Low Carb Beer: Not So Skinny
Low carb beer and lite beer are two different animals. Both feature lower calories and both are ostensibly for weight loss. But a typical light beer contains almost 3 times as many carbs as a low carbohydrate beer. So far so good. If you’d like to enjoy an occasional beer while on a low carb diet, the low carb beers may be the way to go.
But they’re no diet miracles, for either low fat or low carb dieters. On the Atkins induction phase or other initial phase of a low carbohydrate diet, no beer is likely to be helpful. These tasty wonders do contain many fewer grams of carbohydrates than a traditional beer (averaging 2.5 grams a bottle vs. 10-20 grams for a normal beer.) But when you need to limit your intake to less than 20 grams of carbohydrates for the day, you won’t have much variety in your meals if you choose to include a beer.
Once you’re at the ongoing weight loss phase of your low carb diet, you can enjoy the extra flexibility in your diet that goes with the higher level of acceptable carbs per day. And if you feel like a beer, a low carb beer is the best choice. But bear in mind, that successful weight loss, even on a low carb regimen, still means that your calories must be less than the level it takes to maintain your present weight. Low carb beers still tip the scales at close to 100 calories a bottle, because alcohol carries a penalty of 7 calories per gram, as compared to protein and carbs at 4.
So when the sun is beating down and nothing would taste better than a beer, remember as you crack that cool one open, to keep the big picture in mind and check the calories as well as the carbs.
Shawn Low is an author and contributing writer for the popular healthy-low-carb.com an online information source for low carb diets, free low carb recipes, diet basics, books, product reviews, and informative up to date dieting research.
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The Jack LaLanne Diet – Are You Tough Enough?
There’s no way you can separate the Jack LaLanne diet from the Jack LaLanne lifestyle. And anyone who knows anything about this undisputed Godfather of fitness knows that his lifestyle is definitely not for the faint hearted.
Fortunately, there is a way to benefit from his example without being a superman… or woman. I’ll let you in on this simple secret shortly, but first a bit about this super-fit senior’s daily routine?
He may be over 90, but Jack LaLanne still works out for two hours every morning – an hour every morning lifting weights, followed by an hour’s exercise in the pool.
A long-time vitamin enthusiast, LaLanne’s daily diet includes large doses of vitamins from A-Z, as well as minerals and enzymes.
And that’s before we start talking food!
Could You Give Up Dessert for 76 Years?
Jack LaLanne begins each and every day with 50 grams of soy protein. The Jack LaLanne diet is not completely vegetarian, but he doesn’t eat chicken, red meat or white sugar. He gets most of his protein from egg whites, soy protein and occasionally fish.
The Jack LaLanne diet is not a low-carb diet, but he does stick strictly to natural grains such as brown rice and whole wheat.
LaLanne also eats at least ten fresh, raw vegetables a day. He hasn’t had dessert since 1929 and never eats between meals or after 9 p.m.
But What About Us Ordinary Mortals?
It would be easy to dismiss Jack LaLanne as a fanatic with little to offer ordinary mortals like you and me. But he has always been the first to point out that his super-strict routine is not for everyone.
He says his whole life has been devoted to getting across the message that anyone can improve their physical condition if they really want to and are willing to do something about it.
You don’t need to follow a grueling two-hour exercise routine, says LaLanne, but start incorporating more physical activity into your daily life.
Stop spending most of your free time slouched in front of the TV. Get out and walk, lift some weights and take a regular swim.
Most important, though, is to change what you eat. An early nutritionist mentor of Jack LaLanne’s described humans as “walking garbage cans”.
So here’s the simple secret I promised earlier?
Try the Jack LaLanne Diet … Lite.
LaLanne recommends starting out by replacing some of the junk foods we eat with healthier foods. Substitute white bread and white rice with whole grains and brown rice.
The “lite” version of the Jack LaLanne diet entails gradually cutting down on the amount of processed food, red meat and poultry we eat, and eating more fish and raw vegetables.
Try to eat at least three or four kinds of raw vegetables every day and gradually work your way up to LaLanne’s eight- ten vegetables.
A great way to do this without too much effort is to invest in a juicing machine and start experimenting with literally thousands of delicious combinations of fruit and vegetable juice blends.
You don’t have to give up desserts, but do cut down. You don’t need dessert after every meal. And when you do eat dessert, try to choose healthier, lower fat options.
What about vitamins?
Going overboard on vitamins and supplements is expensive and also of questionable value. But there’s no doubt that some supplements will both enhance your nutrition and help you stay energised and motivated in sticking to your weight loss goals.
Some supplements may even speed up the weightloss process, but be careful, there’s a lot of hype out there.
Alan Cooper is a journalist with 20 year’s experience and the publisher of ObesityCures.com, a site with the ambitious aim of being a “one-stop-shop” for impartial information on obesity and weight loss solutions – including fad diets, prescription weightloss pills and natural weightloss aids.
ObesityCures has a page devoted to the Jack Lelanne diet, with links to further reading on his fascinating life.
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