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Low Carbohydrate Diet Plans

What is a Low Carbohydrate Diet Plan?

Low carb diet plans restrict your carb intake, reducing the grams and carb calories well below the recommended amount.

The Atkins diet is the most restrictive during their 2 week induction; limiting your carbs to only 20 grams per day.

The Zone offers the most carbs for their low carbohydrate diet at 40% of total calories.

Even though these low carb diets are often considered “fad diets” there are times and situations where people need these diets or have had great success with a low carb diet.

One of the biggest risks with these diets are that once you have reached your goal weight and return to normal eating habits, the weight can come back on quickly if you have not learned the proper long term eating habits.

Popular Low Carbohydrate Diet Plans

The Atkins Diet

The Atkins Diet starts you off with a 2 week “induction” phase. During this phase your carbs are extremely restricted to only 20 grams per day. After the initial 2 weeks, you slowly increase your carbohydrate intake to 30 grams per day over the next 4 weeks.

After this period, you add 10 gram increments slowly until you have stopped losing weight. Hopefully by this point you have reached your goal weight and are at the recommended 60% of calories coming from carbohydrates.

If you are not yet at your goal weight then you would slowly reduce carbs again until you have reached your goal.

The Zone Diet

The Zone Diet is based on a 40-30-30 concept with 40% of your calories coming from the “right” carbohydrates, 30% from protein and 30% from fats. Again the focus is on the “right” fats and proteins.

The eating plan consists of a small amount of low fat protein, about a fist size portion, at each meal and at each snack at mid afternoon and late evening. Each meal also includes the “favorable” or “good” carbs that are twice the size of the protein serving.

These low carb foods include veggies, lentils, beans, whole grains and most fruits. An additional serving of the “unfavorable” carbs are included but a much smaller serving. These “unfavorable” carbs would include brown rice, pasta, papaya, mango, bananas, dry cereal, bagels, carrots and all fruit juices.

South Beach Diet

The South Beach Diet has 3 phases. The first phase is the most restrictive of carbohydrates eliminating foods like rice, pasta and breads. In the second phase some of these foods are added back to your meal plan. The last phase, phase 3, is about leaning how to eat healthy for life and maintaining your weight. The South Beach Diet is about selecting carbohydrates based on the glycemic index.

Glycemic Impact Diet

The Glycemic Impact Diet, as the name suggests, focuses on the glycemic index of the foods but takes this one step further. In addition to looking at the GI for carbohydrate foods it also considers the Glycemic Load. The glycemic load is a combination of the GI and the amount of carbohydrates the food has which determines the glycemic impact of the food. A good example is the carrot. The carrot has a high GI but a low amount of carbs per volume, meaning the carrot has a low glycemic load making this a great food for this low carb diet. The Glycemic Impact Diet is based on a 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30% from healthy fats.

Protein Power Diet

As the name suggests, this diet is high in protein and this is the main “ingredient” to this diet. Meat lovers will have no problem with this diet but vegetarians will have a limited selection with tofu being the primary source of protein. Depending on the amount of weight you need to lose, carbs are restricted to only 30 grams per day and up to 55 grams per day. They provide a low carbs list of veggies and fruits to make your selections easier. These include leafy green veggies, tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, zucchini, cucumbers, etc. Additionally, you can add in 25 grams of fiber which you can subtract the fiber grams from the carbs in processed foods giving you more grams of carbs to play with in your total low carbohydrate diet.

Note: If you are a diabetic, you should check first with your doctor before trying any of these low carbohydrate diets. Due to the potential for foods high in fat and the restricted carbs, these diets may or may not be the right choice for you to control and manage your blood glucose levels.

Find out all about the benefits of a low carbohydrate diet.

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