Most diets that promise to help you lose weight fast rely on some variation of a low-carbohydrate or even no-carbohydrate diet. Unfortunately, low-carb diets are actually counter-productive because they're extremely difficult to stick to and tend to end in binges, they can be really unsafe because your body relies on carbs for energy, and carbs are important for exercise. So, instead of a no or even a low-carb diet, I'll propose a smart-carb diet.
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| Photo Credit: Nathaniel Drake |
First, start small and make simple substitutions (like
this one). If you eat cereal every morning, check the ingredients list to see if "whole grain" is the first ingredient (also, learn how to
Build the Perfect Breakfast!). If it's not, make your first smart-carb substitution and try a new cereal that is made with whole grain - they're easy to find nowadays and a lot of them taste great (same goes for oatmeal or bagels). If you're completely new to trying to eat right, you can stop there for now with the breakfast substitution and skip to the next paragraph. If you're looking to do a little more or if your cereal is already whole grain, there are a few other things to look for the next time you choose a cereal. Perhaps the most important is sugar content (sugar is a carb). I'm not suggesting that you can possibly eliminate sugar from cereal altogether, but there are a few things you can try that are smarter than the high fructose corn syrup a lot of cereals rely on for taste. For example, if you find that a lower sugar cereal or oatmeal is lacking flavor, try adding in some dried fruit (make sure it doesn't have any added sugar on the ingredients list). Stirring in raisins, for example, can help to naturally sweeten the milk and they'll even add a little bit of fiber. (Do you crave coffee every morning? Learn how to
survive Starbucks)
Next, think about what you generally eat for lunch. For me, I usually pack a sandwich, a big source of carbs (Eating out for lunch? Make sure you follow
these rules). Make sure the bread you get (or hamburger buns, wraps, tortillas, etc.) are 100% whole grain. Eating white bread is a completely missed opportunity to get some filling fiber into your body. Plus, your digestive system will be able to better process whole grains. Eat a few pieces of fruit with your lunch to add some more smart-carbs that will keep you full and energized. As with breakfast, try to avoid anything that's super sugary (don't worry about the sugars in fruit), or at least eat it in moderation.
Snack time? Skipping snacks because you're on a diet could be counter-productive as research shows that eating about every 3 hours can help keep your metabolism running strong (learn how to
Build the Perfect Meal Plan with Snacks). So what to eat? Trail mix is always a good option - you'll get some good omega 3 fats from the nuts, a little bit of protein, some smart-carbs and fiber from the raisins, and some sweets from the M&M's (for a lower calorie option, get trail mix without the chocolate). I'm not the biggest fan of granola bars when we're talking about health, but if you're going to go for the convenience, at least get one that is made with whole grain and generally speaking, avoid the ones with soy protein (read
The Truth about Protein). Wheat Thins or Triscuits are also good whole grain options when it comes to snack time.
Your dinner frequently has a lot of carbs packed into it, and if you're not smart about them, they won't be very friendly to your waistline. Try cooking with whole wheat pasta (warning - it may take a little longer to cook so make sure to read the box) and try brown rice instead of white. If you're making a pizza, see if your family notices the difference if you use a whole wheat crust.
I've also discovered a few whole grain options for desserts that are actually really delicious. Try Kashi's whole grain dark chocolate chip cookies sometime and see for yourself (Craving chocolate? Try this
substitution)! Of course we know that cookies aren't really great on our waistline regardless, but if you're going to be eating cookies anyway, eating whole grain cookies may, overtime, help us keep more weight off than if we were to eat regular cookies.
This obviously isn't a comprehensive list of every single thing you can know about carbohydrates, and there's quite a bit more than just carbohydrates that goes into weight loss, but I hope this post will help you to start thinking about some of the simple substitutions you can make to upgrade the healthfulness of all of your meals. I'll always be posting more articles about different aspects of health and fitness, but in the meantime, before you try some crazy crash low-carb diet, try making some smart-carb substitutions first and let me know how it goes in the comments!
