Bad News: Regular, Store-Bought Turmeric Has Very Poor Gut Absorption. Most of It Is Oxidized and Only Suitable for Food Coloring

We have all heard that turmeric is great – it promotes radiant skin, weight loss, has many cognitive and brain benefits and can work better for pain than over the counter pain relievers! Recently, some publications explored the effectiveness of turmeric for depression and the results were very promising.
Virtually all benefit-showing studies done on turmeric, use ethanol-aqueous extracts from fresh roots. This is very different from regular, store-bought turmeric. Gut absorption of turmeric is quite low (study) and gets even lower with age, because of the reduced ability of the liver to produce bile.
Fortunately, there are ways around this! Let’s explore some great options to get all the benefits of turmeric, without having access to lab-grade turmeric extracts.

Best Option: Use Full-Range Micelle Turmeric to Get All The Health Benefits Turmeric is Known For! (Link)

This is arguably the most effective way to put turmeric in your body and actually feel, notice and experience the actual benefits turmeric is known for. Micelle turmeric uses extremely tiny droplets(about 200 times smaller than the emulsion droplets that butter consists of for example), suspended in a liquid to bypass the digestive process and ‘transport’ the turmeric straight into your cells, where it can do it’s magic – it’s the closest thing to an ‘anti-aging injection’ that you’ll find. Even compared to high-quality unoxidized turmeric extract, micelle turmeric has up to 200-times higher absorption rate and quickly gets delivered around the cells in the body.
As amazing as micelle liposomal turmeric is, it does have a slight downside – its higher price. Since making micelle solutions requires lab testing to confirm that particle size is small enough to get absorbed right through membranes, this does raise the cost slightly.
Micelle turmeric is ingested normally(orally) – because of it’s high concentration and bio-availability, only a few drops are required to experience the effects.

Option 2: Find Fresh Turmeric Root, Blend With Some Water and Coconut oil, and Add Black Pepper

The second best way to absorb turmeric is to simply get a high-quality powder or just fresh root. It’s impossible to tell with a 100% certainty how good certain turmeric powder is, without lab testing, but the color of the powder is a good indication – look for a bright, vibrant orange or yellow color. Low quality turmeric is immediately obvious by it’s ‘dullness’ – it just doesn’t look that good. If you find a high-quality powder, you can use that to make turmeric milk(recipe), which has decent absorption, due to the fat content of the milk.

The Green Tea & Chia Drink – Simple, But Powerful!

Ingredients:

• Green Tea
• Chia seeds
• Some Honey or Stevia if you want to go zero-calorie!

This drink seems simple, but is amazing in so many ways! It packs a powerful detoxing punch, thanks to it’s combination of fiber, omega-3 fatty acids and the EGCG antioxidants of green tea. The drink in the picture is prepared using matcha green tea, which is a powder you mix with water and not a tea you steep. Good matcha is quite expensive, but feel free to use regular green tea too! Matcha is quite strong as well, so if you are not used to drinking it, by all means, go with regular green tea. The caffeine from the green tea is an important component, because it stimulates the hepatic nerves in the stomach, which stimulates the liver and helps it detox. This is the same reason coffee enemas work well.

The Sour Carrot and Turmeric Drink

Ingredients:

• 60% Carrot Juice
• 20% Lemon Juice
• Some Honey
• Half a level teaspoon of turmeric

Another great detoxing drink! The detoxifying power of lemons, turmeric and honey, combined with the carotene from carrots. This drink tastes great and can be made in a large glass, instead of the shot glasses I used (come on, they are pretty). The antioxidants in turmeric are absorbed much better in combination with the lemon juice. Carrot juice has some antibacterial benefits, as does honey. This is important, because bacteria, like h.pylori, which more than 50% of people have can actually make your liver store toxins.

Rapid Weight Loss Results and Aging-Reversal After a Simple Detox Regimen?

If you’re looking for a way to quickly get rid of belly fat,  massively improve skin complexion and feel 20 years younger, a diet regimen that has been getting a lot of rave reviews lately is Erin Nielsen’s program – it’s a simple regimen that aims to control your gene expression through the foods you eat, leading to quite a rapid transformation in about 70% of people. It works particularly well for women over ~40. We have known for many years that certain spices, foods and supplements have a direct effect on gene expression. Turmeric for example, alters the expression of more than 200 genes in the human body. Certain food combinations have the power to trigger hormones like leptin and turn off inflammatory gene expression. This is why you sometimes hear about people who have lost massive amounts of weight, just after a simple juice detox.

How Liver Detoxing Works and Why It’s Important

Some people look at detoxes and cleanses as over-hyped trends, but they are actually not. Many people will lose large amounts of belly fat, just after doing a proper liver detox with juices. The reason is actually very clear and it’s no mystery at all – your liver accumulates fat-soluble toxins and in order to keep them ‘diluted’ it has to hold on to a certain amount of fat. The way the toxins are eliminated is with the help of a phytonutrient molecule, which the drinks above have plenty of. Your body uses the phytonutrients to turn the ‘stuck’ fat-soluble toxins into water-soluble ones, which are then easily removed by the kidneys. This is why you may notice some increased peeing after drinking those two powerful drinks, especially on an empty stomach in the morning.
Since the liver is involved in virtually all vital processes, the benefits you will notice from those detoxing drinks are many. Better skin, improved mood and higher energy levels are usually the first benefits people notice. Increased metabolism is often experienced as well – you can feel this by your hands feeling warmer and your energy levels increasing!

1. The Hunger-Eliminating Avocado Smoothie

This smoothie may seem too high in calories to support your weight-loss goals, but it actually lowers your total caloric intake by reducing hunger pangs and provides important nutrients to keep your metabolism going. The key is the avocado and almond fat, combined with the fiber content and the high potassium.  Potassium is one of the most important minerals for a satiating breakfast! This smoothie is also pretty high in protein, which is extremely important for weight loss. There is plenty of evidence that just making your first meal of the day a high-protein one will get you on the right track to weight loss.

Half an Avocado
1 Ounce of Almonds
1 Banana
A bit of honey (optional)
A cup of water

2. The Antioxidant Bomb

This smoothie contains a very high amount of anthocyanins and phytonutrients. It is helpful if you feel fatigued in the morning, if you are going to be exposed to strong oxidants, like cigarette smoke, sunlight or fast food. Since it’s quite acidic, it also helps with digestion and weight loss. Acid, found in vegetables neutralizes and cleanses the alkaline waste products that occur any time you ingest protein (like homocysteine). So, starting with an acidic drink full of antioxidants is a great way to prime your metabolism in the morning.

200 grams of frozen red cabbage
1 handful of blueberries
1 banana
1 cup yogurt
A dash of vanilla
A cup of water

The yogurt is there to ensure that our smoothie contains some fat! This improves the absorption of antioxidants and slows it down, providing a “timed release”. Unfortunately, this smoothie is not as good-tasting as many others, but it does include bitterness-suppressing and bad-taste-masking ingredients, so it isn’t that bad! As a general rule, the more bitter and generally “unpleasant” a vegetable is, the higher it is in antioxidants, so there is no easy way to make a smoothie that is very high in antioxidant, but also tastes amazing. To add even more to the downside, this smoothie is also a bit time-consuming to prepare and requires a bit of cleaning afterwords 🙁

3. The Stable Energy Smoothie – A Real Breakfast in a Cup

This smoothie is specifically designed to provide a very slow release of glucose and feed your brain. It is best used when you need your brain power – before an exam or job interview for example. This smoothie is relatively high in calories and it’s stable-energy release can be easily nullified by a fast-food or unhealthy meal. So, use only when needed! It’s also similar to the hunger-eliminating smoothie, but it’s a bit higher in carbs & fiber and lower in fat.

1/2 cup oats
An ounce of almonds
1 Banana
1 cup yogurt or milk

It’s a common advice that if you’re going to eat a carb-heavy meal, do it after a workout, or in the morning. The reason is that your carbohydrate ‘stores’ are emptier than, and the carbs go towards filling those stores, instead of being converted to fat. There’s a simple trick to emulate this effect, without a heavy workout and without fasting – just hold a squat position for as long as you can, until you feel a painful burn.
Dietary trick changes insulin levels and puts your body in a fat-burning mode
Since the leg muscles are the largest muscles in the body that you can flex and keep tension on easily, their glucose receptors ‘open up’. This means that a large percentage of the carbs you eat will go in those muscles and be converted to energy in the mitochondria, instead of ‘spilling’ around your body and going to bad places, like the belly.

Cardio is often not especially effective for fat loss. Many people believe in the myth that says if you’re sweating, you’re definitely burning fat. In fact, the opposite is true – if you’re cold, your body is forced to use energy to warm your body up. Sweating just means your body is making too much heat, compared to the outside temperature. This often has turns on protective processes in the body that shut down energy production to prevent overheating – hence why you feel sleepy and tired after baking on the beach or after a hot sauna.
If you’re serious about loosing weight, give this strategy a try. It’s extremely effective in putting your body in a fat-burning state, and adding a yoga workout daily will lead to even more amazing results.
What is especially effective for weight loss is continuous tension in the large muscles – the legs and the back. You’ll often find diabetics using those sort of exercises to lower their blood sugar, and intense cardio often has the opposite effect on them – it raises their blood sugar an hour after the workout, due to stress hormones being released in the adrenals and the liver. You’ll also notice sprinters have a better physique than marathon runners, which again proves the point of this article.

1. 1. Side Plank

2. Downward Facing Dog

3. Plank Flow

As you can see, those exercises put a lot of static tension on the muscles. Aim for 10 minutes of total tension, which is harder than it looks at first. There is no specific timing for each exercise – just hold the pose until you no longer can and you feel the burn. Rest for a minute, move on to the next exercise. Repeat. The squat hold is also very effective, but demanding – just holding it for 30 seconds can have a massive effect on how much carbohydrates you store on your thighs.
As you can see, the whole session is three exercises. You don’t need more. We’re not aiming for stretching here, only muscle tension. The three exercises put tension on the legs, the abdominal muscles and the upper body (shoulders).

There are two ways to use cayenne pepper juice in this amazing recipe. You can use cayenne powder, or you can juice fresh cayenne, store the juice in the refrigerator and then use add a tablespoon to your drink. The latter is obviously more difficult, as you have to obtain fresh peppers and then make a mess with your juicer. However, it’s a one-time thing, once you have prepared a glassful of cayenne pepper juice, you have enough for a month.

Here’s the Quick Recipe:

• Half a cup of water
• Quarter cup lemon juice
• A teaspoon of turmeric
• Enough Cayenne Pepper Juice or Powder to Make the Juice Very Hot, Yet Drinkable
• A Dash of Black Pepper
• A tablespoon of fat – coconut oil is best
• A tablespoon of honey

Use this trick to restore your circulatory system and cholesterol levels to that of a 25 year-old
Add everything to a jar, close it and shake it to mix in the oil. Use hot water to make the coconut oil liquid, otherwise it will stay hard.
The Fat is used to slow down the absorption of the drink, reduce stomach burn if more cayenne is used and increase the absorption of curcumin from the turmeric several-fold.

How The Drink Works and Why it’s Much More Effective Than Plain Turmeric, or Garlic Drinks

A traditional remedy for clogged arteries is to drink very hot (temperature-wise), plain water on an empty stomach and walk fast. The increase body temperature dilates the arteries and plaque buildup is quickly reabsorbed. This drink accomplishes the same, but without the high-temperature and without the exercise necessary. Cayenne pepper dilates arteries and induces thermogenesis. The turmeric fights inflammation and enables the body to get rid of the plaque.
The drink isn’t only effective for removing plaque. In fact, it’s great for anyone who:

• Suffers from any type of pain, particularly joint pain or fibromyalgia
• Suffers from Hemorrhoids or Blood circulation disorders, like many types of angioma.
• Has low-energy levels or depression
• Suffers from poor circulation, has cold hands and feet or experiences cold sweats.
• Suffers from high blood pressure

Because of the blood-vessel dilating properties of the drinks, it is much more effective than using just turmeric, or even the traditional german plaque-cleaning drink, made from garlic. As a side benefit, since the drink doesn’t need garlic, the side effect of garlic breath is not there. The slightly increased body temperature, which comes after drinking the drink does result in some increased fat burn, especially if you go on a run withing two hours of drinking it.

We have all seen plenty of articles on various magazines and websites about foods that we should avoid at all cost if we are trying to lose weight. Supposedly, just excluding certain foods from our diets can have a big impact and can make us lose weight. But does that work in practice? Well, it depends. It’s the food that you eat that count – not the ones you are not eating. In other words, when you exclude a certain food from your menu, are you adding another one in it’s place to make up for the lost calories?

As you will see in a minute, you can replace all the foods in your diet with different ones, and despite your daily caloric intake being the same, the difference in your body composition can be drastic.
We can go deep on this and make our diets very complicated, including things like MCT oil (which promotes weight loss) and kale shakes. But what if we can keep our diets very simple and consisting of common products we can buy everywhere and still be able to lose a ton of weight? Well, that is just what I tried to do in the last 11 weeks – and you are about to learn all about it.

My experience with a simple diet – replacing my usual foods with different ones, while keeping the calories the same

But wait, why would I want to keep my calories the same? Shouldn’t I reduce them for even faster weight loss? Well, remember that this is an experiment to determine if losing weight is possible just by changing the source of my calories. I also did a few fat-burning tricks, like the beta switch advises.
My start: 143 lbs.
I know, that’s not a lot of weight.. However, the timing was perfect: I had just spend a few weeks on vacation and had gained about 4 pounds of fat, which is not a little. Looking at myself in the mirror, in my underwear the extra fat was very noticeable. Now, let’s see if I can get rid of it just by changing my diet. To make things even more interesting, I will NOT be dong my usual cardio every morning. So, if I manage to lose the weight, the results must most definitely be from the different foods I am eating and nothing else!

Okay, here is a quick explanation of the changes I made:
Breakfast: From Cereal + Milk to Milk + Almonds and Fruit
Lunch: From a Sandwich to..again..Nuts (I switched them around)
Dinner: From Rice + Meat to More meat and some vegetables.
Do you notice anything specific about the changes I am making? If you are used to reading nutrition labels on products or have been interested in calories/nutrition for some time it should be quite obvious – the diets has shifted to a more Atkins, low-carb style and includes more protein, especially for breakfast.
What is the reason behind increasing protein and lowering the carbs? Well, there are a few reasons – a high-carb diet is not very natural for your body and carbohydrates are most readily converted to subcutaneous and belly fat – eating a lot of fruit during the autumn will build up a nice layer of fat over your tummy and get you ready for the long winter, when food will be scarce. Unfortunately, today that logic doesn’t apply – there are supermarkets on every street and even during the winter people keep consuming delicious sweets. In fact, consumption of sweets increases during the winter, probably because of the slight depression that comes with the cold and dark weather.
The body also cannot store much glucose and is forced to put the excess sugar somewhere – usually storing it as fat.
Anyway, I won’t bore you with fat metabolism or try to convince you to go low-carb – I am just sharing the reasoning behind my diet.
What were the results I got? I am glad you asked! After the 8 weeks I had dropped back to 134 pounds, which is about a pound lower than I normally weight – my BF% was the lowest I had ever been. Coincidentally, this is also the longest time that I have stuck to a lower-carb diet for so long and avoided most of my regular high-carb foods and meals.
All of this seems great, but why did I get such results, when most people fail to lose weight on much more complex diets? Can substituting a few weight-loss foods for your current ones be enough to make you lose weight?

Well, first I have done this before, so I was comfortable with the cravings for carbs and I expected them to occur. The average person trying to lose weight fast is getting discouraged as soon as they get a craving. Also, I knew I had no choice – If I continued to eat as I did during the vacation, I knew where that would lead. As you can see, the differences are mainly psychological. This plays a huge role in weight loss.
Now let’s look at some other examples of people who lost weight and improved their health, just by replacing foods in their current diet, without actually lowering their caloric intake! Including those weight loss foods in your diet has a much more dramatic effect than simply eating less or exercising more!
First, take Sally. She was 37 years old and since she turned thirty she had been experiencing all sorts of digestive issues, combined with anxiety, depression and mild osteoporosis. Just after 3 weeks on a gluten-free and low-carb diet, based around meat, nuts and vegetables, the difference is night and day. She started losing weight extremely fast, felt better and had heaps more energy!
Now, if it’s so simple, why doesn’t everyone do that? Well, try convincing a friend of yours that she/he should give up wheat, because the gluten it contains causes digestive issues. You will be immediately brushed off and classified as a “nut”. It may sound strange, but most people don’t have the slightest interest in improving the way they eat. I for one could never understand this, but it’s a fact.
If you do want to make some changes however, here is a nice sample diet you can follow (scroll to the end of the article). As you can see, it’s high in protein and low in crabs. It also completely eliminates grains, which you don’t have to do immediately, although I would suggest it.
Now, let’s look at the top foods you should absolutely and immediately replace and why:

• Wheat – do your own research here, the idea that wheat causes digestive issues is not new, nor is it just based on ”anectodal” evidence – look up celiac disease and gluten intolerance, they are real, medical terms.
• Cheap, processed food – foods that come in shiny packages are made to taste good, not feed you. That’s why shortly after you eat them, you are hungry again. Your body feels the calories coming in, but it can’t get any nutrients from them, which makes you constantly hungry. That, and the insulin roller coster you are putting your body into every time you eat them.

Do that, and you will be well on your way to getting rid of all the unnecessary belly fat.
Dealing with cravings
But, what if I get hungry? Well, you just have to accept and expect it – if you are changing your diet from a carb-heavy to a low-carb one it is to be expected that it won’t me smooth sailing. Getting hungry, getting headaches and other similar problems are to be expected – just stick to your new diet and trust that those issues will be gone in only a couple of days and the end result will be well worth it!

High-carb foods being recommended as weight loss foods by some people
A diet high in fruits and vegetables, and even a diet based solely on bananas has been recommended by some people as a weight-loss method. The evidence for that is insufficient and even if some people succeed in losing weight on such a diet, it’s probably not because of the diet, but because of the severe caloric restriction, combined with a lot of exercise. Low-calorie diets have been shown to have all kinds of adverse effects and there are several studies on this. One study found a large percentage of participant to develop depression, almost non-existent sex drive and lethargy.
If you think about it, there is no way we could be on a high-carb diet long term in the caveman days – fruits get eaten and take a long time to grow back. Animal protein and fat was always the major source of calories.
About exercise
I would recommend combining those weight loss foods with some form of exercise, not particularly for the sake of burning calories, but rather for well-being and feeling good. The benefits of exercise are many and it is not something you should skip on. I would recommend not eating a few hours after exercise – many people also report that they don’t have any appetite immediately after exercising. But yet, they stuff themselves because they read somewhere that eating protein immediately after exercise prevents muscle loss.
Well, I’d say that you should listen to your body. Also, the period after exercise is when you burn the most subcutaneous fat – eating a high-carb meal during that time will quickly undo this. Some protein is okay, but eat it only if you are hungry.
Hydration
Hydration is important. This is not discussed on many health boards, but water is not enough to stay hydrated. The other missing ingredient is salt – your body cannot retain any water without a certain amount of salt ingested simultaneously. Aim for about 2 grams of salt daily and you should be fine. Up that amount if you are doing a lot of cardio workouts.
Well, that about sums it up – the basic idea is to replace high-carb and grain-based foods with natural, whole foods that are high in protein and low in carbs, which limits the choices down to meat, nuts and a few other things.

A low-carb diet is any diet on which you consume less than 100 grams of carbohydrates. The source of those carbohydrates is not important and if you were to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, you would still be on a high-carb diet that can prevent you from losing weight. A lot of people don’t realize that fruit contains actual sugar – it’s mixed with vitamins, minerals and other good stuff, but if you consume too much of it, you will still hinder your progress when it comes to losing weight/eliminating insulin resistance.
What is considered a low-carb vs. what is considered a ketogenic diet?
Ketogenic diets are diets that include less than 50 grams of crabs per day and they also limit the amount of protein you consume with each meal. High protein meals put a lot of excess protein in your body, forcing it to turn some of it into carbohydrates by a process, known as Gluconeogenesis – this is the equivalent of eating a lot of carbs. Ketogenic diets force your body to rely solely on fats for energy production. This has both advantages and disadvantages – a lot of people take a very long time to get used to such a diet and the cravings and headaches are too bad, making them give up eventually. A ketogenic diet is not for everyone and there is not reason to do it – simply follow a reasonable, low-carb diet. And here is the seret:
Make all your carbs come from vegetables – this is key. If your carbs come from grains you are doing a strange mix of a Mediterranean diet and a paleo diet, which is not good! A high-fat diet, combined with a high vegetable intake is how people ate for eons. Although including a small amount of grains, like rice can still be considered low-carb, there is no reason to do it – you require only about 100 grams of carbohydrates. This is contained in a few pounds of vegetables and fruits or in only 2-3 bananas.
The more difficult question is this – what are the best high-fat foods to eat on a low-carb diet? Is a diet high in meat considered low-carb? Absolutely. However, it is very important to cook the meat properly and not at a high temperature. Fried meat is a big no-no. Finding a source of grass-fed meat is very important, although it can get a bit expensive.
A diet high in plant fats, like vegetable oils still counts as a low-carb, but it may not be so good for you – people have never eaten such a diet. The fats we ate before modern times were all animal fats. Having a large amount of your calories come from nuts is simply not natural. Eating whole nuts on the other hand is totally okay.
What about protein?
It’s difficult to limit your protein intake and still be on a high-fat diet. This is probably the only downside of paleo diets – you are forced to consume more than 100g of protein daily just to keep your caloric intake high enough. There are little tricks that can help this, like adding coconut oil or olive oil to your meals, but it is still difficult to have a protein intake of 50-60g which would be optimal.
Don’t forget the salt
A low-carb diet usually means that you prepare all meals by yourself. Too many people forget to add salt to their meals and this, combined with a high water intake can easily lead to hyponatermia. You don’t need a lot of salt, but you do need some – aim for 2-3 grams a day. Eliminating salt will often make you lose weight fast, but don’t delude yourself – this is purely water weight, which means you are now dehydrated. Salt is needed by your body to retain water and keep normal blood osmolality.
Is it still considered a low-carb diet if you don’t do it every day? It depends! Having a cheat day once a week is good for beginners, but don’t overdo it – having cheat days more than once per week will make it possible to consume so many calories during those 2 or 3 days that you basically undo all your progress. Start with once a week and then try to go for once a month.
There are many different names for low-carb diets, but most of them are the same thing – there is very little to innovate here and the purpose of such a diet, when you get down to the nitty-gritty of it, is to go back to the way we ate during the first 99% of human evolution. This means eating meat, nuts, vegetables and this is pretty much it! Don’t eat anything that comes off a packet or contains an unusual combination of ingredients. For example ice cream – it combines sugar, milk, wheat and a few types of artificial fat. There is no way you could eat that combination of ingredients 3000 years ago. So stick to basic food that we are used to digesting
Angelina
 
 

Let’s first clarify something – the type of cholesterol you want to lower is your oxidized cholesterol, also known as LDL cholesterol. This is a type of cholesterol, formed when ‘normal’ cholesterol gets oxidized by reactive oxygen species, that come from pollution, bad diet, stress and so on. Here are two simple diet tweaks that will quickly normalize your cholesterol, without you having to take any prescription medication, be it Statins or any other cholesterol-lowering drug.
An apple a day
Sounds too simplistic and unscientific to have any measurable impact on your cholesterol levels, right? Wrong! Apples lower cholesterol (study) and by a whopping 40% in just two months. And that is by eating just half an apple each day. But how does this work? It’s simple – remember how the bad cholesterol forms? Oxidative stress damages normal cholesterol and in turn, the bad one forms. Apples are amongst the foods highest in anti-oxidants – despite being low in vitamin C. If you don’t want to use medication to lower your cholesterol, apples are your first best bet – immediately go to the farmer’s market or your local supermarket and purchase a big bag of them. Remember to eat them consistently – eating them every day will be much more beneficial than eating a ton of them one day and then not eating any for a week.
Reduce processed food
Processed food is a major source of trans-fats. In fact, it’s the only sources – trans fats aren’t found in any natural products, because they are man-created. Shortenings and bakery goods are the prime culprits here – avoid them at all costs. Focus on eating whole foods and you will lower your cholesterol in no time, without having to resort to dangerous drugs.
Medication is the worst option when it comes to lowering cholesterol. It doesn’t fix the underlying issue and simply removes cholesterol from your blood by the brute-force method. This is bad, because cholesterol is there for a reason – to repair broken blood vessels and damaged arteries, which are the result of a diet high in oxidants. Unfortunately, this process of repairing the damaged vessels puts so much cholesterol in your blood that the tiny arteries in your heart can get easily clogged, resulting in a heart attack.
The only way to fix this is to reduce the oxidative stress on your body, which comes either from eliminating bad food, or introducing more foods, rich in antioxidants, that fight the free radicals.
Angelina
 
 

Low-carb diets have long been known as a great way to lose weight, because of their ability to improve insulin resistance and reduce the intake of fattening fructose. But which low-carb foods are best for weight loss? Do you automatically lose weight when you are on a low-carb diet, regardless of what specifically you eat? The answer is both yest and no.
The Atkins diet is a popular diet that makes you lose weight fast. On it, you only look at macro-nutrients – you eat anything that is high-protein and low-carb, with little regard to the quality of the actual food. People often get great results on this diet, but they find that it is not sustainable and the common rubber band effect often occurs. We don’t know why exactly that is.
On the other hand, eating foods that are high in quality and still low in carbs seems to produce results that stick for much longer. A proper low-carb diet consists of meat, eggs and whole foods, including vegetables. Technically speaking, you can follow a low-carb diet and still eat garbage.
Calories
The total amount of calories is also important. If you eat a ton of high-calorie nuts, you may still have trouble losing weight, despite your intake of carbs being low. The magic happens when you are at a slight caloric deficit and keep your carbs low at the same time. Combining that with intermittent fasting works even better.
What is the best low-carb food for weight loss?
If I had to pick one, I’d have to say meat. Remember however, that the way you cook meat is very important. Properly cooked, meat is one of the best low-carb foods for losing weight. But if you eat a ton of meat that is fried, you are putting a lot of oxidative stress on your arteries, which will eventually backfire. Meat cooked at lower temperatures(<100 C or 212 F) is still fine. Combining the meat with vegetables makes it more digestible and the antioxidants from the vegetables combat any free radicals that may still form during cooking.
The best weight-loss results are achieved with a cheat-day once a week or once every two weeks. Many experts on nutrition have talked about this – if your diet is extremely low in carbs and you stick to it for a long time, your body down-regulates insulin, which makes you plateau. A cheat day is a counter-intuitive way of boosting your weight-loss results and satisfying any sugar cravings you may experience.
Remember that fruit and vegetables are not low-carb foods. In fact, they are high-carb and very low in fat and protein. However, eating them in moderation will ultimately help you lose more weight.
Low-carb breakfast
Many people have reported good results with the egg white and spinach breakfast – you basically mix some egg whites with spinach and that is all you have for breakfast. After several hours you can continue eating normally, but still low-carb. This shoots your metabolism through the roof and gives you stable energy throughout the day.
Other good options for breakfast include nut smoothies and yogurt smoothies – just remember to not go overboard with the fruit, especially if you like bananas. Bananas are very high in sucrose, which is basically table sugar. Although they are very nutritious, eating too many of them will not help you lose weight and will hinder your progress.
Angelina