Month: April 2011

You’ve decided that the extra weight has to go.  You’re tired of feeling sluggish and lethargic and want to embark of a low carb diet to get you back into shape and feeling healthy again but you’re not sure how or where to start.  Well, here are our top tips in how best to begin your new low carb diet.

1.  Research

Read as much information as you can on all the various low carb diet plans that are out there and decide which is the best plan for you and your lifestyle, be it the No White Diet, a Low GI diet, South Beach or Atkins.  Once you’ve chosen which plan to go for, go out and buy a copy of the latest book detailing the diet (or borrow one from your local library).  Read the entire book, making sure that you fully understand how it works and which foods are allowed and which aren’t before you start.

2. Planning

Pick a week to start where you know that won’t have any social engagements that require you eating out in public.  That way you can make your first couple of weeks a lot easier on yourself if you don’t feel obliged to eat banned foods because they have been served to you at a dinner party.

Also, make sure that you are in good health when you start, if you’re feeling run down or unwell then you are more likely to reach for comfort foods or quick fixes than stick to your low carb diet plan.  Try to avoid starting a low carb diet at a time when other stressful things are occurring in your life, such as moving house, starting a new job etc., you need to feel as relaxed as possible.

3.  Preparation

Buy in lots of tasty foods that you can eat, your favorite fruits or cooked meats in the fridge are excellent for when you feel like a quick snack.

Draw up a meal planner for your first couple of weeks, this will help you to stick rigidly to the plan and also help when planning your grocery shopping.

Try to limit your carb intake in the week prior to starting your low carb diet plan, reducing the amount of processed carbs for instance, or only eating carbs for breakfast will help your body adapt to your new regime much quicker and easier.

Switch from your regular brands to low carb brands.  There are many breads and cereals out there that fit the bill and are surprising tasty.

4.  Cut out Caffeine and Alcohol

Both contain carbs (if you take sugar in your tea or coffee) and both can knock you off track.  You are more likely to crave carbs if you drink alcohol so try to avoid it whilst you’re trying to get your new eating habits established.

Drinking caffeine can inhibit the weight loss for some low carb dieters.

5.  Tell Everyone You Know That You’re on a Low Carb Diet


The more people you have in your corner supporting you the better the chances of success.  Not only will they keep your change of diet in mind if they invite you over for dinner, but they won’t tempt and taunt you by eating chocolate cake at the next desk.

Hopefully some of your friends and family will even join you on your quest for a healthy lifestyle and buddy up with you, which is even better.

There’s no doubt that low carb diets are the most superior diet plan out there. But you’d be surprised to learn how many people stray from their low carb diet — even in spite of seeing great results. Read about the top 7 ways that low carb diets fail — and how to avoid them!

1. Lack of Planning

There can be no denying that undertaking any sort of low carb diet requires some serious forward thinking.  If you’ve been used to grabbing some toast for breakfast and ordering a sandwich from the local deli at lunchtime, then you will have rethink your eating-out strategy.  Taking time out to prepare yourself a salad or a sandwich made with low carb bread to take to work, or getting up a little earlier to fix yourself eggs for breakfast are just a couple of ways that you can adjust to your new eating plan.   Make things easier on yourself and don’t have any quick fix carb loaded foods in the house while you’re finding your feet — it will make the transition a lot smoother if you don’t have the temptation to go for the easy option because you’re short of time. Carry low carb snack bars with you so you don’t feel the need for a candy bar if you need a quick snack.

2. Choosing the Wrong Low Carb Diet for You

There are different types of low carbs diets; the Atkins Diet, South Beach, Low GI, etc. But just because they all claim to be a “low carb diet,” their approaches differ dramatically. Take some time to study the ins and outs of them all before you decide which best suits your lifestyle.  Factor in how much weight you want to lose, how quickly you want to lose the weight, and most importantly, whether you feel the diet would work for you in the long term. You might find that certain low carb diets may not fit your lifestyle, health considerations, and food preferences — and choosing the wrong diet could be a disaster waiting to happen.

3. Giving Up Too Easily

Radically changing the way you eat may have some slight side effects — it’s quite normal for our bodies to go through some transitional changes. This is especially true with low carb diets: often times, the first 48 hours is a kind of “detox” from carbs and sugar that can send your energy levels for a loop. For the majority of us these side effects will only last for a few days however, they can often be enough to put us off our stride and make us throw in the towel.  Try to help your body adjust a little before you start the diet by gradually reducing your carb intake over a couple of weeks, this will ensure that you won’t shock your system too much.  Also remember that any side effects will be short-lived and will be worth it in the long run when you have that new trim, slim figure.

4.  Not Exercising

The early Atkins low carb diet plans never pushed exercise as part of weight loss, but the truth is that all diet plans work better if you exercise. We’re not talking training for the New York marathon here, but some gentle exercise for 20-30 minutes per day will not only help with your weight loss, but also your general health and mental well-being.   A small stroll around the neighborhood, using the stairs instead of taking the lift or a bit of gardening are perfect; anything that makes you a little bit sweaty and raises the heart beat will do.  If you feel physically fit enough to do more, then even better.

5.  Not Eating Enough Fruit & Vegetables

It’s a common misconception that low carb diets mean that you can’t eat fruit and vegetables. True, some diets do restrict the ones you can eat in the early days but there are plenty of plans that don’t.  However, all low carb diets have a vast variety of fruit and vegetable that you can eat, so make sure you get at least your 5 a day, and try to make them different in color and texture so that you’re getting a good mix of vitamins, minerals and other essential nutrients.

6.  Not Eating Enough Fiber

Again another misconception is that fiber only comes from banned carbs, but this isn’t true.  There is plenty of non-carb or very low carb food that can provide your body’s daily fiber needs.  Chai seeds and flax are both excellent forms of fiber and are often used in low carb breakfast cereals and snack bars, some regular breakfast cereal such as All-Bran are good to eat if you’re on a Low GI diet. Many vegetables are also very high in fiber; beans, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, chick peas and eggplant to name but a few.  Dried fruits, apple with the skin on and avocado are all high fiber fruits.

7.  Letting the Carbs Creep Back In

A cookie here, a potato chip there, a sugar in your coffee…  it’s all too easy to let these little things add up and before we know it we are back at square one, over loading our systems with glucose and getting carb cravings. To maintain weight loss and keep ourselves healthy we need to look at Low Carb diets as a way of life and make these changes forever.  Whilst the odd slice of toast won’t do that much damage if it’s an isolated incident, letting these slip ups build puts us on a slippery slope back to our old eating habits and undermines all our good work.