Slow Carb Diet Basics - All You Need To Get Started

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The Slow Carb Diet was introduced in Tim Ferriss' Four Hour Body book - his long-awaited guide to 'hacking' the human body, for improved results in weight loss, muscle building, better sleep, better sex and countless other subjects.

Slow Carb Diet Basics - All You Need To Get Started

The diet was developed by self testing and refining other approaches, with a pragmatic and quantative twist - building on whatever worked and constantly tweaking and adjusting until the simplest and most effective principles could be readily distilled. Readers familiar with different diet plans will recognise elements of low carb/high protein plans, with some paleo, glycemic index/glycemic load theories, and other styles... But although much of the doorstop-sized tome relates to the slow carb diet in some way, the rules for Slow Carb 101 are actually very short and sweet:

Avoid ALL white carbohydrates, or carbs that can be white (even in the non-white form). So that means ALL bread, cereals, rice, potatoes, pasta, and any fried food that is breaded. The only workable exception appears to be cauliflower, which is actually very low in carbs and high in fiber.

Eat the same few meals over and over Ferriss is a bachelor who doesn't like to cook! So this element has been a bit controversial and doesn't suit everyone. And since the publication of the book a wide canon of recipes and general slow carb literature is exploding across the blogosphere... You can of course make your meals as varied as you like provided you stick to the rules, but Ferriss' intention was to simplify ruthlessly down to first principles, making it easy to shop, plan a head, keep on track, and not fall off the wagon because you have no suitable food in or you have bought the wrong stuff.

The main thing with food is that you have to get food from each of the following groups, in every meal

- Protein - such as lean meat, eggs or fish (no dairy, except cottage cheese in small amounts)
- Legumes and beans - such as lentils, black beans, haricot beans, pinto beans, soybeans, kidney beans... any kind of beans are good!
- Vegetables - especially green vegetables... Ferris particularly recommends spinach, but anything green is good, cooked or raw (salad)

Don't drink calories - that includes milk or soy milk, juice, cans of soda, beer, and so on. Ferriss permits himself up to two glasses of dry red wine per day, but confirms that this is optional rather than a requirement! The main message is, it's way too easy to overlook the amount of calories and sugar you are knocking back in liquid form without a second thought...

Don't eat fruit This is because of fructose, the natural sugar in sweet fruits (and the ban does not apply to non-sweet fruits like tomatoes and avocados). Fructose contributes directly to fat storage via trigyceride formation, and they are generally high in glycemic load. This aspect of the plan many people find shocking at first, because fruit is generally recommended on most healthy eating plans. But as Ferriss remarks, most of the fruit we eat today would not have formed part of our ancestors diets in Northern Europe. Vegetables yes, but fruits are a more recently acquired habit, and as such are not what we are evolved to thrive on.

Final rule:

Have a day off once a week! - cheat day, binge day, dieters gone wild day... once a week eat fruit, bread, cake or whatever you like, as much as you like.

This has two purposes - spiking your calorie intake once a week resets your metabolic rate and reassures your body that you are not starving! It stops your weight loss from slowing down as a result, and your body simply becoming more efficient at managing on fewer calories. This is the main factor behind rebound weight loss, when people return to eating 'normally' after a restricted plan...

The second purpose is behavioral. Knowing that 'cheat day' is never more than six days away makes it easier to stick with yet another bowl of beans. Because slow carb is NOT about a quick fix - whilst weight loss can be dramatic at first or if you have a lot to lose, for optimal results you will have to stick to this plan for some time. When you have a blowout day to look forward to (and that you can adjust the date of to suit social occasions and so on), it is so much easier to still to a less varied and indulgent diet the rest of the time

That really is it, for the slow carb diet - everything else is just refinements. Do these 4 things, consistently over time, and you will lose fat and build a leaner body. You have nothing to lose but your excess pounds!

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Low Carb Food - An Introduction

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Low carbohydrate diets have risen and fallen in popularity over the years and many different variations of the concept have appeared in the mainstream media. Most of us will have heard of the Atkins diet, but there are many alternatives such as the South Beach Diet and the Paleo Diet.

Low Carb Food - An Introduction

The thing they have in common is restricting the amount of carbohydrates in the diet with the goal of encouraging your body to use your fat stores as energy instead of the carbohydrates in food, which ultimately leads to weight loss.

Finding low carb food can be difficult due to the fact that most food producers and supermarkets focus on calorie or fat content. It has been conventional wisdom for the past half a century that to lose weight, you need to limit calories and increase exercise. This approach is also part of the government guidelines for healthy living, so it is understandable that food manufacturers will highlight this information on their packaging.

Having said that, it is possible to train yourself to recognise foods which are low or high in carbohdrates, so if you're just starting out on a low carbohydrate diet, here are some quick low carb food tips to get you on your way:

- if it grows underground, it is high in carbs (e.g. potatoes and carrots)
- if it is a green vegetable, it is probably low in carbs (brocolli, beans)
- meats are generally carb free - just make sure there is no added sugar, breadcrumbs or anything else added to them
- be careful with artificial sweeteners such as sucralose and aspartame - some people convert these into sugar alcohols which have the same effect as carbohydrates

A common myth that is portrayed by people on alternative diets is that low carb food is boring and unimaginative. It can be true that when you are starting out on a low carb diet it can be difficult to find low carb foods to buy, but once you get going a whole new world of exciting flavour and taste start to appear and you quickly forget the initial problems.

Often people say that once they are a few weeks into a low carbohydrate diet the thought of eating breads, pastas and sugary treats makes them feel a slightly ill, so you will naturally become accustomed to recognising high carb foods.

A major problem faced by low carb dieters is finding snacks while on the go - most high street shops sell potato chips, chocolates, breads and cakes as snacks - all of which are off limits for low carb dieters. There are a couple of solutions, the easiest being to bring your own snacks with you. Some ideas include blocks of cheese and pepperoni sticks. While this is not ideal, it does make life easier!

Another important thing to remember with a low carb diet is that your hunger levels will go down. This is because your body is using fat stores for energy and so it is not constantly telling you to feed yourself. People often comment that they completely forget to eat lunch because they simply weren't hungry - so don't worry if you can't find a snack, as you will quickly forget that you even wanted one!

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Get Rid of Lower Belly Fat With These 2 Simple Tips

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Losing lower belly fat doesn't have to be complicated. There is a ton of advice out there and it can all be so confusing. I, however, like to keep things simple. Eating and exercise is no different. I wanted to find a way to eat that wouldn't leave me feeling hungry and a way to exercise that wouldn't require hours of my time. Counting calories, weighing food, and running on a treadmill aren't my idea of a fun way to lose weight. Let's face it, doing what is often suggested in diet books takes a lot of time.

Get Rid of Lower Belly Fat With These 2 Simple Tips

Doing my own research, I discovered ways to simplify eating and exercise that also produce the best results. Almost anyone can follow the following tips to achieve weight loss, of course it's recommended to consult with your doctor before making changes to your current eating and exercise plan.

Tip #1 - Simple way of eating: I have been reading about the paleo diet which is based on the eating habits of the cavemen (hunter-gatherers.) Losing lower belly fat and weight in general is fairly easy when eating this way. This is because the food that is eaten consists of meat, seafood, fresh vegetables, fruit (moderate amounts), nuts, and seeds. Food to be avoided include bread, rice, beans, cereal, wheat, sugar, and any processed foods (cake, cookies, pie, candy, etc.) Since you are cutting out simple carbs, our bodies then become accustomed to using our fat stores as energy, thus burning fat. Excess amounts of simple carbs are only stored as fat.

Tip #2 - Exercise efficiently: Unless you truly enjoy working out or have a specific purpose such as a bodybuilder, it isn't necessary to perform long exercise sessions in the gym or at home. Many people who start a workout program become cardio junkies spending a majority of their time on cardio machines like treadmills and ellipticals. Excessive amounts of cardio can cause our bodies to use muscle as energy. In order to prevent that, it's better to combing interval training with strength training. This way, you continue to build muscle and prevent burning it. A typical interval workout takes no more than 45 minutes and can be done a few times per week.

Changing your lifestyle with the two tips above saves time and you no longer have to concern yourself with counting calories, weighing food, or spending hours working out.

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Reactive Hypoglycemia - Why a Vegetarian Diet Could Be the Cure

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Reactive hypoglycemia can cause an array of distressing symptoms when blood sugar drops: sweating, shaking, heart palpitations, cold extremities. Most of the advice disseminated on the web concentrates on the type of diet (atkins, paleo etc.) rather than the actual make-up of the food stuffs in the diet. There's an overwhelming amount of evidence that switching to a vegetarian diet will aid in keeping hypoglycemia at bay.

Reactive Hypoglycemia - Why a Vegetarian Diet Could Be the Cure

The main culprits that cause blood sugar drops are simple carbs and sugars. Simple carbs and sugars are found in abundance in the typical american diet, but are typically absent from a vegetarian diet.

1. White bread, pizza, burger buns and other white breads are generally limited or absent from a vegetarian diet (for example, most cheese contains rennet from the inside of a slaughtered calf's stomach, so vegetarians do not eat it).

2. Spaghetti and pasta is eaten in limited quantities by vegetarians, mostly because they avoid the meat based sauces. Swapping noodles for whole grain pasta is a healthy alternative.

3. Vegetarians typically avoid processed foods because of the hidden animal products like glycerin and gelatin that make the majority of processed foods out of bounds. By avoiding processed foods, vegetarians avoid the sugar and high fructose corn syrup commonly found as an added ingredient in bakery goods, pies and frozen meals.

4. Pastries, muffins, candies, and cakes often have gelatin as a base. For example, gummy bears are made from boiling cow bones down and adding sugars and flavoring. By avoiding the gelatin, vegetarians avoid the sugar!

5. Restaurant meals: for a vegetarian, eating our is often difficult because of "hidden" animal ingredients (like fish and beef bases for vegetable soups). Most restaurant meals are padded with fat, sugars, and other ingredients designed to make you want to eat more.

6. High fat meats and the typical accompaniments (french fries, baked potato, potato salad) are blood sugar death for hypoglycemics. Avoiding meat often involves avoiding the fat, sugar, and starch heavy items. Meat analogies like quorn or vegan burgers are nutrient dense and low in fat.

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Wellness Coaching - America's Sugar Addiction

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Most people are malnourished. I'm not talking about people living in impoverished, third-world nations either. I'm talking about middle-class Americans. Because their diet consists mainly of starch, sugar, and GMOs (genetically modified organisms), the body is simply disallowed from much-needed trace minerals, essential fatty acids, and anti-oxidants that it requires to rebuild and repair tissue, and to maintain a slightly alkaline state.

Wellness Coaching - America's Sugar Addiction

The average American is consuming about one-third of a pound of sugar every day. Most of this sugar comes from high fructose corn syrup which is the primary ingredient in processed foods such as chips, crackers, cereals, breads, pastries, cakes, cookies, and candy. Besides sucrose and fructose intake, lactose, the sugar found in dairy products such as milk, cheese, and yogurt, is the third most common form of sugar consumed.

The so-called "health drinks," such as fruit juice, contains a concentrated amount of pure sugar. And just because it's "all natural", it doesn't mean it's good for you. Your body can't tell the difference between sugar from cane, sugar from fruit, sugar from milk, sugar from maple syrup, or sugar from honey. To the body, it's all sugar! In addition to all of this, complex carbohydrate foods such as bread, pasta, soy, legumes, whole grains, and potatoes, all get converted to sugar in the bloodstream. As a result of this ever-increasing sugar addiction in the U.S., we have seen the rates of diabetes, cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's, and A.D.H.D. skyrocket to epidemic proportions in the last fifty years.

So, what's wrong with sugar? Well, cancer loves it, thrives on it because is lowers the pH in the blood. This creates the ideal environment for cancer to thrive. Cancer forms in your body all the time, and has been forming and dying since you were born. If the body is healthy and maintains a pH level that is slightly alkaline (7.35 - 7.45), then it will be able to defend itself against the proliferation of cancer cells. If, however, the environment is perfect for cancer to thrive, as in an acidic, toxic, low-oxygen state, then cancer cells can multiply rapidly and form themselves into dangerous tumors.

The best way to give the body the nutrients it needs for optimal health and maintaining an alkaline state is through proper diet. This means consuming as many sugar-free, starch-free, nutrient-dense, anti-oxidant rich foods as you can eat. Throw out the grape nuts and begin consuming mushrooms, squash, broccoli, kale, artichokes, and peppers. And stop drowning yourself in sugary coffee drinks and begin drinking tea instead. A cup of tea (both black and green) contains about ten times the anti-oxidants found in a single serving of strawberries.

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Weight Loss and Fasting: The Solution

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When considering weight Loss and fasting....the following point is key: use intermittent fasting to gain back control when you veer off your paleo diet track or simply want to enhance or accelerate weight loss. It's simple, pro-active and empowering. Take a deep breath and push the reset button. Here's how.....

Weight Loss and Fasting: The Solution

Intermittent fasting is about taking a break between meals. Allowing your digestive system to rest and to build up hunger. During holidays and celebrations the temptation is to overeat. Even if we are still eating paleo food there are plenty of ways of overeating "paleo" food including baked goods which take us a long way from the diet of our ancestors. Er...Paleo Cakes and frosted muffins anyone?

There comes a time however when it is appropriate to draw a line under that! Conventional wisdom suggests we do this by entering into a "detox" - a period of calorie restriction and vigorous daily exercise: that we eat less and exercise more. But you don't go to the garage to put less fuel in your car and expect it to do more for you? Exercise makes you hungry! Exercise makes you ravenous and if you are not careful you will find yourself back at square one. Exhausted, hungrier than ever and chained to a never ending tread mill that you simply don't enjoy.

There is however, another way and it's not a new idea. Conventional dietary wisdom wants us to eat three meals a day (breakfast, lunch and tea) and to supplement this with snacks. When using intermittent fasting as a weight loss tool, we might eschew breakfast and not consume our first meal until past 1pm. If you add this to the time spent asleep in bed since your last meal then you can see an estimated total fasting time of 14 + hours.

In this fasted state (also known as ketosis) you will find that your body will naturally work harder to provide energy to it's tissue from your fat stores. Hold onto your hats you are now in fat burning mode!

The point is that you are not eating less but the time window in which you eat has been reduced. In ancient tradition every fast was broken with a feast. Well, I'm not going to argue with that! There is no reason to eat less if you are following paleo guidelines in your diet. Simply eat when you are hungry and stop when you are full! Try it and see - it is impossible to overeat fat! Hormones produced naturally when real food is consumed actually manage the whole process for you so don't worry.

If you were following a diet based on calorie restriction you might miss a meal to count the correct calories but you would not replace that missed meal with additional calories at a larger "break fast" for example. So you might think you are doing the same thing but in one you would be working with your body to trigger fat loss and in the other you would be fighting against your body and it's natural hunger to produce weight loss. In one you will experience a profound sense of well being, an absence of hunger and a curious kind of symmetry with those who have lived before and who knew how to satisfy hunger. In the other you would be hungry, period. And miserable. And cross.

Early man did not eat three meals a day. Whose idea was that anyway? Early man underwent numerous short periods of fasting and ketosis and many paleontologists believe that this ketogenic adaptability was instrumental in human evolution. It is a normal healthy state and it triggers fat burning. So whether you're looking to get back on track, enhance or accelerate the fat burning, weight loss and fasting are an excellent partnership Try it and see.

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List of Simple Carbohydrates and Complex Carbohydrates Foods

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There are 2 types of carbohydrates. Complex carbohydrates and simple carbohydrates.

List of Simple Carbohydrates and Complex Carbohydrates Foods

Carbohydrates are considered simple or complex based upon their chemical structure. So what are complex carbohydrates, or some call them starch?

Complex Carbohydrates

They are simply sugars bonded together to form a chain. Because of it's complex chain form, your digestive enzymes have to work much harder to access the bonds to break the chain into individual sugars for absorption through the intestines.

Because of that, the digestion of complex carbohydrates takes longer. The slow absorption of sugars provides you with a steady supply of energy and limits the amount of sugar converted into fat and stored!

Usually people consider complex carbohydrates as good carbohydrates.

Here's a list of complex carbohydrates foods.

• Spinach
• Whole Barley
• Grapefruit
• Turnip Greens
• Buckwheat
• Apples
• Lettuce
• Buckwheat bread
• Prunes
• Water Cress
• Oat bran bread
• Dried apricots
• Zucchini
• Oatmeal
• Pears
• Asparagus
• Oat bran cereal
• Plums
• Artichokes
• Museli
• Strawberries
• Okra
• Wild rice
• Oranges
• Cabbage
• Brown rice
• Yams
• Celery
• Multi-grain bread
• Carrots
• Cucumbers
• Pinto beans
• Potatoes
• Dill Pickles
• Low fat yogurt
• Soybeans
• Radishes
• Skim milk
• Lentils
• Broccoli
• Navy beans
• Garbanzo beans
• Brussels
• Sprouts
• Cauliflower
• Kidney beans
• Eggplant
• Soy milk
• Lentils
• Onions
• Whole meal bread
• Split peas

Complex Carbohydrates

Simple carbohydrates are digested quickly. Many simple carbohydrates contain refined sugars and few essential vitamins and minerals. People usually consider these as bad carbohydrates.

Why bad?

These simple carbohydrates are actually smaller molecules of sugar unlike the long chains in complex carbohydrates.

They are digested quickly because the individual sugars are ready to be absorbed immediately plus digestive enzymes have easy access to the bonds in the paired molecules.

You could say most of the work has been done for the digestive system! Foods like cake, pastry, biscuits, chocolate, etc (you get the idea) contain lots of "empty" calories.

Because our cells usually do not require that amount of energy at that time of eating, the sugar must either be converted to glycogen (sugar storage within cells) or converted to fat.

Your body cells can only store a limited amount of glycogen, so in many common cases, taking too much food that contains simple carbohydrates may contribute to body fat stores.

Here's a list of simple carbohydrates foods.

• Table sugar
• Corn syrup
• Fruit juice
• Candy
• Cake
• Bread made with white flour
• Pasta made with white flour
• Soda pop
• Candy
• All baked goods made with white flour
• Most packaged cereals
• Honey
• Milk
• Yoghurt
• Jam
• Chocolate
• Biscuit

There are a lot more foods that contains simple and complex carbohydrates. You can using the list above as a starting point for a healthier diet immediately.

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