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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
"Low-carb" doesn't have to mean "no-fun!" Low-carb diets are a hugely popular way to lose weight and stay healthy. But, contrary to what you may have heard, eating low-carb doesn't have to mean losing all your favorite foods and treats! In Low-Carb Diet For Dummies, you'll find an easy-to-follow guide to minimizing carbs while keeping the flavor by evaluating the quality of the carbs you do eat. You will learn to control--but not entirely eliminate (unless you want to)--the intake of refined sugars and flour by identifying and choosing whole, unprocessed food instead. You'll get fun and creative recipes that taste amazing, reduce the number on the scale, and improve your health. You'll also get: * Great advice on incorporating heart-healthy and waist-slimming exercise into your new diet * Tips on how to maintain your low-carb lifestyle in the long-run * Strategies for responsibly indulging in the occasional carb-y food--because "low-carb" doesn't mean "no-carb!" Perfect for anyone dieting for a short-term goal, as well as those looking for a long-term lifestyle change, Low-Carb Diet For Dummies is your secret weapon to going low-carb without missing out on some of the world's greatest foods.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021
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Low-Carb Diet For Dummies®, 2nd Edition
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2021950165
ISBN: 978-1-119-83902-6
ISBN 978-1-119-83904-0 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-83906-4 (ebk)
Low-Carb Diet For Dummies®
To view this book's Cheat Sheet, simply go to www.dummies.com and search for “Low-Carb Diet For Dummies Cheat Sheet” in the Search box.
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Introduction
About This Book
Foolish Assumptions
Icons Used in This Book
Beyond This Book
Where to Go from Here
Part 1: Understanding the Carbohydrate Controversy
Chapter 1: Mapping Out a Low-Carb Diet
How Low Is Low Carb? That’s the Question
Discovering Whole Foods
Living the Low-Carb Way
Beyond the Scale: Identifying Other Factors for Overall Health
Maintaining Your Low-Carb Lifestyle
Chapter 2: Delving Deeper into Carbohydrates
Evaluating the Controversy
Deconstructing the Typical (Bad) Diet
Looking at the Nation’s Health
Determining Whether Low-Carb Dieting Is Dangerous
Getting Back to Basics: The Whole Foods Weight Loss Eating Plan
Chapter 3: All Carbs Aren’t Equal: Looking at the Differences
Understanding Carbohydrates
Discovering How Carbs Affect Your Blood Sugar Levels
Understanding Refined and Processed Carbs
Replacing the Food Pyramid with a Healthy Eating Plate
Going Low-Carb without Going Extreme
Chapter 4: Determining Whether Low-Carb Eating Is Right for You
What’s Your Story? Assessing Your Personal Health Risks
Be Honest! Examining Your Current Diet and Lifestyle
Deciding Whether a Low-Carb Diet Can Help
Part 2: Steering Yourself Back to Whole Foods
Chapter 5: Falling in Love with Whole Foods
Green-Light Foods: Identifying Foods You Can Eat without Thinking Twice
Exploring the Free Carbs: Fruits and Vegetables
Indulging in Free Proteins
Making Meals from Whole-Food Choices
Letting Green Light Foods Satisfy Your Appetite
Chapter 6: Navigating Your Way through Starchy Carbs
Yellow Light: Putting Starchy Carbs on Cruise Control
Controlling Portion Sizes
Choosing the Best, Leaving the Rest
Putting the Brakes on Refined Carbs
Evaluating Low-Calorie Sweeteners
Fitting in Your Daily Dietary Fiber
Putting It on the Menu: The Daily Plan
Chapter 7: Shifting into Dairy Foods
Understanding the Benefits of Dairy Foods
Getting Enough Calcium
Considering Dairy Alternatives
Chapter 8: Fueling Up with Fats: Good Fats, Bad Fats
Recognizing How Fat Helps Your Body
Understanding the Different Kinds of Fat
Knowing How Much Fat Is Enough
Including More Healthy Fat in Your Diet
Improving Your Ratio of Good Fats to Bad Fats
Part 3: Shopping and Cooking for a Low-Carb Lifestyle
Chapter 9: Navigating the Supermarket
Understanding Supermarket Psychology
Knowing Supermarket Layout and Design
Steering Your Cart toward the Healthy Foods
Making Good Use of New Features
Focusing Only on the Healthy Foods in the Aisles
Deciphering Food Labels
Chapter 10: Planning Menus and Meals
Planning Menus Ahead
Getting Organized
Ensuring Breakfast Is Quick and Easy
Making Power Lunches
Putting Together Satisfying Suppers
Snacking the Good-Carb Way
Chapter 11: Starting the Day with Breakfast
Creating Some Egg-cellent Choices
Using a Carb Choice for Breakfast
Chapter 12: Perfect for Lunch: Soups and Salads
Making Hearty Soups
Tossing Together Healthy Salads and Easy Dressings
Chapter 13: Fixing Low-Carb Finger Food: Appetizers and Snacks
Starting with Some Tasty Low-Carb Appetizers
Feeling the Snack Itch? Feed It with These Low-Carb Snacks
Whipping Up Low-Carb Spreads and Salsas for Snacking
Chapter 14: Making Some Main Dish Mainstays
Beyond Fish Sticks: Your Green-Light Guide to Seafood
Cooking Chicken, Beef, and Pork Entrees
Going Meatless: Vegetarian Options
Chapter 15: Adding Side Dishes to Your Meal
Pairing Veggie Side Dishes to Your Low-Carb Meals
Getting Some Natural Sweetness — Including Fruit Side Dishes
Chapter 16: No Sacrifices Made: Tasty Desserts and Refreshing Beverages
Ending Your Meal on a Sweet Note: Low-Carb Desserts
Drinking Your Way in a Low-Carb Diet
Part 4: Sticking to the Plan
Chapter 17: Eating Out without Apologies
Making Smart Choices in Restaurants
Making Sensible Fast-Food Selections
Evaluating Carry-Out Options
Seeing How Ethnic Foods Stack Up
Chapter 18: Psyching Yourself Up
Preparing Your Mind
Analyzing Your Eating: Mindful or Mindless?
Visualizing Your Success
Recognizing Your Level of Commitment
Taking It Up a Notch: Moving from One Level of Commitment to the Next
Rallying Support
Chapter 19: Setting Yourself Up to Succeed
Identifying Your Trigger Foods
Stocking the Fridge
Filling the Freezer
Organizing the Cupboards and Pantry
Paying Attention to Safety
Chapter 20: Falling Off the Wagon and Getting On Again
Forgiving Yourself
Analyzing the Fall
Renewing Your Commitment
Breaking the Cycle of Failure
Part 5: Recognizing Factors Other Than Food
Chapter 21: Taking Supplements When Food May Not Be Enough
Looking First at Food
Investigating Supplements
Establishing Your Needs
Navigating the Sea of Supplements
Chapter 22: Setting a Fitness Goal
Establishing Realistic Expectations
Setting Benchmarks beyond the Scale
Getting Up and Moving
Fitness for Life: It’s Never Too Late
Part 6: The Part of Tens
Chapter 23: Ten Benefits of Low-Carb Dieting
Improved Glucose Control
Better Appetite Control
Improved Concentration
Weight Maintenance
Improved Blood Pressure
Improved Cholesterol
Improved Sleep
More Energy
Better Mood
More Self-Confidence
Chapter 24: Ten Questions about Low-Carb Dieting
Do I Count the Carbohydrate in Fruits and Vegetables?
Can I Use Dried Beans and Peas as Meat Substitutes?
How Do I Follow a Lower-Carbohydrate Diet If I’m a Vegetarian?
What If I Just Eat Green Light Foods?
Do I Need to Take a Supplement?
How Much Weight Can I Expect to Lose?
Is a Low-Carb Diet Safe for Kids?
What Can I Keep in the House for When I’m in a Hurry?
How Do I Control Cravings?
What Do I Do When I Just Can’t Keep to the Five Carbohydrate Choices per Day?
Chapter 25: Ten (Plus Two) Best Sources of Dietary Antioxidants
Berries
Broccoli
Garlic
Green Tea
Tomatoes
Corn
Bell Peppers
Spinach
Cherries
Peaches
Dark Chocolate
Red Grapes
Part 7: Appendixes
Appendix A: The Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load of Foods
What Is the Glycemic Index?
What Is the Glycemic Load?
What Alters the Glycemic Value of a Food?
Why Are Glycemic Values Important?
Where Can I Get More Information?
Appendix B: Sample Grocery List
Green Light Fruits
Green Light Vegetables
Green Light Proteins
Dairy Foods
Yellow Light Carbs
Other Elements of a Low-Carb Lifestyle
Appendix C: Dietary Reference Intakes
Vitamins and Minerals
Carbohydrate, Protein, and Fat
Sugar
Dietary Fiber
Appendix D: Metric Conversion Guide
Index
About the Author
Supplemental Images
Connect with Dummies
End User License Agreement
List of Tables
Chapter 3
TABLE 3-1 Noteworthy Phytochemicals and Food Sources
Chapter 4
TABLE 4-1 Your Medical Risk Based on Your BMI
TABLE 4-2 Blood Lipid Levels
TABLE 4-3 Blood Pressure Reading
TABLE 4-4 Recording What You Eat
TABLE 4-5 Recording Your Refined and Processed Foods
Chapter 6
TABLE 6-1 Portion Size of Breads to Equal One Carb Choice
TABLE 6-2 Portion Size of Cereals, Grains, and Pastas Equal to One Carb Choice
TABLE 6-3 Portion Size of Starchy Vegetables and Fruit to Equal to One Carb Choi...
TABLE 6-4 Portion Size of Legumes to Equal to One Carb Choice
TABLE 6-5 Portion Size of Snacks to Equal to One Carb Choice
TABLE 6-6: Your Dietary Fiber Intake
Chapter 7
TABLE 7-1 The Amount of Calcium and Vitamin D You Need
TABLE 7-2 Calcium-Rich Dairy Foods
TABLE 7-3 Calcium-Rich Nondairy Foods
Chapter 8
TABLE 8-1 Fat Servings
Chapter 17
TABLE 17-1 Differences between Thai and Vietnamese Cuisines
Chapter 21
TABLE 21-1 Supplements: How Much Is Too Much
Appendix C
TABLE C-1 RDAs for Men and Women Ages 19 to 50
TABLE C-2 ULs for Men and Women Ages 19 to 70
Appendix D
TABLE D-1 Common Abbreviations
TABLE D-2 Volume
TABLE D-3 Weight
TABLE D-4 Length
TABLE D-5 Temperature (Degrees)
List of Illustrations
Chapter 3
FIGURE 3-1: The Healthy Eating Plate.
Chapter 5
FIGURE 5-1: Cleaning and trimming an artichoke.
FIGURE 5-2: Add bok choy to your stir-frys and soups.
FIGURE 5-3: A daikon tastes kind of like a radish, but hotter.
FIGURE 5-4: Cleaning and trimming leeks.
FIGURE 5-5: You can use napa cabbage raw in a salad or cooked in a stir-fry.
FIGURE 5-6: Coring and seeding bell pepper.
Chapter 9
FIGURE 9-1: The perimeter of the supermarket is your best bet for whole-food ch...
FIGURE 9-2: The Nutrition Facts Label.
Chapter 13
FIGURE 13-1: Rolling up tortillas jellyroll-style.
FIGURE 13-2: Jicama.
Chapter 14
FIGURE 14-1: Follow these steps to devein shrimp.
Chapter 17
FIGURE 17-1: Fill three-fourths of your plate with fruits, vegetables, and lean...
Guide
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
Index
About the Author
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Introduction
Welcome to the 2nd edition of Low-Carb Diet For Dummies. Nutrition and medical professionals have learned a lot about low-carbohydrate eating plans since the publication of the first book. When the first edition was published, two sides — the low-fat way of eating and the low-carb way of eating — were at odds with each other. Food was looked at as grams of fat or grams of carb. No one really looked at the quality of the food source. So, any food labeled “fat free” was considered healthy on one plan and anything labeled “carb free” was considered healthy on the other plan.
In this controversy the low-fat side had the favor of the scientific community and low-carb side had their ridicule. A lot has changed since then. Today nutritionists know more about the health benefits of a low-carb diet and the importance of the quality of the carbohydrates people include in their diet. Also, nutritionists know more about the health benefits of certain fats in a person’s diet and the importance of including them in a person’s eating.
Read on for a fully integrated diet plan that you can follow healthfully and deliciously for the rest of your life. Not only does it contribute to a healthy lifestyle, it will help you lose those extra pounds you may be carrying around.
About This Book
In this second edition of Low-Carb Diet For Dummies, I continue to address the differences in carbohydrate foods: the good, the bad, and the ugly. I delve a tad deeper into the nutrition aspects of eating a low-carb diet, discussing the differences between low-carb and very low-carbohydrate diets (VLCD) and which fats are healthy and need to be included in your diet and which ones aren’t healthy and need to be excluded. Unlike many other popular low-carb eating plans available today, this plan helps you control, but doesn’t entirely eliminate, the intake of refined sugars and flour, and it encourages you to eat whole, unprocessed food. You may be surprised to see that the plan contains moderate amounts of starch, protein, and fat. The plan allows your nutrition needs to be supplied naturally.
I help you focus your eating on natural, unprocessed foods whenever possible, particularly fresh fruits and vegetables, lean meat and protein, and low-fat dairy. I give you guidelines for appropriate serving sizes of carbohydrates. This is not the eat-all-the-fat-and-protein-you-can-stuff-in-your-face plan. You’ll definitely feel full and energetic on this plan.
Carbohydrates are counted differently in the Whole Food Weight Loss Eating Plan than in other low-carb diets. Other low-carb diets count all the carbohydrate in a meal regardless of the food source. A new feature in this plan is you’re given a range of one to five carbohydrate choices per day. You choose how many you want. For example, if you want to lose weight faster, you can choose one to three carb choices per day, although five carb choices per day will also yield a weight loss. Eliminating carbs completely is dangerous, so eat at least one carb choice a day.
A carbohydrate choice is approximately 15 grams of total carbohydrate and can be a bread, cereal, starchy vegetable, pasta, chips, sugar, or sweet. In recipes, you only count the carbohydrate that comes from starch or sugar, not the carbohydrate from fruit, vegetables, or low-fat dairy foods. Because of this difference, the recipes in this book have the number of carbohydrate choices calculated for you. That information will be stated in the recipe’s Yield. The nutrition analysis of the recipes calculate the total carbohydrate, but if that carbohydrate is supplied by fruit or vegetables and not starch or sugar, the recipe is considered “free” and will be marked with a Green Light icon.
Here are a few other specs to keep in mind about the recipes in this book:
All butter is unsalted unless otherwise stated. Margarine isn’t a suitable substitute for butter; instead you’ll find plant butters or plant oils mixed with yogurt.
All eggs are large.
All onions are yellow unless otherwise specified.
All pepper is freshly ground black pepper unless otherwise specified.
All salt is kosher.
All dry ingredient measurements are level.
All temperatures are Fahrenheit (see
Appendix D
to convert Fahrenheit temperatures to Celsius).
All lemon and lime juice is freshly squeezed.
All sugar is white granulated sugar unless otherwise noted.
All flour is all-purpose white flour unless otherwise noted.
All Greek yogurt is full-fat yogurt unless otherwise noted.
When a recipe says to steam a vegetable, the amount of water you need to use in your pot or steamer depends on your steaming method, so I don’t include the water in the ingredients list. As a general rule, if you’re using a basket in a pot, the water level should be just below the basket.
When a recipe says sugar-substitute equivalent, the amount of sugar-substitute you use should be equal to the amount of sugar indicated in the recipe. In some recipes, a specific low-calorie sweetener and the amount is stated. Many good natural sweeteners weren’t available when I wrote the first edition of this book.
Foolish Assumptions
When writing this book, I make a few assumptions about you:
You’re overwhelmed by the number of dieting plans and books and just can’t make a decision about which is best for you.
You’re busy and want a simpler and healthier way to eat that you can apply to any situation such as home, office, restaurant, or fast food.
You want to model healthy eating for your family and serve easy and delicious meals.
You’re tired of the stress that happens at mealtime in deciding what and/or where to eat.
You fear having to eat differently from your family while you prepare a “regular” meal for them.
You’re tired of being overweight and unable to join in fun activities.
You’re fearful of never being able to eat your favorite foods again.
Icons Used in This Book
Icons are those little pictures in the margins. Here’s a key to what they mean:
The Tip icon is handy, and I use it extensively. It marks things that I’ve identified as being helpful in your journey to lifelong good health.
This icon marks important points that are reinforced throughout a section of the book. You’ll do well to remember what I point out here.
Pay particular attention to the Warning icon to steer clear of situations that can be seriously dangerous or hazardous. Exercise some extra caution.
This icon marks interesting information that isn’t essential to understand. You can even skip over the text if it doesn’t appeal to you and still enjoy the book.
This icon points out recipes that use only Green Light foods, which are free foods you can eat anytime anywhere. They’re primarily vegetables, fruits, lean meats, and low-fat cheeses. Any other recipe not marked with a Green Light icon is counted as one of your carb choices. Check the yield part of the recipe to see how much carb to count.
Beyond This Book
This book is chock-full of tips and other pieces of helpful advice you can use as you eat a low-carb diet. If you want some additional tidbits of wisdom, check out the book’s Cheat Sheet at www.dummies.com. Just search for “Low-Carb Diet For Dummies Cheat Sheet.”
Where to Go from Here
One of the best things about this book, or any For Dummies book for that matter, is the fact that you can start just about anywhere and find something that’s interesting and relevant. Feel free to start wherever you want.
If you want a little more guidance, try this handy list on for size:
If you want to get shopping right away and need a grocery list to get you started, go right to
Appendix B
.
If you’re not sure if the plan is right for you, take a look at
Chapter 4
. It’s full of information on discovering your own personal health history, assessing your current health situation, and helping you see why this plan can work for you.
To go straight to the recipes, focus on
Part 3
. For a quick list of which recipes I include in the book, take a look at the Recipes at a Glance at the front of the book.
If you want a quick overview of the plan, and why it’s better than any other low-carb plan out there, take a look at
Chapter 2
.
Part 1
Understanding the Carbohydrate Controversy
IN THIS PART …
Comprehend what the levels of carbohydrate are in low-carb diets.
Evaluate the changes in the western diet that have contributed to health problems, such as obesity and type 2 diabetes.
Look at the differences in carbohydrate foods and what they contribute to carbohydrate quality.
Assess whether a low-carb diet is right for you.
Chapter 1
Mapping Out a Low-Carb Diet
IN THIS CHAPTER
Understanding low-carb dieting
Choosing the best carbs for your body
Maintaining a low-carb lifestyle
Although eating in the United States has been changing since the beginning of the 20th century, it has dramatically changed in the last 50 years. Americans eat out more frequently, eat larger portions of food, and eat more foods with little resemblance to their form in nature. Everywhere Americans turn, they’re inundated with refined and processed foods such as snack foods, chips, candies, cereals, cookies, and all other sorts of junk food. In addition, Americans are bombarded with best-selling diet books that just repackage fad diets to make them seem new and exciting. So, the old adage, “Eat less and exercise more” just seems dull and boring. As a result, more Americans than ever are overweight or obese and struggling to find a plan that helps them lose the extra pounds.
Americans unfortunately are exporting this dilemma around the world. Kuwait has more fast-food restaurants per capita than any other country in the world. And, yes, the incidence of diabetes, heart disease, and obesity are on the rise in Kuwait. So, does this mean fast foods are the culprit? Not exactly. Most people are overwhelmed with the availability of cheap, tasty foods and junk foods whose advertising barrages them in every media at every twist and turn.
My goal is to help you discover a better way of eating that is easy, healthy, and reasonable. In this chapter, I map out a low-carb eating plan that is healthy and satisfying. I show you how to remove refined carbohydrates (carbohydrates with lots of sugar and very little fiber) from your diet, to make your diet healthier. By improving the quality of the carbohydrates you eat, and by controlling your daily intake of starchy carbs (like breads, pasta, and starchy vegetables), you’ll lose weight and experience many other healthy benefits including increased energy, improved mood, and better sleeping.
How Low Is Low Carb? That’s the Question
If you’ve looked into low-carb diets, you’ve probably found more than a few that require you to banish carbs from your diet entirely. And if you like carbs the way most people do, you’ve probably thrown down those books with a mixture of fear and frustration. Low-carb diets include a variety of carbohydrate levels, and not one specific level is accepted by all. The end result is confusion and a barrier in communicating the real risks and benefits of low-carb eating.
Americans are eating more food than ever, and carbs have replaced much of the fat. That increased food intake means an increased carbohydrate intake, which is largely sugars, sweeteners, and processed flour. That increase has had a direct impact on the health (and waistlines) of Americans. In working with patients at Texas Tech Medical Center, I found the low-carb eating plan approach referred to as the Whole Foods Weight Loss Eating Plan as more effective than a low-fat diet approach. Patients watching their fat intake were eating a lot of fat-free food products that weren’t any healthier than the fat they had been eating.
This Whole Foods Weight Loss Eating Plan doesn’t reduce carbohydrate so much that it induces ketosis (a process that happens when you don’t have enough carbs to burn for energy so you burn fat, which makes ketones to use for fuel). The Whole Foods Weight Loss Eating Plan not only reduces your intake of processed carbs, but it also shows you how to control your intake of those foods for a more permanent weight loss.
The following sections delve deeper into the world of low-carb diets and explain what a low-carb diet is and isn’t.
Defining a low-carb diet: Not as easy as you’d think
Although the term “low carb” is bandied around freely in general conversation and most everyone using the term assumes that they’re using the term in the same way, unfortunately no clear definition of the term exists.
In an attempt to overcome this barrier to communication, researchers have suggested four definitions:
Very-low carbohydrate ketogenic diet (VLCKD):
Carbohydrates are limited to 20 to 50 grams per day or less than 10 percent of a 2,000 kcal/day diet, whether or not ketosis occurs. It’s derived from levels of carbohydrate required to induce ketosis in most people. VLCKD is the recommended early phase (induction) of popular diets such as Atkins Diet or Protein Power and is the basis for the Keto Diet.
Low-carbohydrate diet:
This diet limits carbohydrates to less than 130 grams per day or less than 26 percent of total energy. The Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) defines 130 grams per day as its recommended minimum. The Whole Foods Weight Loss Eating Plan promoted in this book adheres to this carbohydrate level. See
Appendix C
for more on the DRIs.
Moderate-carbohydrate diet:
This diet sets carbohydrate limits at 130 to 225 grams per day or 26 to 45 percent of your total calorie intake. This was the prevailing upper limit of carbohydrate intake in the western diet before the obesity epidemic (43 percent) began.
High-carbohydrate diet:
Carbohydrate intake is more than 225 grams per day or greater than 45 percent of total calorie intake on this diet. More recent surveys estimate that the current American diet is 53 percent refined and processed carbohydrate.
The Whole Foods Weight Loss Eating Plan that I describe in this book provides 130 grams of carbohydrate and fits the definition of a low-carbohydrate diet. But don’t worry — the guidelines I give don’t ask you to remove carbs from your diet completely. Instead, I want to get you thinking about the quality of the foods you consume, rather than the number of carb grams those foods contain. For more details about this, turn to Chapter 2.
Clarifying what this low-carb diet is about
The Whole Foods Weight Loss Eating Plan isn’t an eat-all-the-fat-and-protein-you-can-possibly-consume diet. It’s really focused on enjoying whole or unprocessed foods and enjoying the healthy side effects, including having more energy, stabilizing your blood-sugar levels, losing weight, and improving your self-confidence. Whole foods are fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, nuts, and seeds that haven’t been processed to remove vitamins, minerals, fiber, and so on. They’re foods that are sold to consumers as close to the same state that nature provided them.
Most foods contain some carbohydrates. Even an 8-ounce glass of skim milk contains 12 grams of carbs. A cup of broccoli contains 8 carb grams. And yet, both milk and broccoli are packed full of other nutritional benefits, including vitamins, nutrients, fiber, and phytochemicals. If you strictly limit the number of carb grams in your diet without considering the quality of the carbs you eat, you’ll be missing out on some key foods that will enhance your overall good health.
These sections clarify which carbs you can eat as much as you want on the Whole Foods Weight Loss Eating Plan and with which carbs you need to be more selective.
Identifying free foods — eat all you want
Even though you’re limited to five carbohydrate servings a day on the Whole Foods Weight Loss Eating Plan, many foods that contain carbohydrates are absolutely free (which means you can have as many of them as you want, without counting them toward your daily carb allowance).
Here are some quick tips on which foods to focus your attention on and which to pass by (Chapter 5 has more details about free foods):
Don’t be afraid of fruit.
Fruit does contain carbohydrates, but the carbs in fruit give it a delicious
natural
sweetness, which is partnered with a ton of vitamins, fiber, and relatively few calories. Increasing your fruit intake is a great way to help you wean yourself off refined sugars. (
Refined sugars
are sugars like table sugar and high-fructose corn syrup that are added to processed foods.) Fruits make a great dessert option and, because they come pre-portioned in their own natural package, they’re a great choice for grab-and-go snacks. On this diet plan, almost all fruits are free The recipes in
Chapter 16
offer a wide array of healthy, fruit-filled desserts.
Look at leafy green and non-starchy vegetables.
Leafy greens, like spinach, watercress, cabbage, and romaine lettuce, and non-starchy vegetables, like green beans, broccoli, carrots, and tomatoes, come in an almost limitless variety. You can further vary your diet by trying new preparations of old favorites and partnering them with new choices. Check out some great recipes for salads and other greens in
Chapter 12
.
Remove refined sugars from your life.
Refined sugars provide calories, but lack vitamins, minerals, and fiber. They’re also high on the glycemic index table. See
Chapter 3
and
Appendix A
for more on the glycemic index. The amount of refined sugar in the American diet is a disastrous, but fairly recent, development. Watch out for hidden sugars in breads, lunch meat, and salad dressings. Pay attention to the not-hidden sugars in non-diet sodas, cookies, and candy. For more on reducing the amount of sugar in your diet, see
Chapter 6
.
Eyeing what five carb servings you can eat
A carbohydrate serving is a portion of a carbohydrate food that provides 15 grams of carb per serving. On the Whole Foods Weight Loss Eating Plan you’re allowed up to five servings a day, although you do have some flexibility. You can eat as few as one to three servings per day or three to five servings per day based on your weight loss goals. After all, you are in control. You decide. That’s why the quality of the carbohydrate food you eat is so important.
For those five carbohydrate servings you’re allowed to eat each day on the Whole Foods Weight Loss Eating Plan, choose wisely and consider the following:
Check out legumes.
Legumes
(leh-
gooms
) are foods like peas, beans, and peanuts. They’re nutritional powerhouses that add fiber to your diet, are naturally low in fat, are a great source of protein, and are very inexpensive. Look for several varieties at your market including canned, dried, and fresh. Legumes make great additions to salads, serve as excellent side dishes, and make healthy delicious entrees in their own right. Look for great recipes for legumes throughout the recipes in
Part 3
.
Choose whole grains whenever possible.
Look for
whole grains
(grains that still have their bran and nutrients intact) as the first ingredient on a food nutrition label’s ingredients list. Items made from whole grains tend to be higher in fiber and lower in sugar, and have a stabilizing affect on blood sugar levels compared to their refined-grain counterparts. For more on the benefits of fiber and whole grains, look at
Chapter 6
.
Introduce more soy products into your diet.
Soy foods contain both carbs and protein, making them off-limits on many low-carb eating plans. Not so with my plan. In fact, if you’re a vegetarian, you can substitute soy products for lean proteins and still get many of the nutritional benefits this plan has to offer. Regardless of whether you’re a vegetarian, adding more soy to your diet can offer tremendous health benefits, including a reduced risk of several types of cancer and heart disease, as well as more-balanced hormone levels.
CONSIDERING HOW A LOW-CARB DIET DIFFERS FROM OTHER POPULAR DIETS
This sidebar describes several popular diet plans that are currently promoted. This information can help you appreciate the benefits of the Whole Foods Weight Loss Eating Plan:
Very-low-carb diet: This eating plan significantly restricts carbs and is intended to induce ketosis in most people. The Whole Foods Weight Loss Eating Plan doesn’t induce ketosis.Atkins Diet: This diet, which resurfaces about every 25 years, starts with an induction phase designed to induce ketosis and then gradually moves the person to higher carbs.Keto Diet: The Ketogenic Diet or Keto Diet as it’s commonly known is a low-carbohydrate, high-fat dieting plan that has been used for centuries to treat hard-to-control epilepsy in children. The diet forces the body to burn fats (ketones) rather than carbs, which forces the body into ketosis.Paleo Diet: The Paleolithic Diet or Paleo Diet as it’s commonly known states that because humanity’s genetics and anatomy have changed very little since the Stone Age, people should eat foods available during that time to promote good health. Your diet should be based on whole, unprocessed foods. Meats, nuts, seeds, fruits and vegetables are all acceptable in the Paleo Diet. Grains aren’t.Intermittent fasting: This eating pattern cycles between brief periods of fasting and eating. The fasting period consists of no food or significant calorie reduction alternating with periods of unrestricted eating. The most common regimens are fasting on alternate days, for whole days with a specific frequency per week, or during a set time frame such as eating only within an eight-hour window each day.These weight-loss plans have a common feature. Even though their starting points tend to vary, they all restrict refined and processed carbs. So, your weight loss is not only from your carb intake, but it’s also from the absence of refined and processed carbs. Even though these plans can yield a significant weight loss in the beginning, they all eventually fail. Why? Because refined and processed carbs are so pervasive in the western diet and so persuasively advertised, they’ll eventually creep back into your daily eating. Before you know it, you’ve lost control and your hunger has become ravenous. None of the given plans have taught you how to control those processed foods. That’s where the Whole Foods Weight Loss Eating Plan differs. It not only shows you how to reduce your intake of those foods, but also how to keep them at bay.
Figuring out whether low-carb eating is right for you
The following are all good reasons to follow this low-carb plan:
If your personal health history includes the precursors to diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, or obesity
If you’re concerned about stabilizing your blood sugar levels
If you’re tired of the way convenience foods and prepackaged, sugar-laden foods make you feel
If your Body Mass Index (BMI) is 30 or above
Check with your healthcare provider before beginning any exercise or diet regimen. Chapter 4 provides more details in determining whether this plan is right for you.
Discovering Whole Foods
The most important element of the Whole Foods Weight Loss Eating Plan is the introduction of whole foods into your diet. A whole food is any food that’s not refined or processed. Fresh, frozen, or canned fruits and vegetables are whole foods; french fries aren’t. A sirloin steak is a whole food; a breaded veal cutlet isn’t. Whole-grain bread is a whole food; white bread isn’t. Apple juice is a whole food; a fruit roll-up isn’t. A baked potato is a whole food; potato chips aren’t.
The more refined a food is, the fewer vitamins and nutrients, the less fiber the food has, and the higher the glycemic index. If you see a food that’s refined but has been fortified with vitamins and minerals, like sugary breakfast cereal, be wary. Those vitamins aren’t as easily used by your body for all of its vital processes as their naturally occurring counterparts. And 99 times out of 100, the food contains more sugar than your body needs. Check out Part 2 for the skinny on using whole foods to their best dietary advantage.
Living the Low-Carb Way
Low-carb dieting quickly will become second nature. The key to your success is planning. Plan your meals and plan your shopping trips to fit with your low-carb lifestyle.
Be aware of the layout of your grocery store. Food manufacturers want to lure you toward the center aisles where the shelves are stocked with expensive prepared dinners and other refined foods. Stick to the perimeter for most whole-food choices (such as fresh produce, low-fat dairy products, and lean meats). When you do take the plunge into the center aisles for dried beans, canned vegetables, or whole oats, avoid the temptation to toss prepackaged dinner helpers, chips, cookies, or sugary cereals into your cart. For more shopping tips, take a look at Chapter 9.
With a little effort, you’ll be able to navigate your way around a low-carb kitchen. Find your own shortcuts to make your life easier and low-carb friendly.
When dining out, don’t be afraid to ask for substitutions. If your steak comes with french fries, ask for an extra side of veggies instead. If the pasta special sounds very tempting, the chef can likely make it for you without the pasta. Just think of that chunky seafood in a hearty marinara sauce — it’s fantastic without the white pasta. Most restaurants, even fast-food restaurants, have a house or green salad that’s a great addition to any meal and totally free on this eating plan. Just get your dressing on the side, so you don’t eat unwanted fat and calories. For more tips on dining out, read Chapter 17.
Beyond the Scale: Identifying Other Factors for Overall Health
For most people, weight loss and dieting go hand in hand. In fact, when you hear someone say, “I’m on a diet,” it usually means, “I’m trying to lose weight.” But the word diet (coming from the Latin dieta, or “daily regimen”) can also refer simply to the food you eat day in and day out. I want to change your daily food plan for the rest of your life, not just help you lose weight now. So, considering factors other than a number on the scale is important when you’re charting your progress.
Lowering your BMI by as few as two points can have a profoundly positive effect on your overall health. Check out Chapter 3 for details.
Your body shape, genetics, and age have as much to do with your physical appearance as your weight. So, set realistic expectations for what you expect your body to look like. An unrealistic self-image can be devastating to your health and self-esteem. For more details, take a look at Chapter 22.
Exercise and low-carb dieting: Your partners in fitness
Exercise isn’t just a necessary part of life, it’s fun! With so many different forms of exercise available, you’re sure to find one that matches your interests and lifestyle. You don’t have to run out and buy workout clothes, join a gym, and attend a Pilates class this week. Just pulling weeds in the garden or mowing the lawn can get your heart pumping. Walk around the block with your dog. Find a friend to walk with you during your lunch break. Volunteer to coach a Little League team in the sport of your choice. Anything that gets you moving is a great addition to your lifestyle.
The effects of exercise are cumulative, which means that you don’t have to get your 30 minutes a day in one shot. You can take a 15-minute walk around the block in the morning and another 15-minute walk after dinner.
Daily exercise stabilizes your blood sugar levels, improves your cardiovascular health, increases your strength and stamina, and helps you get a better night of sleep. You may feel more tired immediately after beginning a new exercise program, but you should quickly enjoy increased energy levels, as well as an improved mood because of the endorphins (chemical signals in your blood that act like your body’s own version of morphine or painkillers) running rampant in your bloodstream.
The more you exercise, the more lean muscle you develop. And the more lean muscle you develop, the higher your resting metabolism. (Your metabolism is sort of your internal rhythm, or the rate at which you burn calories when completely at rest.) With a higher resting metabolism, you burn more calories while you’re sleeping, working at your desk, or even just breathing. How’s that for efficiency?
Exploring vitamins and supplements
On the Whole Foods Weight Loss Eating Plan, you’re encouraged to take in most of your vitamins and minerals through the whole foods that you consume. However, a few important exceptions may exist. If you’re at risk for osteoporosis, you’ll want to calculate your calcium intake, and if it doesn’t meet your daily need, add a calcium supplement to your daily regimen. Certain health conditions and certain stages in life may make considering a vitamin or mineral supplement appropriate as well. Antioxidant nutrients like vitamins C, E, and beta-carotene and the minerals zinc, copper, selenium, and manganese may help lower your risk of disease and the ravages of aging. New guidelines for supplements and information on upper limits can help you to know the amounts to take and still stay within safe levels.
For more on incorporating vitamins and supplements into your low-carb lifestyle, take a look at Chapter 21 and Appendix C.
Maintaining Your Low-Carb Lifestyle
As with making any long-term change to your diet, the key to enjoying the ultimate benefits of your low-carb lifestyle is sticking with the plan. Part 5 is loaded with tips and tricks to help you set yourself up to succeed.
Making the commitment
The first step in making the low-carb commitment is mental or psychological. Customize your food habits to meet the demands of your lifestyle and your low-carb diet. If you can get your family, roommates, or other housemates to follow the diet with you, you’ll definitely have a better shot at success, because you can completely remove tempting foods and sweets from your cabinets and fridge. But don’t stress if others aren’t interested in the plan. You can still cook for the whole family with the plan and adjust your own portion sizes to coincide with it. You’ll just need to be careful not to indulge in cookies or snacks. For more on getting (and staying) committed to the plan, check out Chapters 18 and 19.
Planning ahead
Let your lifestyle help determine your food-plan strategy. If you know that you have no time in the mornings, prepare your healthy breakfast and lunch the night before. Plan your meals before you’re hungry. Making healthy choices is much more difficult when you’re hungry and refined foods are handy.
The rise of prepackaged, convenience foods has increased the amount of refined sugar in the American diet, but your busy schedule doesn’t have to be a barrier to healthy eating. Keep healthy snacks on hand in snack-size resealable plastic bags for easy treats. You’ll eliminate the urge to grab cookies, chips, and crackers.
Picking yourself up when you fall
I wish I could say that no one ever slips up on this plan, that no one ever gives in to temptation and succumbs to that extra baked potato or slice of cake. But the fact is giving in to temptation is part of life. You’re human and, therefore, you aren’t perfect. However, don’t beat up on yourself when you slip up, and more importantly, don’t use it as an excuse to throw all your progress out the window. So, you had a piece of cake and didn’t save any carb choices for it? Analyze what went wrong in your plan and resolve to have a better day tomorrow. These small setbacks can be the gateway to long-term success. If you can learn from them and make better choices next time, you can have better overall health and weight control. Refer to Chapter 20 for more details.
Chapter 2
Delving Deeper into Carbohydrates
IN THIS CHAPTER
Understanding the controversy over carbohydrates
Identifying how Americans’ diets have changed
Getting back to basics with whole foods
Nothing has polarized the nutrition world as much as the low-carbohydrate diet, but this diet isn’t new. It’s been around for more than 100 years — and for most of that time, it has been controversial. The quick-weight-loss effect of the low-carb diet, its permission to eat as much meat and fat as you want, and the lack of hunger in those who follow it has always attracted many fans. However, very-low-carb diets were hard to maintain.
In this chapter, I show you why the low-carb diet is controversial. I discuss the migration of the American diet toward more calories from increased snacks, sugars, soft drinks, and bigger portions of all foods. I give you ways to evaluate low-carb diet plans to help you make the best choice for you. And most importantly, I give you an overview of the Whole Foods Weight Loss Eating Plan — my version of the low-carb diet — which is healthy for a lifetime and will also help you lose excess pounds.
Evaluating the Controversy
The low-carb diet gained modern-day popularity about 50 years ago only to later be squelched by the fully accepted and heavily promoted low-fat diet. Cholesterol was implicated as a major determinant of heart disease, and diets high in saturated fat were found to raise blood cholesterol levels. Lowering fat intake in the diet enjoyed approval by the scientific community and was embraced by national health organizations and public policy. There was a halo-effect over the low-fat diet and horns and a devil’s fork over fat. Fat was branded as the ultimate dietary villain, for several reasons:
Heart disease was increasing and was correlated with high cholesterol. Scientists discovered that saturated fat increased cholesterol levels in the blood. Scientists also sensed that people were slowly becoming a little fatter. A fat gram contained twice the number of calories of protein or carbohydrate grams, so a good way to reduce the number of calories people ate was to reduce the number of fat grams consumed.
Fat was also blamed for cancer and a host of other diseases.
The low-fat diet approach enjoyed almost universal acceptance and respect from the scientific community and the public. Fat in any form was demonized. And, the concept of low fat being healthy became deeply ingrained in society. Along with the lowering of fat in the diet was the recommendation to replace the fat with carbohydrate foods that were virtually devoid of fat.
Then the low-carbohydrate diet started making another comeback with not only its good results in blood glucose and weight loss, but also good results in blood cholesterol parameters. Media headlines questioned the honesty of the low-fat diet, and nutrition scientists were accused of waffling on their nutrition advice. Obesity was worse than ever, now at epidemic proportions; cancer was also just as bad as ever, accompanied by increases in diabetes, high blood pressure, joint pain, and heartburn. Heartburn became more sophisticated and was renamed gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). And a “new” disease phenomena appeared on the scene dastardly labeled at first as Syndrome X and later as metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome is actually the manifestation of insulin resistance and is considered a strong risk factor for heart disease. (Check out Chapter 4 for more information on metabolic syndrome.) Accusers pointed directly at carbohydrate as the villain. The low-fat diet, which recommended carbohydrate as a substitute for fat, was dealt a blow. Even the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food Pyramid was included as an enabler and was eventually eliminated.
So, where is the truth? Is it the very-low-fat diet? No. Is it the very-low-carb diet? No. Do people need to eat less fat? Yes. Do people need to eat less carbohydrate? Yes. In fact, people need to eat less of just about everything. In the era of the very-low-fat-diet or very-low-carb diet, eating was relegated to math. You were allowed 20 grams of fat or 30 grams of carbohydrate depending on which plan you followed. So, the only important thing was how many grams of fat or carbohydrate were in the food. The quality of the food didn’t matter.
Two other factors played a role in this nutritional thinking:
Scientists discovered the glycemic index to evaluate carbohydrate quality.
The
glycemic index
measures equal quantities of carbohydrates on blood glucose levels. Refer to
Chapter 3
and
Appendix A
for more information.
Healthcare providers now use not only total cholesterol value to assess heart disease risk, but also a lipid profile to evaluate other cholesterol factors in the blood.
A lipid profile includes the following:
Total cholesterol
Low density cholesterol (LDL)
High density cholesterol (HDL)
Triglycerides (TG)
Flip to Chapter 4 for more about cholesterol and triglycerides. The following sections discuss the fallacies in the low-fat and low-carb dietary approaches. They encourage you to start looking at the quality of the food you eat and not just how many grams of fat or carb the food contains.
The low-fat, high-carb diet
Americans are heavier than ever before, despite the fact that they’re reducing the percentage of calories consumed from fat. Popular diet books and the media immediately targeted carbohydrates as the bad guys and labeled them fattening. What was ignored is the fact that the average American consumes 40,000 calories more (over the course of a year) than they did previously. The real message should be that excess calories from any source will result in increased body weight. High-carbohydrate diets recommend that the carbohydrate comes from fruits, vegetables, beans, whole grains, and dairy, but high-carb diets also impose a tight restriction on fat, which leads to a higher consumption of fat-free and reduced-fat snack foods.
One thing the advocates of the low-fat diet didn’t plan on was the abundance of fat-free foods that would become available. The low-fat message became distorted into counting fat grams. Therefore, fat-free foods just became free foods in people’s minds. The fat in sweet rolls, cookies, cake, and crackers was replaced with sugar or other refined sweeteners. Intake of fruits, vegetables, beans, and grains, the preferred replacement for fat, increased some, but it still fell short of the recommended goals.
THE HISTORY OF THE LOW-CARB DIET
The low-carb diet isn’t new. In fact, a London coffin maker and undertaker named William Banting devised it to treat his own obesity. He had become so obese that he had to walk downstairs backwards to keep from falling. He lost 50 pounds on the diet and published a pamphlet, Letter on Corpulence, Addressed to the Public, in 1864. Banting declared the diet a “cure for extreme corpulence.”
His cure became so popular that the word banting became a synonym for dieting in the English language. The diet also caught the interest of Americans in the late 1800s and became popular. However, in the next century, it was labeled the “Banting Scheme” because it was full of unproven medical lingo and followers of the plan often developed gout. Since those early days, the low-carb diet approach has resurfaced about every 25 years and is always controversial.
The low-carb, high-protein diet
With carbohydrate at an all-time high and the health of the country as bad as ever, the low-carb diet rose in favor. People following the low-carb diet attest to its effectiveness and proudly proclaim the number of pounds lost. So if it’s effective in losing weight as so many contend, then what’s the problem?
Most low-carb diets count grams of carbohydrate regardless of the food source. So “good” carbs, such as fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and dairy, are eliminated solely because they contain carbohydrate. If you follow these restrictions, you’re eliminating vital nutrients, phytochemicals, and fiber (see Chapter 3). Certainly, everyone needs to eat less carbohydrate, but the decrease needs to come mainly from refined flour and sugar products. You must take into consideration the quality of the carbohydrate you eat.
Another problem is that low-carb diets tend to be high in fat and protein. Many interpret the low-carb diet as a license to load up on bun-less burgers, steaks, sausages, eggs, and bacon. Unfortunately, this approach can have potentially negative health effects.
Whether you count grams of fat or count grams of carbohydrate, you’re still using a calculator to make your food choices. Give me a break! Who wants to eat a calculator? Counting all fats the same and counting all carbohydrates the same is misleading. You should definitely include some fats in your diet and you should definitely include some carbohydrates. For the full story on fats, take a peek at Chapter 8. For the lowdown on quality carbs, see Chapters 5 and 6.
Deconstructing the Typical (Bad) Diet
The modern western diet includes more calories, larger portion sizes, and increased frequency of eating. The modern western diet is characterized by all the following:
More soft drinks and sweeteners
More salty snacks
More cookies and snack foods
Eating out more often, especially in fast-food restaurants
Larger portion sizes, especially of soft drinks and french fries
Increased convenience, microwaveable, and processed foods
Instead of the USDA Food Guide Pyramid, which was in use at the time, the modern diet turned the Pyramid upside-down with refined grains, potatoes and sweets, and meats in greater quantity than fruits and vegetables. Today pyramid guides to depict healthy eating have been abandoned completely. Although some evidence suggests that the Food Guide Pyramid enhanced nutrition knowledge, it did nothing to change people’s eating habits. The USDA replaced the pyramid with a plate diagram (MyPlate.gov
