A new study from the University of South Carolina suggests that most people who maintain optimum body weight do not consume a diet low in carbohydrates.
A research team led by Dr. A. T. Merchant, an associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of South Carolina, used a 2004-2005 cross-sectional survey of 4,451 Canadians aged 18 years and older. The results indicate higher carbs are associated with normal weights.
Guest Blogger Jamie VanEaton is a freelance writer making lunch–not war– when she’s not herding children, corralling pets or raising dust bunnies. You can also read her blog, The Lighter Side of Low-Carb.
You may have thought it was all about meat. And bacon. And butter.
Fear not. Low-carb (and lower-carb) lifestyles are as healthy as the attitudes of those following them, and for many results in weight loss and feelings of better health, lack of brain fog and other nagging symptoms.
Here are five reasons to consider checking out a low-carb diet plan:
The Glycemic index was developed as a means of ranking carbohydrates (or carb-containing foods) based on their effect on blood sugar level. Foods with a high glycemic index value tend to raise blood sugar levels faster and higher compared to foods with a lower glycemic index. Rapid increases in blood glucose are potent signals to the beta-cells of the pancreas to increase insulin secretion. Over the next few hours, the high insulin levels induced by consumption of high-glycemic index foods may cause a sharp decrease in blood glucose levels (hypoglycemia).
In contrast, the consumption of low-glycemic index foods results in lower, but more sustained, increases in blood glucose and lower insulin demands on pancreatic beta-cells. However, this does not necessarily mean that a low-index food is healthier than a high-index food.
I recently composed an article with all the information you need to know about protein. As we enter the most popular season for dieting, I wanted to arm you with the good side and bad side of carbs, before you fall into one of those low-carb fad diets and refuse to ever eat bread again! You might be surprised to learn that there are a lot of healthy benefits to eating the right kind of carbs.
Benefits of Carbohydrates
- When you eat a carbohydrate, your body breaks it down into a simpler form known as glucose.
- Glucose (for immediate energy) and its storage form glycogen (reserve energy) provide about half of all the energy muscles and other body tissues use (the brain depends 100% on glucose for its energy). The other half of the body’s energy comes from mostly fat. We now know that carbohydrates aren’t all good or all bad. Some promote health while others, when eaten often and in large quantities, increase the risk for diabetes and heart disease.
Many people often believe that doing crunches and sit-ups will help get that six pack that they have always wanted. Well, by performing crunches and sit-ups you will definitely work the ab muscles and get that so called “tone”, but you will probably not get the result that you want without proper diet and cardio work-out. If you want abs, you have no other option but to watch your diet and do your cardio. By performing crunches and sit-ups, you are working the muscle under the fat and you need to burn the fat in order for that six pack to “pop out.”
Muscle tissue and fat tissue are two different types of tissue and you need to burn the fat tissue before you can see that six pack. Doing crunches alone will never get the results that you are looking for. You would have to perform millions of crunches to get the results that proper diet and cardio can achieve.
I have put together a few exercise tips that may help you achieve your desired goal:
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