Healthy Carbs and Fats Can Help You Lose Weight

Although low-carb diets are known to produce greater weight loss in the first months, the faster initial weight loss does not equate to a larger amount of overall weight loss when compared to a low-fat diet. In numerous weight loss studies, the group following a low-carb diet lost statistically significant more weight. Some dieters lost about three times more managing carbohydrate intake than those consuming a low-fat diet. Although useful for short-term weight loss, low-fat diets may not be healthy or successful over the long-term. For decades, dieters were told to avoid eating fat to keep from being fat. After all, fat has twice the calories per gram than the same amount of carbohydrates or protein. Nonetheless, consuming healthy fats and healthy carbs can help you shed pounds.

Carbs with High Fiber Are Good Choices

From breakfast pastries to soft drinks, thousands of food and drink products contain added sugars, which has led to our ever-increasing cravings for sweets. Healthier carbohydrates with high fiber content offer benefits such as:

• Good carbohydrate choices help reduce your risk of heart disease and diabetes as well as help prevent obesity and keeps your digestive system well balanced and functioning optimally.
• Slowly digested carbohydrates ensure your body can use the food you eat as energy over several hours. Moreover, slowly digested foods result in a gradual increase in blood sugar to prevent over-production of insulin.
• Unprocessed carbohydrates are healthier carbs, as natural ingredients are not removed during manufacturing. Unprocessed carbs are healthy carbs and include whole grains, beans and products made from whole grains.

In food products, sugar has many functional properties that range from preventing spoilage to balancing acidity and has been used in recipes for ages. However, your intake of refined and processed sugars should be limited.

Balance Your Intake of Carbs, Fat and Protein

Since carbs have a role to play in a balanced diet, you shouldn’t just write off all carbs. Instead, select carbohydrates that are bursting with fiber, protein, vitamins and minerals but manage portion sizes. Also, ditch the carbs that are void of nutrients. White carbohydrates like sweets or bread can quickly raise blood sugar levels, which triggers insulin production and causes inflammation. But, nutrient-rich white carbs like cauliflower, onions, garlic, nuts and seeds, beans, jicama, ginger and apples are good for your health. Whether you choose to count calories or count carbs, it is helpful to have a weight loss specialist help with your balance of carbohydrates, protein and fat intake. This will ensure your menu plan is healthy and sustainable.