Opinions on a low carb - high fat diet

very few people do this long term... i did it & lost... but you are cutting out not only bad carbs, but the good ones too. It's not something that you should participate in if you want to change your lifelong eating habits... do it the right way.

and eating high protein - makes you constitpated

High fat will only kill ya.

I do a lower carb plan and high protein--but very extra lean protein only. No red meat, only turkey,fish and chicken. Lots of egg beaters, too. People who follow these plans are hopefully guided very well during their journey to know that it is extreme only during the weight loss phase, then once goal is achieved, you have to slowly start adding back some things because one cannot live this way. BUt when you add it back, it has to be done very , very slowly with a close watch on the scale.

I agree, you need whole grains and healthy carbs just as much as the protein. Balanced diet is the healthiest way to go! You may lose weight quickly but eventually you'll need to add healthy carbs back in and you may struggle all over again.

I'm a bit wary of this based on past experience. My husband and I have tried this twice - both times we lost weight but a couple of things happened.

First thing was it was impossible for us to stick to long term and every bit of weight we lost came back FAST and brought friends.

Second thing was my dh got REALLY, REALLY sick and ended up in the hospital. He was sick for almost 6 months and came close to dying. It wasn't the low carb diet that made him sick - he actually got meningitis. However, we both believe that the low carb diet and lack of healthy fruits and nutrients knocked his immune system down so much that he couldn't fight it off (it was the viral meningitis, not bacterial).

If you want to do low carb in a healthier way you can try South Beach but again we found this impossible to stick to long term. We just do better trying to keep calories, fat, protein, sodium, fiber and cholesterol in balance.

Your body really needs the right balance of nutrients. Carbs are your body's fuel. Each meal should consist of healthy whole grain carbs (small amounts), a vegetable (larger amounts) and protein (about 3 ounces). Diets that have you cut out an entire food group is not healthy in the long run. Fad diets do not work becuase you cannot sustain them for a lifetime, you will gain all the weight plus some once you go back to regular eating, thus creating a yo yo effect. You are better off retraining your brain and learning how to make lifetime healthy choices. Losing weight and becoming healthy is a marathon not a race. We didn't become unhealthy over night and we won't get healthy over night either. Sure you will lose weight becuase any time you have a caloric deficit you will drop pounds regardless of what you eat, BUT, it does not mean that you are going to be any more healthy if your diet is consisting of unhealthy foods or saturated fats, even if you stay below your caloric goal. If anyone is at a plataeu it is time to take a good look at your food intake, calories and nutrition and your true exercise activities. I see a lot of logging in cleaning the house, casual strolls, and general daily activities, these should really not be logged as exercise. You are not truly going to burn fat until you get your heart rate up and work up a sweat. Really it is a dis-service to yourself by not being truthful in your logging of foods and true exercise (workouts). The best thing you can do for your body is eat a variety of healthy real unprocessed foods, including, vegetables, fruits, whole grains, meat, fish, poultry and dairy.

I hope this helps somewhat.......It is a learning and growing process for everyone......I was a certified personal trainer and lifestyle weight management consultant for 9 years and I still learn daily. (I had to leave the industry because of Rheumatoid Arthritis)

Have a happy and healthy day
Kim

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I eat primal, which most would consider being low carb, but it's more of a lifestyle than any kind of diet. www.marksdailyapple.com is an awesome website for information. Just look at the success stories! they are awesome. Basically we believe that humans are meant to run on less carbs and more protein and fat. all healthy ofcourse. I always judge "fad" diets and the such by results. The results of these people that have been eating like this for years was enough to get me involved. Not just with weight loss, but with health in general. It makes no sense to me how Conventional Wisdom tells us that most of our diet should be made up of grains, when grains have only been around about 10,000 years. So how did we manage to stay alive for all those years before the big agricultural boom?! lol. duh, with hunting our own food, and eating plants that are grown from the ground. Basically that is what primal is, eating things that are aminal/animal byproducts or grows from the ground! I love it!

mmm