Benefits of a Low Carb Diet & 5 Tips to Stick to It!

Who doesn't get sick of dieting day after day...only to realize that your diet is having a minimal effect - and even worse, you go to bed starving every night for nothing?

The solution: Go on a Low Carb Diet!

Here's how I discovered this awesome diet...

After years of eating whatever I wanted to, I began to feel nauseous every afternoon and like I was going to pass out. My energy level was way down and I became depressed for no apparent reason. I was starting to feel like an 80 year old, but I was only twenty-two. A doctor visit told me I was hypoglycemic and that I should have much more protein in my diet to stop feeling sick. So...I ate... and ate (both carbs and protein) because the doctor didn't tell me I should not be eating both! Within 1 year I'd gained 45lbs, going from a Junior's size 9 at 135 lbs to a Women's size 18 at 195lbs! Sure, I felt better and had a bit more energy, but at only 5ft 4in tall, I was fat and approaching the dreaded 200lb mark.

My salvation came from taking a job with a company that sold low carb food. I'd told my boss the situation, and he said the reason I'd gained so much was because I was packing away the carbs, which my body didn't really need and it was just turning to sugar, then fat. And so, I learned the ways of low-carbing.

While working at this store, I heard many complaints from dieters saying they were hungry all the time and bored of the low carb food. What I never understood was why. On a low carb diet, you can eat AS MUCH AS YOU WANT! - As long as you eat the right foods. Some weeks, I'll eat 4 regular meals plus 4 snacks every day, and not gain a pound. It's amazing to have found a diet where you can eat any time you want and never have that "cavernous stomach" feeling. In this article, I'll list some benefits you may not know about low carb dieting and 5 tips to help stick to your diet! Read on for 5 helpful tips for low carb dieters...

# 1 - Plan Your Meals

- The #1 reason a low carb diet will fail is laziness! By planning to take your breakfast & lunch with you to work (if possible) you will save yourself from the fast food and vending machine rut. What I like to do on the weekend is prepare my food for the week and package it, so that every day I just have to grab the food from the fridge and run out the door. Every morning I eat either sliced up steak or (if I haven't had time to prepare steak) a Jimmy Dean Breakfast Sandwich & remove half of the croissant. The Jimmy Dean Frozen Sandwiches only take 2 minutes in the microwave and make for a good filling breakfast. I cook 3 chicken breasts on the weekend, then shred them and separate into plastic sandwich baggies to either eat plain or on top of a salad. You can get fancier than that of course! But for someone with limited time, this is a great method of preparing food ahead of time. If you end up at a fast food restaurant, make smart choices. Avoid foods with breading (breading ads about an extra 20 carbs per serving), and if you get a burger or sandwich, remove half the bun and eat as an open-faced sandwich.

# 2 - Take Snacks With You

- Another sabotaging factor in low carb diets is having nothing to snack on during the day. You get hungry and turn to whatever is available - which is almost always unhealthy. Either buy individual packets of things like almonds, pistachios, cheddar or string cheese, beef jerky, and fresh veggies or buy in econo packs and separate into sandwich baggies. When everyone else is pigging out on high carb chips and pretzels, you'll have your healthy snack handy. If you absolutely feel the need to eat a sugary snack, go shopping in the sugar free candy aisle. Splenda is a sweetener that's much less toxic than aspartame, so always look for Splenda, xylitol, or or maltitol as sweeteners. A good candy to try is called Fling. These are only 19 carbs for two twix-shaped chocolate bars, so you can eat one and save the other for later or the next day. I also like to have the biggie packs of Eclipse gum around to get rid of a sweet craving. A few fruits out there are also low carb - ½ cup of either blueberries, raw cranberries or cantaloupe only contain an average of 3 carbs per serving and pack a great anti-oxidant punch.

# 3 - Get Creative with Cooking

- Prevent boredom by keeping your meals interesting and fun. Considering that your major food groups are now meat and veggies, there are plenty of options. Learn to cook with chicken, steak, lamb, sausage, bacon, shellfish & regular fish, and the full range of veggies (with the exception of corn, which has about 14 carbs per ½ cup). You can still have milk, heavy cream, cream cheese, sour cream and any type of cheese - which makes sauces a cinch. There are plenty of low carb cooking tips and recipes online so you can keep variety. I've created a few of my own, some of which are huge hits among regular eaters and low-carbers alike. You can view the recipes for my creations by clicking this link: Best Low Carb Recipes

# 4 - Learn to say NO!

- People will constantly be trying to sabotage your diet. While it's ok to cheat once a week, it's not ok to cheat once a day. This is why it's good to have snacks with you. When somebody offers you a high-carb food, tell them you already ate or that you brought your own food. I've been in environments where people will actually try to bully me into eating bad! Nobody should have to say "no" to a doughnut 7 times within 1 minute, and yet I find myself in that position all the time. I've finally learned to just say no again and again until they take the hint! If you cave, offer to split the sweet treat with someone or just take a very small portion.

# 5 - Take supplements

- Since so many fruits are high in sugar, you miss out on some nutrition and anti-oxidants when you're low-carbing. That means you need to take a good multi-vitamin to make up for it. One of my favorites is by Nature's Plus & it's called Source of Life Red. This is a complete natural multi-vitamin that also contains Acai - an extremely potent anti-oxidant that cleans toxins from your body that can build up from daily pollution and eating processed foods or meats. Ever notice how sluggish you feel after eating a big fast-food hamburger? There are so many toxins and preservatives packed in there that they overload your system. A good anti-oxidant will help combat those effects. As I mentioned above, a few fruits are safe to eat, such as blueberries, cantaloupe and raw cranberries. Many people on low carb diets also find it helpful to their digestive systems to take a fiber supplement as well.

If you follow these tips, you should have a much greater success rate with sticking to your low-carb diet.

When I first began this style of eating, I dropped 30 lbs in 4 months, going from a very snug size 18 to loose size14. I've been on this diet consistently for the past 9 years, and in-spite of much cheating (I eat high-carb foods & desserts about twice a week), I've still managed to maintain my size, and even dropped down to a size 12.

Another plus to low-carb eating? You gain muscle instead of fat...and the more muscle you have, the more fat you automatically burn!

Here's one bizarre thing about this diet:

Last summer, I was at 165 lbs and wearing a size 10/12. I started working out (lifting 10lb weights, running 1 mile on the treadmill) for an hour a couple times per week just to get into better shape. During this past winter, I ate many high-carb foods and went up to 180lbs. But due to the amount of muscle I'd gained and the amount of fat I'd lost, I still easily fit into a size 12 at 180lbs! Talk about some amazing muscle mass! I normally consume about 60 carbs per day, and my body is now nicely toned. Thanks to low-carb dieting and a little working out, I'm stronger and in shape - with more energy than ever.