choose a very low and selective-fat diet, and get into or maintain an exercise program. If in doubt we at IMI can provide more assistance.
If you are taking the low sugar/selective carb approach, do use vegetable oils (e.g. olive oil on salads, ideally also to include healthy oils such as flaxseed). Don’t be strict on high fat foods, such as cheese, eggs, meat. Eat quality fats. You need good fat to lose fat! Eat plenty of vegetables as filler.
That way you will not feel constantly hungry.
Most people have success with a selective-carb diet.
And make sure you have a healthy supply of Omega-3 as this provides the kind of fat that you body needs to lose fat and maintain healthy weight. This may sound paradoxical and we will explore more in our future issue. You can get Omega-3 from fish oil (best assimilable source) or flax oil or from some nuts. 2 servings of deep sea fish per week high in omega 3 fatty acids is the least you need. See our recommended products here.
Right-Weight Diet Plan - keys to successful selective carb approach:
• Very little sugar added foods, no sugared soft drinks
• Low or no alcohol while losing weight - eliminating two alcoholic drinks daily reduces yearly calories by over 70,000, equal to around 9 kg of fat!
• Much less reliance on starches to fill you up, filling with vegetables instead
• Breakfast? Yes! Missing breakfast will cause you to crave sugars later in the day. Eggs are a good start on most lower carb menu’s – e.g. try out Spanish omelets
• Take lots of fibre – fruit (kiwi, berries) and vegetables (four serves = four cups daily) the fibre is filling and slows release of food from the stomach, and thus satisfying
• Exercise four hours per week all year round. The single common attribute of long term weight loss “success stories” is a maintained exercise programme.
• Refer to food charts for selective carb/ low GI/wheat-free and really come to understand about sugars, fats, GI, healthy eating and exercise tips
Common blocks to success:
• Too many (low quality) carbs cause more craving for sweet foods. Too low a carbohydrates level is going to fail too – as you need around 30 grams per meal of healthy slow release carbohydrate a meal, otherwise sooner or later you’ll binge to make up.
• Try a wheat-free diet if you are not getting anywhere, and follow it carefully for a month – the allergy is commonly a block to weight loss
• Detoxification or hormone balancing are the next places to look at for a breakthrough if this fails
• Take our questionnaire to identify possible medical reasons for your weight gain
Remember :
- Eating the biggest meal late for dinner has been shown to cause more weight gain, (despite the many nutritionists who claim otherwise) – eat by 8pm and have a light dinner
- The main meal is lunchtime - for weight loss let your lunch be made up of proteins and vegetables, oil dressings are ok on salads
- A real breakfast is essential
- At least get rid of sugar
Our recommendations:
- Check out your allergies with Graeme Bradshaw at IMI
- Kick start your weight-loss with the IMI 10 Day-Detox, and remove your food cravings that way too
- Learn more about the Glycemic Index
