Are You Confused By Low Carbs Versus Low Fat

You want good information about nutrition and weight loss, but it is hard to know who to believe. For years all you heard was 'low fat.? All the diets were low fat. All the diet foods were low fat. The U.S. Government food pyramid said low fat was the answer.

Then suddenly you hear nothing but low carb. You see this with Atkins, South Beach Diet, and many others. They say cut the carbs and the pounds will melt off.

It is confusing. But it is even more confusing when you try the low fat diets and they don't seem to work. And then you try the low carb diets and they don't work for you either. If you are like most people, 'doing Atkins? seems to work for a while, but then it quits working. Or you will lose some weight, gain it back, try Atkins again, but it won't work for you the second time.

What is going on here? Why all the confusion?

Let's look at the science behind diet and weight loss for some answers to the low fat, low carb controversy.

Researchers at the University of North Carolina did a study and looked at the effects of dieting on the ability to exercise. (Effect of caloric deficit and dietary manipulation on aerobic and anaerobic exercise. Int J Sports Med. 1991 Apr;12(2):167-72.)

They studied two groups of athletes who were dieting. One group had higher carbohydrates and the other group had lower carbohydrates. They found that the higher carbohydrate group had more endurance and was able to exercise better, even when they were cutting down the calories.

You know that to really take the weight off and keep it off you have to exercise. We sometimes don't like to face it, but deep down we know that it is true. It is tempting to believe the fad diets, but we all know they don't work.

To get to your ideal weight and stay there you have to exercise. And when you exercise your body needs fuel. It can burn fat, and it does burn fat. Your body burns up some fat everyday, even if it is storing other fat at the same time.

But to exercise you have to have energy. And you get energy from carbohydrates. Not from candy and junk food, but from good healthy carbohydrates, from real unrefined fruits, vegetables and grains.

This will give you the energy you need, so you can face going to the gym, and so you can exercise and make the gains you want. And finally take that extra weight off forever.

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