Calculating the grams of carbohydrates you eat every day can help you realize which foods provide you with carbohydrates in your diet and help you determine whether lowering your carbohydrate intake could help you lose weight.
Low-carbohydrate Diet Theory
Carbohydrates are especially abundant in grains, legumes, fruits, some dairy products and sugar. After you eat carbohydrate-containing foods, this macronutrient breaks down into glucose, or sugar, which then makes its way into your bloodstream. In response to your rising blood sugar levels, your pancreas releases insulin to make this sugar enter the cells of your body, where it is burned for energy or stored as fat for later use. Between 45 and 65 percent of the calories in the standard American diet come from carbs, which can lead to high levels of insulin and promote fat storage, according to the low-carb theory. Lowering your carb intake could help you lower your insulin levels so your body stops storing fat and starts burning it.
Low-carb Diets and Weight Loss
A study published in May 2004 in "Annals of Internal Medicine" compared the effectiveness of a low-carb diet against a low-fat, calorie-controlled diet in overweight and hyperlipidemic volunteers. After 24 weeks, participants in the low-carb group lost significantly more weight, 28 lbs. compared to 15.9 lbs. in the low-fat group. Interestingly, subjects in the low-carb group were only instructed to count their carbohydrates, while the other group had to watch both their fat and their calorie intake.
How to Count Carbs
Write down all the foods you eat at each meal and their corresponding serving size. Don't bother with nonstarchy vegetables, meat, fish, poultry, cheese, eggs, fats and oils because they contain very few or no carbs. Focus your attention on starchy vegetables, grains, beans, lentils, fruits, milk, yogurt and sugar-containing foods. With the help of food labels or a food database, determine how many grams of carbohydrates are present in your servings of foods. Add up the amounts for all the carbohydrate-containing foods you eat throughout the day to obtain your daily carbohydrate intake.
Finding Your Carbohydrate Target
If you consume a typical American diet, your carbohydrate intake is likely to range between 225 and 325 g of carbohydrates, based on a 2,000-calorie diet. Most low-carb diet plans recommend reducing your daily carbohydrate intake to below 100 g a day; some even suggest limiting carbs to less than 50 g a day in the first few weeks. Count carbs first to determine the level that helps you lose weight at a steady pace, then the level that will help you maintain your desired weight easily in the long term.
Member Comments