Can you tell me what the difference is between a low carb diet and a low calorie diet. Both of them must restrict the foods you eat and aren't there both calories and carbs in every food. What is the best of the two diet for those of us that do not need to loose weight also as I am a low fat eater I would not want to change that
Thommothebear
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Most carbs come from vegetable matter, dairy has varying amounts of carbs too - always check packaging for nutrition info, ignore the sugers bit, its the total carbs you need to look for.
Meat and fish have very little carbs, in fact for some types practically none. Same for cottage cheese.
When it comes to processed foods Low fat usually equates to high carb unfortunately as with no carbs and no fat food pretty much has no flavour, so they replace the fat with sugers, carbs and salts.
Low carb does not have to mean no carb. Root veg tend to be high in carb. Green veg are fine, celeriac and cauli is fine, peas are not so good. There are online resources and also some good books on the subject that list foods with carb and calorie values.
I actually increased the amount of veg I ate when I went from medium carb to low carb, mostly because I cut out potatoes, flour based products, rice and pasta.
I also lost weight and now am about right for my height and build, and my cholesterol and trigs are much lower. Fats (other than trans fats are not your enemy when it comes to cholesterol and triglycerides, and its excess carbs rather than dietary fat which ends up as body fat.
Meat and fish have very little carbs, in fact for some types practically none. Same for cottage cheese.
When it comes to processed foods Low fat usually equates to high carb unfortunately as with no carbs and no fat food pretty much has no flavour, so they replace the fat with sugers, carbs and salts.
Low carb does not have to mean no carb. Root veg tend to be high in carb. Green veg are fine, celeriac and cauli is fine, peas are not so good. There are online resources and also some good books on the subject that list foods with carb and calorie values.
I actually increased the amount of veg I ate when I went from medium carb to low carb, mostly because I cut out potatoes, flour based products, rice and pasta.
I also lost weight and now am about right for my height and build, and my cholesterol and trigs are much lower. Fats (other than trans fats are not your enemy when it comes to cholesterol and triglycerides, and its excess carbs rather than dietary fat which ends up as body fat.
I agree with pretty much all you've written Thommothebear!
Just one little point though, did you realise that the ONLY animal source of dietary carbs is MILK? All other carbs come from the plant kingdom. Starch is an energy storage molecule for seeds. sugars store energy for some plants and are found mainly in roots or sap.
Plants too have the enzymes to break down starch into sugars. It's what happens where flowers make nectar to attract insects. When I was a child, we used to suck the nectar from the tubes of Deadnettle flowers.
hese are some of the reasons why I think we don't need carbs in our diet. We almost certainly evolved living on animal proteins and fats. The large number of people who have issues with eating grains, Coeliac disease is a case in point, makes me sure we're not designed for them.
Hana
PS pity those dratted carbs taste nice
Still we can't eat unprocessed whole grains and I avoid processed foods
Just one little point though, did you realise that the ONLY animal source of dietary carbs is MILK? All other carbs come from the plant kingdom. Starch is an energy storage molecule for seeds. sugars store energy for some plants and are found mainly in roots or sap.
Plants too have the enzymes to break down starch into sugars. It's what happens where flowers make nectar to attract insects. When I was a child, we used to suck the nectar from the tubes of Deadnettle flowers.
hese are some of the reasons why I think we don't need carbs in our diet. We almost certainly evolved living on animal proteins and fats. The large number of people who have issues with eating grains, Coeliac disease is a case in point, makes me sure we're not designed for them.
Hana
PS pity those dratted carbs taste nice
Still we can't eat unprocessed whole grains and I avoid processed foods
AnnieC said:
Hi Annie,
Have you ever thought about a third option, a low G.I. diet? Once you get the hang of it your weight will remain stable.
This article explains it very well and as you already have a meter it will not take long for you to understand which foods you can and cannot eat and which need to have a smaller portion size. It also explains how you can combine foods with different G.I. values to lower the G.I. of the meal.
http://www.glycemicindex.com/index.php
The next article is a questions and answers.
http://www.glycemicindex.com/faqsList.php
Your library might have a copy of Rick Gallop's The Low G.I. Diet. This is the book my Dr. recommended to me when he explained the G.I. diet, gave me a print out of the G.I. indexes and explained the principles behind it. It has worked for
me since I was diagnosed in 2002. I did have a hiccup when I was diagnosed with a thyroid disorder, which lowered my weight, but that has been resolved with medication.
Any questions you may have it I will try my best to answer.
