Keep Your Weight and Insulin Levels Down with Low Carb Food

Low carb diets are ideally suited to people who are trying to lose weight but have high levels of insulin. Low carb diets are known to help keep blood sugar levels normal and stable. Insulin's primary function is facilitating the storage of extra sugar in the blood as fat, so when insulin is high, weight gain is usually more likely.

Some of these low carb diets work to limit the amount of overall carbohydrate you can eat. Others may just focus on specific types of foods, especially those with a high concentrate of starch and sugars.

Misconceptions about Low Carb Diets

There are a few common misconceptions about low carb diets such as; they do not allow you to eat fruit or vegetables, they are not healthy and are boring. As with any diet be it healthy or otherwise; some low carb foods can be boring and some delicious - but it is certainly not true that they do not allow you to fruit and vegetables.

Vegetables are actually an important part of these diets and experts say these are the largest food group found in low carb food diets. The important thing is to avoid or at least cut back on starchy vegetables such as potatoes, corn, butternut squash and pumpkin.

Planning your Low Carb Diet

In fact when planning a diet it is often better to focus on what you can eat.




Fruit and Veggies

There are plenty of delicious vegetables like zucchini, green beans, spinach, broccoli and cauliflower that are great part of low carb diets. There are so many things you can do with vegetables at every meal including breakfast when you might consider an omelette with zucchinis for example.

Most fruits are full of nutrients but some are also full of sugar, so people whose bodies don't process sugars well must be careful. However, the good news is that many of the fruits with low levels of sugar are the highest in nutrients and antioxidants such as raspberries and melons.

Meats

Of course not everyone wants to eat just fruit and vegetables all day so what other types of low carb food are there? Interestingly in most low carb diets meats and related protein foods are acceptable although eating processed items like ham, bacon and hot dogs should be limited.

Organ meats like liver and kidneys should be limited too, with the Atkins diet for example, suggesting an intake of just 4oz per day. Mussels and oysters contain carbs as well so it is important to count your intake, but there is no need to cut these things out all together if they are food items you really enjoy.

Dairy

Dairy products can be very high in carbs and anyone sensitive to sugar needs to be careful about the amount of dairy they consume, depending on their own personal carb level. However, there are some choices of dairy products available such as cheese, cottage cheese and some yogurts that are ok if eaten in moderation. If you do cut back on dairy products it is important to make up for the calcium loss through eating calcium rich vegetables or by taking supplements.

As you can see low carb food does not have to be boring or unhealthy, so if you are planning to go down this dietary road, be sure to read up on one of the many specific low carb diets that are available.