Are you virtuously eating fat-free foods without achieving your weight loss goals? Then it’s time to get the skinny on a new study that compared low-carb diets with low-fat food plans. The results? Low-carb dieters lost more weight even though they ate the same number of calories! Another study, just completed at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, revealed that mice who ate a high-fat diet at scheduled times throughout the day weighed less at the end of the study than test animals in other control groups.
The take-away message: to lose weight, consider trying a low-carb diet that’s packed with protein and veggies, with a minimum of sugar and white flour foods. Here’s a sample day on a low-carb diet:
Breakfast: Start off your day with a tasty protein shake. A high-protein breakfast will help kick start your metabolism and keep calorie-burning power high throughout the day. Consider an Aro Lean shake, which delivers 24 grams of protein per serving. Available in “desserty” flavors like Angel Food Cake, it tastes great, and you don’t need a blender to make one. Enjoy with a small serving of fresh fruit, such as strawberries, for fiber and antioxidants.
Mid-morning snack: Vending machine calling your name? You’ll forget all about that candy bar when you bite into a low-carb Atkins Advantage bar in a flavor such as (yum!) Dark Chocolate Decadence.
Lunch: Make an enormous salad, with dark green lettuce (which contains more fiber and vitamins than iceberg), tomatoes, cucumbers, sliced turkey, sliced mozzarella cheese and a sprinkle of sunflower seeds. Top with low-carb salad dressing, such as Organicville Dijon Vinaigrette.
Afternoon snack: Enjoy a handful of almonds or a mozzarella cheese stick.
Dinner: Treat yourself to lean meat, fish or poultry, fresh vegetables such as broccoli or asparagus and a slice of cantaloupe for dessert.
TV-viewing snack: You’ll say “oh, yeah!” when you try Oh Yeah! Chocolate Caramel Protein Bars! It’s got a candy bar taste that’s oh-so-good…but one large bar has only 4 grams of sugar and just 8 grams of carbs, with 15 impressive grams of protein. Now that’s sweet!
Joanne Eglash, Vitacost.com’s Diet Diva, has a master of science in holistic nutrition and more than 15 years experience as a nutrition consultant, blogger, author and journalist. She has written for a wide range of publications and websites, including ediets.com, Natural Health magazine, Shape magazine, Pregnancy magazine, Success magazine, Energy for Women and Chefs. Joanne is currently the national Diets columnist for the online news and entertainment site, Examiner.com, and a featured food columnist for Yahoo.